Too Excited To Sleep

I woke up and could not go back to sleep as thoughts of just what a sweet, good girl Shaling is bounced around in my head. When we got back to the hotel room last night, she took her shoes off. I asked Preston if he wanted to show her where to put them. He picked up her shoes and called her by name, leading her over to a small platform where we’ve been keeping shoes. He told her that shoes “go here” and she happily said “ok”.

When it was time for bed, I got out some pajamas for her. She took off her socks immediately. I asked Preston if he wanted to show her where to put them and he picked them up, again called her by name, and led her over to a corner where we have a pop-up clothes hamper that we brought along. He said “dirty” and dropped them in. She obligingly said, “ok”. She then grabbed me by my hand and led me to the bathroom, where she started to undress, but then paused and pointed at the bathtub, speaking in Chinese. I didn’t understand the words, but I quickly gathered she wanted to take bath and ran some water for her. She had me help her remove some barrettes and a rubber band from her hair. In the tub, she put her head under the running water, so I put some shampoo in her hair. She grinned the entire time she did her own lathering. I just couldn’t get over how comfortable she was relying on me already for basic bathing needs.

For the first night of sleep, Brock took the cot and I’ve been in the king-sized bed with the kids (in the middle), only it doesn’t feel king-sized, as they both squeezed tight against me. She fell asleep – deep asleep – rather quickly. Brock & I may be having difficulty sleeping through the excitement of it all, but for at least this first night, she sure isn’t.

In the morning (probably around 8:30 p.m. Illinois time), we will go back to the Civil Affairs office to finalize the adoption. We will be meeting up with Carl & Kim again. I’m curious to hear about Natalie, who was having some difficulties with car sickness last night. She is a beautiful girl too. She was living with three kindergarten teachers and came with a giant suitcase of stuff. Even our guide said she’d never seen a child come with that much stuff. I believe that after we leave the office, we will be taken to a department store to go shopping for some basic necessities.

God bless all of you who continue pray for us as we begin this bonding process and attempt to figure out how to be a family of 4.