Ruthie

This morning we got up and went to a breakfast buffet that topped the one in Beijing according to Lydia. She was pretty overwhelmed with all the different choices. Where else can you find noodles, dumplings, pancakes and doughnuts at one time? I'm pretty sure if she could live in hotels, Lydia would never leave China!
We had to exchange money for the orphanage donation, so a banker came to the hotel to change it for us so we didn't have to go to the bank. I'm not sure if this was under the table, but he gave us the right exchange rate, so whatever! We had to exchange quite a bit of cash and the biggest bill they have in China is 100 RMB, which is like $14.50. So we have a stack of 450 bills! It is crazy. He gave us a bag to take the money in.
A few minutes later, in walked MeiMei. She and the dean of the orphanage came on the train from Baotou to Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia (her province). They had some papers for us to fill out and they had a bunch of stuff that they had brought for MeiMei - a Barbie, some crayons and pencils, a set of Paw Patrol toys, a video game player, etc. They also brought back the bear we sent to her with another Baotou mom, and the picture album we sent to her. They gave us a book that has a picture of her each month (I think) and information in Chinese about her growth. We got a stack of pictures of her through the years and a CD with more pictures on it. I'm so excited that we have that for her. We also got a stack of her school books too. She has been working on writing a lot.
We had to get our picture taken together for the paper. It also goes into the official paperwork that finalizes our paperwork. She wasn't quite sure she wanted to get that close to us!
The dean left and she was ok. Since it was the dean that brought her and not her nanny, she wasn't too concerned. She was also trying to play the video game and that distracted her. When our guide got ready to leave and told MeiMei that she was going with us, she wasn't too sure she wanted to do that. She went with us and we headed up to our hotel room. She came in and sat in the chair. We tried to get her to take her coat off, but she wanted nothing to do with that. She sat in the chair for the next few hours. We tried to get her to play, but she really didn't want to do anything. She was trying to be brave, we could tell, but she was crying alligator tears. She kept getting up to get Kleenex and then throw the Kleenex in the trash can.
Our guide ordered us noodles so that we could just stay in the room to eat. We tried to get her to eat something, but she just sat there. She did find some Minnie Mouse stickers and she was sticking those to a bunch of things and gave quite a few to Brian and Lydia and one to me. After lunch we all laid down to try to get her to take a nap, which she does regularly. Brian tried putting her in bed, but she definitely didn't want that. She got back into the chair, with her coat still on and snuggled under her blanket. She finally fell asleep. We let her sleep for an hour and then started moving around so she would wake up.
After her nap, she was a little more interested in us. I had downloaded an app to try to translate some questions. We knew there was a park nearby, so we asked if she wanted to go outside and go to the park. That was a definite yes! I was hoping the app didn't ask her if she wanted to go to Disneyland or something, because she seemed pretty excited! We found the park, thanks to Google Maps and walked around for a while. It did have an amusement park there, but since it's November and cold, the rides were covered and closed. We were hoping to find some toys to play on, but not such luck. We did find an exercise park, which Lydia thought was almost as good. In China, there are these exercise parks on every block it seems like. The people (especially the old ones, it seems) come out to the park to stretch and work out. It was the end of the work day and some people were there exercising. This is how the Chinese stay young and active. There was a set of parallel bars and we saw a 70+ man push himself up and hold himself. Another man was doing pull-ups on a high bar. Lydia used the bars to play on and the sit-up benches as slides. I was afraid we were going to get chewed out for letter her do it, but they kind of just ignored the crazy Americans!
On the way back to the hotel, we passed another exercise park. They one had an actual slide. Lydia went down and tried to MeiMei to come with her, but she didn't want to go down the slide. After a few tries, Lydia got MeiMei to hold her hand while she went down the slide. Lydia would run back to the ladder and MeiMei would run after her. There was no convincing her to try it. Maybe we can go back tomorrow and see if her courage is up!
