We Made It! (part 2)

Hi everyone! Jennifer here-

I'm so glad my hubby had the energy yesterday to let everyone know we made it back safe and sound. I'm still recovering from some icky bug in China (Eric has it now, please pray for him) and a major case of motion sickness / bad airline food, or something. The 30 hours of travel was quite miserable (for a variety of reasons - more on that at a later date) and the last portion was accompanied by persistent nausea and dizziness. I didn't think I would make onto our final flight, but a quick phone call for prayer and a kind soul in the airport who gave me some motion sickness pills helped me feel well enough to board the plane to Kansas City at the appointed time.

Noelle struggled yesterday with her new environment, but is doing much better today. She was extrememly terrified of our 3 kitties yesterday. I mean she would litterally climb up our bodies and scream in fright and flail her arms to get away. We were worried that drastic measures would need to be taken (i.e. the kitties finding a new home - an option which made me sad and miserable to even think about). But amazingly enough, today she LOVES the kitties. She is still a bit scared of them and has to have daddy or mommy or one of the grandparents hold her finger as she approaches them, but she follows them around and keeps working up the nerve to touch them. I think by tomorrow she may actually be able to pet them without assistance.

It's a funny story about how she actually had the courage to approach them. Very early this morning (our bodies are still on China time, so we're waking up at about 2:30am and Noelle wants to get up and play) daddy took Noelle downstairs to avoid waking everyone else up. They snuggled and tried to get back to sleep. When that didn't work, they played with toys, one of which makes doggie sounds. So, Noelle learned how to bark like a dog and she and daddy crawled around the living room barking and growling. Then, when one of the kitties made her escape to the living room, Noelle started growling and barking at her! Daddy did not tell her to do this; she came up with the idea all on her own. And the barking continued all morning, whenever one of the cats approached. Her dog-character seemed to give her the courage to approach her new house mates. It was SO cute! She has had all of us (both sets of grandparents are here visiting) in laughing fits watching her reactions. I think this 'kitty - little human' relationship is gonna work out after all!

(Now, if we could just get her to sleep in her own bed...)

To be continued...