We are SO Blessed!!

Today Maggie and I were blessed at the Six Banyan Tree temple. Maggie's Dad went through the ceremony with La Nina, so it was my turn with Maggie. What a beautiful experience. The buddhist tradition is that the blessing will bring us a long, happy life and ensure safe travels. It was performed at the feet of the Lady of Mercy statue with fragant incense filling the air, and a buddhist monk chanting to a drum beat. It felt like all of China wishing Maggie well as she started the process of becoming an American.

Tonight we went to the pizza party in Norman's room. It was so cool to see pictures of Group 66/67 on the walls. We added a picture of the Anqing 7-1 and it was hung in the reunion section. I loved seeing the smiling faces of our first travel group. We also gave Norman a 5X7 of La Nina. It was so bittersweet to be greeted with her smiling face hung with other portraits sent to USAA when we walked in the door. We were so proud and lonely for her all at once.

Tomorrow, we are off to the official US medical exam. The US doctors will weigh Maggie, test her hearing in a very unscientific way and do a very quick medical evaluation. If I remember right, the whole process takes about 20 minutes once you start and we kind of cycle through three stations with a file that each doctor completes. Then, I believe we have a visa picture taken of Maggie. This is for immigration purposes and will be the photo included on her green card when we get it. Tomorrow will be our first "official" appointment day since last Tuesday.

Maggie continues to flourish. She is slowly warming to her Dad, but she still will only let me hold her, feed her, change her diapers, etc. She does now play with her Dad and she constantly tries to get his attention for play time. It is very cute when she vocalizes in his direction and lights up when he responds. Maggie also had another fairly normal eating day. I won't go into detail, but suffice to say, we seem to be over the eating hump. Of course, she scoffed at bananas but accepted pizza crust, so pizza must have been on the menu at Suixi. Maggie has come a long way from the terrified baby who wouldn't eat or drink that was handed to us a week ago tomorrow.

One thing seeing La Nina's smiling face at the pizza party reminded me, we are so blessed. These girls, La Nina and Maggie, bring so much joy to our lives. Ms. Maggie is such a wonderful addition to our family. Her silly antics and goofy grin warm our hearts. Maggie is a quick-moving, smart, little clown. We can't wait for everyone at home to get to know her. Only 5 more days until we are heading home!