Monday, November 11, 2013

ours...

I am going to try to capture yesterday as well as I can. I don't want to forget. But I am going on only a couple of hours of sleep, so this may be scattered.

We arrived at the Civil Affairs office around 2:00. There are three other families here with us, but their children are from a different orphanage in the area. On the drive over, Michael, our guide, told us that Lelei (Ivy-Ann's Chinese name and her now middle name) would either already be there or be there soon. The other children would be arriving about an hour later. We walked in with searching eyes. They hadn't arrived yet. We looked around a bit, and then sat down to wait.

Within five minutes, our precious girl came bouncing in. We weren't sure if we could go up to her or not, but I called her name. The assistant director from her orphanage brought her right over. Lelei was so excited, chattering away and looking everywhere. I pulled out a stuffed seahorse that lights up and plays classical music, and she was entranced. It took her all of 5 seconds to figure out how it worked, and she squealed (loudly!) with delight.

After a few minutes more, she wanted to know what else was in her backpack. I pulled out a couple of other things. She played a bit as the assistant director was trying to give us information and tell Lelei who we were. I could tell she was trying to put it all together, so I pulled out the photo album we had sent her back in July. (They brought us a little bag with all the things we had sent to her.) I flipped through and pointed at the pictures and then at us. You could just see it clicking in her little head. She was so excited! She kept going between the seahorse and the album, pointing at pictures and then at us. I had prayed that we would be familiar, and we were. Her orphanage had prepared her well.

She is just perfect. She talks all the time, and we just try to turn everything into English. She is very smart and very focused. She colored with color wonder markers (she is ambidextrous right now) for almost an hour. She would ask for help and get confused when there were areas that wouldn't show color, but she'd just move on to another area. Then we played with pop beads for the next hour. She loves to put things away as much as she loves playing with them.

Every 30 minutes or so, she would look around the room. (The assistant director said she can only really see about 3-feet away, so we were all close.) She would point to each of us and say our names and wouldn't rest until she found all of us. Then she would go back to whatever she was doing.

She loved getting a bath! We have some stacking cups, and she kept pouring them over her head. She is very independent, which is good, but we are hoping she will let some of that go once she can rest in her parents. She also loved having her hair brushed and dried. It soothed her.

We read "Goodnight Moon" multiple times, and she was entranced. She learned the word "balloon" quickly and actually pointed to the red balloon once on her own and said, "balloon." She also has almost learned Ashlyn's and Emryn's names.

We have two, connecting rooms, so Ashlyn and Emryn are in one, and we are in the other. When we went to put Ashlyn and Emryn to bed, we kissed them. Ivy-Ann crawled over and kissed them both just like we did. It melted all of our hearts.

We put her in between us in our bed, and she played with her seahorse a bit before falling asleep. She is still asleep with her Baba (daddy) right now. I couldn't quit touching her last night. Feeling her little feet, playing with her thick, course hair, listening to her breathe, feeling her little heart beat...she is here. With us. Ours.

We go today to finalize the adoption. Ashlyn and Emryn are doing so well, and they are in love with their sister. We don't know what today will hold, but yesterday was beautiful and precious, and we couldn't have asked for a better first day with our daughter!

4 comments:

  1. What beautiful pictures, Kelli!!:) Thank you so much for sharing with us. I am so happy you had such a beautiful first day. God be praised for His mercies. I love how she seems full of personality and happiness. WOW! I am just speechless.

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  2. I have met your beautiful little girl at the orphanage, and she is so sweet, I am so glad you are all united. I was there with Chris MacFarlane when she looked at pictures of all of you in your photo album, I am so excited that you are all together, what a special time. I hope the adjustment is smooth and you all fall deeper in love every day. Best to you! Sandra Rogers sorgers@pacificu.edu

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  3. Oh, Kelli...this is so wonderful. I can't believe Ivy-Ann is so comfortable with you holding her, and with your husband holding her! That is a miracle and a blessing. What a stunningly beautiful, overwhelming experience this must be. So glad I get to peek into it.

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