The Honeymoon is Over

"The Lord is my light and my salvation: whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life: of whom shall I be afraid Psalms 27:1

We have been in China for almost a week and it took that long for Shane to finally get tired of Abigail hitting him. Yesterday, (Wednesday - China time) he finally lost his patience and hit her back. She came back at him fighting hard. He retreated and she ended up in time out. She threw 3 temper tantrums yesterday. She gets grumpy when she is sleepy and won't let me hold her so she usually ends up getting in trouble and in time out. She cries herself to sleep. Yesterday, John and Mandy went with Mr. Li to the local market and mall. Mr. Li is very helpful and we have enjoyed getting to know him. I stayed at the hotel with the kids. We had an enjoyable several hours together. Urumqi is surrounded by mountains and they are white with snow. They had a snowfall last Friday with 7 inches of snow. Even though it is not very cold here during the day (around 50 degrees) there is still snow in some areas. We take about two strolls each day. Abigail loves to be outside and protests when we return to the hotel. John and Shane took a taxi to the Pizza Hut last night and we enjoyed pizza in our room. The day ended with Abigail wanting to go to John's room but she kept throwing temper tantrums because he did not understand what she wanted so he brought her back to our room where she fell asleep. It was after 11:00 p.m. when both children went to sleep so they slept until around 7:50 a.m. this morning which was the latest thus far. We had our usual breakfast downstairs in the hotel room. John, Mandy, and Shane took a taxi to the local market again as it has a play area. Abigail and I took a long stroll. She does fine with me when we are alone but I am not "number 1" on her list. If John or Mandy are around, she prefers them. She has already figured out that I am the disciplinarian of the family. Today has been a much nicer day with no temper tantrums so far. It is around 7:15 p.m., Thursday night, China time. While John and Mandy used the computer at the Internet Cafe, I played in the room with the children. We played for about 30 minutes with me tickling them and them hiding under the covers in the bed. We did have one incident with Abigail hitting Shane, me telling Shane to hit her back, Shane hitting her back, and Abigail scratching his face and leaving a mark. Shane cried and said that " we need to leave her in China". I know he does not mean it as he truly does love her but he was mad and hurt at the time. I am still learning how to control her hair! I tried french braiding it today and it held for a while. By late afternoon, I gave up and put it in a ponytail. It is gorgeous hair but she can't wear it down without it being all over her face. Her little bottom is 100% better and she is much happier about it. We took a long walk to a local KFC around 3:00 p.m. this afternoon. Urumqi is a typical busy city with lots of stores and street vendors. One more day and we will be leaving for Guangzhou. Please pray for safe travels and that the children endure the almost 5 hour plane ride 'quietly". God bless.