My First Teeth!

Mia wanted to make sure everyone got to see her first teeth. She's very proud of them! As are we...

Can a baby be more precious?!

Mia's First Play Date!

This evening we all decided it was time to relax and spend some time interacting with adults! So we all got together in one couple's suite and ordered some pizza, drank some beer, and let our children play together on the floor. Mia found a new friend in Kayla. They were from the same orphanage, were born one day apart, and clearly enjoyed spending time together. After spending some time forhead to forhead and tasting each others fingers, Mia began making new sounds. They were little shouts of glee, and they were so incredibly cute...
Funny how parenthood changes you. We got a bunch of beer and some wine, ordered some pizzas, and promptly decided that we were all exhausted and went home to go to bed!!

The Two Most Beautiful Women in the World!

She's Crawling!!

While we were getting ready to go out to dinner, we left Mia on the floor to play with some toys for a few minutes. One her toys happened to be about 10 feet away from where she was playing. With a little enouragement Mia learned to crawl and made it all the way across the room to her special toy! She's already displaying the Lovell discipline. Now if we could just get her to fold her clothes properly and keep her toys in order... Hee hee!
In all seriousness, her progress is amazing. 48 hours ago she could barely sit up without falling over. A few days of activity, American formula and love / encouragement, and Mia is crawling around like a little monkey! As a completely unbiased parent, I must say our daughter is Mensa material...

Bureacracy...

Daddy & Mia both agree they've had enough of this government office stuff... Maybe a little hug will help pass the time!

Mia's First Stroller Ride...

This morning we had to spend several hours at the Civil Affairs office again. This time we needed to begin the Visa application process, so that we can get Mia back into the United States. After a long morning of bureaucracy, we decided a walkabout would be the perfect remedy. After buying a pretty nice stroller for all of $20 US, we loaded Mia up for her first official outing. As you can tell, she wasn't exactly thrilled by the whole stroller concept. But in typical Mia fashion she took it like a champ. In fact, within minutes she was out cold...
On our journey we happened upon a beautiful park that was full of activity.
The people in the park again highlighted the cultural differences. First we found a group of about 30 elderly folks sitting together singing. It was great! A little further along we found well over 50 people clustered in groups of 4-6 people playing hacky sack. For those of you who are a bit older, it's a game played where everyone kicks around a pool ball sized leather bag stuffed with beans, and tries to keep it from hitting the ground. The kicker here is that the average age of these players was 50-60 years old! Show me a group of elderly people doing a sport like that in the US!! The people here maintain a very young spirit. That very same park is also filled each morning with hundreds of people doing Tai Chi to stay limber and fit.
We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon together followed by a barbecue buffet along the river with several other families in the group. It's amazing to see the little personalities blossoming from all the children. Unfortunately, some kids are still giving their new parents a tough time. Fortunately, what we're all learning is that most of the cranky children are actually great kids, but are dealing with some physical ailments that are remnants of their disadvantaged days in the orphange... Nothing that a little love and antibiotics can't resolve!

Interesting Country...

China is so different from our expectations. We have traveled all over the world and never experienced anything like this... It's interesting to learn about a country so few people really know. The population of the US is currently about 300 million. The population of China is 1.3 billion.

At the same time, the land mass of China is almost identical in size to the US. However, close to 50% of the land is not livable due to mountains and deserts. As a result, you have over 4 times the popultion of America, living in an area half the size of the US. Talk about crowding...

The population of Beijing is currently 30.5 million. New York City, the largest city in the US, is only about 8 million. And Beijing is only the third largest city in China!
Very few Chinese people speak English. Yet they are warm & friendly to foreigners. There is a very strong sense of community and respect of elders. I think the most striking difference about China is that there does not appear to be any jealously or animosity towards Americans. They are very proud of their country and heritage. They are not trying to become the United States of America, and therefore don't share the same obstinence that most Europeans do. It's actually quite refreshing... However, it's still a Communist country. While it feels just like any bustling American city, there are tight controls in place that go unnoticed by the locals. It is impossible to access many Western websites, including Youtube and our own damn blog! While we were watching CNN the other night a segment came on about the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. As the segment moved into a somewhat critical phase, the TV screen went blank for about 3 minutes. The Chinese government had simply pushed a button and cut the signal. A few minutes later it came back on without warning. Hearing that you would think this is a very oppressive society. But the locals truly don't know the difference and look to their government as a source of pride and continued economic success. I guess what you don't know can't hurt you...

Mike & Stacy