I'm just a happy, tired momma right know but detailed posts to come soon, I hope.....
I just wanted to post quickly on how things are going with our sweet MinLan....
We are over the moon to have our girl HOME....
But, imagine for her the change and heartbreak she has experienced the last month....and it hasn't ended yet for her.
She was taken away from her foster parents....the only family she has ever known...
She spent a week in an orphanage, just one of many, with no one to love her or probably even remember her name....
Then, she was driven by two orphanage workers to an office building, and handed over to a lady who doesn't look like her or sound like her....then the orphanage workers left....
She spent almost two weeks with us in her home country...trying to decide if we could be trusted. She slowly started to open up and show us a little of her true self, for brief moments...
Just as she was beginning to trust us just a little and lose some of her nervous/terrified "tells", we put her on a plane to America...
Then she was surrounded by no one that looks or sounds like her...
Her nervous "tells" came back.....
She's trying to figure out who Daddy, Ethan and Roo are....
She's trying to figure out why Neely wants to happily attack her all the time....
But you know what, she's going to get there. She's going to come to know that Daddy and her siblings can be trusted. She will begin to understand that we are her family, that we love her and that we are not going ANYWHERE....
We will begin to see more and more of her sweet, silly personality....
She will begin to feel like she is one of "us".....like a Parris....
Please continue to pray for our sweet girl.
Even though it feels like all the hard work....the paper chase....is behind us, really the hardwork is just beginning. The process of attachment does not happen overnight. For some children it takes months, for some it takes years.
For our family, this means a lot of things. It may mean that you see us out and about less than normal.
It may mean that if we try to take her out...and she becomes overwhelmed...then we have to return home sooner than expected.
It means that the best thing you can do for our bonding and attachment is to enjoy her while she is in our arms and not ask to hold her.
It also means that just because you see happy pictures of MinLan on Facebook, please know that adoption is hard. Our family loves the beauty of adoption but we are also living out the heartbreak that is an equal part of the picture. Please pray for our girl and for our family. The days and months ahead will be hardwork. We are dealing with jet lag on top of trying to build our new family with MinLan. We want to try our best to keep life normal for our other little ones. We want them to enjoy all their regular activities but it will be hard for us. Please understand if we are not able to keep up with returning messages or texts or phone calls as quickly as we normally do.
We love you all and are so thankful for your help on this journey. We are so grateful for all everyone has done for us. Don't give up on us...we'll be back in the swing of things before you know it.
Thanking God for how He continues to bless us,
Jenifer
Your sweet family is in my prayers.
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