Extremes

What a whirlwind few weeks it has been! There is a stomach bug that has hit most of us, of course, one at a time. The only ones spared so far have been our two Chinese beauties, probably because they built up crazy strong immune systems in the orphanage. At least I pray they will ultimately be spared. Most of us have just felt not right, maybe a little queasy. Josiah and Lanie had it the worst, vomiting, diarrhea, the whole nine yards. I'm the latest victim and am trudging through my day today. I am actually waiting for Josiah at swimming lessons right now and can't believe I made it here. Don't know how I'm going to do dinner prep though. I am pretty spent.

Luckily, I have a new helper this week. James is now a licensed driver, so he's been able to drive himself and his siblings to track practice, and then he drives himself home. He gets done quite a bit later than the middle schoolers, so he can't bring them home. Luckily, I have a carpool set up so I only have to pick up once a week. And just so you know how spoiled we all are, the school is all of a mile and a half from our house - and still I complaint about driving. The big deal really is having to get the little ones in and out of the car.

So I've had the excitement of seeing James drive off on his own for the first time, and in that same week Josiah learned to ride his bike! One driving off in a car, one zipping off on his bike! Little steps of letting go, each one. Each one is bittersweet.

Still Amazing

This child is still amazing me daily.  She is just so sweet, so confident, so full of spirit.  Her vocabulary is just exploding  Today's word was "Hey".  She'd tap me on the shoulder and go "Hey!"  We went to the commisary and I stopped in front of the milk and she shouted "Water".  (well, close).  She shouts "BARNEY" when she sees any Barney character.  She still chatters away in Chinese most of the day, but I love that English words are sneaking in there. 

Josiah still doesn't play much with her, mostly because he's really at a loss as to what to do with someone he can't really talk to.  He is also smitten with her, just like everybody else around here.  Everytime he gets a kiss he gets a huge smile on his face.  Today, he pulled her on the wagon all the way home from the playground (several blocks).  He keeps talking about how cute she is, too.  He has also decided he's really going to need to learn Chinese!

Yesterday, I took Abby, Lanie, and Josiah on a base sponsored trip to Nagano to visit the snow monkeys.  I couldn't even consider taking Evie along because she is so terrified of all animals, and I didn't want a repeat of the Safari Park. It turned out to be a great decision, because you had to climb up a snowy mountain for about 2 km.  Josiah was completely burned out about halfway up the mountain, and I could not possibly carry him for very long.  If I had brought Evie too, I probably wouldn't have made it all the way up.  It was a treacherous hike too, with all the snow and ice.  Josiah did not enjoy his time at all because he was so tired.  I'm sure just having gotten over a stomach bug earlier this week didn't help.

Home Sweet Home

We have been home for one week now and it has been amazing. I am still in awe at how smoothly everything has gone. Evie is adjusting beautifully and so is everyone else. She is sleeping well (if getting up at 6:30 am constitutes sleeping well), is a good listener, absolutely loves her siblings, and is really a joy to be around. For those in the process of adopting that like to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly, I hate to tell you I have no ugly to report (not yet anyways). Things are going way better than I even expected they could go.

Evie is still not wanting Jim and I to both be gone at the same time. That being said, she succesfully made it in the nursery through the entire church service yesterday. Having big brother Josiah in there surely helped. I explained to her beforehand in half bad Chinese and have English that momma was leaving but she shouldn't cry. She sat in the same spot the whole time and just observed and looked sad, but she didn't cry.

She doesn't want us to call her Fuyuan anymore. She yells "Wo da Evie" everytime we use her Chinese name.