Evolution

My friend Sharyn just posted a note on Facebook about the changes in her daughter's life over the past 5 years since she was adopted from China. Her words got me thinking about how my kids lives have changed over the past few years.

15 days from now will mark the 5 year anniversary of Savannah's referral. Five years ago my daughter was living with her foster family on a farm in rural China, at the base of the mountain range separating Jiangxi and Fujian provinces. I don't know much about what her life was like, but there were some early clues that did lighten the mystery. For instance, she came to us knowing up to crawl up and down stairs which led us to believe that her foster family had a two-story house. Her referral paperwork told us that she loved the chickens on the farm, dancing to the music on tv and that she loved babies. We found out that her foster mom had 2 sons and 2 daughters (obviously born before the one child policy went was implemented), and our best guess is that the babies may have been grandchildren. Either way it didn't take long for Savannah to be given the nickname "baby stalker." Every baby that she encountered had to be checked out. I remember explaining to my not quite 2 year-old that she couldn't just go up to babies in strollers because their mom's could get nervous.

Here are are few of my other notes on the past 5 years:
-Congee to pancakes
-stacking cups to Leapster games
-stroller to figure skates
-"Streets" (Sesame Street) to The Exterminators
-Grrr with a stare to grr with more attitude and a huff
-A return trip to China
-a new older brother
-1 trip to Disneyworld/Epcot
-1 trip to Disneyland
-1 trip "North to Alaska"
-4 toe dips in the Pacific Ocean - both sides
-searching for Mulan in modern China - and finding her
-Our lives being altered forever in a great big, beautiful way.

2 years 8 months and 4 days ago Baden was living with a foster family as well. I wish I knew something about who he had lived with. I actually found out that he was living with a foster family from an ex-patriate volunteer that would e-mail me updates on how Baden was doing at Bao'an when she could. She had noticed that she hadn't seen him at the SWI and inquired about him. I remember the e-mail I received from her telling me not to worry, that this was a good thing. I replied right back and told her that I was happy that he was living with a foster family, explaining that from the experience I'd observed of both of my nephews, my youngest niece and my daughter, living with a foster family could be very beneficial - especially when introducing a child who had only lived in an institutional setting to a big, energetic family.

- From only ayi's to look out for him to a mom, dad, slightly younger sister, 2 grandpa's, 3 grandma's, 5 great-aunts/aunts, 4 great-uncles/uncles, 8 cousins he sees regularly, 3 sets of God-parents
- From holding a stuffed Mickey Mouse on a playground slide to shaking hands with the real Mickey Mouse at Disneyland
- From feeling the ocean breeze on the Western side of the Pacific to walking on the sandy beaches of the Eastern side of the Pacific
- From sharing a room with numerous other kids to having a room to call his own
- From no stories at bedtime to choosing which story to have read to at bedtime
- From not knowing how to play to having a blast on the school playground
- From not ever having celebrated his birthday to celebrating 3 birthday's with his family
- Knowing what it means to feel loved, how to give love and experiencing being a part of his very own family and his family being blessed by having him in it... incredible.