Erin the Bear

I took the photo on the right just today - the one on the left was taken two years ago at the orphanage in Cangwu. A lot has changed since then, hasn't it? The green bear isn't the same one: the photo of the left was an early photo that everyone we knew had seen before we met Madison. To help out, a few of our friends decided to go on a quest to get Erin the Bear, a beanie baby that she's holding.

We wound up with four of them! It seems odd that a half a world away, our Chinese daughter would be holding an Irish beanie baby in an orphanage...but what else can you say?

Today Madison had fun with us outside for a bit, enjoying the play sets we have set up in between our houses. I'll have to take a photo of them sometime, but today I was too busy playing as well. Mommy, in the meantime, was trimming shrubbery. Madison noticed and wanted to help as soon as she could: she grabbed her plastic garden tools and immediately began helping Mommy the best she could.

Madison was quite energetic today - certainly more so than Daddy or Mommy! But we managed to keep up the best we could. This week, we hope to catch up on our rest a bit. Madison went to bed at a reasonable hour, and had no complaints. We're all going to get our rest this week.