Morning by morning, new mercies I see!

So glad yesterday is gone. We started our day yesterday with the medical check-up, which in and of itself was a joke.  Steve thinks he could practice medicine here. BC she is over two, she had to endure a blood draw. They take her from us-that part I totally understand-however-I'm not sure if she was having flashbacks or what-but she cried for hours. I'm not exaggerating. She would whine and cry, then snub, then cry again. She finally settled down after missing two meals but wouldn't nap. I was in the midst of a migraine but needed a distraction so we decided to venture out. We went to Shamian Island about a 15 minute taxi ride away. The island is beautiful-home of the White Swan-a hotel that caters to adoptive families. It has been closed for renovation for several years now. We walked around and saw "models" in photoshoots and couples taking bride/groom pictures. We ate at a popular restaurant  in the Ch*na adoption community called Lucy's. Not good- excuse the negativity- we can't eat salads here, and bc the chicken and duck come with heads still attached, my diet is consisting of primarily carbs and sugar and pair that with zero exercise, therefore I feel even worse. Next week is going to be serious detox for all of us and I can't wait. Steve's ready for a full body scrub and some IV abx!  We've had more McDs and real coke these two weeks than we have had the last two years.  All that aside. We are all "healthy" and have had no GI distress, so I shouldn't complain! My H/A did turn into a bad migraine and even with sleep I still have that hungover feeling. soYesterday's KLove verse was from Isaiah 33:2 but Lord, be merciful to us, for we have waited for you. Be our strong arm each day and our salvation in times of trouble. Later Allison sent me Isaiah 26:3. You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, bc they trust in you. I am clinging tight to Gods Word. This is much harder than a C-Section and even harder than a delivery without an epidural. However-I wouldn't trade Ai-Le for anything and would do this again for her! Steve is in hog heaven-whatever that means- but I am so impressed with him and love him even more bc of it! Neither one of us deal with stress well-I used to but he has warped me-anyway- prayer has worked. We are enjoying each other. He has been the rock. Making me laugh, caring for her, caring for me- I can not say enough about him! Ok fast forward 5 hours and see how God provides. We went to this park across the street from our hotel. Beautiful. She held my hand as we chased butterflies. She has even reached for me a few times today. We climbed steps and counted as we climbed. It really is just like having a new baby. Steve wanted to eat what this Japanese restaurant in the hotel had for today's lunch special. I wasn't thrilled but agreed. Best meal yet! It was fresh and yummy. Hope this is making sense. It is a culmination of three different writings throughout the last day and a half.

Today was Ai-Le Kate's turn for a meltdown. Steve says he is taking his turn tomorrow. She fought nap time but began kicking and screaming on the bed. It looked like the scene from the exorcist- I'm not even kidding. Then she sat up and cried for what felt like an eternity. That very sad cry I talked about earlier. It's her first since gotcha day and I'm sure won't be her last. I can not imagine her thought process. Even though we are super awesome and all, how incredibly barbaric to think about-especially these older kids.
So, we let her cry it out until she basically she passed out. We JUST received a phone call as I was typing-scared me to death. If her blood work wasn't ok they were supposed to call us around this time today to tell us we would have to return to the clinic for X-rays etc. she called to tell us everything
was ok but I freaked when the phone rang. Praying the same news for everyone in our group. His mercies are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness! So as she wakes up it's apparently like 50 First Dates. She forgot she liked me! Oh well. Tomorrow is a new day!