Dwarf Caretaker or Dragon Slayer?

Playing happily in her room :)

Disney princesses have been around for a long time...Ariel, who swims the ocean; Belle, who loves the Beast; and more current gals who are out to defend the world like crazy people.  "Brave" and "Frozen" are a few newer titles that come to mind, where the heroine is so fearless that she can conquer beasts, icy tundra, and burly bad guys like it's "just in a day's work." These chicks have it covered!



Well in my day, Disney's girls were a little more timid and cautious....BUT, they still got down to business and did what they needed to do.  They were sweet AND had a mission.  I am from the '70's, so my animated heroine favs were Snow White and Alice (from Wonderland fame).  It is kind of funny, but I have tended to relate to these girls throughout my entire life, and now is no different.





Today, I am trying to decide if I am Snow White, the dwarf caretaker, who sweetly attempts to avoid evil at every turn while focusing on her new little friends....OR Alice, sent to a freaky, strange land, encountering crazy antics along the way, in order to become the Jabberwocky-slayer and defeat the evil Queen!



Most days, I believe that I alternate between the two.  And as I look back on 3 trips to China, EVERY time, I have started out as Snow White and ended up as Alice.  I leave, intent on fulfilling a mission of finding out who I am supposed to be caring for, and sweetly and naively avoiding the nasty Wicked Witch along the way who taunts with the apple.  I run from her and then BAM!, I find myself in the midst of all kinds of weird events that make me doubt my sanity and pull out all of my courage and strength to slay the nasty dragon at the end...suddenly, I become Alice.

I LOVE Alice!  She is so willing to live outside the norm, so observant, so accepting of weirdness, so inquisitive to try strange things (and if that doesn't work, try something else even stranger), so willing to talk to the magical Cheshire cat and Madhatter, so eager to learn what her new friends have to say and accept their offers of help.  Alice escapes her real world and digs deep to find her courageous self in order to save Wonderland, and in the meantime finds her true self.  The dreamy, lame Alice is gone and the Dragon-Slayer emerges.

My previous trips to China were just like this, and this current trip was no different.  What begins as a relatively simple trip to bring home a child, becomes a contest of bravery, courage, and conquer.  After Trip #1, I contracted a parasite, wasted away to under 100 pounds, and felt like my life was ending.  After Trip #2, I came back wanting to toss out my little 2 year-old, who was a WILD WOMAN at that age...a fearless, sensory-seeking maniac!  And now, after Trip #3....well, read below....

Every little Chinese girl loves Madden, don't they?
Bonding time with brothers...

Upon arriving home, the pediatrician was concerned that Vivian was seriously dehydrated, but also felt that sending her to the hospital for treatment would be more traumatic than trying to heal her at home.  She prescribed several new meds to work on continuing to heal her sore mouth and her lips....and as a plus, Vivian started eating and drinking almost from the moment we walked into the house...happy!




After we arrived home and Vivian was slowly showing signs of being on the mend, I became sick...SUPER sick...the most miserable sickness that I have encountered since I had mono back in high school.  I caught what Vivian had, most likely from kissing on her sweet face and loving her (Snow White?), which turned into a battle that had me in SO much pain (Alice).

Cuddled up in the patchwork blanket that G'ma made

For an entire week, I was a complete mess....aches, pains, chills, mouth sores like you wouldn't believe (to the point of being able to eat NOTHING for days) and just pain blah.  It was decided that she and I most likely had symptoms of the herpes/shingles/chicken pox viral strain....which attacks you and emerges when you are run down and super stressed.  I never knew that you could get shingles in your mouth...OUCH times 10!  I have never had such a bad virus (and never want to again), but I could also see that there was nothing I could do about it.  I got it from loving her, and if that is what was required, I was willing to take on and slay that dragon.

Back to reality...see the little bundle on the floor?  Sleeping peacefully next to Mommy while I work on getting my courses ready...they were supposed to have started already :(  life happens....my students and colleagues are wonderfully gracious

Celebrating CNY with sister

I know that people have been wondering what has become of us since arriving home...and I will say, that it was very bad.  I am not surprised, because trips like this just do that.  China is wonderful, but for me, China is much like Wonderland.  You work really hard to figure out what you need to do, but at every turn, the entire energy of the place is threatening. When you are fulfilling your life's purpose, Satan will find every way possible to toss dragons in your way.  Adoption trips cause my hair and skin to dry out (to the point that skin sloughs off in strips and hair just looks like a bad wig), I lost 5 pounds, and basically came back looking like a total wreck.  But, what can you do?  You either slay the dragon or let it devour you....I am an Alice, so I will not allow dragons to get the upper hand.  They can breathe the fire for a little while until I find my sword, then they are in trouble!




So now, I am back to Snow White...caring for my little dwarfs.  My hair and skin have recovered, my mouth sores are gone....and I can eat Chipotle again without feeling that razors are dragging across my gums.

The dragons are dead...my little dwarfs are wonderful...Vivian is doing GREAT!  The boys are totally in love with her (which is a pleasant surprise...their attitude towards getting a new little sister has not been so positive...until they met her..because she is not the annoying little baby that they imagined, they have been so happy to fall in love with her...they love her hugs and getting to carry her around...she lets them).  Her little joyful self is finally shining through and she is such a peach.  I can't even describe how sweet she is!  She and Lydia play happily all day long and she is just the energy that the kids needed to balance them.

She is occasionally scared at the things we toss her way, but she braves the unknown just like a little Alice...accepting the strangeness, with a willingness to experience and love our crazy life.  On the other side, she is so loving and adores caring for her baby dolls, just like a Snow White.

God gave me just what I needed...a kind-hearted, compassionate, dragon-slayer!