Wordless Wednesday

Reflection

It is hard to believe it has been a month since we brought Kelina home to our family.  In some respects it seems like it has been a year since we have come so far from those first days together.  It seems like it couldn't have been just Monday that we had the big meltdown at the museum, because now, in just a few short days, Kelina has changed again. 
When Kelina first came home, she was exploring everything and was very quiet.  Soon she became fustrated with the language barrier and had meltdown that were hard to deal with mainly because we weren't sure what we were to do.  Before long though, we learned what she needed at those times and also what would help to prevent them from even occurring.  During this time, I compared it to bringing home a newborn.  I just had that Mommy alert on all the time.  Do you know what I mean?  When you are staying prepared for something to happen, will she be hungry?  is a tantrum coming?  do we need to take a break...I just didn't know what the next 10 minutes would hold and it emotionally drains you.
Then one day about a week ago, Matt and I were talking and sharing how we noticed Kelina was just more relaxed than before.  This also was the time that Mommy was able to feel more relaxed.  And though Kelina was enjoying things more, I still wondered when we would see the huge smiles that were a part of her referral pictures.  Kelina received a fitting message in her fortune cookie at the Chinese restaurant we ate at, it said "Happiness will be yours when you let those around you into your life".  That is our prayer that she continues to trust us and let us into her world.
This week we have seen Kelina open up to Daddy much more.  She lets him help more and she just runs over to him on a whim to give him a hug.  Last night she even jumped out of bed, to give him a hug before he left the room.  This is big because she hasn't wanted Daddy to help tuck her in at night.  We know that God has heard your prayers for us.
And the smiles!  This week we have been blessed with huge smiles.  She is even posing for pictures for me!
I am in awe of this little girl.  She is so brave to run to us on Gotcha Day and just continue to embrace this family as her own.  It hasn't been easy, but she continues to move forward.  I am astonished at the strength she has shown in facing this difficult transition, leaving all she knew and stepping out in faith into a new family, new experiences, and a new world.  She continues to open up to us and show us more of who she is.  She has such compassion and a nurturing spirit.  "Are you okay?" being the first sentence she said as she wrapped her arms around Jie Jie who was crying.
A few days ago, I went to the basement in search of a gymnastics outfit for Kelina to wear to a birthday party.  I came across some really cute outfits that I had saved for my girl when I brought her home from China; unfortunately this box was for a younger girl.  It was hard to see those outfits knowing that they were too small for Kelina.  I cried for those lost years that I didn't get to experience with her.  I see her sleeping so soundly in bed at night and I wonder at her strength.  I thank my God for holding her and giving her a peaceful sleep.  How is she doing it?  I am in awe of her.  I was grieving the loss of years that I didn't know.  She is grieving the loss of people she did know.  But, it is through those people she knew that she is able to love, and grow, and be strong.  It is also through the prayers that all of you have prayed over the years and the ones most recently that have made this go smoothly and be blessed by God's peace.
We are so blessed by this little one.  Kelina's favorite bedtime song is a butterfly song Mommy made up.  She loves butterflies and I loved snapping pictures of her the other day when she put wings on and ran outside.  She is unfolding her wings and she is ready to fly...

Learning about Jesus

Kelina loves music, singing and dancing.  It's in her nature.  It's part of her minority culture.  And she loves putting on a dance show for Pap and Grandma when they come to visit.  So Kelina was fascinated when we went to church last week.  She loved twirling the ribbons to praise music with her sister.  She inquisitely would watch the band play and stare at Mommy and others as we sang. 

This week when she heard the music coming from the sanctuary she gave a little cry of exhiliaration and pulled at Mommy to go in.  Later when the congregation was praying, Kelina thought something was wrong with Daddy because he was bowing down with his eyes closed.  I whispered it was time to pray, that everyone was praying.  She looked around and smiled with a surprised look on her face.  It finally made sense, so she closed her hands together and bowed her head too.  I guess she realized we are not the only ones who pray at home.

Then after the service, Kyle made haste to teach her a new word, "Jesus".  Kyle showed Kelina a picture of Jesus in the kid's room then with the help of Kaylie and Kellan, they explained that Jesus loves her and he was breaking bread in the picture to represent his body that he gave up, dying for her (Kaylie did a "cut throat" sign to symbolize death, hey use what you know she'll understand, right?!).  WOW!  They didn't waste anytime!  I am so proud of them, taking Kelina by the hand and teaching her about Jesus.  She understood because she excitedly shared her new info with Baba (Daddy).

For this Child we prayed.

