Home: An Update

We'll we've been home about two weeks now and I haven't been too good about updating our blog. Everyday is busy, busy while everyone gets used to schedules, work and everyday stuff. We all had terrible jetlag when we got back and I would be ready to start my day around 2:00 am. Of course by the time afternoon hits you are dragging and trying not to go back to bed. Wu Ning is getting used to her new home and life. When she met Guinness she was a bit scared but curious too. She is still learning about being gentle and needs to apply this people as well as animals. Luckily Gwen is taking most of this in stride and often finds her sister's fits funny.

There have been some interesting moments as Wu Ning learns about expectations and customs here - a bit like Chinese Beverly Hillbillies! She is starting to learn not to pull her swimsuit off at the pool, go to the bathroom outside when you are in the yard, unbuckle your carseat on the highway or throw food you don't like on the floor. Guess we're not quite ready to visit too many houses yet! She is understanding more of what we say and she is quickly getting used to other typical American things - fries, riding in the shopping cart and going to the pool (which she loved!).

I've also been doing some detective work since we've been back since we found out Wu Ning spent some time in the orphanage in Xian before joining her foster family. I looked through a few hundred pictures posted on a yahoo group web site (parents and volunteers post them if they got to go to the orphanage) and found a few pictures of Wu Ning when she was about 1. You just have to sift through them since there are no names and look for facial features, hairstyle/pattern, etc. These will be great for her to have and she recognized herself immediately when I showed her the pictures! Here's one nice close-up:

We also received pictures of her along with her foster family. We had mailed them a disposable camera a few months ago and were able to develop the pictures when we returned. She lived in a family that had two biological teenage boys and judging from the pictures she was well-cared for. We understand that foster parents do not normally adopt the children in their care even if they would want to - just another part of their child welfare system that is much different than ours. She lived there for three years and we believe she regarded them as her family, which I'm sure has made her transition hard. We will keep this pictures for her when she is older and ready to see them. I will say it really took us aback to see her with another family, but we are glad she got the opportunity to have that loving home when she was younger, since most kids spend most of their time in institutional care.

Well that's it for now - we are so happy to have our little girl home finally!