Nina-Li woke up and ignored us a bit, but she does that everyday. Once she is ready, she warms up to us. Fortunately, it didn't begin in tears. I allowed her to choose from two outfits to wear today and helped her get dressed, we went to breakfast, and then finished getting ready for the day. She is very meticulous. She brushes her teeth for at least 4 minutes, and has a specific routine. She then washes her face and hands. She doesn't like anything on her.
I should back up to last night. When we returned to dinner, she saw Dawson's socks, and gave them to him, telling him to put them away. He said, "Great, now I have two moms!" I went to bed early exhausted. However, I guess the three kids had a peek-a-boo event with lots of giggles.
Back to this morning. After getting ready the kids played hide-and-go-seek. Lots of fun and laughter. We then hit the boardwalk and went to the small children's amusement park. There were 100's of kids there for field trips. Many of them in uniforms for school. Many of them noticed us and tried out their English on us by saying 'hello'. One little girl came up, said hello, asked me my name, told me hers and then asked if I spoke Chinese. It was a conversation she was very proud she had in English.
We had room service lunch and Nina-Li even took food from Bill. So, although she doesn't want him to touch or by close to her, we are taking baby steps.
Our guide just visited with us and gave us a big clue to Nina's behavior. She thought that it was odd that a child from an orphanage was so angry, so she has called the orphanage daily trying to figure out what the deal is. (Tracee has been doing this for 15 years). Well, today, she found out that the caretaker that Nina was closest to attempted to adopt Nina-Li. However, it was rejected probably due to our paperwork already processed.) This caretaker called Ayi not EI like I thought, treated Nina-Li as her own daughter and wanted her very badly. And we speculate that she probably told Nina that too. Now we understand why this is harder. It is as if she was a foster child instead of an orphanage child. And it confirms that Nina-Li has the ability to love and attach to us as a new family and to future relationships. All good news. Just a painful process for her to experience.
So please enjoy these pictures, a delightful day brought to us by God. We leave early in the morning and expect tears as we head to airport, as she will want to return to the orphanage. However, your prayers are sustaining us and being answered. We will be leaving the hotel at 6:00 AM our time, 8 PM your time on Friday. Please, pray for a good drive and flight for Nina.
Thanks for the emails. And I am getting Facebook posts via the email system.
Love to you all.
Nina-Li is just so beautiful! Now that you know the background info, due to Tracee's perseverance, you can move ahead and show Nina-Li you are just as loving & want her just as much as Ayi!! I so enjoy your posts & share all your emotions on this journey of yours. Love & prayers to all :)
ReplyDeleteIt's very interesting and exciting to see the days unfold. I've been reading everyday! We have gotten a giggle from all the attention that you've received from locals. I am sure Americans stick out quite a bit there! Continued blessings to you and prayers as well. Small steps, BIG BLESSINGS.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful life lesson even you are learing from your new daughter...our hearts are big enough to love more than one. God is so wonderful to give us love and it is so good to know her heart is tender enough to love those that are special to her. It is easy to see she loves her new family. While the trip to the airport might be hard I will be praying for you all, that the night gives you good rest and the change of scenery gives lots of disctrations for Nina-Li to seek more interst in the "new" things before her.
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