Hot Tea, Soup & Friends

We continue to be amazed by Shaling's adjustment. Though things aren't perfect, she is a mostly happy girl. At lunch today, we ate at the Chinese restaurant in Carlinville. It is a buffet. Besides a plate of rice and other items, she had 7 bowls of soup and would have had more if Mom & Dad hadn't grown too impatient to stick around. She told her dad "10 soup" & then "100 soup" & then "200 soup" & then "1000 soup". The girl LOVES her soup...any kind...chicken noodle, vegetable, spicy, etc.

She has opened up recently to some waitresses in a couple of Chinese restaurants that we frequent. Previously, we had introduced her to a Chinese friend of ours, James, but she didn't seem to take advantage of having such a close, ready-made translator. We'd also introduced her to a couple of acquaintances that spoke Chinese, but no dice there either. However, she must have suddenly wanted to let us know a few things that she hadn't been able to convey to us, because she told these waitresses that:

#1: She wants to drink hot tea more often.
#2: She wants more friends.

We have several kids in the neighborhood that like to play with her, but I'm guessing she misses that orphanage atmosphere of having LOTS & LOTS of kids around. We are sending a note to the school with our contact information for her to give to a friend. We are hoping that "Jessica" has her parents contact us to set up a play date.

She will also be starting volleyball practices soon. Perhaps that will help as well. She is MUCH more of a social butterfly than Preston is. In a few weeks (perhaps closer to April?) she will be playing softball too.