A treat for Cosette

Over the past few days Cosette has been amazing. She has patiently endured little brother pestering her, using her things and sharing mom and dad. She has been generous, kind, and amazingly patient while Daniel, John and I focused on adoption paperwork. In my quiet time a few days ago I thanked God for Cosette and her incredible attitude and I asked him for some opportunity to do something for Cosette; something really special, and just for her.

Today was exactly that. Cosette loves pandas. She probably has 50 or more pandas of every kind in her room. On her 5^th birthday she asked her guests to contribute to helping save the pandas rather then give her gifts. She really does care for these Chinese treasures. It was a complete surprise yesterday when we learned that we were going to go to the Dalian Forest Zoo and see a panda up close. Thank you Father for caring for my baby girl and giving her this special treat!

Some of you have asked specific questions about Daniel so I’ll try to answer those questions:

Size – the one pair of shorts we brought that fit say size “medium”. The size small Gap swim trunks are too big, although the draw string makes them livable. The size 6 under ware is a little big but it’s probably good that it’s big. Daniel was in very roomy boxers when we met him and the briefs we brought are clearly not his favorite. The shirts I brought are size small and medium and they fit well.

Language – Daniel is trying to say some English words. Hello was his first. It’s really cute, he says “Hallo” smiles a full tooth grin and waves. John has it on video, precious. He said “please” today and “car” which is his favorite subject. He talks constantly and is quite dramatic in his inflections. It’s really sad we do not understand his stories. Just a few minutes ago he came over and told me some long elaborate story, dramatizing some of it with actions; marching, dancing, smiling and frowning. It was clearly something funny to him. But I have no idea what he was saying. Very frustrating!

He clearly understands several things. 1) “Daniel NO!” I’m finding myself say that more often then I prefer. I usually like to redirect rather then constantly saying no, but it’s much more difficult without a shared language. Safety alone requires immediate communication sometimes. 2) “Share with sister”. That’s another I repeat fairly often. He really is kind hearted and shares when he understands. But he doesn’t think to share unless directed to do so. 3) “Hello” and “goodbye” are universal I think. He definitely gets those.

Name – We still us Heng and Daniel intermittently. He is starting to respond to the name Daniel. Not sure how he feels about it, but he responds.

Pray for Daniel tomorrow. We are visiting his orphanage in the morning. Today we asked our guide to help him understand what was going to happen, that we were going to see what his life was like when he lived in the orphanage and to say good bye to his friends and nannies. We also wanted him to know he was coming with us back to the hotel and home to America later this month. Immediately when the subject of the orphanage came up he began to protest, wiggle in his seat and ask to sit with me (mom). I pray tomorrow’s visit is not too disturbing. I think it’s important on many levels. It’s important for him to say good bye; for us to see where he lived off and on over his 6 years here in Dalian and it’s important for sister to see what an orphanage in China really like. We appreciate your prayers.

Tonya (for J, C & D)