Hope: One Less: Day 15

Happy New Year!!! We did not make it to midnight but are excited to see what 2016 has in store for this sweet girl. It is hard to believe we are at the halfway point of our adventure. She has been with us for exactly two weeks. She leaves two weeks from today.

I may have jinxed myself with the pull-up story yesterday. She woke Chris up saying "peeshew" with a messy pull-up. I am guessing watching a few kids get their diapers changed yesterday may have taken us a step back. Hoping it was just a one-time accident. She ate a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast but quickly asked for an egg and toast (since that is what Chris and I were having). She ate everything. After working on tracing letters and having noodles for a snack, we headed to Brooke, Dale, and Kinsley's house for lunch. The girls played with their babies and gave them bottles. They also played with Kinsley's new kitchen set which is fitting since both girls love to help in the kitchen.

After lunch, we headed to Gigi and Grandpa Barker's house for Grandpa's birthday. It was a fun afternoon with Gigi, Grandpa, Nana, Papa Gene, Dale, Brooke, and Kinsley. Kinsley took a nap, but she did not (although she laid down with her for a while). The girls continued taking care of their babies, playing in the beanbag, and visiting the donkeys. There were many trips up and down the stairs, snacks of cheerios and goldfish, playing with Gigi's toys, fun with the sticker book that Nana brought, and chocolate birthday cake. She also had another vanilla yogurt (this is quickly becoming a staple now that she has eaten five; a trip to the store is in order). She had Gigi take her potty multiple times. The girls had some difficulties sharing Kinsley's Snoopy, her new cell phone, and the magna doodle. As soon as Kinsley finished getting her picture taken with Gigi and Grandpa, she wanted hers taken too.

We took a quick trip by my cousin, Danny, and his wife, Jennifer's, house so they could meet her. She also got to meet my other cousin, Jason, my Aunt Beth, and her husband, Mark. She tolerated their dog very well and they were nice to let her color and give her a snack of mashed potatoes. We had a very tired girl on our hands, but she managed to stay awake in the car.

It was so convenient to have dinner waiting in the crockpot when we arrived home. I had made pepper steak and we made white rice to go along with it. She wanted the rice but was a little hesitant about the pepper steak until she tasted it. She loved it and kept giving us thumbs up. She ate the multi-colored peppers first, then the steak (which was super tender), and saved the rice for last. Since rice is her favorite, this was a big step. She also wanted a second helping. Unfortunately, there are no leftovers so we are going to have to make this again soon.

Nana and Smitty came over for a visit and brought a small gift. Our girly girl has been begging for rings to wear and she finally has some of her own. Of course, now she is looking for the next accessory and asking for earrings. She and Nana spent lots of quality time together. They colored, wrestled, played Ring Around the Rosie, read books, and played Barbies. She also helped with the grocery list by pointing to things she thought we needed. Her list consisted of eggs, rice, soy sauce, and string cheese. After Chris gave her a bath, she came into her room so we could mark off the day on the calendar. We have a big red box around the 15th so we can see how many days she has left and when she has to go back to China on the airplane. The last couple of days, she has started pointing to the 15th, and saying "bye, bye" and her name. Tonight I told her we would be sad and miss her. I pretended to rub my eyes as if I was crying. She did the same thing, but she laughed afterwards. I did have a few real tears (thank you exhaustion) and she got a tissue to dab my eyes and patted me on the back. She was trying to make real tears too but was not successful (she just ended up drooling from her mouth). It will no doubt be a difficult day, but we need to prepare her for her return to the orphanage. We still have lots of time to have fun and make memories.