china trip : hunan embroidery museum and martyr's park

I think after the orphanage visit yesterday, we have turned a corner with our sweet Phebe girl. I remember having the same feeling after visiting Lilah's orphanage. I kinda think of it as us meeting the people Phebe loves and them approving of us, which in return gives her the confidence to trust us a little more.

Of course, it's just a theory. We have many days ahead to show her love and for her to learn to trust us more and more. Today was a good day, we got some more smiles, she held our hands to walk and let us hold her more freely. Can I just say, she adores her big sister. In fact, they adore each other! Lilah is absolutely loving her big sister role too. Today Phebe walked over to Lilah in Martyr's Park and grabbed her hand herself. It was a very sweet moment. They also love to sit and share snacks together!

We just love our girls. Baba and I look at each other, in disbelief, many times a day and agree with how blessed we feel.

This morning we attended the Notarization Ceremony, back in what we lovingly refer to as 'The Spider's Den'! It is the Civil Affairs office where we got our Phebe girl and in fact, we've been back to it three times now - each day for paperwork. Anyway, there is a spider's carcass lying in the window and no joke, the first day I wasn't sure if it was a bird or a spider! The thing is huge. Sure glad I didn't see that one alive!

After the ceremony we went to the Hunan Embroidery Museum, owned by the government. There is a collection of embroidery work here which is very impressive. But even more impressive, was watching these people embroider. They have studied this art for two years and their handiwork is absolutely incredible. Most of the embroidery work they do are requested by government officials, for their buildings. One group of about 10-12 ladies is currently working on a large canvas, which is about 20 feet long.

We then had lunch, can you guess? Spicy beef again - they threw some yellow peppers in this time and I honestly couldn't feel my lips for a while, but it was SO good! The girls had ham and green bean fried rice and my oh my, can our new girl eat! With her new found trust today, she is eating wonderfully and that does this Mama's heart good. Then it was nap time, in which I stayed with Phebe and Baba took his big girl for some special time to Dairy Queen, yes, there is a DQ not too far from our hotel: yummy ice-cream!

After nap time we walked up to Martyr's Park and just enjoyed a little relaxing walk through part of this beautiful spacious park. It was nice for the girls and it gave them a little freedom to run around, just what they needed today. I have to admit, I just love sitting back and watching my girls be sisters, it's something I've dreamt about for a long time. Lilah is so caring towards her sister - she made sure her sister was walking on the inside, when they were walking across a little step, because she didn't want Phebe to fall off. They share such a special relationship already.

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[ the flickr set (for the Hunan Embroidery Museum) is here ]
[ the flickr set (for Martyr's Park) is here ]