Category: Thankful Thursday

I am oh so thankful to God that we have gone from this:

to this:

Amelie is such a happy child and we are blessed that she is comfortable with us now so we get to see the happy girl. She likes to play games and loves to be tickled. She comes to us for hugs and likes to have her forehead kissed. She wants to do every single thing Nadia does and will run after her screaming “JIE JIE!!!” She loves to be thrown up in the air by Mike and swung around just like Nadia. She LOVES TO SING!! If Nadia starts to sing or she hears something she likes in the car she starts trying to imitate it. Nadia liked music at this age, but Amelie is genuinely trying to imitate the same rhythm patterns, which I find amazing.

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Edit (added by Mike):

I’m thankful that is just a few weeks she went from recoiling from me while screaming in terror to wanting me to hold her, give her kisses, play with her, and so on. What a relief and delight!

I am thankful that we are here and even that we are going through this. Because this is where God brought us and He hasn’t left us alone halfway around the world. I pray that we learn all we need to learn through this painful time.

• I am thankful that this is my last Thankful Thursday in America.
• That we meet Amelie in 11 days.
• That I finally finished cleaning out the closets and now Amelie’s room is really ready.
• That the combining of the office and guest room is finally complete!

This week it’s the little things all added together.

• For the mailing tube that someone sent me something in that is the perfect size for the paintings I want to buy in China.
• For Tricia watching the KIDS HOPE program while I am gone.
• For Janis watching our house while we are gone.
• For being on the HOA because that means 4 other board members will be watching my house closely too.
• For a wonderful group of friends and family who will be praying for us daily while we are on our trip.
• For our cool new luggage and the cool new packing cubes I got to organize our stuff.
• For the “cat bus” pin my sister Bayli got me in Japan.
• For new mentors for the kids hope program who started this week!
• For our easy access to medicine in America.
• For gladware containers to pack goldfish and cheerios in.
• For my laminator to make handy translated cards for China.