RANDOM THOUGHTS FROM THIS BEAUTIFUL DAY

I THINK SHE'S HAPPY! 

Today was our first totally free day in Zhengzhou. All of our paperwork for here is completed, and all the families in our group are just waiting to receive our child's passports before we fly to Guangzhou on Saturday morning

Our time here in China is flying by. This has been, by FAR, our best adoption trip. The weather has been perfect, with lots of sunshine and really warm temperatures for this time of year. I keep telling myself that we are surely going to have some setbacks with Ansley Grace, and that is to be totally expected, but then, she is doing SO wonderfully, and has just blended into our lives perfectly. It is very obvious that she is happy with us. We still aren't doing big bear hugs, although Roger has snuck a few hugs in. I think she's a little bit more of a daddy's girl at this point, and after four adoptions with the other three being mama's girls, he deserves it. 

She is very comfortable around both of us, though, and will let us help her in any way needed, although she is pretty self sufficient. She is actually an amazing little girl......and LITTLE she is!!! It's almost strange......she has lived in an orphanage for almost 7 1/2 years, and honestly, if you could see her with us, you would never dream that three days ago she was still a little orphan girl. She has already mastered our way of life, and she has done it well.

We decided to take a walk this afternoon to a park near the hotel where we stayed during our other two adoption trips to Zhengzhou. It is a beautiful place to walk, and in the back of the park, there is a little amusement park, with a few rides for younger children. We discovered it when we were here for Eiley Joy's adoption. We weren't sure that it would be open this time of year, but it was, and the girls had a ball riding the rides. Of course, since there was an odd number of girls, I got to be number 4 on the rides. I might add that the rides here are a lot different than the ones at the fair at home.....you know, where you pay $5 for a two minute ride. Here, the rides are about half that price, and once you get on one, you might be on it for 15 minutes. Today, they would stop each ride every time another child came up wanting to ride, but everyone already on could stay on. I rode everything with Ansley Grace, and I have never heard so many giggles in all my life!!! Molly Kate wanted to ride the bumper cars, so she and Callie Beth got in one, and Ansley Grace and I got in another. I laughed so hard that I cried. Molly Kate was the driver in her car, and I'm already thinking we may have to have some serious driver's education lessons before she gets behind the wheel!!!! It was all just a lot of fun!!!!

As soon as we got out of the bumper cars, it was obvious that Ansley Grace needed to use the bathroom. Unfortunately for US, the only bathroom was one that was quite GROSS, with all squatty potties, except for one. When we went in, the stench was enough to almost knock me down. There were no doors on the separate toilet areas, and no lights. There apparently was one above the ground potty, but an elderly lady was occupying it, as was another elderly lady occupying one of the squatties. Ansley Grace started toward one of the squatty potties, and Callie Beth yelled, "NO, Ansley Grace.....you can't use that!" Well, Ansley Grace showed her that she could, although she fell in the hole when she first tried to squat! When she finished, she gave Callie Beth a look that said, "I knew what I was doing!" I think all public restrooms are disgusting, but compared to this today, they are luxuries!!!!

As we were walking through the park, after riding the rides, there was a little old lady sitting on a bench. She smiled and waved at us. I asked if I could take her picture. She motioned for the girls to come over by her, so Ansley Grace and Callie Beth sat beside her, and she actually pulled Molly Kate into her lap. What was so amazing is that Molly Kate, our shy one, didn't seem to mind at all. When I started to take the picture, the old lady tried to hide herself behind Molly Kate, but when I told her I wanted to see her in the picture, too, she almost acted embarrassed by it, but she stuck her head around so I could see her sweet face. 

When the girls got up, I showed her my tag about our adoption, but she shook her head, which let me know she couldn't read. It's things like this that get me thinking deeply about my girls and what their lives could have been like had they never been adopted. We have seen many sad sights here......so much poverty, homeless people, severely handicapped people begging for money. The thoughts that all four of our girls were orphans, and their futures were so uncertain........could they have turned out to be one of these people had they not been adopted? Molly Kate and Callie Beth are SO Americanized. We probably haven't done the best job teaching them about their native culture, although, I would say multiple trips back to China to actually see it has probably been a great learning experience. They love their lives, though, and they DO have a future now......they have the opportunity to succeed. I think, too, that they truly understand that Ansley Grace really didn't have that where she was, and that now her life is going to be different, too. Not every 7 year old child would be excited about permanently taking an 8 year old into her home forever, but they get is, and they have embraced this process with a lot of love and acceptance for Ansley Grace. That just makes it all extra special.

Tomorrow our guide, Tina is taking me to visit the Zhengzhou Children's Welfare Institute, Ansley Grace's orphanage. It will be the first time in our four adoptions that we haven't all gone when we made the orphanage visit. Tina talked to Ansley Grace yesterday about visiting one last time before we leave, and she said she didn't want to, so I will leave the girls with Roger. It makes me very sad for her foster family because I know they are hoping to see her one last time. I'm not sure they will be very receptive to seeing me when I arrive without her. I am hoping and praying I will have a good visit with them, though, and I'm hoping to get to see where she went to school, and possibly where she stayed before she lived with the foster family. We are also going to go to her finding place, if at all possible. It will be a very emotional day for me......I know because I have done this three times before. It is important for me to go, though, because I want to find out as much as I possibly can about her.....hopefully some things about her earlier years, because I know absolutely nothing about her life and have no pictures of her before the summer of 2015, when she turned 7 years old. Oh, how I would love to have some pictures of her as a baby. :)

This visit will be good closure for me, though, regardless of what I find out. I am so thankful that God called us to adopt again. This time last year, our world was about to turn upside down, and change us forever. We know, though, without a doubt, that this precious little girls who was placed in our lives on Monday was part of His master plan for our lives. Today I choose JOY........