Yesterday we had dinner with a lady who just received her daughter, age 2, on Thursday also from the same orphanage Jackson is from. I'm nearly certain that when the girl saw Jackson she said "Kai". They must have known each other in some sense. He, on the other hand, didn't act any differently. We played for a bit in the playroom and the little girl was saying "ma ma" or something that sounded quite like that when trying to keep a toy away from the other kids. The new mom said the girl was saying "no no" in the Shantou dialect that's spoken there. Keep reading and I'll tell you what I learned.
Jackson has been having night terrors several times a night where he's really not waking, but thrashes about, kicking his feet, crying, and can't settle for about 5 minutes. All the time he's saying "ma ma" and at first I thought he was calling for perhaps the foster mother. Now I'm sure he's saying no no. Not a surprise really. Good sleep is one of the hardest things for a child to achieve while trying to learn to trust and be comfortable. It must be like the true subconscious and feeling safe.
Jackson and I had a good playtime yesterday just the two of us. We rolled around the playroom laughing and tickling. He didn't care to play with many toys, but seemed to just want to be touched and be close to me. Amazing.
With this new comfort level for him comes jealousy now for Kaylee and also for Jackson. Kaylee had a really hard day yesterday with pouting, crying, physically being aggressive not only to Jackson but to us as well. He can't come near her without her pushing him, hitting him, and biting him. Basically they can't be together without close supervision. Please pray for them to become friends and learn to play together. Jackson is also now jealous whenever Andrew or I pay attention to Kaylee.
Sydney is so far doing ok. Her fever continued through the afternoon but was gone by bedtime. No other issues. She ate a little supper, but none of the kids are eating like they normally would. Kaylee is back to feeling fine physically.
We saw a few of the other families in the travel group as they were walking to supper last night. The lady who's been with us all week is very good at trying to include us and tell us what is happening. She said they were going to the Buddist Temple this morning for a blessing and a river cruise tonight. We've heard none of those details from our guide although we did tell her we weren't interested in the shopping trips. Wonder if she'll call us and let us know time or price, etc? I would have been interested in at least seeing what the temple looked like and what people talk about (certainly not a blessing I want for my kids as the only blessing I believe in comes from the one and only true God!), but Andrew wants no part of even going there. That's fine.
We are wondering about finding a church on the island. Not sure what time services start, but we'd love to praise the Lord with some other believers this morning!
Jennifer
