January 12, 2011

HOME UPDATE!!!

WOW, I can not believe we have been home over a month!!! It is all still a blur!!! Hard to believe this child that has touched our hearts has been in our arms now almost 2 months & we are still in awwww of how far she has come!!! I will admit it has not been easy but I think the timing of arriving home around the Holidays made it even harder. The kids were home from school for another 2weeks for Christmas break so I will say we have ALL had a lot of time for bonding, maybe toooo much!!! It is really hard to explain when people ask "How are things going"????? Not sure how to answer when I want to keep it in a positive way but not sound like it has been perfect!!! I am living the song "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus right now, just listen & it will explain how I am feeling, it is all about the climb & keeping my faith!!!

There is soooo much to tell about our first month home so I will keep it short!!! She has truly amazed us on how well she is picking up on English, she is trying so hard to fit into this American world that she wants to know how to communicate with others! She loves watching Annalei at gymnastics & she is a natural herself, once she sees something or if you teach her she will do it!! The gym is so excited for her to start classes but once we get there she crawls back in her shell & will not participate, mama even bought her a new leo hoping that would help (but she is VERY modest & a leo does not cover the whole body so that is an issue).

She has had LOTS of first & that is so amazing to us & we realize how much we take for granite. Popping popcorn has been the funniest, walking in snow for the first time, seeing drums played at church, shopping at a mall, Christmas with a Santa that brings gifts, decorating cookies & I can go on & on but that is when I stop & put my exhausted selfishness aside & start to realize how we have changed this child's world & how she is having to adapt to a new life & we have expected so much out of her, even though it all may sound like it is heaven to a child, she still had a life that she lived 9 years before coming to America that is totally different than here!!!! I had to stop & think the other day that she even had a name for 9 years in China (Long Fu Mei) & in 1 day it was changed & she has had to learn it & adapt to it over night & live with it(thank goodness she likes it)!!!

She is going to start tutoring soon with a friend of mine at school & we have found a grad student at IU that is Chinese to help out as well, YAY!!! We are so excited, she needs more structure in her life & a daily routine, like she had in China!! She seems very bored when we are home so I am doing some school projects at home & many crafts to keep her occupied!

We have many new pic's & I will try my best to update more often!!!! Here a some from Christmas, we introduced her to the COLTS, decorating Christmas cookies & then a picture that my niece captured of her looking out at the snow & then typical siblings playing around!!!