It is Official!

Today we went back to the Civil Affairs Office to make her adoption final in the eyes of China. In one photo you can see Lydia getting her foot print done on the paperwork. We answered a few questions and also had our thumbprints taken. Lydia had a few moments of fear today especially as we reentered the building where we received her yesterday. But, she seemed ok with meeting the worker from her orphanage that you see in one photo. She no longer wanted to go with her like yesterday. As we drove away on Monday with Lydia crying in fear I prayed that God would somehow help Lydia to know how much we loved her. At the same moment I wondered how God must feel when He loves us so very much and yet we don't trust Him or His love for us that is so very perfect and complete. Even though our love for Lydia is far from perfect, we love her very much all ready and were awed today when she started to begin to trust our love a little bit and began to smile and laugh so much more. She has a delightful voice and laugh and her smile will melt you away. She is eating great and sleeping well and so far has kept her panties dry! She was so excited when I put her pretty swim suit and coverup on to head to the pool this afternoon, but she did not think the pool was such a good idea, so we never made it past the first step. So, we obviously have some trust to gain still. But, Caleb enjoyed the water and she watched him closely as he jumped in and splashed around. In our conversations with the orphanage worker, it was made clear that she has been a favorite at the orphanage and that they are so happy that she has found a family. We promised to send updated photos and I showed them a photo of her big brother Yuri swimming in a swim meet and told them she would not be limited by her differences much at all in her life.

We spent some time playing in the hotel play room and she has great use of her fingers and hands making tall block towers and using duplo like toys to make very tall towers of linking blocks with no assistance. After finishing dinner tonight, she enjoyed tearing small pieces of her napkin apart and crumbling it up and blowing them off the table towards me with a huge grin on her face. We are just so awed by her life and the fact that we have been joined together in this wonderful mystery called adoption once again. We miss terribly our other kids back home and are so excited for our home coming on Christmas Eve! Thanks for your prayers for our family.