China Earthquake

I have been wanting to write since we heard of the tragic earthquake in China. Several people have asked about the location in relation to where we were. The epicenter was about 200 mi from Fuling---where Lydia was born and lived in the orphanage; and about about 250 mi from Chongqing (where we stayed five months ago). From what we have read, the orphanages in the area were not damaged and the children/babies are safe. However, many of the mountainous villages in the area were swiped away, as they are built into the hillsides that were shifting.

**Photos from our trip---the countryside between Fuling and Chongqing (approx. 200 mi from the earthquake epicenter)

Jason googled a bit today and the photos from the area are heartbreaking. Parents weeping over their lifeless child being pulled from the rubble---their ONLY child, because of China's policies. People devasted because their homes, often whole villages, are in ruins. Where will these people go? How will they rebuild their lives? They are the poorest ones already, only to meet more adversity. From what I have read though, about the people of China, is that they are a strong people; and that throughout history, they have repeatedly overcome sufferering and strife.





At times like this, we think of Lydia's birthparents---their whereabouts and safety. And, we get weepy about the thought of our sweet girl still being there, or if we were there picking her up during this time!





Pray for the people of China today...

Is it April already? Life with the tornado girl!

Amazingly it has been almost 2 months since I last visited my site! I just don't have the time to sit down and not be interrupted a zillion times.

Our 'little lady' is quite an octopus these days! She can get anywhere fast---and that girl can reach! She is quite tall for her age. She can reach up onto the counter and pull off anything (including cups of coffee and cutlery--yikes!) Thankfully no accidents there yet, as we are usually watching her like a hawk. But she is into everything; and although she understands "no" and the things she's not supposed to do, her drive for exploring and experiencing is just too strong! She can't seem to help herself and will continue doing what we have repeatedly pulled her away from---very typical 18 months, but also she is somewhat strong-willed and *wants* to continue just to see if she can and for how long. And, for her everything is enjoyable! Just rustling papers frantically, sends her into squeals of laughter with cheeky smiles---until she sees me coming and she tries to put them back. It's so difficult, as I know she needs to explore; however, we also can't have her shredding things, chewing on shoes, pulling Engineering books off shelves onto toes, and basically leaving a tornado-type path in her wake! So, I am left to love her so much and also feel so frustrated with her---that sounds familiar. Oh yeah, the boys are just like that...

In trying to keep her from exploring TOO much, we also have to work extra hard to keep her safe (while still letting her play and learn)---that also is difficult. She thinks she can 'walk' up and down the stairs (only been on two feet for 2 months) or dive head-first into the tub! And because she is tall, she can climb up onto any table or chair and we constantly find her standing on things--boxes or baskets turned upside down, or a footstool that she has pushed up to stove!!! We are starting to call her "Lydi-danger"! I will try to include the pic of her sitting on top of my kitchen desk (surrounded by dreadful stacks of papers and books!), happily picking through interesting things while perched on her knees 3 feet off the ground!

Last week we had our first trip to the ER---well, Urgent Care at Children's Mercy. She was cruising passed the banister post (with square corners at the bottom), slipped and banged her head on it---immediate dripping blood and screaming. I knew right away we needed "glue" as it was a split open cut. So, off we went to get her sweet little head glued back together (after we found clothes because we were still in our jammies at 10 am!). As we went there, I remember thinking "how many more times will I be here with this little one??" and "how am I going to keep this child safe? we've had her 4 months and the bonks and bruises are a daily thing!"

I know we are in the toddler phase and it doesn't last forever. However, Lydia is making up for lost time and it seems she will be catching up for awhile---experiencing those things that she didn't have a chance to for the first 14 months of her life. And it seems more difficult because we never had that infant stage with her---just straight to the crazy stuff! No laying around in a bouncy seat. We are constantly on the go and I am never alone--her following me around or me tracking her down to catch the next item that's being tossed in the toilet! Challenging, and exhausting, but I wouldn't change it for anything....

Lydia loves her new baby

Lydia is 16 months old! Here are some most recent pics with her new Asian baby doll. When she first arrived home (at 14 months), she had no idea what a dolly was, nor how to play with it. Since her play skills consisted of mainly banging and mouthing toys, she didn't attend to the doll at all---just dropped it and moved on.

Today, I got out the doll again with a play bottle; she picked her up right away, looked intently at the face, touched the hands and hair, and hugged it. When I gave her the bottle, she put it right up to the baby's mouth and said "mmm". Great play skill progress for eight weeks; with no intervention or teaching, but just natural parent/baby interactions!

Happy Chinese New Year

We celebrated our first Chinese New Year together--the Year of the Rat! Tonight we attended the CNY activities at the Nelson-Atkins art museum here in KC. We had tickets to attend a dance performance of little girls doing traditional Chinese dance.




Thinking that we had left in plenty of time, we were surprised to then be caught up in traffic on the block surrounding the art museum. As there was no parking and cars everywhere, we soon realized that this was a bigger event than we thought! After finding parking two blocks away, we ended up being late for the early performance. But we saw plenty and had a nice time.



The boys were very interested in the lion dance, the calligraphy painting, and the musical group (which played stringed instruments somewhat like what you would see musicians playing in a tea house). They weren't as interested in the Chinese art, but Jason and I were---several scrolls, stone carvings, etc. The food from Bo Ling's looked and smelled great; but we knew the boys wouldn't try it, so we passed it up.



I was interested to see the variety of people that came out for this event; some Asians, some adoptive families, and those that just love to experience the arts and the Chinese culture.



However, what interested me the most was Lydia's response (or lack of) to the Chinese language she heard. As we watched a Chinese artist doing silk painting, another woman struck up conversation with her directly beside us (either in Mandarin or Cantonese, I can't tell!). Lydia didn't make any indication that she even noticed the Chinese language---she has only been immersed in English for 5 weeks. I thought she would make some kind of response, like watching them or staring at them as if she recognized it---but, nothing. Could it be that she has forgotten the language already? Maybe they weren't speaking Mandarin or possibly a dialect that she didn't understand? Or perhaps because being with us indicates English-only to her and she wasn't expecting to hear Chinese. Not sure, but it was interesting to watch and good for pondering later on.