Gotcha' Day Revisited

Tonight we did a special Family Home Evening. After a Chinese dinner (with watermelon for dessert, of course), we listened to the Mandarin version of "I Am a Child of God", did a lesson, and then relived our Gotcha' Day.



Adam put Qiu into the outfit she was wearing a year ago and carried her into the family room announcing, "Jin Qiu Ju! Vernon and Eileen!" He had even stuck up her hair like it was when we met her! Her Gotcha' Day clothes were so huge that it wasn't a problem getting them back on. A year ago they'd actually tied the straps of her shirt to keep it from being too ridiculously big. So, since it's a stretchy knit and the shorts have an elastic waist, I think we can stick her back into that same outfit every July 24th until she leaves home! She'll start dreading July! "No, not that horrid Hello Kitty outfit AGAIN!"
We tried to duplicate a couple of our favorite photos from a year ago. Maya did amazingly well on Gotcha' Day. She was so brave, but I love how she looks so content and happy being held by her dad now, and in the photo above from a year ago, her little eyebrows are knitted together in a "I'm not so sure about this!" expression. Really, though, I'll always be thankful that her heart seemed prepared for this meeting. We were probably the first Americans she'd ever seen, she'd recently been taken away from her foster family and put back in the orphanage, and still, she was trusting of these new strangers. What an amazing girl!




We watched her adoption video and Qiu really enjoyed it. She babbled through the whole thing, naming all the family members and even saying "Qiu Ju" when she saw the pictures of herself in the orphanage.

I couldn't get her to close her eyes and smile like in the picture above. It's funny how when I DON'T want her to close her eyes, that's what I always get, but when I ask for it, no such luck!
She's definitely gotten tanner this year! And it's not because we have much sun in Washington, She just hadn't spent time outside in China.

We ended the evening watching the Guangxi video that played continuously at our hotel in Nanning. Maya wasn't as interested in that, so she played her current favorite game, "hop on pop!" She bounces up and down on Dad's tummy causing him to make distressful noises which she thinks are hilarious! Happy one year together Miss Qiu!