Payson's Eating Habits

Today we went to see Payson at 10am like every morning since being here. When they brought her to us, they brought her out again in two layers of footed PJs and it is literally in the mid 80s outside. We took her inside to try to keep her cool, but she started screaming at the top of her lungs which was the first time we had seen her this upset. We then noticed she was sweating like crazy so we decided to strip off a layer of clothing whether they liked it or not. We just decided that it was time for them to understand that we are her parents and we could not stand to see her miserable. She got so hot and upset that she got an upset tummy :( We used the skills we learned from the nurses in the NICU at Baptist East when Caleb was in there to soothe her stomach. I leaned her tummy over my hand and rubbed her back hard to push up any gas that was in there. It is cool to see God prepare you for each situation by events in the past. She calmed down, cooled off, and started giving her sweet smile that we are so use to seeing :)

Our translator that we had last time we came to Gyumri was back with us and he speaks English better than the lady we had the first two days and his brother works for the orphanage as one of the assistant directors so he is more successful in getting us information from the orphanage staff. When we went back in the afternoon to try and see Payson again, he was able to get the nanny to write down Payson's daily schedule and eating schedule. Payson's nanny, btw, is very loving and affectionate to Payson which is so nice to see and know. We learned that Payson is completely on baby food. She does not take a bottle at all anymore. She eats porridge, yogurt, and pureed vegetable soup most days. This was something that the doctors at Children's Hospital in Birmingham had said would be beneficial to her. They said that the sooner she got off a bottle the better because cleft palate children really struggle with bottles. God answered another prayer in getting Payson to where she needed to be eating wise. We had not been able to give the orphanage the information from Children's Hospital, but God gave them that knowledge without our help. We also found a market today that sells baby food and baby porridge so we will go tomorrow and get Payson the food she needs.

We found out today that the orphanage has some sort of review that happens twice a year tomorrow so we will not be allowed to go see Payson tomorrow. We will just use the day to wash clothes and go to the market to prepare her homecoming with us on Friday. One day left before Payson is legally ours even though she has been ours since we accepted her referral on Dec 21st. Good night from Armenia and I will talk to all of you tomorrow.

Love, Jenn