What an amazing day it has been! This morning we headed from our hotel in Beijing to Harmony House, which was about an hour’s drive. We actually went to the Ovation hotel first where we met Lily, who is the director of Harmony House. The hotel is only two years old and is very beautiful. I think we might be the only ones staying here though because it is awfully quiet!
We then drove a few minutes to Harmony House. We had prayed about this day for such a long time, and we were now going to actually get to see, hold, hug, and kiss our little Linda. When we first walked in the door, we saw several kids playing so we had a chance to say “hi” and interact with them. Linda was still upstairs, so they called her to come down because we had arrived. We were not sure what kind of reaction she would have in meeting us. We were hoping for the best but prepared for the worst.
She walked down the staircase and gave a little smile as she saw her Daddy and sister for the first time. Mia and I embraced her. She cautiously, but genuinely, hugged us back! How sweet it was to finally hold our daughter in my arms! She was fairly shy and quiet at first and there was a lot of commotion going on inside the home. So Lily suggested we take her outside to play with her on the playground equipment.
While outside she really began to smile and laugh with us as she took us by the hands around the playground. Even though she wasn’t saying much with her words, it didn’t take too long for her to communicate warmth to us in other ways. She was definitely identifying us as baba and jie jie (daddy and sister).
There was a group from the US coming to visit HH so Lily took the three of us to a local Chinese restaurant to have lunch with the group so they could meet us. It was a huge blessing for us and them to interact and for them to be encouraged by Linda’s story. Seven of the eight people were from Washington, but one gentlemen was from Mission Viejo, so we hope to stay in contact when we return.
After lunch we went back to HH and spent the entire afternoon playing with Linda and the other children. It was a lot of fun and they all had a lot of energy! We spent a lot of time playing and talking to a special little girl named Kari. We hope that Linda will get to see her back in the US!
We returned to the Ovation hotel around 4:30. Linda continued to warm up to us and her silly side began to come out! She was singing and laughing to some of the songs from a Chinese DVD that we had brought. It was a joy to see her having so much fun! She loved taking a bath and getting into her Hello Kitty pajamas – so cute!
She was a bit sad as we got her ready to get into bed to sleep. I held her and we prayed for her. She cried softly in bed for about five minutes and then she fell asleep in my arms. She woke up with a big smile on her face, and I was so excited that she was no longer sad! In a way, it was good to see her have some of those tears because it makes you realize that this is such a huge change for her and she gets it.
We are so thankful for how God worked out all the details of our first day and our meeting of Linda! It feels so comfortable and normal and it has only been less than a day now! Praise God for His love and kindness!
(My sister captured the moment that the boys, Joy, and I got to skype with David, Mia, and Linda for the first time! What a thrill! We can hardly wait for their next update!)
