Thursday, April 13, 2006
THE MANY ADVENTURES OF
WEN YAN  CONTINUE . . .

I have lost track of exactly how long we have been home but it is somewhere near 6 weeks now and almost two months since we met WenYan in Changsha. The time surely does fly by when you are not waiting for that travel approval and in the midst of the anticipation of the first meeting and all the anxiety that goes along with all the unknowns.
 
As people ask almost daily, "Are things STILL good?", the answer continues to be a big "YES, they are!" Faith continues to immerse herself in our life and show a real dedication to being a part of our family. In every aspect, she is visibly making a choice to do as we do, to try the things we enjoy doing, and is having a great time based upon the smiles and hugs.
 
Just tonight for dinner which was a little rushed after a busy day we had an old staple that I was almost afraid to try... macaroni and cheese and hot dogs. We also had some chinese steamed pork and vegetable buns that I had bought at the asian supermarket before we went to China thinking she may prefer that to the mac and cheese but I was wrong yet again. She loved the mac and cheese and cut up her hot dogs just like the rest of us. She took one bun to be polite but Shea ate the rest of them after Faith had no interest in them. Faith also tried Shea's potion of mustard on her mac and cheese which was quickly pronounced "boo-how" (my americanized butchering of the pinyin) meaning not good.
 
She has tried several new things the last several weeks and found many things she likes to do. There are still lots of things that she will get to experience for the first time in the coming summer months and it is so fun to watch her enthusiasm and I am so impressed by her willingness to try new things. So many times in my life I have let opportunities pass my by because of fear of going outside my comfort zone and she has really shone a bright light on how overcoming fear and remaining open to new experiences can change your life for the better.

So what has Faith been up to lately? Here is a summary of the things that stick out in my mind over the last few weeks....
She doesn't know how to swim and I think she may never have had an opportunity to do so in China but when Michael took all the girls to our indoor pool at the rec. center she jumped right in with no fear. Michael said that with the aid of a kickboard she was right out there even venturing into water above her head trying her best to learn to kick and do her arms.
Just yesterday as the weather has been so wonderful we bought her a bicycle and she was really cute at the store. She walked right up to the one she wanted, no need to do any shopping around at all. As soon as we got it home, she and Shea took off up the street and had a great time riding up and down the hill and over to a nearby park. Immediately after school today, they again wanted to take off riding. We are happy that they have each other to ride with for fun and for safety.

Faith also had her very first dentist appointment in her whole life we believe. We weren't too worried as her teeth appeared to be in very good condition and straight but we weren't entirely sure there wouldn't be any underlying problems so I took her to a Chinese speaking dentist. I couldn't imagine how to explain dental procedures to her in English and I just knew she would be at least a little afraid of the whole thing. I am glad we did that as while she put on a mostly brave face, it reminded me of the day of her medical exam in Guangzhou when she had to have shots. She seemed a little uptight and scared but willing to do what mommy and daddy said she should. It was also a bit of a drive there so I thought her carsickness would make it all just horrible but she slept most of the way and the sickness seems to be going away a little bit. Hooray! She was nervous, but the dentist was a kind older man who talked her through everything and it turned out that her teeth are great with no cavities. I was very happy about that for her sake but I don't think she had any clue what she had avoided. : )

Faith also had her first sleep-over with a friend. Lydia was adopted from China a litle over a year ago at the same age as Faith so they have become friends as we live about 45 minutes apart. I was expecting to have a hard time getting them to go to bed which would be normal for girls their age but they were in Faith's room by about 9:30 pm and were very quiet so we were quietly patting ourselves on the back for being such great role models/parents etc.. ha! They outsmarted us by staying up talking until 11:30 pm which was really hard on them the next day when the time was moved forward and we had to return Lydia to her family in the morning. I have to say though that even though Faith was tired, she did not take it out on us and if Lydia had not told me how late they had stayed up I would not have known.

Faith also has discovered a love of scrapbooking. Again, when her cousins were here a few weeks ago, she got to watch her cousin and Aunt working away and so I printed out all the photos she took in China, including the disposable cameras that we had sent to her and showed her all my supplies and she took it from there. I am so happy to see her do this as she is writing on all of the pages in Chinese about her friends and former life. I hope that someday she will treasure these memories and share with us all the stories that are behind those photos.

She also had to make a class change at school due to the year-round track schedule. The class she was initially placed in went "off-track" for over 3 weeks so she transferred into a new class. Again, the teacher and the other students have welcomed her warmly and I hear from Shea and others who see her at school that she is always surrounded by friends wherever she goes.