Pavilions and Smiles

With yesterday’s paperwork, Piper officially joined our family as our daughter. To celebrate, our guides ordered Pizza Hut for the families to eat together last night for supper. It was another great chance to get to spend time with the other families and their new daughters as well. Piper enjoyed the first half hour of the celebration, and slept through the second half. Mommy and daddy then got a full night of sleep as Piper next woke up at 6 am. It was a much-needed rest for the entire family.

After breakfast, we were off to visit Tengwang Pavilion, just a five-minute walk from our hotel. This six-story building was built in the 7th century to overlook the river. Since we decided to use the stroller today, we were very happy that during the construction, an elevator was installed. Actually, even though the tour guide didn’t tell us the elevator was added later, we have a sneaking suspicion that it wasn’t in the original plans. Original or not, with the heat and humidity of Nanchang, we were grateful for it. The pavilion itself was a marvelous structure, but the most impressive part were the gardens surrounding it. They were beautiful, and had the temperature been slightly lower, we could have spent hours admiring them.

After the pavilion tour, our group gathered for lunch in the hotel. The first food placed on our table was steamed eggs for the babies. To this point, Piper had only eaten formula for us, but the eggs were a hit. After her first taste it was very hard for Mommy and Daddy get them to her fast enough. The lunch was wonderful and we all enjoyed it very much.

The rest of the day was spent together as a family. Each day we spend together, Piper opens up a little more. On Sunday when she was placed in our arms, she didn’t really feel comforted by either of us. On Monday, she was happy to let either of us hold and comfort her, but she kept very much to herself and only gave limited smiles. Today, she has started to use her hand to touch us as we hold her, smile, and imitate us. We are seeing more of her true personality each day, and look forward to seeing more in the coming days.

Thank you everyone for the emails we have received, and the comments left here. We have enjoyed reading all the wonderful and encouraging words from everyone. Please continue to keep all three of us in thoughts and prayers as we continue to grow with each other.