Day Out to Museum

This week, we took a trip to the Natural History Museum.  I don't think I'd have braved this so soon except our passes are about to expire.  Thankfully Aunt Ali and the boys were able to join us for added support and fun.  Everyone, including Kelina, were so excited to see the dinosaur bones. 
The only problem was Kelina didn't eat much for breakfast which turned into a slight problem with car sickness on the way to the museum.  So Kelina was hungry and ready to eat in the middle of the museum exhibit.  She wasn't having the "yes in a minute" and proceeded to try taking out the food.  As you can imagine a huge meltdown ensued.  I took Kelina down to the food court while my wonderful sister-in-law took the kids on to the next exhibit.  Kelina was so upset that I wouldn't let her eat in the exhibit; she could care less that she had the food now because just like any young 4 year old child, she wanted HER way and that was to enjoy looking at dinosaur bones WHILE nibbling on her favorite nutter butter snack.  Why not?  Dinner and a show, all while being pushed around in a stroller--can't get any better than that, right?  She eventually figured out that Momma was not giving in to her demands and she ate a nutter butter then requested to see the dinosaurs.  It was very hard to handle in a public place, but I think we both learned a lot about each other and our expectations. 

The rest of the visit went extremely well.  We were able to finish the dinosaur exhibit, see another, go have lunch in the food court, then see another exhibit before we left.  It was a rough start to the day but we were able to enjoy ourselves and we have grown through the experience.  I'm amazed at how much a look or a slight gesture by Kelina can be understood by me already.  She is my child and I am learning to read her, when she might be scared or hungry or shy, what will startle her or make her laugh.  It is amazing!

Family Hike

We took the family for a hike at a local park.  It was fun to watch Kelina exploring everything.  There were huge centipedes on the path that she would say "eeww", a combination of wow look at that and keep that away from me.  I have to agree with her.  She also found acorns along the path and more and then some more.  She kept putting them in her pockets until they were so full of acorns, she had to keep pulling up her shorts to keep them on. This was another day where we wondered about Kelina's past experiences. Having lived in a small city, did she ever get to do something like this? She seemed out of her element. You could tell she wasn't sure what the purpose was, "where are we going?" was on her mind. She wanted Mommy to carry her, then hold her hand, then she eventually held Kyle's hand while walking. Before long she figured out that we weren't going anywhere, that the whole purpose was just to enjoy God's creation, so she took the backpack from mom and grabbed the perfect walking-stick up from the ground and started walking...she figured out just how fun it is to walk in the woods until we had to trek through some weeds to find our geocache (don't know about geocashing, check out geocaching.com).  Then Daddy elected to carry the girls through the briars and weeds.  What a good Daddy. 

SuperMan a.k.a. Daddy
protecting his little girls from the nasty briars

Bubbles!!!

The girls love bubble baths!  This is one of the things that Kaylie has been waiting to do with her little sister ever since we told her she couldn't have bath time with brothers anymore.  The girls had a ton of bubbles (they must have added more when I wasn't looking!).  Kelina had asked for "Papples", so I thought she was first saying something about Pap-Pap.  Thankfully it didn't take me too long to figure out that she wanted bubbles.  (She has been real patient with us over the language barrier.)  It was very hard to get good pics of the girls because they were all over the tub!  The danced, and tickled each other, and played with a bucket...it's no wonder that Kelina asks to take a bath a few times a day.  Luckily it is summer time and I can tell her it's not bath time but we can go play in the toddler pool outside!  Life is good!

Week 2

Kelina is doing really well.  She is exploring toys such as Thomas the train, Barbies, puzzles, and Tinkerbell fairies.  We enjoyed going to the pool with Nana before she had to leave us to return home.  Kelina misses her even though they've talked on the phone.  We expected this would throw her off some because of her past experiences.  It showed up affecting Kelina's bedtime.  After a week of her going to bed in her own bed with just a kiss and hug and song from Mom, she now wants me to stay with her even though she still fights sleep.  I think she fears I might leave so she hasn't gone to sleep easily for us.  She keeps reading books and wiggling around until she finally falls asleep at 11PM!  This is just part of the transitions we will go through.

Had to include this pic because it throw Mom's back out!  Pain and steriods:(

Kelina loves Cinderella!  She has been dressing up like Cinderella all week.  She will only wear her Cinderella pj and sometimes wants to wear it doing the day even for outside play!  Kaylie is slowly introducing her to the other princesses and other dress-up fun.

Don't mess with my noodles!!

Kelina loves noodles, cup of noodles, ramen noodles (all flavors), spagetti noodles w/ sauce... We had fun trying to get a picture of her mastering her chopsticks and noodles, but she decided to have fun making funny faces for us!  So wonderful to see some more of her personality!

I wouldn't mess with her when it comes to noodles!  She gets down to business!