We came back and the girls colored and played for a bit. It was getting late and we decided we should go get some supper. I looked on Google Maps again and found a bakery across the street and some other restaurants, but after looking out the window of our 14th floor room, we realized that crossing the street at this point may not be the easiest thing to do. We would have to go down to a stoplight and it is a ways down the street. We headed to another bakery and a convenience store that was listed on the map. We ended up with bananas, Cup Noodles (which Lydia has been begging for), some chips, and Oreo cookies. It was something easy we could bring back to the room and eat together. On the way there and back, Lydia and MeiMei were holding hands and being silly. Lydia loves her so much already and MeiMei at least likes Lydia. :)
While we made the noodles, the girls were coloring some more and MeiMei started singing the ABC song! After el-em-min-oh-pea, she got a little lost, but oh well. At least she has been trying. They were pointing out letters on the computer keyboard too. When the noodles were done we ate on the floor picnic style. While we were eating, MeiMei was jabbering away in Chinese. She was telling Lydia what to do, I'm pretty sure. We tried to get her to say the words into a translation app so we could tell what she was saying. That proved to be the entertainment for the night! We were literally rolling on the floor laughing. The best one was the translation - "What about the controversial images of me and my sister?" Who knows what she was saying. Probably something about Lydia - JieJie - because we could understand that. It was so funny. She kept saying the same thing and it kept translating it differently!
After supper we used the app to say that they were going to take a bath. We convinced Lydia to get into the bathtub with her. MeiMei didn't think that she wanted to do that because she'd already been washed today (we got that from a decent app translation). I had Lydia get in the bath and start playing and it was just a matter of seconds before she went in to see what Lydia was doing and started taking her clothes off. The two of them played in the bathtub for 30-45 minutes - spraying each other and having loads of fun! They got out, put on their matching/matching jammies from Auntie Shana and hopped into bed. They were both so tired. It was literally a matter of seconds before they were both snoring! Hopefully they both stay asleep for a long time tonight. Lydia has been told to get up and sleep on the floor if she wakes up since her incessant wiggling is sure to wake up MeiMei.
Please pray for good sleeping and for the bonding process. I'm sure that we aren't over the grieving that will take place, and seeing people she knows tomorrow and especially on Thursday might be hard for her. My heart just breaks thinking of how hard this must be for her. I know it is for her ultimate good, but it's so hard to see her sad.
Just a quick explanation of her name before I head for bed...Her full name is Ruth Lois XuanYi Peterson. She will receive paperwork with that name from the American consulate. We had to send the name in ahead of time, so we have had this picked out for a while.
We wanted something that would fit with Lydia. I had a few names picked out, but finally settled on Ruth, no thanks to Brian. He figured that I was going to pick the name out anyway, so why waste his mental energy thinking about it. It was kind of frustrating, and I kept second guessing myself, but now that we've met, I think she's Ruthie through and through.
As a teacher, it's hard to choose a name, because some of them have totally been ruined for you by former or current students. I did have a student named Ruthie back in the early days at CCS, but she was such a sweet and hardworking girl that I had no problem using the name Ruthie. I love the strength and grace that Ruth(ie) portrays. Ruth means "Friend" or "Compassionate Friend" and from the pictures and videos that we received, I just thought this fit her. We chose the middle name Lois after Brian's Aunt Lois who passed away last year. She was a wonderful, godly woman, and I thought it would be a special thing to be able to tell Ruthie about her Great-Aunt Lois. My grandmother's name is also Lois, although she always went by Bunny. I also like the tie to my side of the family. XuanYi is part of her Chinese name, Wang XuanYi. We found out today that at the orphanage, they call her Xuan Xuan or Xuan Yi, so I'm glad that we kept that part. I also found out that Yi is pronounced "EE", which is kind of cool because that was my nickname growing up - "E" or "Miss E".
I'm off to bed. Hopefully everyone will stay asleep all night long!

Lydia's breakfast of champions!

She wanted nothing to do with any of us

The 4 Petersons with Miss Xue, the orphanage dean

You can never have too many noodles, can you?

Sleeping, in the chair, with a coat, 2 layers of clothing, and a blanket. She was so sweaty when she woke up!

Sisters!

Some of the hilarious translations

More noodles

Matching-Matching!!!