Tuesday, August 24th Part Two

Today was another free day but it was also the day of the infamous "Red Couch" photos. The White Swan Hotel, where we are staying, has many red couches on the second floor foyer sitting areas. It has become an adoption tradition to have all the babies and adoption families photos taken on the couches. The lobby was rockin' with all the running babies and families. Rodney got one shot of the families as they were taking pics of the kiddos... it was so funny to see... Rodney yelled out to the families no paparazzi allowed! Hee-Hee.... Sophie was the absolute most beautiful and the absolute worst to try and photograph!!! She screamed bloody murder when I put her down and tried to get her picture. One of our guides tried to pick her up (she is a Chinese lady of course)and Soph had a hissy fit! She was done about 10 minutes in... She is a definite red hot chili pepper spicy lil moma!!! Everyone has learned her by her screams... They all think it is so funny. I tell them they will all pay for picking on us when they get home with their little ones lol.
Then we came to the room for her nap... She went down with only one chorus of Jesus Loves Me... however I keep singing to get her sound to sleep cause she will wake up as soon as I put her down most of the time if I don't keep singing and rocking for about 15 minutes. So now all my bunch here give me a hard time and tell me they know now why I am not in the choir haha aren't they sweet!
When Soph got up I fed her lunch and we went swimming for a little while. We couldn't stay in long b/c she is trying to get a runny nose and she won't stop trying to drink the pool water. When we came in we played in the room for a while and then got ready to go out to Lucy's once again for supper. The food is pretty good there but we are really getting sick of the same thing over and over but Lucy's is the only place to get food anything like at home. After supper we made the block to a few of our daily shop stops and I had to get Sophie and bring her back to the room b/c she was about to fall asleep in the stroller. However by the time we got back into the room she had come back to life and was ready to party for a while. So, her daddy obliged and played with her until she crawled up in my lap and wanted me to rock her to sleep. My girl is so precious and I am loving being a mommy to a little one again. All those little smiles, pats, and kisses are filling my cup up with joy! Thanks again for the prayers and for following along....
Love,
Tammy

Enjoy the pics...

Tuesday Aug 24th Part 1

We hope you all have a great tuesday we just had to get these pitures up now so maybe it will brighten your day and give you a smile or maybe even a laugh. We will post more about our day later.


Love Love from Guangzhou China

The Aldridges

A Week Later . . .

Today marks one week with Sophie!!! WOW! How can it only be a week??? It seems like forever! Think of pregnancy and how your love for the baby grows throughout the nine months... with adoption it is much the same except in our case we have had 4 YEARS to love this baby! So, needless to say we can't even begin to imagine life without her! She is such a precious gift for which I am eternally grateful to God for granting my desires. Sophie has already changed so much... I feel like finally she thinks we are her family and would choose to stay with us instead of jump on the first boat away from us. No kidding... just a few days ago she would have been perfectly happy to wave bye-bye to us and never looked back but now look how God has answered all the prayers that are going up for her to have peace with us and actually love us like we love her. Thank you Jesus!
Today was the much anticipated pearl market trip! We went to the wholesale market and got Sophie a beautiful set of pearls for when she is older...a necklace, bracelet, and matching earrings. We then got her a precious pink set to make her a necklace and bracelet for now!!! When I slipped the bracelet on her in the market she smiled the sweetest smile and clapped!!! Everyone in the store loved that and told her daddy to look-out b/c she already loves jewelry! When then went to KFC with some friends for lunch. She would not touch any of the food except french fries. She is already ruined on fries! If they are within her reach that is all she wants....ugh! Like me she would eat fries as her meal anytime!
We then roamed through a few of the stores where I was on the prowl for a Prada bag... no luck yet :-(
We then flagged down a taxi to bring us back to the island which was no small task and came in for Sophie's nap... She was hot and exhausted!!! I rocked and sang her to sleep in about 2 minutes!!! That night we went to Lucy's for supper where she ate rice, french bread, pasta, and tore up some corn on the cob!!! She loved that stuff!!! We then trolled the island shops and had a good time b/c it was so much cooler than in the day. My big baby was thrilled b/c he found the North Face rain jacket he was wanting and had his daddy negotiate it for a good price. We then went into this center part of the store where there was all kinds of artwork and jewelry. The jewelry had bible scriptures carved into it. It was awesome! The designer was there and talked with us a lot. He works in a local orphanage with 800 children. He helps the disabled children and helps to raise money for their care. He freely spoke of the horror and injustice China shows to the disabled children in the orphanages. As he showed us his photo album I teared up and so did he describing the sweet kids and their sad futures without serious help. We have his website so you can see his work and we can all pray for his service and the children!
We then came back to the room for bath time and playtime before bed. Oh and of course Soph conned her daddy into a whole honey bun before bed :-)
Keep us in your prayers. We love you and thank you for sharing in our journey!
Blessings,
Tammy

