It seems it never really stopped but we are happily back in it and having a hard time catching up after our time in China. It has been a fast ride these last few days and Hai Ping is hanging on! Brian and I are still a bit dazed and confused with our jet lag .The girls have us beat hands down and have made the transition into life here just fine while we continue to struggle with being so tired-
Hai Ping is doing amazingly well.
We were greeted Friday afternoon with huge hugs from our boys, parents and great friends Mark, Jenni and their girls. It was so wonderful have my boys in my arms again and I cannot believe we were away so long......... The hour ride back to Howell was fun. Hai Ping and Ethan got along immediately .
They have similar humor and he was cracking her up!
Zach is a different story.......she looks at him with disgust.I know it is a cultural and orphanage behavior. Even some adults in China Wondered why we would want a "damaged boy". There is no way to explain of course the love we have for him or how little his handicap means to us. In our eyes he is the perfect little Chinese boy and having one leg makes him all the better.
Hai Ping clearly does not share the same view as us and I can see this will take some time. My heart hurts for our little Chinese boy who is so excited to have a China sister home. His first words were "see you have black hair like me and brown eyes....." She said "NO " and gave him a mean look and walked away.....
Once home we had an awesome dinner, cake, decorations and all in all the greatest family night ! We have been dreaming of this night for so long!!! Thank you Ellen, Andy and Wendy for making our first night at home more than we had hoped it would be!!!!! Hai ping was the star and once she recovered from all of the smiling faces staring at her including Ethan'
s friends who popped in for a quick visit she warmed up and found she really liked the attention .
She had gifts to open. Which she had no idea what to do with. She would take the box and say Thank you and she thought the box was the gift! She soon learned there was more inside and now has an American girl doll, a beautiful bracelet and a trip to Claire's to get her ears pierced to prove it!
By the end of the night she was sitting on Uncle Andy's lap to pose for pictures and had Grandpa wrapped around her finger!
She hopped on Ethan's bike showing us she can ride a two wheeler and was so proud when we all clapped and encouraged her! She loved her room she shares with her sister.
Bedtime brought cuddles and big smiles. She happily picked new jammies out of her drawer and took her new doll to bed with her .
Saturday we let the kids play and hang out. Hai Ping soon met all of the neighborhood kids who had been patiently waiting for her to arrive home.By Saturday afternoon we had ten kids in the yard playing and she was loving it! Abbie, Hai Ping and I left to get her a new bike and some roller blades. She is in heaven with her own bike and can really ride fast. By this time she is pretty pumped up and acting really crazy.We had to stop at the outlet mall to look for a dress or skirt that would fit her for church On Sunday- She was so wired and had been continually pulling on me, bending my hand back, climbing on me and in general acting like a two year old. Now I am adding this because I want to remember all of this and our whole purpose of this blog is to have it as a journal to look back on. I am not adding the negative because we want to scare anyone away form older adoption . Although I admit at this point I was having one of those - Oh my! what have I gotten myself into moments.......I have a ten year old kid literally acting like a two year old. I can not communicate with her and she is a wild child in the store. I admit, vainly I hoped no one would think I was a rotten parent and prayed that people would realize our situation. Had one of my other children been acting this way I would have left the store, swatted their behind and taken a privilege away.....Hurdle One- I can't swat her bum, She does not understand my language, reasoning is tough at this stage.... and she just got here I want her to trust me, enjoy her freedoms here and feel like she can be herself with us...........
Parenting ruled over the soft feelings, I could only take my arm being bent back for so long, When she started to try to pull my pants down in the middle of the Kids Gap and laughing so loud while running away and knocking small children down all of my senses came back to me and one quick "grab" of her wrist and my oh your in deep -----------look came out she "knew " where I was coming from! We had a little talk about behavior in the store which I am sure was great entertainment for all watching as I hand motioned pulling pants down-not ok, running in store , not ok- using a loud voice inside, not ok.................We went home and I napped.......
I feel like I am slightly post partum...I know it's only jet lag but yikes!
Sunday was great and our only hurdle was getting through a quiet sermon with a loud girl speaking Cantonese....She does not care to sit "quietly" and will let me know when she is bored with notes written in Chinese (I really need to have this one translated because I'm sure it is nothing nice the way it was handed over with her tongue sticking out as it was passed to me!)
I was ready for our service to be over when she started to smoke her bulletin. Yes she was pretending her Sunday bulletin was a cigarette and wow did she think that was funny! Tom our pastor talked on about GRACE and I realized this service was marked for me as I knew only with the GRACE of GOD would WE have the patience to parent our five children.
And yes , Although I give the real story here I have to tell you it's all with the a good heart. All of these things were to be expected adopting and older child. We knew what we were getting into -
So as that service ended and I looked at my daughter who seems to blending very nice with our kids and our life. No doubt she will make me CRAZY at some point. They all do but I felt overjoyed with love for her. Thankful still she was our daughter and grateful for the opportunity to have her safely home with us. Our first weekend home a success!
