Home Sweet Home!

We are HOME and so, so happy to be here!  After about 30 hours of straight travel, we made it back to Dulles and finally good ol' 7989 Old Montgomery Rd. around 10 pm Wednesday night.  I think we all finally went to sleep around 3 am!  Sleeping in my own bed never felt so good!!!  And the other thing that amazed me at first was how vivid all the colors seemed.  China is so gray that even when the sun was shining there was a gray haze all around us, and the interior of the hotels was very gray or beige, so my green countertops, yellow kitchen, and the beautiful bright blue sunny skies with fluffy white clouds took on a new brilliance for me.  What a wonder is God's creation!  I am so thankful for the colors that surround me on a daily basis that I have so taken for granted!

Lucy Rui Yuan is doing great overall although life at home has not been easy these first few days.  She very much enjoyed meeting our puppy Pretzel and is very taken with her, playing with her endlessly but needing lots of watching as she can get kind of rough (Lucy, not the puppy!) and can only take so much puppy licking and jumping before needing a break.  She also loves all her "ge ges" (brothers) and most of the time her "jie jie" (sister) and most especially her "ba ba" (daddy).  However her "ma ma" she is not so happy with upon being at home.  She has seemed almost angry with me, often pushing me away and shaking her little hand at me to back off if I come too close.  Although not unexpected as we had heard that children from foster care can have issues like this at first, it has been painful for me.  While we were in China, she was stuck with me and had no choice but to allow me to help her and comfort her.  With Daddy at hand here at home, she wants him and only him for the most part, especially if she is upset or needing comfort.  The Mommy in me so longs to do that for her, and it is so difficult to be rejected in this way.  I am having to really rely on God and His timing, giving her the space and time she needs to adjust to this new, foreign Mama that doesn't speak her language or quite understand her needs like her China Mama.  And God is so faithful to give me glimpses of hope just when I feel at my lowest...yesterday she reached out to give me a little kiss and today in church when I got up to take Christopher his name tag she wanted to go with me rather than stay in church with Stan.  And I am so grateful that she is bonding so well to her daddy; that is a joy to behold! 

Last night we celebrated Patrick's birthday which we missed doing as a family because of the China trip, and the cake was a big hit.  Most fun was smearing icing on everyone's  face as that is done in China to the birthday child for good luck.  Lucy took great delight in showing us all exactly how this is done :)

I just want to thank everyone so much for all the prayers and love and support you have shown to our family over these  past couple of weeks!  Knowing that so many were (and are) praying for us has buoyed our spirits and helped us persevere when the going seemed really tough!  We are so thankful to all of you, and first and foremost, to our great God who holds each one of us in the palm of His hand!