Oh My Goodness, I am Tired!!!

Melina is NON-STOP. Did I say how busy she is?? I am so tired and cannot get anything done. I am hoping that sometime soon I can get some Christmas pictures done. It seems next to impossible to get the 3 of them together. The older 2 no problem, but the little Melina is a challenge. I am having a difficult time getting her to be still long enough to take a picture. I told Grandmommy they don't make a camera fast enough for her. As you all know my first 2 didn't sleep much and I thought for sure if we adopted I would have one that liked to sleep. That didn't work! She is truly one of my girls! Right now she is making a pure mess of my room as I type. She is a hoot. She is also cutting her molars which makes her all the more pleasurable. :)
Here are a few pictures I have been able to capture at the spur of the moment over the past few weeks. Notice how my girls are growing up!!! I don't think I am ready for this.
All three girls are very precious to us and we love them very much. I am thankful for each one of them.

Covenant Child!

Melina was baptized last month and I am just now getting around to putting it on the blog! It was wonderful. I think the entire congregation was holding their breath in anticipation of her screaming once I handed her over to Ted. However, our prayers were answered, and she did great! She did not cry one little peep, but instead kept her eyes on Ted and took it all in stride.
What peace there is in knowing that it is up to God to change our children's hearts and not our own. Yes, I understand our responsibility, but for me as a control freak it is something I have to preach to myself regularly.

Amazed

Oh, how thankful I am for our family and this special little girl! I thank God and I am amazed at how He carefully chose her for us. She is growing. She is now 15 mo. old. This week she had her well check and her pediatrician of course was pleased. She has gone from a little girl that could barely sit up on her own and 3 months behind to a little toddler toddling around, getting into everything, saying new words everyday, and is now closer to an 18mo. old. I am not bragging, just so amazed and so in love. We all are.
The older girls have a lot of fun with her also. It gives me joy to see these sisters enjoying each other and learning how to work and play together. I am thankful they have each other.
Today Barry said," Mommy needs to start the paperwork for #2!"
We'll see....

Sarasota Trip and New Email Address

Sorry it has been such a long time since we last posted. We have been busy living our lives with Melina and the rest of the girls. We are really enjoying it too. Melina appears to be no different than any other little girl her age. She is crawling around now and soon she will be walking. She has a little mind of her own and we have to tell her "No." even though it doesn't seem we've had her long enough for that. Nevertheless, she is into everything, just like any other child. She is so funny. She will go toward something we have told her "No" to and when she gets close, she stops short, normally, looks up at Mommy or Daddy with a questioning expression, and shakes her head "No." Sometimes she actually does turn away and sometimes she doesn't - pretty typical.

As we were eating supper tonight, I made the comment that the Chinese government really did a good job of picking Melina for us. Shanna corrected me when she said, "God chose her before the foundation of the world." How true she is. I pray that we would be worthy stewards of this amazing gift.

By the way - our email has changed. Our new email is bsginn@embarqmail.com. Shanna and I will try to do a better job of keeping you posted on our family. Please forgive us for the long time between posts. All is well here at the Ginn household.

The collage above are pictures taken from our trip to Longboat Key in August. Remember, you can click on the picture and it will open the picture up in a larger window so you can see it better.

Happy Birthday Melina!

We are settling in nicely at the Ginn Residence. It was tough there for a while. Melina was not sleeping well which means we were not sleeping well. I'm glad that's settled a bit lately.

Since the last time we posted, Melina has turned one year old. We had a great party for her. We enjoyed Chinese food - Shrimp Lo Mein, Moo Goo Guy Pan, General Tso's Chicken, and egg rolls. Melina also dug into some birthday cake. Check out these photos.

More to come later. Hopefully, not so long next time.

Barry

Melina's First Trip to the Mountain House

Home for One Month!

As you can see Melina is adjusting well. She is such a joy and a wonderful blessing. She is attaching well to me,("Momma")and she loves her Daddy. I think we have finally settled in to a little routine and she is sleeping well at night. She is very active. Her legs and hands are constantly moving, even though she is not crawling yet. I am trying to get rested up for the big day because it won't be long. Today she was up on her hands and knees rocking back and forth.
Sorry I have not been good at updating the blog but it has been an adjustment trying to keep everything together and the blog was the logical thing to let go. We will try to do better. I know it is the pictures you really like anyway so we will periodically add some new photos.
It is very hard to believe that today it has been one month since we got home from China. Time is just getting faster and faster!
We are thanking and praising God for our little miracle and we thank you all for your continued prayers.

