We have had a wonderful few days. Having Clayton home for a few days has helped with jet lag and adjustment so much. We have just enjoyed being home and being together as a family. The pictures of the kids are of them watching a movie and Joy Wenqian was very tired, the second day home. There is one of them painting at the kitchen table, playing dress up, and her riding her beloved bike. We went swimming at a local pool yesterday and Joy Wenqian had a great time being independent without us watching her like a hawk since she had a life vest on this time. She absolutely loves riding her bike. Judging from her actions I don't think she had actually riden one before although I'm sure she had riden as a passenger in China on one. After thinking for so long that I'd be grieving missing out on her first almost 9 years of life it is fun to see her experience many firsts like riding a bike, being able to teach her to ride one without training wheels, swimming, dance lessons, first camping trip, first church service, and I was even there the first time she heard about Jesus, and I'm sure many other firsts we get to experience together.
Some of the people she knows from Guilin have been available to Skype with her over the past two weeks and she likes talking with them. She explained her American name, who God and Jesus are, and were able to get a few communication things out in the open and talked about. My friend that goes to UGA and is from China has been available to talk to her daily on the phone which has been extremely helpful. We hope to have some friends we know that were missionaries to Taiwan over this weekend to meet her this weekend. Food has been a difficulty for her. She is a picky eater anyway, even in China so western food is hard to get used to for sure. She does like Ensure though so that makes me feel better and she is taking a multi vitamin with iron and we are slowly finding things she likes that are nutricious. Like any child she doesn't have a hard time with the unhealthy things just the healthy ones. She just happens to be slightly underweight and height and have slightly low iron. It's caused me to take a good look at how well everyone else its eating to and made me give more healthy options for everyone so that has been nice.
She is such a joy to have as a child. The girls played dress up today and after she would add things to her costume she'd come down the stairs yelling "mommy" and I'd take photos of her posing. Then she'd want photos of her with her sisters too all dressed up. I was going to wait until next year to do dance lessons but I'm looking into a summer camp after seeing how much she likes it.
I got the paperwork I had on her ready today to take with me to her pediatricians visit. When I looked through what we had I was reminded of how sick of a child she once was and how God used people to literally save her life. I am also reminded of the fact that we could have easily told God "no" to her file because of how incomplete and uncertain things seemed about her. It hadn't been updated very well about how well she was doing now just how sick she was from birth until her second surgery at about 3 1/2 years. The point being that it was confirmation that whatever God tells us to do He will be faithful to handle the details and carry us through. We are not and were not guarantied that Joy would be healthy but we knew God was going to allow us to be her parents. She fits so amazingly well into her forever family. I know not all adoptions go this smoothly. Our first one was a struggle for at least 6 months. Just doing what God says to do is what we have to focus on. Joy Wenqian (which she is starting to like being called Joy) has her cardiologist appointment on Friday and I can't wait to tell him about all the people that God has used to be His hands and feet in her little life.
Grace, Faith, Isaac, and Joshua are all also doing very well. I realize we are probably still in the honeymoon phase of adoption but it's so fun to see them getting along so well and I feel like we are building trust and language skills to battle any upcoming issues.
We really do feel full of gratitude to God for our family of 7 and are amazed by His working in our lives!
2 comments:
Tomatoes, Corn on the Cob, Sweet Potatoes are some of Chloe's favorite. They ate those in Guilin, Also boiled eggs. Try all of those and see if she will eat them. That was the hardest part when we returned. Chloe does not like cheese, bread, and baked potatoes. She loves baked sweet but not regular. Good Luck.
Elizabeth
I've enjoyed following your blog -- what a neat family you have. Have you tried to feed Joy steamed eggs? A lot of the kids in our group liked them and our daughter in particular just loves them. I learned how to make them at home using a rice cooker to steam it.
Blessings,
Kelly
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