Mei Lynn is Finally a Rill

I am in the room alone right now, which gives me time to sit and type. The others are in the pool hoping for more pool "therapy". If yesterday was the hardest day, today was part two. We had to go back to the same place they dropped her off - to be interviewed 2x and have photos taken. With 9 families, you can imagine it was not quick. Since the pool yesterday she had been great -still stuck on B, but smiling and laughing. In her packet it said she was shy- she is not! Anyway even when she woke up today she was excited. I wasn't sure if she would think, "Oh this wasn't just a bad dream," but then we all loaded in the bus...

She walked in the door of that building and froze up, even B could not coax her into anything. After about 30 minutes she began to cry, which turned in to a weep. After our last appointment (all women - interesting) we went straight to the elevator and to the AIR CONDITIONED bus to wait. We just had to get her out of there. She just stared out the window blankly. When the bus pulled away, she began to sob again. Thinking, I am sure, "They aren't coming back for me here." Thanks to all who prayed on the 911 prayer text the 3 of us we able to keep ourselves from crying, too.

There is a five year old with us being adopted too, (which as a side note, they said her major illness was a miss diagnosis, she is perfectly healthy - what a miracle), anyway she had been in a foster home her whole life and left that yesterday. So she is even worse than Mei, as you can imagine. They were going to meet Dave, B and Mei Lynn at the pool right now, as we told them of our secret therapy. She also has a bad cold- her name is Ella or Xiaoyun. Her mom is Rose, a single mom fro AZ (sadly). You can keep them in your prayers as well. She walks around in sunglasses, so you can't see her crying, even inside. Poor baby. We are both hoping that this immediate crying is good, that they are not keeping it in to please us, but to let the grieving work it's way through.

Another totally awesome thing is that at breakfast Mei ate so much. She took everything , even the same portions that B did and ate it all. After her 2 bites of rice yesterday we were really glad for that.

Oh yeah, last night before bed she went to her backpack, full only of the things we sent her-sad, and produced a phone number asking to call. UGH! We called our leader and she spoke to her about it and advised us to take it away when she slept. Elsie ,our leader, told us do not let her call. I did it, but feel really guilty about it, but I have to do what she tells me to do. To boot, immediately after that episode, we called our kids at home and talked on the phone to them for a long time again. I felt guilty about that. It was such and emotionally taxing day that we all struggled to not cry talking to our kids. God was good. BTW, Rose said that Ella did the same thing last night with the #.

It is strange. The nannies seem to want them to be adopted, and I thought they would be pros at it, but I find it the opposite. If it was my way, they would have given Mei to us, said "Good bye, I love you. It will be OK ." and then left her sight. But no, they sat they talking and talking, with us not knowing what they were saying, for 1 1/2 hours - not leaving her side. We were at their mercy, so we had to sit there and endure it all. Brixton , very disturbed by it all, was pulling out every trick he had short of standing on his head to no use - except that she must have seen he was tender and compassionate, because she went right to him upon pulling her out of there. Once Elsie gave us the signal, David scooped her up, luckily he is so strong, and headed to the elevator where she reached for B. He has been carrying her ever since.

Very rarely will she walk on her own, but when she does, she will always hold someone's hand. She doesn't care for me, which I understand and it doesn't hurt my feelings, yet, because she does so much better with the boys. Actually, B is considered an adult here ( makes sense why they put them out of the orphanage at 14). So to them, his taking care of her is no surprise. Elsie does make mention of him carrying her everywhere and how strong he is. B said she is lighter than Olivia.

Later today, at 3 p.m.,we will all go shopping. We are going just to keep her active, with not too much time to sit and think, but I do get nervous having her in such a crowded place. I wish it wasn't today, rather a few days down the road. The rest of the paperwork we have now is at the American consulate, so that is good she will not recognize anything there. She does need a medical exam with a TB test, so I pray that all goes well.

So far this has been a roller coaster of emotions on top of the jet lag, and it doesn't mix well. It is as we expected - I knew it wouldn't be a breeze. I have to give a shout out to Jenny Moul. What she has taught us has been like a life raft helping us stay afloat. If you can believe it, we are actually teaching others in our group some Chinese. Isn't that a joke?

I will send more pictures tonight, but I included this one. We are so proud of our son, when things here get too thick, we have been finding him like this, stealing away a moment to read his Bible and pray. He carries his Bible everywhere. Today at the adoption center when we could sense Mei was hurting at the beginning. he grabbed my hand and said, "We need to pray." He went on to pray not for himself to get through this day, but for Mei, all Mei. God knew we needed him here, and I know this experience has already brought him closer to Christ. alone and together, we have had countless prayer meetings - the 3 of us.

I cannot wait to get home. I know 10 more days , ugh. We have to remind ourselves that we will see our family again in less than 2 weeks, and she never will see these people again. It really makes us think.

Thanks for sticking with this long email. I think this will be a good journal for her later too to read our feelings as they happened.

Love you all, love the USA and love all your prayers!

T,D,B,&M