progressing towards health!

Today is the first day that I can confidently say I have seen significant improvement in Julianna since this whole thing started 9 days ago. Yea!! We did not go to church this morning (no need to infect the entire nursery full of kids), so it was a quiet day at home. We had a fun time playing with "the babies" late this afternoon - Julianna was careful to make sure both Lydia and her baby doll were covered with a blanket (it got quite chilly today).


















Late this afternoon the whole family went for a short walk around town (it's a small town, so a long walk is out of the question!) Here we are just starting out ... still in our apartment complex. Our apartment is at the very end of this path, fourth floor on the left.
















I am carrying Lydia on my back in a "beibu". All the local ladies use them. It's very cozy and Lydia loves to snooze while riding back there. When I have Lydia in the beibu and Julianna in my arms the two girls are facing one another (over my shoulder) and they love to talk. Julianna says, "Lydia!! Hey Lydia!!" Lydia coos.

The not-so-great thing about Lydia in the beibu and Julianna in my arms is the combined weight of almost 40lbs!! Try carrying that load up to the fourth floor :) (The stroller weighs an additional 13 lbs, but at that point, I stop counting!)




This is main street (and the only street) in town. You can see that traffic is not a problem! I can stroll right in the street. Julianna is showing off her pink wardrobe - pink hat, pink coat, pink pants. That's pretty much par for the course around our house - when we sort laundry the piles are "darks", "lights" and "pinks".
















Along with the Huffmans, we are the first foreigners to ever live here in KC (a suburb of the big city we lived in for the past three years). It's kind of like a mill town - all the folks work for (or are retired from) the factory at the end of main street. Four apartment complexes, an elementary school, middle school, and some small stores and businesses (like hair salons, the bank, post office, a fruit/veggie/meat market, etc) make up the rest of the town. It seems like most everyone knows most everyone else. And EVERYBODY knows about the foreign families. No secrets here. But, all in all, the folks have been very welcoming and seem glad to have us around.