Yesterday, was my best mother’s day EVER! An hour of quiet yoga and meditation was just what I needed to help me find some peace and calm to begin the day. Everyone told me going into this adventure, that parenting two children would be A LOT more work than parenting one, and of course, it’s true. But, like everything else in life, you don’t really KNOW something, until you know it first hand . . . Funny thing of it is, I had prepared for Mia to be more of the ‘typical’ institutionalized child. Very often these children have developmental delays, and poorly developed social skills. They require extra effort and gentle coaxing to get them to interact with you. You have to work a little harder to get them to come out of their shell, so I brought several activities with exactly that in mind. Well let me tell you, with Mia, there was no shell! She has no trouble looking us directly in the eye, is unbelievably social, and she is curious about EVERYTHING! She has an easy smile, and a deep belly laugh. She loves to be held, and she gives lots of kisses. She learns new things very quickly, and has a fantastic sense of humor. She’s beginning to use tiny bits of English, but it is clear that she understands much more. As of today, she has been with us for a full week, and she has shown us her fun, confident, strong personality every single day! That strong, confident personality often gets her into conflict with Sydney, who is just as strong and confident. Suffice to say that we’ve had more than a few disagreements. But on the flip side, I’m watching a budding friendship start. Like many other siblings I know, they will be laughing one minute, arguing the next, then before I know it they are hugging each other and back to playing. Just like any other siblings will. I’m so proud of both of my girls, even when they argue. That sounds strange, but it’s true. I don’t like playing the referee, but I accept that it is part of my job, at least for now, and maybe for always. My heart leaps with joy when I see them playing well together, and getting along. The head to head combat just shows me that they both feel like they belong in this family, and that they both believe that their feelings and opinions matter. I have often said that being a mother is the toughest job I’ve ever done for no money and no time off, and it still is. Now that I’m a mother of two, the work may be more than double, but the good thing is that the joy is more than double, too. So, you’re probably wondering about the terribly close call. Last Friday, when we went for Mia’s medical clearance, it was discovered that one of the Chinese documents in her file was possibly not hers, as it listed another child’s name. This caused a lot of confusion, and led to more investigation. This investigation led to other problems, BIGGER ones. I’m not going to divulge all of the details here, but until about an hour ago, we weren’t sure if she was going to be allowed to leave China without some significant delay. Or, even if she had been allowed to leave, that immigration would have permitted her to entrance into the US. Thankfully, we found out about these issues while we are able to do something about them. Catherine, our Holt representative here, has been amazing! She has done everything in her power to acquire the extra documentation we needed – she’s practically moved mountains on our behalf. It’s been touch and go for the last two days, but as of this minute, we are in the clear, and set for our appointment at the US Consulate tomorrow morning for Mia’s US visa. If for some reason the Consulate decides to refuse our added documentation, well, we will cross that bridge when it comes. And Sydney says: I love my new sister, but she can be really annoying when she wants to do everything that I do. My mom says that little sisters are like that, and that I’d better get used to it.
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Lisa LynchLisa is a world traveling mom that took the ultimate adventure Archives
December 2012
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