All the children are down for the night, and we actually are relaxing with a fire in the fireplace. I can hear the chiming clock ticking away, and I’m just sitting thinking about the fact that we met our daughter one month ago today. On one hand, it seems like I can’t believe it’s already been a month. On the other hand, it seems like she’s always been a part of our lives.

I’ve been enjoying getting to know her as, I think, she sort of is figuring out who she is herself. She was cared for well at her orphanage—seemingly, her basic needs were met and the caregivers, the 7-8 we were told who rotated caring for her, really did care about her. But, still, it was an institution.

This was her room—a room with obviously many other cribs, many other children who also had needs and demanded care. That’s her in the bottom picture in pink with her cribmates taken not long before we received her. In the last month, we’ve seen quite a change in this little girl. I recognize that a lot of that change is because she has gotten more and more comfortable with us. But, I also think the change in her is largely due to the fact that she is seeing new things, is able to explore, and has two caregivers who are quick to respond to whatever she wants. It’s like she’s really becoming herself. She’s come alive in this last month, and it’s so fun to see.

What a good day to schedule a visit to our adoption agency, Living Hope, and introduce Miss Lyds to the ladies there. I was so excited for Sarah to meet her—makes me teary eyed thinking about it even now. Sarah was with us in the very beginning back in the spring of 2007 when we started this process. Through the years, she became less of a social worker/adoption facilitator in my eyes and more of a counselor and friend. She was instrumental in Lydia joining our family—she found her for us (read about it here). I consider her an extension of our family. So, I was so excited for the two to meet. Lydia, on the other hand, was not so excited about sitting with Sarah for a picture and clung to me—which made both Sarah and me quite happy actually! So, instead, Sarah had to just try to sit close for the photo while Lydia refused to smile.

Here’s a little video of what Lydia was doing just today, one month after we received her, now a very happy little girl.

I decided yesterday to send an email to Lydia’s orphanage. I was thinking about our visit there and how much they cared about her. I just wanted them to know that she is doing well and is happy. I can’t imagine what it’s like for orphanage workers to see children they have cared for leave and never know any more about them. I also wanted to ask them if they had any more photos of Lydia. The earliest we have is at about 4 months old. We were given her original finding ad on Gotcha Day, but the newsprint makes the image distorted, though she looks very very young in the picture.

I sent them this message (I had a friend translate it into Chinese):
“Hello, we are the parents to Chen Mei Yue. We wanted to let you know that she is doing very well. She is walking around everywhere now and is enjoying exploring her new home. She particularly likes going on the swing at the playground across the street from our house. She also very much enjoys the attention of her big sister and big brothers. She is very happy here, and we are very happy to have her home!

We wanted to ask you if you had any early pictures of her besides the ones we already had. We would love to have any very young infant pictures you may have of her. The earliest picture we have is from her paperwork as well as the book we were given when she was about 4 months old. If you have any pictures of her when she was younger than that, we would love to have them.

Thank you for allowing us to visit the grounds of the orphanage on April 1. We were very thankful to meet the staff and see where Yue Yue had been cared for. Please share this picture with the caregivers.

With gratitute,
Mark and Kelly Raudenbush”

And, we attached this picture:

We received this message back less than 5 hours later:
“The pic you sent was given to all the caregivers of Mei Yue. From the pic, we can see she is living happily in America. We are happy to know this and thank you.

The following two pics are the 2-month old pic and these are the only ones we have. Hope they are useful to you.”

These precious baby pictures were attached:

What a gift to get these pictures today. What a tiny little thing she was. I can’t imagine what the little body that I now cradle and tickle looked like then under those blankets. She looks so tense, so serious. I wonder who took these pictures at the orphanage and if they spoke to her in a baby voice and made that tongue clicking noise that every Chinese person made towards her when we were there last month. I wonder if she gave them a little smirk after they snapped the picture or if she remained serious, just watching them.

I’m okay with not knowing and simply marveling in the child we now hold who smiles readily when we speak to her, the child who kicks her feet with excitement when Ashlyn plays with her or when Daddy walks in the door from work, the child who belly laughs when I kiss her neck over and over again. We will never know the real details of the first year of her life in an orphanage. But, I’m grateful that we have a way to connect with those who do know about it and that they seem receptive to hearing from us about her new life. And, I’m excited about knowing the details from now on.