We are officially a family of six! (10/12/2010)

It is difficult to know where to start right now.   All my girls are behind me in a dark room trying to go to sleep, and I have a ton of stuff in my head to talk about.  I will start first in a word of gratitude to each of you that have been requesting of our Father on our behalf the past few weeks.  It is a reminder that He loves to hear from His children.  Your requests have been heard, and He has graciously answered each and every one of them.  I never would have imagined what would be going on now after we met WeiWei 30+ hours ago.  Seeds of favor have definitely taken root, and we will continue to request our Father’s watering and nourishment of these seeds. 

We first met WeiWei yesterday as she walked into the Civil Affairs office about 1:30 on Monday.  Our guide, Sophie, told us that she had spoken to the foster mother earlier in the day and said that WeiWei had been up since 0400 that morning, so excited to meet us.  So I thought this was a shoe-in for the first meeting.  Then she told us that the letter and pictures we sent never arrived at her place.  That concerned us a little, but still thought that we could handle her not seeing our faces before.  However, we were met with a crushing blow as she walked in and automatically drew closer to the orphanage lady who brought her.   We tried all that we could to get close to her, but she would have nothing to do with us.   Her face was a look that we hope to never see again towards us.  Can you imagine what she must have felt, looking at six strange, white faces?  As GDaddy said, her heart had to be beating out of her chest.

After all the paperwork was completed, we tried to leave, but still had to drag people from Fuling with us until we had to leave for our hotel.  In the bus, she clung to Sophie tight.  After we arrived in our room, Jenn instructed me to take all the kids to eat at the CSC (aka China’s version of our KFC…).  She did not the kids to hear her scream once Sophie left.  All the kids (and GDaddy) were upset at her screaming.  Luke put himself to bed, hiding under the covers so he could not hear her.  But Jenn is so good (the best)!!!  After we left for 3 minutes, all the crying had stopped, and she had already warmed up to Jenn.  By the time we had arrived back at the hotel, she was starting to open up.

Open up she did last night.  WOW!!!  I am so glad that we were warned about the little girls from this area of China about their “spiciness”, because she started to let us really see a different side of her last night.  After a few conversations on Skype with family, she started letting loose – skipping between rooms, jumping in between beds and really playing with her big brothers and sister.  PTL!!!!

We knew that bedtime could get interesting, and we started to brace ourselves for what could be possible for the long night ahead.  We tried to lay WeiWei in between Lauren and Jenn in the double bed (slightly large twin bed…).  But she slid herself off the bed, grabbed the excess comforter from their bed, made herself a pallet on the floor and slept for the next 10 hours, not waking up until 0730 this morning.  PTL again!!!  We never expected that from her.  But it was a great sign for us.

After a fun breakfast at the hotel this morning, we met Sophie in the lobby to do about an hour’s worth of paperwork.  WeiWei was great during that time, crying just a little as we left Sophie to run back up to our room.  Since Sophie was the last person from her past that she knew, we realized this could be rough letting her go.

We then headed to the Bank of Communication to wire our fee to the orphanage at noon.  This took over an hour to count the bills and wire to the orphanage.  It was a lot to pay, but somewhat of a relief to know that we were not carrying this much cash on our bodies for the rest of the trip.  Throughout that whole time, WeiWei was awesome for us.

After that, we went back to the Civil Affairs Office for our ceremony to make us officially WeiWei’s parents and get fingerprinted.  This was pretty neat and reminded me of getting married again, as we took vows for how we would care for this sweet little girl.  (I almost wish parents would take this same oath when we had biological children…..)  This makes us officially a family of 6!!! 

It has been so much fun watching WeiWei’s growth in the past day.  Her look, her personality, and her whole countenance have changed from our first sight of this shy little girl.  We have not witnessed any shyness in her since late last night.  I think she will fit really well into our family, and we look forward to our future together.    Don’t get me wrong.  We have already had our moments of saying “bu yao” (pronounced boo-yow`), which means “NO” lots of times.  She is a curious 4 year old little girl.  She is getting into everything, trying to test our boundaries.  But she is one smart cookie, as she has figured out how to operate a camera, the elevator, a "Western potty", and our hearts!!

WeiWei is quickly picking up on English and is learning all of our names.  Jenn has also started teaching Mary Beth “The Name” too.  We will work on some songs for Him over the next few days, as she loves to sing already!

I cannot believe our Father has allowed us to be new parents again!!!  Today, we officially became a family and gained a new sister and daughter.  But it is so much more than that.  We have been given the awesome responsibility to offer a little heart an opportunity to know and love on her Father that she may have never known before.  May we never forget this responsibility!  It reminds us that this adoption is not about us.  It is our reminder of our Father’s adoption of us as His children.  We are no longer abandoned by the world, but brought into a family full of hope and bright future, just as we agreed to do today for Mary Beth.

Tomorrow is our last day in CQ, as we will tour the Old Town of CQ, the CQ Zoo, and Wal Mart for shopping for Mary Beth.  (Who can pass up a Wal Mart on a trip……even across the world?!?!?)


Thanks again for thinking of us and joining our blog family!  I wish we could enjoy it too, as Dwight is doing a great job of posting for us.   Maybe we can pick back up once we get to GZ on Thursday.

His servants across the world!