It was One of Those Days

Momma said there'll be days like this, my momma said...

But I'm not actually sure she was thinking all of it would happen on the same day...

This particular day was last October,
when Maylin's hair was still short and we thought we'd have a cool winter ahead.

Head cold. 

Need I say more?

Same child down the same slide into the puddle gathered on the bottom of the slide...

in three different pairs of pants. (not Maylin)

You'd think she'd have figured it out on the first trip down, don't 'cha think? 

You'd think I would have figured it out two pairs of pants ago, don't 'cha think?

Start washing machine.

The microwave rolled pungent smoke throughout the kitchen...

which reeked for days although the fans were on and the doors/windows open all day. 

(Scored a new microwave out of that little fire hazard!)

A children's party that three kids needed costumes for...today.

BUT, said children were currently required to replace the sand back into the sand box from where they had taken it to put it in the slide area because apparently the above mentioned water hazard was not enough. They wanted a sand trap. Delay of costume hunt. 

(Score a ripped screen door during the cleaning procedure...)

On to the costume purchase. We had enough time to comfortably enjoy our little excursion together...unless...

The car battery was dead from the sweetly smiling daughter having taken the keys off the rack, inserted them in the ignition, and left it turned "half-on" since...oh, wait, she couldn't explain when she did it since she didn't really speak English-or not so much. 

(Mighty convenient some times, I say)

No problemo. Everyone get into Grandma's van. Grab Maylin's car seat!

Costumes on sale 40 and 50% off! Lucky break, me thinks! 

Something good came from being this unprepared.

Let's head home...we have just enough time to get ready if they eat in the car.

So pretty! You make a sweet Asian fairy, Maylin. (Although, I wanted her to go as a tourist.) 

WOW, that mummy outfit is scary, Matt.

 And Beth, "Goth" has never looked so good. 

Let's load up in Grandma's van and head to your party...unless...

WHERE ARE THE KEYS I JUST HAD?

I walked through the same places I had walked in the past 20 minutes for another 20 minutes. Really. How can I be so careless? How could I lose keys when I am so compulsive about hanging in them up as I come in the door?

As Mark sweetly handed me the spare keys to Grandma's van, I asked one more question: 

Where's Justin?  

He and Austin had taken the keys from the rack where I'd left them and went to finish some jobs at Grandma's house just as I had instructed 3 hours before. 

Did I mention, that I sent them?!

But truly, it was a hilarious day that will rank up there in my 

Comedy of Errors for a L...O....N...G time.

I'm ready for bed.

11 Month Later

Our family has been complete for 11 months.

Maylin became our daughter on August 1, 2011

and she came home to her new family on August 13th.

This years ranks up there with some of the most intense months of my life.

It feels like yesterday-and-forever-ago.

Mark and I have had the awe-inducing privilege of 

watching God unfold this Flower He'd prepared for our family 

and the honor of watching the Bouquet to which she was added 

engulf, embrace, and encourage her beauty, her gifts and her growth.

It's amazing, yet it's not. It's so God to do this for us and through us.

It's a story that I've read on 100 blogs, and I now write.

 God takes the abandoned, the misshapened, the lonely, the neglected

and makes all things new.

He didn't just give Maylin her home and her place to 

BE,

He gave our family the gift of being stretched and being loved and 

BEING true family.

Maylin is amazingly fluent in English. 

She still has some sounds that are difficult to say, 

but when we correct her, she tries to correct it without "attitude."

My heart-break concerning language was that I intended to prove the experts wrong by maintaining her Mandarin. It broke my heart to watch her Mandarin comprehension decrease as her English increased. We just aren't bilingual in our home, and the experts tell us that's what it takes. 

I regularly google translate nouns (especially foods) for us to learn 

and she is completely relearning them. 

(She has much better pronunciation than I do, though!)

Her fits of anger resolved within weeks of being home.

Her food preferences are becoming Americanized  (another "loss" I grieve!)

She is nearly "tall enough" for school which begins in August.

She got her vaccinations for school without a flinch. I had put it off for months and finally wrote on my own calendar: "Maylin shots. JUST DO IT." She walked with me  into the pediatrician's office, sat up on the exam table, took 2 in each arm and looked a little confused when we were amazed.

She revels in overnights at a friend's house.

She's bossy (although she'll wrinkle her nose and shake her head "no" if I say she is)

Her favorite dog is the one she'll lolling all over now.

She hollers, "Chair back," when she leaves her spot to get something or do something.

She leaves clothes wadded where she dropped them (good training by sibs!)

She argues to get whatever everyone else seems to want, even if she doesn't really care. 

(frequently, the place in the car)

She loves to bake with Anne or me

"My help?" is one of the phrases I'm not correcting yet.

 Family Dedication on Mothers Day 

About 3 weeks ago, I noted to a friend, "The honeymoon is over."

Maylin is just a regular kid that spends a lot of time testing boundaries, and jerking peoples' chains.

She knows what it takes to push someone's buttons, and does so with joyful abandon. 

She is tearfully repentant when she knows she's busted, but will try the same thing at the first opportunity. 

Just a regular Dersch.

What an amazing Flower From My Father.