Our days in Guangzhou

We’ve been in Guangzhou 5+ days now.  Tomorrow we start our trip home!  (24 hours worth of traveling, so we’d appreciate your prayers through this!)

Maryelle’s sweet smiles get us through the roller coaster days.  We are quickly learning that this is not a sprint.  Slow and steady wins the race.  Four years of negative learned behavior, four years of little to no nurturing and love.  Change doesn’t happen overnight.  But by God’s grace not only will Maryelle’s life be changed, but so will ours.

So what have we learned about Miss Maryelle in this past week and a half?  Yes, she has lots of obstacles to overcome, but this girl is so ready to be loved.  She is holding on tight and soaking in every ounce that Andy and I give her.  Last night we were going through photos of the kids trying to get her used to seeing their faces.  She actually repeated their names!  Now this is huge because she hardly has any understandable sounds.  And sure, their names weren’t clear, but it’s a start!  The orphanage described her as sweet, active, loving and stubborn.  So far this is pretty accurate!  She has a spunky personality and is really quite comical. 

We’ve had a really busy schedule of activities while we’ve been in Guangzhou.  Maryelle has experienced more in the last 5 days than her entire life!  She has done very well with being on the go and likes being in her stroller taking in everything around her.  We’re (more than) ready now to get home and get settled into real life!  For our family to finally be together!!  This transition will pose new fears and adjustments for her (and all of us), but these next few weeks will be the foundation for building her understanding of a family.  A FAMILY.  A hope.  A future.  We can’t wait to see what God has in store.