Grace's Yi Heritage

After a relaxing morning, our guide took us to visit the Ethnic Minority Village Park. Yunnan Province is multi-national, with 52 of China's 56 minority groups represented. The park is similar to a small-scale Epcot in that it features the different villages and showcases replicates of buildings, traditional attire, statues, etc.

It was out a ways from the city and near the mountains and a lake. Beautiful!


The weather prediction was 70 degrees and overcast, but it ended up being 85 and sunny. In an effort to please Chinese observers, I had dressed Grace in a really warm outfit. I had to buy a parasol at the park to shade us (everyone in China carries umbrellas or parasols on hot sunny days), and the whole time I kept thinking of all the pretty summer dresses I could have put Grace in.

Grace is from the Yi minority, and we actually saw some women who really live in the village as they were touring the park today. They were very surprised to see an American couple with a Chinese baby.

As we visited each "village," we learned about the people's customs and lifestyles.

Some villages have a pretty temple...

Some have grass huts as houses...

Some have tall pagodas...

Others have pretty courtyards...

... and beautiful artwork and unique written languages ...

Some have statues of legendary village heroes...


And the Yi group? They have liquor barrels.

Yes, you read that right. Our guide informed us that the Yis are big drinkers. When you visit their actual village, they give you a bowl of liquor to drink as their welcome. In fact, when we went inside this building...

... a group of Yi men sitting around a table offered me a shot of whiskey. SERIOUSLY. As each village had workers that are truly of that particular minority group, I asked Helen if the men in the Yi building were really getting paid to take shots. Apparently, they are.

So if you're wondering what I'm going to tell Grace about her Chinese ethnic heritage, I will highlight the tidbit I saw on this sign...

...that the Yis are good at singing and dancing. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Oh, and another redeeming characteristic...they love the tiger. War Eagle!

One amazing relic of her Yi heritage that we do have is a 180-year-old headpiece that was hand-embroidered for babies to wear for sun protection.


We bought it at the Boyitang National Art Museum, and I guess we'll hang on Grace's wall in her bedroom. We also bought her a little Yi doll dressed in Yi's traditional dress.

And now for an update and pics of Grace...because I know that's really what you're waiting for. :)

I was up until 2 am last night because Grace would wake up screaming, but we did sleep in until after 7 am. She seemed bubbly and happy today, and she even worked her dimpled smile to charm all the servers at breakfast. She is talking/babbling (it's Chinese, so who knows?) more and more, and she never sits still.

She still won't let anyone else hold her, but she loves to tease Scott and play games with him. And tonight, she even gave him this...

There are times when I am carrying her and feel like my arms will give out. And I'll try to see if she'll go to Scott or our guide, Helen. When she refuses and clings to me, I somehow find the strength to keep moving with my 19-lb peanut because I am so pleased that she wants me.

While day by day, we see more of her smiles and laughter. We also see more of this...

and this...
While the screaming fits are not fun to deal with, they mean that Grace is becoming much more comfortable around us. And that's a good thing. The hard part about parenting an adopted child is that you have to go against almost every instinct you have or parenting advice you've learned. For instance, Grace will throw an absolute fit if I try to take away the yogurt melts. But since you are supposed to simply meet their needs, including hunger or hoarding tendencies, for the first two weeks or longer, you just have to give them what they want. I feel like we're spoiling her, but it's most important for Grace to learn that she can trust us. This is something most kids learn as infants. When they cry, they're fed, held, or changed. Orphans miss out on this brain-building lesson, so we have to start over with them. Discipline and training comes later. But, boy, it's hard!

It's almost 11 pm Thursday night, and Grace has been asleep for a couple of hours. We're praying for no night terrors! We pick up her passport tomorrow and fly out to Guangzhou. We're hoping the transition to a new hotel won't set Grace back in her progress. Remember how I mentioned that she couldn't sit down or get up from a crawling position? Well, sometimes grief can cause motor skills to regress. Over the last few days, Grace has regained these abilities!

And one last update...Carter seems to be doing well. He was really missing us this morning, and he doesn't like to say bye when we have to get of Skype (he says, "NO goodbye!!!"), but he is having fun with my mom, my grandmother, my sister, and other family members. He has even learned to play the harmonica! If he only sees us in the video window, he immediately becomes concerned and asks to see Grace. We're thrilled he seems to already care so much for her! But it's so hard to think that we still have another whole week before we see our sweet son again. I pray the time moves quickly, for all of our sakes.

Sending love and thanks to all of you for keeping us going....