What Is It REALLY Like?

In the spirit of keeping it real here, I wanted to write a post about what it's REALLY like to bring home a beautiful, but frightened little girl from a country across the world. I could say that's it's all been rosy, but then, you might already be suspicious that I might be hiding a thing or two.

I can honestly say that our Maia is blending into our home and family amazingly well. We can see in just the two short weeks that she's been with us how much she's come to trust us. When they first handed her to us, she was the most frightened little girl I've ever seen. She squirmed and wiggled when we tried to hold her and she just hung limply in our arms when she was too exhausted to squirm anymore. She barely made eye contact with us, and didn't smile for the first day that we knew her. Now, she reaches for us with a big smile on her face and giggles and laughs when we tickle her and hold her. She wraps her arms around us when we hold her and lets us comfort her when she cries. She squeels and bounces up and down when it's time to hop into the bath after being absolutely terrified for us to even take off her shirt those first few days! Last night she even let Daddy give her a bath, which was a huge step for him and for her:)

Nighttime has completely changed already, too. The first two nights at home she woke up every hour cryig unconsolably and thrashing around in her bed. But after we brought her to bed wiht us, she's like a new little girl at bedtime. The past three nights she's curled up next to Mommy and fallen asleep in less than 5 minutes! Praise God for small miracles! Today I put her down for her first nap, expecting it to be a nightmare, but pleasanlty surprised when she pulled up the covers beside me and drifted right off to sleep. I think we're truly making progress!

The hardest part for us the past day or so has been something we didn't expect. Maia's been really showing more and more jealousy when Peanut even comes anywhere near Mommy. We were thinking that we would be seeing jealousy from Peanut, but this hasn't really happened so far. And, considering that Maia's been connected to Mommy at the hip, I wouldn't have been surprised if Peanut had been getting jealous. But it's been Maia whose been staking out her territory over Mommy. This has been a struggle because I'm missing that special one-on-one time with Peanut and yet I know that Maia needs the security of knowing that Mommy loves her, too. Sometimes I can juggle both of them on my lap together, but sometimes neither one is up for that!
Mommy's still trying to figure out how to be a Mommy to two kiddos, and I'm sure this will all work itself out in time. But, in the meanwhile, I'm wondering about getting a bigger lap:)

Becoming Maia's Mommy has been a lot like learning to dance with a new partner. I've come to learn that Maia will lead me to what she needs, in her time, when she feels ready and safe. Many things will come when she feels she can trust me. I know that she's still holding back a lot from us, and yet, she's letting us into her heart little by little each day. Even though we're separated by languages that couldn't be any different, we understand each other far more than I ever could have imagined. It's almost as if Somebody is giving us this gift of understanding........and Somebody surely knew how much we would need that!

After 30 long months of praying for our precious Maia, we still each have moments when we can't believe she's really here! What an honor and a blessing it is to be given the chance to be her family! She's already blessed us beyond what words can describe, and how thankful we are to have taken this journey to the other side of the world.....to hold an angel in our arms! For all of you waiting for your angels....oh, how worth the wait it truly is!