Settling In

Abby came home from Idaho Saturday night! We are so thrilled to have her back! She looks so much older to us, but maybe it's just because now we have someone younger. When Abby got home, after lots of hugs from Adam and Madeline, she met her new sister. Lyle was doing a late-night pancake fest and Abby got to feed her sister her first pancake. Maya gave both the pancakes and her sis a big thumbs-up.

Lyle has always specialized in getting the kids calm and relaxed and ready for a peaceful night's slumber. He's found that the best way to do this is a game he's invented called, "Smack the Stack." The kids gather all of the household pillows, pile them on our bed, and then Lyle swings them each around in circles until they're sick to their stomachs and finally flings them into the pillow pile. As you can imagine, it really puts them in a restful mood. I keep reminding him that Qiu Ju is a "deep sleeper!!", but now she's also a Beck, so "Smack the Stack" it is!

SPIN...SPIN...SPIN....

...and SMACK!

I wish I could get inside her mind and see what she's thinking. It was two weeks ago today when we met her in Nanning and everything about her world has changed. She went from a peaceful life in Guiping to being thrown into pillow towers. Thankfully she seems to take it all in stride.

Maya was blessed on Sunday. She looked quite lovely in her Chinese blessing dress, but wasn't in a photo shoot mood, so I never did get a great picture. The blessing was slightly amusing because an 11 month old is a little more challenging to hold than the typical newborn. She kept grabbing at the microphone and at one point apparently had the microphone cord wrapped around her arm. One sweet elderly man in our ward, who has been so good to our family, said he choked up when during the blessing he felt her little hand grasp his finger.

Today we ventured out to the play place in the mall where Maya was quick to add her drool to what's already there. "Clean up on Tunnel 5!"

It's been so fun to see these two together. We missed our Abby so much. She's a little firecracker, but she is also a very sweet and special little girl. Maya is lucky to have her for a big sister.