65 days ago, this little one began her morning like any other morning....
only, on this morning, just one day after she turned two years old, she would awake and dress and eat and do everything normal to her for one last time.
On this day, she awoke to the woman who she had come to call "Mama"...
on this day, she awoke to eat her breakfast meal, the one her "mama" would prepare just for her...
on this day, she would play with her foster siblings one last time....
she would watch her friends walk into her orphanage and wave goodbye to them as if she would see them soon....
and then she would get into a van with two orphanage officials and another baby girl for a three hour drive....
and as they drove, she would get farther and farther away from her life she had always known and inch by inch she drew closer to the life that was to be hers forever.
Sobering to think about.
Today, 65 days later, I can tell you that there is not a day that goes by that I don't consciously remind myself of the changes that have occurred in her little life span, changes that most adults have not endured in all of their many years of life.
When most two year olds are exploding with their vocabulary, our sweet Chapman is learning an entirely different language. Where we used to hear her sweet voice speak in Chinese phrases or words, those tones are now gone as she begins to put English words to her lips.
Choosy food eaters as most toddlers are, she is not - she has never had so many choices in food.
Two months home and she knows who her mommy is and she is not always fond of sharing me with her sisters - though it is tricky to handle, this "jealousy" is soo good. When she sees me or Ryan, she will run with her eyes wide open, shouting, "Mama! Mama!" grinning from ear to ear with her hands reaching out to us.....she knows we adore her and love to hold her in our arms.
She hesitates when strangers approach, even the kid-sized strangers.
She can cry like no other yet she knows when enough is enough.
She prays.
For the first few weeks, she would cry out as we said our mealtime prayers - I mean, why would your parents place your food right in front of you only to make you wait?! But practice makes perfect, and examples are good, especially when you have seven examples sitting around you with their prepared plates in front of them as they pray
And then one night I looked over and said, "Fix pretty hands, Chapman" just as I say at every meal and lo and behold she did it! And thus her prayer life began.
Two months home is looking good on her.
This little one is thriving and we are so thankful that we are hers forever!
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