Counting My Blessings

Two years ago today I sat teetering on the precipice before I crossed the threshold into motherhood. I remember the feeling as I sat in my hotel room of being at the top of a big hill, knowing that a swooshing log ride style plunge was coming up in moments. It was glorious. My brother came into the room and we were both saying, "This is it". He gave me a beautiful Chinese mother-of-pearl necklace with the character for mother on it and a silk baby blanket embroidered with dragonflies. As wonderful as it was, I know it was very hard for Miss Abbey. She came out of the orphanage for the first time and left all she'd ever known, having no idea what would happen next. What a brave little one. As I've gone through the culture shock of moving to China, I've thought about what she may have felt in those first weeks and months. I have felt so sad to have left all I've ever known and adjust to the new foods, smells, language, and people. They say you move from rejection, to tolerance, to acceptance, to embracing your new life. I seen these little children do that amazingly fast. Just this week I've relived it as I've watched David, Nina, and Ariel with Kavanna and Amy and David with Ella. Here is some footage from our trip in 2006, just days after I got Abbey. She was like a little flower beginning to bloom.