Anyway, here's what we've been up to this week: On Sunday we went to Comerica Park in Detroit to take in a Tigers game. It was hot and sunny, and I'm sure overwhelming for Lin, but we had a good time.
One night this week we made homemade jiao zi, dumplings (or "dumpwins" as Ruby calls them). Lin was so funny. She told us she'd made them before in China, so Dave and I were both excited to see if she had a really authentic technique.
Well suffice it to say, she didn't. Her "authentic" technique was to put the filling in the middle of the wrapper and then wad the wrapper up till it was sealed. As you can see from the photos, she thought her "ugly" dumpling was pretty funny! (Lin's attempt is in her right hand and mine is in her left.)
Lin and I made a total of 39 dumplings. After we sat as a family of four and consumed all 39 dumplings, along with shrimp fried rice, we went outside for some popsicles. It was the first time Lin played games outside. She has been rather averse to physical activity since we've known her and we were thinking that maybe her heart condition (repaired Tetralogy of Fallot) keeps her from participating in sports. But I think she actually just needed time to warm up a bit more before showing us this side of her. She tossed a Frisbee around and played badminton, but when Ruby brought out her jump rope, that's when Lin really got excited! The girl loves to jump rope! She prefers not to hold the rope herself, but rather to jump alongside the person holding the rope. In this case, me.
And today we went to the Kalamazoo Air Zoo. The girls had fun on the rides and Lin was being goofy in the little kids' area. Lin and Dave went on the flight simulator twice, and the second time he was able to snap a couple pictures -- while they were spinning around!
Our social worker called on Thursday afternoon to check up on us and I told her I was afraid she'd think I was lying because it's just going so well! How did we get so lucky? Lin's English is flourishing every day, she's getting more and more comfortable around the house. She just seems truly happy, and so are we.
We did have a few more tears this week. She told us she's lonely, especially being in school with other kids who can't understand her. Then she called her friends back at the orphanage and cried. It was hard to listen to, but Dave and I both know how very normal her feelings are. She let me comfort her when she was off the phone and the next day at school her teacher told me that Lin had been really talkative at lunch, teaching the other kids the Chinese words for what they were eating. I was really proud of her!
We've also been slowly spending a bit more time with a 13-year-old girl we know through Ruby's day care. This girl and her 11-year-old sister have been just dying to be friends with Lin since we started the process to adopt her. We went out for lunch and shopping with these girls last weekend, and Lin spent more time with the 13-year-old on Friday at day care. Sometime in the next couple weeks we were thinking of inviting these two sisters over to our house to make more dumplings, or go out to a movie or something. We want Lin to feel like she has friends, but we also know that it will be a difficult process for her to make new friends in a new culture. It's a delicate balance.
If you don't mind, I'd like to request that you all keep in your thoughts and prayers a family we know of who made the impossible decision to disrupt their adoption of an older girl. I don't have any idea of the details, nor is it my business to know, but it seems that they had this girl for a few days in China, then decided not to complete the process. I cannot imagine how devastated they must be right now. Please join me in praying for comfort for them and for the girl who was almost their daughter.
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