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.
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| 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.
I love this post Dorothy! I thought so much of it could have been written by me. Our little Katie Grace Xi Hua has been home for 10 months now and we are so similar in our progress of our little ones.
ReplyDeleteMaylin is just beautiful and I can see she is definitely one of the gang for sure!
It is unbelievable that it's been 11 months!! I remember stalking your blog to see pics and updates of your beautiful Maylin while you were in China. As we waited to travel to bring home Lily, I was always anxious to read how she was doing once she was home.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for letting us watch Maylin blossom, God is amazing!!
I've loved watching God grow your family. And am so, so glad we could meet Miss Maylin when we were home for Christmas. :)
ReplyDelete