Day Seven - Exploring Wuhan

Today we ventured out by ourselves in the big city of Wuhan.  We took a cab to a kid's play park and Li Qing had a great time.  After the park we went to the grocery store to buy some things for the room.  I couldn't find any noodles so I asked a lady if she could show me where the noodles were.  I was thinking that the word noodle was universal.  Wrong. Even after slurping and using hand gestures she didn't understand me.  I eventually found them myself.  Walmart is going to look so good.  Getting a cab back to the hotel was a completely different adventure.

We decided not to go back to Li Qing's orphanage.  It is over a hour away and  I think that it would be too difficult.  For Qing and myself.  I had a hard time when the director and nanny was getting ready to leave us at civil affairs office.  I was all chocked up knowing that this would be the last time they would see each other.  I promised to email pictures of her so they could see her grow up.  Li Qing gets out her photo book and looks at the pictures of the orphanage and her friends.  She gets really quite.  My heart breaks for this precious baby.  I can only wonder what she is feeling and thinking.  From what we can gather she lived with the retired orphanage director and a group of children on the complex, so she has been there for nine years with this family unit.  Because she is older and has so many memories this would not be the best decision for her.

The more time we are spending together the more vocal she is becoming.  She is learning quickly and attempts to repeat most words that we tell her.   She wants to please us, but has a strong will that we are guiding very gently.  We have some work to do,  as she is older and needs guidance.  With all that being said we are having the best time with her.  She took an interest in the ping pong table so we thought maybe she has played before.   But she was too little to get the hang of it.  She loves television and is quite the remote control expert.   It's fun listening to her sing along with her shows.  When doing school today we discovered that her math skills are a lot more advanced than we thought.

We are waiting for our paperwork to go to the notary tomorrow.  At the civil affairs office they took our fingerprints and Qing's palm print.  Once this is filed she officially becomes known as Mia Qing Wilson.  We will gradually introduce her name to her because she has already had so many changes in her life.

Children's Park

On the Slide