Lots of Firsts

Jia has been doing exceptionally well.  To be honest, I was expecting it to be more difficult for her.  I was expecting a little more push-back.  A little more of the meltdowns I had seen in China, but they’re just not there (so far).  And she no longer cries at bedtime or cries out for her foster mom, but goes to bed cheerfully after our little bedtime routine and sleeps through the night.  Yes, you read that correctly!  She is finally sleeping through!  Yay!

This has been a week of “firsts” for her.  On Tuesday, she had her first playdate.  My friend’s daughter has been talking about Jia for many months and was so excited to meet her.  I thought I’d give it a shot and see how she did meeting her first “pung-yo” (friend). 

Here are the two of them.  Bonding in princess dresses.

Jia had her first pediatrician and dentist appointments.  She did great at both.  Thankfully, our dentist speaks Mandarin, so it made the whole teeth cleaning/x-ray process a breeze. 

Thursday, we went to a Christmas potluck with our homegroup, a tight group of friends with whom we meet weekly for a Bible study.  They were all itching to meet her, and I’m amazing they didn’t knock our door down after waiting a whole week!  haha.  She did fine, but got a little overwhelmed after about an hour and a half and started saying, “Bye-bye,” so we headed out.  It was such a joy to share her with our closest friends, those who’ve supported us, cried with us, and prayed with us through this journey. 

Saturday, we took her to church for the first time.  It was Christmas Eve service, so the service was much shorter than normal, and there were fewer people.   Although from Jia’s perspective, more than one “pung-yo” at a time is too many. 

The funniest part about the whole “friend” thing is…she talks about “pung-yos” constantly.  She wants to see “pung-yo” every day.  I think she just needs friends in limited quantity, but maybe more frequency?  Or maybe there’s one “pung-yo” she met that she really likes.  I’m not sure yet. 

She had her first Christmas, of course.  I’m sure it crazy and weird for her.  She finally got tired of presents and left the room.  It took her a long time to fall asleep that night too.  I wish I knew what was going on in her little head.  What on earth could she have thought about a day like that? 

Today, she met another child adopted from her orphanage.  God so graciously allowed us to meet this precious family in person.  Remember the gal who got those pictures and video for us back in August?  That family was adopting a 13 year old boy from Jia’s orphanage.  They just went back again and adopted another 13 year old boy!  (They are amazing!)  Anyway, they were exactly one week behind us in China.  I was so disappointed to have missed Angie, but it turned out that she was staying with her sister on the way home from China.  Guess where her sister lives???  15 minutes from us!!  What a blessing! 

We had a lovely time today.

Jia didn't realize that Colin was from her orphanage as I'm sure they'd never met, but someday, I think these pictures will be important to her. 

Jia also had her first Christmas card picture taken.  Not one of her favorite things.  She wanted to do just about anything other than take pictures.

 I did manage to get one usable picture out of the 50 or so that I took.  It was exhausting!