Day 12 - Guangzhou Hot Zoo

Wow, it has been so long since I have blogged I think I have forgotten how. Barry has been monopolizing it so far....Actually it has been a joy watching him and hearing his side of our story. For most of our journey he was pretty quiet and now he is hooked! I will say, he has had the more exciting end of it though. I am not sure what he shared the last time, but we do apologize for not blogging every day like we were. We are not very pleased with the hotel we are at right now. We have to pay the equivelent of about $15 per day for internet access. It is pretty pathetic. Also, all of us, but Barry have been sick. Just about everyone of us in our group as had a swore throat, cough and head congestion. I think all the babies from our Lianjiang orphanage have been to the clinic at least once and most were diagnosed with bronchitis. Last night I couldn't sleep unless I had a throat lozenge in my mouth. I don't really recommend sleeping with one, but sometimes you just got do what you gotta do.
Today we went to the zoo here in Guangzhou. In the words of little 5 year old Olivia, "The zoo was sweating!" Even our ice cream cones were soggy! The humidity is just about unbearable and we were all dripping. The poor little babies were miserable, but they were all great little troopers. We saw a panda, bears, a lion, tigers, monkeys, an elephant, hippos and rhinos. Even though it was hot it was good to get out and finally do something. Meredith was glad. It also made the pool feel even better today.
Meredith has been such a wonderful help and we are so proud of her and how she has travelled. She is really enjoying all the babies and the other children that came on the trip. In the afternoons when we are waiting for the pool to open many of the families hang out in the hallway since there isn't a common area. We call it a hall party. People bring out their snacks, babies and toys and we all just sit around talk and play. It is so amazing to see how all of the babies interact and love their mommies and daddies.
It is also amazing to think that we have had Melina now for 8 days. It seems as if we have had her from the beginning. She is so precious to me. When I hold her she will intently study my face and sometimes mimic my mouth movements when I talk. She has the sweetest voice. I love her dearly. Well, enough of writing, I know it is the pictures you really want! By the way, there is a baby panda in the background in one of the photos with Meredith. Make sure you click on the photos so you can see him.

Day 11 - Several Rainy Days

We haven't posted in a few days so I thought I would take a few moments and provide a few pictures and give you guys an update on what's going on here. On Sunday, May 20, we had to switch hotels from the White Swan to the Dong Fang hotel. We believe we had to move because of renovations. It sure sounded like they were going to come through our ceiling several days while we were there. We actually like the room here at the Dong Fang hotel better than our room at the White Swan. But all in all we much prefer the White Swan. The pool here at the Dong Fang is cool though. See the picture.

Sorry we haven't posted the last couple of days. We haven't been busy. In fact, its been pretty boring. It's been rainy that past several days so we've had to stay in our rooms a lot. Also, for some strange reason, that beautiful pool is closed between 10:30 am and 3:00 pm. We totally don't know why this is. This sure makes it difficult for those of us who have older kids like Meredith. We've tried to make the most of it though. In fact, we had a little hall block party this afternoon waiting for the pool to open. One high point of our trip needs little caption. See the picture. We were actually quite glad to have a burger from McDonalds. Taste the same to me. Thanks for caring so much for us. Continue to pray for a safe trip home and a smooth transition to our normal lives. We love you all.

Barry, Shanna, Meredith and Melina

Day 8 - The Famous Red Couch

We started our day as usual with a great breakfast after Melina slept for about 10 hours. We then went to Friendship Park where we played our breakfast off. The afternoon was rainy so we napped. But this evening we had a birthday party for the kids who have already turned one and we took pictures on the famous red couch in the White Swan Hotel with our new additions.

I am still amazed at how easily you can make friends. Meredith met this little girl at the park and they hit it off well. The little girl only new a few words of English, but she and Meredith played so well together. When the little girl wanted to do something different, she would simply wave to Meredith to "come on" and there they went. This little girl was probably about 10-12 and full of life and energy.


As I mentioned earlier, we also took pictures on the famous red couch. Enjoy the photos. We will post again tomorrow night after we move from the White Swan to the Dou Fang (not sure how it's spelled) hotel. Much love to all.