McNaughton's China Trip

Hi. Is everybody back to work after Labor Day?
The hotel we got to last night is the famous White Swan in Guangzhou, China. There are some people staying here who have not adopted kids but they are the minority I think. Very nice. Here's a shot of the indoor waterfall by the breakfast area.

Mom -- I forgot Char's new last name. Can you call Jinny and ask her? Then email me and I'll try to find her. It'll be nice to get the story of their baby.


Here's baby girl when we woke up this morning. She's good sleeper, usually wakes up crying a little until she gets her bearings then she's pretty happy.


Mommy went to the gym in the morning while daddy took Sarah to her mandatory medical appointment. Here she is when it was over. She is very healthy. 8.2 kilos, 75cm, small for her age but she's packing away the food now that she's pretty comfortable with us.


We found out two more things about Sarah today. First, she really likes the water...
But she hasn't cracked the nut on holding her breath when she puts her head in the water.


And she likes corn-on-the-cob. This is her at dinner. We haven't be feeding her a lot of solid food but when I was breaking off kernels to give her Shellye said just give her the cob. This picture is the result. Uncle Bruce will be so proud. Sarah gnawed on the cob for a good 15 minutes longer than justified for the size and amount of corn. We not sure, but we're guessing she may have eaten this before and liked it. We'll know tomorrow if it likes her when we check her diaper.


During our whole adoption process as we've talked to people many have said they've thought about adoption but just didn't know if they could love an adopted child like their own. That is a good honest question, "Can you love an adopted child just like your own?" Shellye and I want to give testimony that the answer is an overwhelming YES!! Just like when each of our four children were born, we felt a well of love open up we did not know previously existed. We have been praying for it, and that's probably the only way to explain it...that God answered our prayers and gave us the love for this child as if she were created from our bodies. For those of you that have children, you know the feeling you have that you don't know how life could be so wonderful without them? It's the same with an adopted child. It's the same for us with Sarah. We're already asking ourselves what we did without her.