A New Normal

It has now been four weeks since we met our scared little daughter on a street corner in central China. Since then, a lot has transpired, and the events seem to be accelerating.

If you wonder just when life will be returning to normal for us, we would be the first to say that we have no idea anymore what 'normal' is. When 'normal' does happen, it will most likely be a 'normal' far different than the 'normal' that we have been used to. And that may not happen for a while yet.

On one hand, Abigail is making tremendous strides towards becoming part of our family. Her understanding of the language has been expanding more rapidly each day and we can now communicate with her to some extent about simple things. She is picking up new words each day.

It is a lot of fun to see her discover or experience new things. I had her out in the snow yesterday, on a tiny hill behind our house. Just slogging through ten inches of snow brought squeals of delight, and she laughed all the way down the little hill when riding in the sled. We tried to ask her if she ever had this much snow in Tongchuan, but I don't know if she understood what we were asking. She really is a delightful little girl. High maintenance right now, but delightful. I've even been seeing some signs that the boys are warming up to her. For a while, she was just an annoyance. She still is, but now just less so. So far we have not had any major meltdowns and grieving spells which are typical, perhaps they will come later. Part of that ever-shifting 'normal'.

On the other hand, other things have been happening that will keep life at the chaotic stage for a while.

We've had a lot of snow lately. We've also had a lot of visitors lately. We do like both, however the snow tends to wear out its welcome after Christmas. Visitors never wear out their welcome. Unfortunately, the presence of both at the same time made for a rather icy driveway and Grandma took a fall in our driveway on Saturday and broke her arm in two places. She has helped us a lot since we've been home. Actually, she has helped us a lot since our first child was born nearly 18 years ago. Now she is out of commission for a while. The boys will be disappointed. Grandma often bailed them out of doing their chores. Abigail seems to enjoy helping out; now she may get a chance to help Grandma as well.

This economic downturn has hit close to home. The layoffs at work made headlines in the regional news channels. Several people that I worked with quite closely are no longer there. I feel blessed to have survived with only a small pay cut.

Abigail is blissfully unaware of most of this, other than Grandma's arm being in a cast and sling. "Grandma, ouch!" is her description of the situation. Her ignorance is probably a good thing, as her 'normal' has changed much more than ours.

We'll let you know when 'normal' happens. Just don't hold your breath.