Priceless

Right after we received Ellie's referral, Mom remembered that Visiting Orphans was taking a trip to Chenzhou. She emailed the trip leader, Shannon, about our sweet girl and told her that any info and pictures would be so appreciated. Little did we know just how many pictures and how much detail we would get on our precious girl. Some of the pictures are above for your viewing pleasure. Isn't she a DOLL?! And then... one of the girls on the trip really connected with Ellie and has posted many detailed posts on her blog about our girl! So the following are her posts about Miss Ellie. They are more for me to have on here to look back, but go ahead and read about our beautiful, shy, sweet, puzzle loving little girl! I'm a little jealous that it's not me over there holding her and feeding her :)

One little girl who is being adopted didn't want anything to do with us. Anytime we would touch her she'd cry (I'm sure she'd never seen anyone like us). I tried to move her away from one kid who was on her back kicking, and out came the water works. I just sat her on the floor and rubbed her back for the longest time. I'm sure she hated it, but she eventually stopped crying, and we sat there together. Feeding time came, and I had the privilege to feed her the congee they had for her. This little girl scarfed down a HUGE bowl of this stuff. She got to the point where she was used to me and would actually look at me with a pleasant face... Not like she was about to burst out crying. By the time we had to leave, she was fairly happy. I got up to go and she started looking all around the room for me. I thought, what a great break through. She's getting out of her comfort zone and she's not scared anymore. It'll hopefully make her adoption that much easier.

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At the orphanage we played with the babies some more. I found the little girl I talked about yesterday. I played with her the whole morning. Her parents are naming her Ellie, so I'll refer to her as that from now on.

Ellie wasn't happy to see me. She was sitting by herself, so I figured she'd want some company, but boy was I wrong. She cried and cried. I rubbed her back again and then Katie brought out some of the toys that someone donated. She quieted down and became interested in the puzzles. Anytime I tried to move her, she'd get upset.

We sat in a circle and sang songs and played games, but she didn't want much to do with it. She held on to her two balls she had real tight and that made her happy. I knew picking her up and walking around would set her off, but I just wanted to try... Get her a little used to new things. As suspected, she cried, but stopped soon. She's a curious baby, always wanting to see what others around her are doing.

Feeding time came, and she ate up her big bowl of congee again. :) the kids at this orphanage eat well. Some get two or even three bowls if they're hungry enough. Many of the kids are chubby ;)

Ellie and I walked around some and sat down. She began to actually look at me more. She started touching my face... My eyes, nose, and mouth. Then she played with my hair. It was nice to see her making some physical contact.

By the time it was time for us to go, she was getting tired and rubbing her eyes. I think their nap time is right after they eat.

My goal for this week is that I'll get a smile out of Ellie. It may be hard, but I'm going to work at it.

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We went back to the orphanage, and we were told to go upstairs and play with the babies. I found Ellie, picked her up and walked around a little bit. She didn't fuss at all, and no tears formed in her eyes which made me happy.

Progress. Slowly but surely, progress.

We played for awhile. She loves balls and things that make noise when you shake. She found my toes and started playing with them, looking at the purple nail polish, it was funny. And she loves to observe everyone else. She's a very chill baby.

Its sad because they have heat rash all over their bodies. They sleep in a hot room with only two air conditioning units in the middle, and they keep them in long sleeves and pants. Ellie was itching all over today, so I scratched her back and arms softly and she liked it.

At one point we were just sitting there playing and a little smile started to form. We almost got there... So close. It made me happy. But then she went back to the same old face she has. Haha. I'm going to keep working on that.

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I found Ellie and picked her up and sat her down. No tears! We found some toys and she went about playing. She loves toys that squeak. After awhile I laid on my stomach and was at her eye level, then. She looked at me and grabbed some toys and put them on my face. I began to shake my head crazily, and she just gave me the biggest smile. She's such a beautiful baby. She kept doing that for awhile. Then she put the toy down and took her hand and started touching my eyes and my nose. Then she put her fingers in my mouth, and was interested in my teeth.

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Food came and every single baby in the room got food except for her. She sat there waiting forever. I felt so bad for her. As soon as that first bowl of congee comes out and is handed to a baby, so immediately stops playing and just waits. And she seems to always be the last baby to receive the food, ha. Poor thing.

And then the funny thing is, when she gets it... She's such a slow poke eating it. She takes a mouthful and slowly swallows it as she watches all the other babies play. Its kind of funny.