We Hang Out at Bakeries

I spend my days with 8 babies, babies without moms and dads to love them. Babies who were abandoned, close to death when the were miraculously saved. My heart is constantly breaking for these babies. I feel so much love for them! I would adopt all of them in an instant, especially Mutong who is my best friend.

Mutong. Isn't he the cutest!?

There are so many stories about children in orphanages with less than kind people taking care of them. I'm so glad that is not a reality here. The nannies that care for these kids love them as their own and the babies love them back.

Kendra and I have done a few night shifts. We sleep in a bed in a room with two babies each. I stay with Xiao Wu and Mutong. Xiao Wu sleeps through the whole night, but when she is trying to sleep, you need to stay where she can see you or she starts to cry. She is very insecure about sleeping alone. The first night, she had a hard time sleeping because it was the last night of the new year and fireworks were going off like crazy. She would start to cry, and all I had to do was touch her gently and she would stop. Mutong is a chatty baby at night. He wakes up about 3 times a night and needs a bottle. Sometimes, after he finishes his bottle, he just talks for a half hour. It's really cute and funny, but when it's two in the morning, I sorta wish he would just go back to sleep. When they wake up in the morning, they are always really happy. Especially Mutong who is all smiles. It melts my heart.
In the day time, we help feed the babies, play with them, and take them to the park or the "lake" in our neighborhood. The routine is pretty basic, but the kids have a hard time when it changes or the ayi's (nannies) change shifts. Kendra and I think we are pretty cool because when we hear someone cry, we have started to be able to tell which baby it is.

We love the neighborhood we live in. It snowed the other day and we walked around to see what there is. This is our limo. Apparently it never moves, but just sits near the gate. It's probably just for show, and it's incredibly dirty as is appropriate for Beijing.

Last night, we went to McDonald's near our apartment. Somehow, McDonald's becomes this hot commodity to us when we are in China. It's like a stabilizer for homesickness since nothing is more American than McDonald's, hot dogs, and apple pie. Afterward, we walked to the Wu Mart. When you say Wu, you need to sound really excited. WU! mart. Inside, they have some sort of french bakery. We were really excited about it. We gaped at all the cakes and chose which ones we would buy for our half birthday celebrations until we saw them making cakes in a room with windows. We probably watched them decorate cakes for an hour. It's our new hangout. We want to be friends with one of the decorators so he will teach us how to do it, and give us cake. ;)

We stayed up until midnight last night and both of us were really proud of ourselves. It's a big deal since we've been sleeping at 9 o'clock every night. I can honestly say I've gotten rid of jet lag! YES!!!

Sunday, we went to the branch for the first time. Who knew it would take almost 2 hours for us to get there!? We were late and missed most of sacrament, but we made it. Everyone was really friendly and welcoming. We won't really be a big part of the YSA group because it takes so long for us to get to church and other places which is too bad, but we have each other and we get along great. We just need to make some friends who live in the same district as us so we can actually do things in the evenings since the kids go to bed at 7-8 o'clock.

China is great and I love being here! I want time to pass as slowly as possible. I LOVE CHINA!