the one with the family

today we went to the civil affairs office again and signed the papers that officially grafted Sarah Xiangting into the Peterson family!

since she is 10, Sarah had to sign and say she wanted to be adopted by us.  some of you know I was worried about this, but she was very glad to do it and told them she liked us and wants to go with us.  as a matter of fact, when they told her we were going to visit the orphanage she said no she did not want to go.  she just wanted to stay with us.  we had it explained that we would just go say goodbye to her friends but she kept saying no.  I think she was worried we would leave her there!  I almost cried.  I wondered if we should still go...but while at the civil affairs office, the director of the orphanage was there to sign some papers and he talked with her and convinced her this was final and we could not leave her and we would just visit.  she seemed ok and consented but she has been thinking about it all day.  she has drawn the characters for the welfare institute into Brendan's translator app several times.  I know she must be scared.  I wish she would let me comfort her.

she still has not cried.  no grieving we can see. but she is letting us touch her more. rough housing is the best way.  she likes to wrestle. in the elevator she asked Jordan for a hug. she likes him a lot. I did kiss her goodnight though, she wiped it off and laughed. but she won't hold hands with me...sometimes with megan and brendan she will.

we went swimming this afternoon and though she told brendan she didn't swim, and she seemed a bit cautious at first, she had lots of fun and was pretty wild.  she had a death grip on Jordan or Brendan at all times for the first 20 mins.  but finally loosened up and let megan take her around.  not me much, but then again I was kind of afraid of all the flailing, so I kind of stayed back.

dinner was slow, the service I mean, and the restaurants here have little western food (even in a "western restaurant") and I am just having trouble stomaching the chinese food at this point.  too many menu items including snake soup and donkey dumplings and catapillar fungus...

but Sarah was tired, you could see it in her eyes...so we came back to the room and put her right to bed.

I am still kind of in a daze about the whole thing.  I look at her and see so much more then we thought the file indicated... she is smart and learns quickly...but her behavior is loud and erratic. I know it has not been long since we have known her, but she doesn't listen and throws things (including phones) and she hits, (just in fun or because she doesn't want something) but still, hard to manage. yet she has the biggest smile and brightest eyes.  she is watching and taking in everything.  she is so curious.   life just got more interesting ;)