Such a Goo Goo

Today felt like a fresh start.
Mina woke up and didn't even whimper when Daniel said, "Good morning, sleepyhead!"
In fact, she only cried maybe 2-3 times the entire day when it came to Daddy being around.
I cannot emphasize how wonderful that was!
She thought about letting him hold her, but then quickly changed her mind.
She's been jabbering pretty much non-stop today -- I have some on video but I don't know how to upload it. I'll figure it out soon.
As far as communication goes, we speak English to her, which of course she doesn't understand.
We do a lot of charades and hand gestures.
There are moments she gets frustrated at us, but overall the language barrier hasn't been too rough.
She's only 18 months, so there wouldn't be much verbal communication going on even if we spoke the same language. We're finding our way, and she's picking up things very quickly.
I think she's actually trying to teach me Chinese...it's so sweet.
When I'm laying down with her to get her to sleep, she'll point to my eyes and say something in Chinese. Then point to my nose and say another word. And on and on.
She says two English words, "Mama" and "Goo Goo" for "good girl".
I realized I had been saying, "Good girl, Mina!" a lot after any little thing she did. The other night in the tub, she did something and looked at me and said, "Goo Goo!" I didn't realize at the time what she was saying, but Daniel and I both notice she says that and looks at me after she does something "good".
Her "no"s sound like the Russian "nyet" which makes me laugh every time.

We were able to Skype with Zubie and Aubrey this morning and Grammy and Pop Pop after that!
It was so great seeing them and letting them see Miss Mina.
Aubrey is so cute, every time we've Skyped the first thing she says is, "Ni Hao, Sissy!"

Today we ventured out without our guide and walked to Pizza Hut.
I'd post more pictures but someone (cough, cough: DANIEL) forgot to put the memory card in the camera.
I have some photos from my phone, but I can't access them from our room. Bummer. :(

We fly out in about 12 hours to Guangzhou to finish up the rest of the paperwork and formalities of the adoption.
Please say a prayer for Mina Friday evening -- it'll be Saturday morning here, and she'll be having her medical evaluation. Because of one word on her file, they are insisting on doing "extra" testing which we've been led to believe is more blood work. I could cry already thinking of how awful it's going to be seeing her in pain.

Thank you all for your continued prayers. We have certainly felt them!
I feel like so many of you are on this journey with us.
Thanks for hopping on this crazy ride with us!