Back to Life

And she literally commented during this meal "I eat man sized breakfast."

I stuck a couple more pictures from vacation unrelated to today's post. 

We’re back to normal post vacation life. Tom working too many hours, Eli hanging out with the neighbors, mom using every spare minute to prep for VBS, and Sidney is back in her summer preschool program.

Is it me, or is the angle of this slide terrifying?

Every time I walk into the preschool with Sidney, my heart swells with joy. I know that sounds like a really dramatic statement, but for the last two years, this is all we hoped for.  No clinging behavior, no anxiousness in a new environment. She marches away without ever turning back. And each morning, I get into my car thankful God for choose Tom, Eli and I to watch all of this unfold. 

I think her preschool teacher expected a small timid little girl, but what she is discovering is tenaciousness and independence.. As Tom said one day, “dynamite comes in small packages.”  Yesterday, she told me as Sidney stood in the middle, holding onto the handle of the rope used during morning outings, she was pulling the other kids along behind her. Like, “let’s hurry this up. Why are you guys so slow?”  

This determination has defined her entire life. And I think that is why I am always so curious about her care and what took place in Chenzhou. Who shaped this personality? Her birth mom and dad?  The nannies in the orphanage?  I would like to take credit, but it’s been there since the first day we met.

I think this is why I was justifiably anxious to gain wireless access over vacation. I wanted to read the progress of the mission group traveling to Sidney’s orphanage over the same week. Groups traveling inside the orphanage are a vital link to information I never had the chance to receive. I can’t say I have read or seen so many pictures with such depth as this last group. Not only did several members blog, they took literally thousands of pictures. It’s what I expected, but it many ways so difficult. There were some things I hoped not to see. It doesn’t mean the nannies don’t love and care for the kids. To oversimplify, it’s just different.  Tom has looked at a few, but his heart can never wrap around kids living in custodial care. And it shouldn’t.  Getting comfortable means it’s easy to forget, and I know we will never stop advocating.