Sunday Happenings! or Not!

Sunday started as normal bath, play then breakfast. It was a free day, because the agency that we have bragged about being such a great Christian organization decided to plan a city tour that took you to a buddist temple w/ optional child blessing, without saying to much we declined that tour. It breaks our heart to see people praying and opening their heart up to dead man, and expecting great things. While we to pray to The Risen King, who tells us if we have enough faith we can move mountains. In our case He lead us to this adoption in 2006, He didn't tell us it would be in our time He just told us to do it. I really beleive He has chosen the perfect fit for us and we will pray each day that one day she will repent and accept Him as her Lord and Savior. While we stayed on island Bailee and Paps went to a hugh amusement park that had all kinds of roller coasters and thrill rides, they had a blast and were very tired when that got back to hotel. Keep praying for us and attachment , travel mercies as we will start Friday at about 4:30am your time and land in Columbus at about 9:00pm Saturday night. All in all it will be like 37 hours of travel gaining 12 back for total of 25 straight hours.
Love
The Aldridges From China

Saturday, August 21st: Day 5 w/Sophie

Yeah!!! I got some sleep. Sophie only had two night terrors so it was a much better night to rest. She is doing soooooooo much better! We still have a way to go but at least we know prayers are being answered b/c we do see progress. She will now let Rodney play with her some, smile at him, point that sweet little finger and yell something at him, but she still will not let him hold her. She reserves that right to me still and as much as I love it I will be glad to share cause her 22 lbs are killing my left arm As I sit here and post w/one hand, she is asleep in my good arm so peaceful and angelic. She is so funny and cute. She has a cunning little smile that will melt the toughest heart. God amazes me with His wisdom and care in creating my children through other peole's DNA but so ultimately made for us to raise as a part of our family! I am so grateful to God for loving me enough to give me this awesome gift!!!
About our day:
When we woke up Sophie is ready for a bite of something immediately! So, I fed her a mini bowl of cherrios and she ate every bite including the milk! Next, I got ready between her playing and hugs. Then we went down to breakfast and this chic will cause a scene... she can eat and scream and throw the best Tammy fit ever!!! Her favorite foods so far are bananas, scrambled eggs, toast and jelly, chocolate muffins (that's my girl), & french toast with banana smothie to drink! And yes she does eat all of that in bites at one meal!!! We then went to the lobby to meet our group and guide for the clinic visit. First we headed to the photo shop to get Sophie's Visa photo taken and then straight to the clinic. We were dreading this and knew it would drama! Our guide knew Sophie would show out so she put us first. We had to go to three stations to get the clearance for VIsa paperwork. She started screaming and flopping all over so the chinese nurse grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to the table to take her b/c they couldn't handle her (hee-hee)! Once we left there we walked back to the room to let Sophie calm down and decompose! Oh, me too! After a nap and calming down we headed to the island shops to stroll around and pick up a few things to take home. Then Sophie and I went to the room to play while the guys went to the bank to exchange money. We then got a taxi and went into the city to eat at McDonalds and check out the five story shopping mall. My girl had lots of first today! Hopefully you will see most of the happenings in the pics of our day. We had a good day with few meltdowns once the clinic visit was over. Then before bed we went on our nightly swim in the pool to play and work off some energy. I had such a hard time holding on to Miss Prissy Pants that we stopped early and went in to play in the tub instead. I can handle her in the tub b/c I can just sit with her while she plays. Anyway, good day in all... Keep praying for us and know that we truly thank you and love you for following along, encouraging us, and praying for our time together!
ALl our Love,
Tammy and the bunch

Pics...

Friday pics