The Girls of Summer

A Violent Home

Jeannette told me I needed to video the girls playing with the Nerf swords tonight,  just to document that they actually did enjoy each other at least part of the time.

Baby Steps

Yesterday and today were good days, celebrating Thanksgiving with both sides of the family.  What made them particularly good is the fact that our girls' sibling rivalry--primarily Melody toward Jillian--seemed to ease off a bit.  This is such a relief as it was totally draining to have to try to balance every little action, word and favor out . . . and even then there were many meltdowns.  We're still tired--Jillian can be pretty demanding of our attention, especially Jeannette's--but it felt today like we have begun to get a glimpse of how things can be and should be.  

Sisters

Two videos from Jillian's first night with us, before the sibling rivalry began to kick in.  In the first, Melody is introducing her to the joys of blowing bubbles.  In the second, she's giving Jillian a manicure while Jillian plays with some modeling clay.  At the end, you can hear me saying "I love you" in Chinese to Jillian . . . and Jillian saying the same thing back to me.

 

 

Welcome Home!

Jillian's very first plane ride, from Guangzhou to Beijing!  

Note how she got ripped off:  A window seat with no window at all!  

We were sitting on airplanes for about sixteen hours.

A big smile from our new United States citizen, waiting in immigration in Seattle.

Five of a kind!  Jillian meets her new brothers for the first time at PDX.  

She already knew who they were from the photo book we mailed her last month.

Two exhausted girls ready for bedtime in Jillian's new bed.  

You should have seen Jillian's big smile as we introduced her to her new home and bedroom.

Sweetness

I'm not sure you can read what is written in this photo this very well but I had to post it here. A few days ago, Melody grabbed one of our new pictures of Jillian and a piece of paper.  On the scrap of paper, she wrote, "This is your home" and added a heart with "love" inside, then she taped it to the photo and hung it on their bedroom door.