Happy Gotcha Anniversary, Molly Jayne!!

Two years ago today, on a hot and muggy Monday morning in Zhengzhou, China, a group of excited parents-to-be got off an air-conditioned bus and anxiously headed into a government building to meet our children. Most of us were second-time (or third-time) adoptive parents, so these waters were hardly uncharted...but that didn't lessen our enthusiasm or make the process any easier on any of us.

My first glimpse of the adorable little stranger who was about to become my daughter...
...sent my stomach into flips! She was so tiny, so adorable, her hair was SO short, she was so scared...so very, very scared...and she was angry. When she discovered that the orphanage caregivers were leaving her with us, she packed up her belongings (including the toys we had just given her) and stoically stared at the door they had just exited, tears streaming down her adorable face.
Her dress was too big, her hair was too short, and her world had just been rocked...who could blame her for being scared and angry?? I can honestly say that, hands down, the moment I saw the agony my new daughter was experiencing...well, it was the worst moment of my life. I felt helpless, and evil, and guilty. This wasn't an adoption, it was abduction. Chokes me up just to think about it.

So, let's move on...

Fairly quickly, she learned to accept Daddy...
...and, yes (for those who are long-time followers of my blog), shortly after THAT happened, she dropped trou'...
...and emptied her bladder on a city sidewalk, in plain view of our entire travel group. It was just about that point that we realized this spicy little spitfire was gonna do things HER way and on HER time...so we had better just strap on our seatbelts for what surely was gonna be a bumpy ride!

Fast forward two years.

That tiny, adorable, scared, and angry spitfire has made an amazing transformation, Oh, she's still tiny. She's still adorable. But the scared and angry are GONE. (And so is the pixie haircut.) She and I had a rough time bonding, I'm not gonna lie. It took a solid 20-month period of time to pass before she would accept me, or kiss me, or even truly love me. (It was a LONG 20 months...) But all the pain and heartbreak just needed time. And now? Now, my baby girl...
...loves her Mommy fiercely! She loves Barbies, and dress-ups, and baby dolls, and books, and dance class...and pretty much everything else. She just soaks up the joy in life and sprinkles it on everyone around her!
She's sassy, smart as a whip, has hilarious comic timing, and still has that throaty, three-pack-a-day-smoker laugh that is completely infectious.

She has vivid memories of China and loves to recount the stories...even the ones that break my heart. I made her a photo collage for Christmas (which hangs over the headboard of her bed) with pics from China. The ones on the outer edges were pictures sent to us during the wait, but the ones in the middle row...
...were taken during the adoption trip. Her favorite one of all? She's pointing to it...the picture where she finally had a family. (Her words, not mine.)
When we talk about adopting more children (it DOES come up in conversation occasionally), she is vehement...no way! She wants to maintain her position as the baby of the family because, in her words, "then I'll get all the attention."
If you've met Molly at any point during this two-year adjustment period, I think you know she will ALWAYS get all the attention. After all...
...she's a photogenic diva with a million dollar smile who gives the best hugs and kisses a Mommy could wish for.
She loves God, her family, her teachers, her friends, and has an amazingly grateful heart. She tells me she loves me dozens of times every day...and not just when she's in trouble. And she's thrilled to finally have long hair!

So today we celebrate you, Molly Jayne, with dinner at your favorite restaurant and a nice surprise afterward (going to see a movie at the super-saver theater...shhhhh, don't tell her)...
...and the rest of the world better stand back and see what this girl is gonna accomplish. I believe it'll be something BIG...