JSQ's Adoption Blog

Today is the 6 month anniversary of our family becoming a family of 4. I've been a bit contemplative today, remembering our trip to China, first meeting Violet, how scared she was of us, how much we missed Quentin, our wonderful guide and friend, Wensi.....so much has happened since our time there 6 months ago. It is hard to believe it has been that long, and in other ways that feels like another lifetime.

I wanted to include some pictures of the first day we met Violet, and some more recent pictures. It's incredible how much change she has gone through in such a short time. She is such a strong, resilient little girl. In our first days with her, she was wild eyed, screaming, crying, wouldn't let us take off her clothes (or even coat), and wouldn't let Jason get within 2 feet of her. And she ate everything she could get her hands on, and plenty of it. I'll never forget how she screamed when the lady from the orphanage told her, in Chinese, that we were her parents. Apparently she had been told she would be meeting her parents and she knew what that meant, but she certainly wasn't expecting people that looked like us!!! Then, the first night we had her, I tried to take off her pants to change her diaper, and that resulted in a crying fit that lasted over an hour and ended up with her falling asleep on me in exhaustion. It nearly killed me, but I didn't her diaper at all until the morning after we met her. I included one China picture of Violet and Jason that wasn't exactly taken on the FIRST day, but they never got close enough together for a picture of just the two of them on the first day.

The more recent pictures in the post are all taken within the last month. She has become a little Daddy's girl, she loves her brother, and I think she is really happy to be part of our family. I know we are all so happy that she is here. She has established a healthy relationship with food (although she still eats a ton...), and has a genuinely outgoing personality. Everyone at her school knows her (even the people in the admin office). She enjoys going to school and doesn't get upset when we drop her off anymore. Pretty amazing for a little girl who was scared of all adults. She has been through surgery, which she handled better than I probably would have, and has put up with overprotective parents who are scared to death of her putting something in her mouth that could puncture her palate. It is amazing to me how far she has come in such a short time, and I am so very proud of her. We are thankful that God allowed Violet to be part of our family, and I can't imagine life without her.