Church and More

Another weekend of new experiences for Merrilee.

First, Merrilee continues to use the potty chair. And, when she’s not done, she let’s you know she’s not done. She refuses to get up from the chair until she’s finished.

We are very grateful to her foster family who clearly got her started on this path. We know some adoptive families where the babies from China were completed potty trained by the time they were 14, 15 or 16 months old.

Merrilee also made her first visit to church on Sunday. While we were in China, we know our friends at Catonsville United Methodist Church had us in their thoughts and prayers. Yesterday, we made it to the 9:30 a.m. service with time to spare. Merrilee was very good, and made it through about 55 minutes of the service before she got a little restless. Pastor Mark asked all three of us to come to the front of the church, and when we turned around to face the congregation, Merrilee got to see all of the people who had been pulling for us.

It’s hard to believe now that it was a four year wait for Merrilee to make it to the Miller family, but as Pastor Mark reminded us, this was the baby God had chosen for us. The timing was all part of his plan.

The other big news from Sunday is that Merrilee got to meet more of the Miller family. She got to meet Doug and Kadie (she really took to Doug – she still seems to like the men!) and Heather...

And, she got to meet her new cousin, Jordan. Jordan has asked so many questions, and he was clearly happy to finally get to meet Merrilee...

At one point, we were asking Jordan questions about Merrilee and he said the sweetest thing. After just a few minutes with her, he told us, “I’d do anything for that girl…”

We also picked up some pictures we had dropped off at Wal Mart last week. We had sent a disposable camera to China before our trip, and the camera made it to the orphanage and Merrilee’s foster family.

Now, we have a few pictures of Merrilee there in her foster home. The family clearly wanted to show off the clothes and stuffed animal were sent over in advance of our trip. We also got one picture of the other baby who was also in foster care with the same family. That baby too was adopted on the same day by another couple in our travel group.

Merrilee continues to love her blocks, her music CDs, and her Leap Frog ice cream truck. It plays the most addictive tune:

"Ice cream truck
On your street
Choose a flavor
What a treat! "

It's one of those songs that you just can't get out of your head once you've heard it 50 times...