Today has been great!  Maddox has come out of her shell quite a bit and we have all enjoyed watching her blossom.  She has laughed at all of us, she took two bottles, she had a good nap and she has explored.  She is quite the explorer.  Ryan and I stated that we have gone from one extreme to the other.....MK always wants to be with someone and does not entertain herself very well.  Maddox entertains herself too well!  She is a mover and a shaker.  Ryan says we will be closing a lot of doors when we arrive home - to include the bathroom!  We figured out today that she was most likely allowed to walk around when taking a bottle.  She doesn't particularly care to be held when having a bottle, she would much rather be on the move with the bottle in her mouth.  We are in survival mode at this point and we have allowed her to do this but there will be an awakening in her world once we land on US soil :) MK is LOVING her role as big sister.  In fact, as I am typing this, MK is telling me, "Don't worry mom I can take care of her.  I will tell you what she needs.  You don't need to keep checking on us!"  And the boys are wrapped which was totally expected!  She will reach out to them to be held and they gladly pick her up!  So all is good in Maddox - land for today!
About our day.....we woke to snow!  Unbelievable!  We are told this is not the norm for this time of year.  It is supposed to be as cold tomorrow if not colder.  YIKES!  We visited a local museum which I will blog about in the future.  After the museum, we rested for a bit in our room and then took a trip over to Maddox's orphanage.  Though the orphanage is responsible for the care of around 400 children, only 100 live on site, the rest being in foster care.  We were allowed to take only a few pictures, one being the room where Maddox slept during her brief stay there.  We were also allowed to take a picture of the footprints on the staircase.  The footprints are painted on the stairs so that the children know to stay in their line.  And then I took a picture of the outside of the orphanage as well as directly across the street.  I cannot describe to you the way I felt during our drive there, the sites that we saw, the poor conditions of the buildings and streets....there were moments that I thought surely we were not going to where my baby lived, surely the driver was lost or taking a shorter route.  But he wasn't.  I have never really thought of our adoptions as a way of "saving" a child until today.  And the children in the orphanage, the handful that we were allowed to see - they were all so full of life, all had special needs.  The boys gave candy to the children and one little guy said, "Xie Xie, Gu Gu" which is "Thank you brother."  And there was this little girl.....oh I could have just scooped her up - she was oh so proud to show me her beautiful artwork.  She was precious!  And there was a tiny little baby with a newborn cry, a cry of hunger.  The nanny prepared the bottle but instead of cuddling the baby, she put the infant in a seat with little support, she turned over a bucket to sit on and she fed the baby its bottle.  I was tempted to say, "Please, I will feed him/her" but I knew to keep walking.  The nanny was doing her job and the baby was getting it's immediate needs met.  So sad though. To say our day made an everlasting impression on us all would be an understatement.  I am glad we have our Maddox.  I am glad she will know a different life.  I am glad that we have friends and family who have supported us from day one and made her possible.  

***The one pic is of two little girls playing in the mud....there was mud everywhere.  The other random pic is of the motorcycles complete with umbrellas.  It rains almost daily here so the cyclists have to be prepared.  

Please continue to pray for our health and safety.  Thank you all and we can't wait to introduce our little girl to you soon!