Princess Tea Party and 4 Years Ago Today

Four years ago today, we were handed the most precious jewel in all of China. Four years of praying for the child who would complete our family ended a 3-year struggle of trying to complete our family. We had numerous attempts resulting in being lied to by some, travel arrangements out of state by others, overseas attempts to trick us into getting them a visa so they could "have the baby here" (thank God for good counsel against that!), two held babies that we had to release, broken dreams and broken hearts. Through it all, we saw the hand of God directing us to a little baby who was completely unaware that she was living in an orphanage. She just knew she had other babies around her and that the nannies were taking care of them.

When we received Caroline in China, we were handed a very frightened and confused little baby. Our guide called our name and a man handed her to me whereupon she immediately cried and didn’t stop for quite some time. We were later told on the bus that she was afraid of strangers (Great!). She was sick with bronchitis, had a flat spot on the back left side of her head (still does), was sweaty from 3 layers of clothes, her hair was greasy and smelled of wood smoke – and she was all ours…forever. I remember that one of the first things I did was turn around and call Peter over to meet his sister. She didn’t like him either. But eventually she thought he was pretty cool.

Here is the Gotcha Day Video.

We spent the first day getting to know each other in between crying bouts. If one of us was holding her and she was calm, it was with great trepidation that we handed her off to the other parent because we knew she would cry again. By day 3, she was laughing and playing with us (seen about 1 minute into the video)

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We brought her home to meet family and friends, but she would not let anyone but Mommy or Daddy hold her and put a hand out to keep people at bay. Yes, even at one year old, she could communicate quite well. It was a trying time because everyone was happy to meet her, but she wanted nothing to do with them.

By two, it was a little better, but she would still play shy and hide behind Mommy. However, if you were at her house and sat down, you became her new play toy. Still, it was difficult because she would still not readily go to family members who loved her so much and were trying hard to be patient. I loved dressing her up in dresses and curling her hair. Cuddling with her was wonderful and I tried not to miss any opportunity.

By three, she was growing into a beautiful little girl who could hold her own at home, but still hid behind Mommy everywhere else. If she didn’t feel comfortable around someone, she could give them a look that said more than any words could about how she felt. She snored terribly and had to have her tonsils and adenoids removed to help her breathe at night.

By four, she was enjoying her extended family once she warmed up a bit. She could still give you the "hairy eyeball" though. She had become quite self-assured and confident and just a little saucy too. She learned to be a little more polite and the Sunday School teachers loved having her in class. She knew just what buttons to push to annoy her brother and learned her letters and sounds.

Today we had her Princess Tea Party with 4 of her friends. Simple sandwiches, cookies, and cupcakes (pink of course!) were on the menu along with Milk Tea (decaf tea with LOTS of milk and some vanilla). The little ladies were so cute and played well together in the backyard, clinked their cups together in Cheers, and had a splendid time playing hot potato, duck-duck-goose, red-light-green-light and opening gifts. Maya's mom, Michelle helped with pouring tea and milk and the table decorations were courtesy of my other friend, Michelle (yes 2 Michelles). She used them for her daughter's 5th birthday 2 years ago.

Caroline wanted to take my picture with her kitty this morning. Apparently, the focus of the picture was kitty and not me.

The girls and me.

Beautiful table decorations courtesy of Michelle

Mommy and Caroline

Caroline was simply over the moon about wearing her Alice in Wonderland dress. (backstory here: Many years ago I was having teller training for a bank I was working at. My co-worker and I stayed at a hotel near Disneyland and we went to the Disney store-this was before they started having them in malls everywhere). I saw the Alice dress and was so smitten with it that my co-worker told me I needed to have a girl so I could get that dress for her someday. Wouldn't you know that all these years later, MY daughter ONLY wanted an Alice dress. No princess dress for her, just Alice. That red thread thing again....) She wanted to wear it from the time she got up this morning, but I had to set the timer and tell her when the timer went off, she could wear it. Weeelllll.....I got impatient and put her in it early. Go ahead and laugh. Rick did.

Isn't she cute????

We're not done with the birthday celebrations yet. We still have family coming over tomorrow to celebrate with tri-tip and yes, more cupcakes! Then I can collapse. The thing is, we do milestone birthdays around here (i.e. 1st birthday, 5th, 10th, and if we let them live through the teen years, 16th and 18th. The rest of the birthdays are celebrated on a much smaller scale. Peter turns 10 this year so we will have a big party in July.

As seen in the video from yesterday's post, she thought 4 was boring and is loving being 5.




But she will always be my baby girl. I love you so much, my precious Caroline.