The only way to survive this wait is through many distractions. Fortunately, we have two busy boys to keep us occupied. As if they aren't enough, we also had the holidays thrown in and the flu bug strike our house. We also started painting and redecorating her bedroom...
But the best distraction of all came on December 19th. Yes, it was Nathan's 14th birthday which was a distraction all in itself, but...I woke up that morning to finding pictures of Cheyenne in my email and learning that they had told her about us. So, SHE FINALLY KNOWS!!!! Below are pictures of her with the stuffed animal "we" sent her, along with a photo album with some pictures of us (if you look closely at the one picture, you can see a picture of the four of us in the album). Apparently, soon after her notification, they took her and a few other children on a field trip and made dumplings and cake. They sent me a few pictures of that too.
They also sent me this very cute video of her dancing. This was taken the same day they told her about us, but I don't know if it was before or after.
To further distract and educate myself, I also read three adoption related books, and started joining MANY adoption related groups on Facebook. While reading a post on one of the groups, I noticed someone mention an orphanage page. I decided to search to see if there was a page dedicated to her specific orphanage...and there was! That created the second best distraction thus far...when they allowed me into that group, I was able to find one picture of her orphanage and over 20 photos of our little girl - going all the way back to her being a toddler! I was in tears and felt like I hit the jackpot. These pictures give us the opportunity to see her grow up through the years. This is a gift that most adoptive parents don't get, so we are very grateful!
Orphanage
She's SO CUTE!
I love the hat on backwards with her hair down!
While showing these pictures to a couple friends, one of them asked me how I know the younger ones are her. The only explanation I can give is maternal instinct. I've been looking at the few pictures we have of her for months, I've watched the videos they sent us of her enough times to study her body language, and on top of all that, I have gut instinct that could only be explained by maternal instinct....it's a very odd feeling to have this instinct for a child I've never met, but all I can say is the moment I spotted her in each photo, I JUST KNEW...it's the same feeling I had the very first time I saw her profile picture and read her profile. I just knew she would be our little girl!
Thanks for checking in. Please continue to pray for a speedy process to bring her home!
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