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!