Our little Evelyn Han HuiZhen had a hard first week. After having to say goodbye to her nanny and having her world turned upside down by a white skinned, English speaking crazy family, our girl got a virus that the rest of her Heartbridge buddies had. Her fever was spiking 103 degrees, her sleep was fitful, her little heart was pounding and her breath labored. Between paperwork appointments, we spent the week taking turns spending time in the hotel room with her. Our goals? Get her well and love her with extravagance.
This little one had built some serious emotional walls, so our hearts grieved for her as she sucked on her blankie and diverted her eyes.
On several days, we had some emotional standoffs, where she just hardly moved. How hard to imagine what her little heart and mind were feeling. 
Her bigs took such good care of her. We kept finding bottles and toys tucked beside her in her crib,
and they were extra gentle caring for her.
Thankfully, our girl is feeling a bit better and starting to show signs of bonding to her momma. She's crying when I leave the room, which is a great sign of attachment.
Thank you to all who prayed for her last week. Her panicked momma sent some major SOS Vibers, Skype calls and messages to friends and am SO GRATEFUL for all the love back home. Our team is back on its feet and we feel prayed over and carried through a time when we just felt inadequate. Truthfully, some selfishness crept in as well.
What we learned this week is that we can't approach loving these littles with a plan or even a confidence that we can handle their needs. We come to this parenting job in full in weakness, completely unable to handle the job. The truth about the love God asks of us is that He just needs our "yes". We trust Him with the rest.
We know in advance that these two little people are going to have beautiful life stories. Their before and after photos are going to be all kinds of awesome.
“But the kind of love that God created and demonstrated is a costly one because it involves sacrifice and presence. It's a love that operates more like a sign language than being spoken outright.”
~Bob Goff
6 comments:
What a sweet baby. The first picture
is a heart melter. Can't wait for the first smiles.
Sweet pictures. We are blessed to have Eli and Evie to love!
this is so beautiful and so, so true! it's great to read that E had a strong bond with her nannies. when we adopted tarikua, she was willing to come to us immediately and didn't really even make eye contact with her nanny. i think your situation is preferable and will ultimately result in fewer attachment issues. also, i am heartened to read she was provided with loving care. there are so many negative reports surrounding adoption these days about orphanage neglect/misallocation of funds. it makes my heart glad to read this isn't the case everywhere.
many blessings to you and your beautiful family - and congratulations!!!
Continued blessings. Such a beautiful family.
So many have loved and prayed for our sweet girl.... You will succeed!
The Evies are SO sisters... exactly like our Evie in China... still sucking her blankets! Thankful they both have their mommys! xoxoxo
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