One Month Home

Well, I guess it’s closer to six weeks.  (Make that seven.  This post has sat around waiting to get published.)

Looking back at week two, I would not have thought we’d be this far long in our adjustment yet. 

The level of busyness is still at an all time high, especially since we started homeschooling again.  Sometimes it’s overwhelming and if I can manage to get a shower for the day, I’m doing good. 

As far as the important things go, Jia is doing remarkably well.  She is fun and playful.  She's very sweet and easy going too. 

Here are some of the things she is doing.

-      She can read, “Barney’s Colors” without me now.  It’s the book we have read every night since we met in China.  She has it memorized.

-      She sings, “Jesus Loves Me” and “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”, without any help and she loves, “Itsy Bitsy Spider”, mainly because of the hand motions.

-      She loves to laugh.  She reminds me of the song from Mary Poppins.  She needs to have her own version of that.  She will fall on the floor and roll laughing at the slightest humorous situation.  A couple of times a day, she’ll call me over to tickle her on the floor.  She’s laughing long before I ever tickle her! 

-      She is now sleeping in a toddler bed and she loves it.  I didn’t think it would go so smoothly, but it must have helped that she went with me to two different friends’ houses to pick up the bed and then the mattress.  They built it up, saying things like, “Oh, this is Jia Bing’s big girl bed.  Wow!”  She was sold!  As long as she can be in the bed and still see me in my bed, she’s happy as a clam.

-      She loves to dress up.  Here she is as Reggae Mickey Mouse Butterfly Ballerina Princess. 

-          Her rendition of Itsy Bitsy Spider.

-     She eats really well.  She’s gained 3 pounds and grown an inch since we’ve been home!  She’ll try just about anything, including chipotle hummus, to my surprise.  (She didn’t like it, at all.)

-     She is crazy about her sisters.  Seriously crazy about them.  She doesn’t like it when they have to do school during the day and can’t play with her, which adds to the busyness, because I need to keep her otherwise occupied instead of letting her interrupt school time, hence, showerless days. :)


Here are a few pictures.

She is really amazing and so perfect for our family.  We continue to feel incredibly blessed that God chose us to be her family.