turn that frown upside down

Praise the Lord for Hindi speakers.

We took Tarana on a five-hour car trip this weekend for my sister’s wedding.

The night before we left, I was praying with Tarana at bedtime, thanking Jesus for our family members and asking protection for our travel. Tarana started crying and said “No grandmother home. Please, mom.” She cried herself to sleep as a comforted her as best I could, given the language barrier. I knew she was probably confused. She loves her grandparents, but she couldn't bear the idea that we might be taking her to another home to drop her off.

The next day, she protested and protested as we were packing our bags and loading the car. She cried, begged, threw things at us, stomped on her things, ripped paper, anything she could do to show us she didn’t want to go. We didn’t know how to tell her that we weren’t taking her to a new home! So we had to carry her to the car and buckle her in. She protested the seatbelt and tried to open the car door, but eventually we calmed her down. 

We had some happy moments on the trip, like when I showed her how to climb and slide inside the McDonald’s play place and when we stopped at a rest area and picked flowers and talked about birds. She was OK then. It’s when we buckled her back into the car that she cried and begged us not to take her.

When we were about ten minutes from my parents’ house, I pointed out an airplane flying in the sky. And she immediately threw up. So I knew she thought we were about to put her back on a plane, and we tried again to convince her that it was a short trip and we’d return home on Sunday, but she just didn't believe us.

Tarana was a trooper through the bridesmaid’s luncheon, the wedding rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. She was pouty, but gave us some smiles and was kind to the new people she was meeting. She did throw tantrums at bedtime and bath time, but who can blame her? She was so confused!

She even did a great job walking down the aisle with me during the wedding ceremony! She was the flower girl and I was the matron of honor. She protested her role as flower girl, so she carried my bouquet while I carried her basket. She stood beside me during the ceremony, watching my sister, the beautiful bride, in awe. She decided to throw the flower petals during the recessional, as she walked back down the aisle with the ring bearers. That was fine with us.

As the bridal party stood outside for photos after the wedding, Tarana played nearby. When we told her it was time for our family to be photographed with the bride and groom, she protested. My husband had to pick her up and bring her to the photo spot, and she had a meltdown. In the photos, she is covering her face and crying. 

We felt so sad for her. I tried to comfort her, but then she kicked off her shoes and threw her garland on the ground. So I carried her to the other side of the church where there was a playground. I put her down, but she wouldn’t move. 

One of the wedding guests brought her a big Dora coloring book and crayons, which she ignored until I threatened to color the watermelon blue, and that just wouldn’t do, so she started coloring it red. Her grandmother brought her some snacks from the reception, and they sat there on the sidewalk for a long time until she was calm enough to join everyone in the reception hall. 

There, she was introduced to two of my sister’s friends from India, who spoke to her in Hindi. Tarana told those girls that our family was en route back to India. Oh. So that explains it. They told her we’re not taking her back to India, but back to our house with her toys and her dogs, and she was so relieved! They also explained to her that we were at her aunt’s wedding and would be returning to our house soon. "A wedding?" she said. "Home?" she asked. Until that moment, Tarana had had no idea what was going on! Our English explanations just hadn’t cut it! Once she understood the situation, her frown turned upside down and she was happy for the rest of the visit!

             

We went into this trip knowing it was too early for a newly adopted child to participate in such a big event in a new place, with several nights away from her new home, but what choice did we have? We had to attend this once-in-a-lifetime celebration! It was God's grace that redeemed the situation. We are thankful to God and thankful to our family and friends who helped her along the way. 

There is no way we could have made her understand the purpose of our trip using English. We thank God for these Indian girls who made such a difference in Tarana’s heart. And thankfully, they gave us their phone numbers and told her she can call them any time she’s confused.Thanks be to God.

Tarana has been much happier ever since, singing, dancing, laughing, chattering and even giving hugs and cuddles! And tonight, she told us she loves us! :) :) :) We are so in love with her.

photos

 We're home!

my kind of girl

This little kid knows a lot more than she lets on. Today in the airplane, she said “game,” put on her pouty face and made some whiny noises. I told her to say “please,” because we’re trying to work on manners from the get go. She looks at me and says, “Give me the game, please.” What? That’s maybe the third complete sentence she’s spoken to me. The only other one I remember was “I’m fine, thank you,” in response to our daily “Good Morning, how are you?” routine. She’s going to be speaking like any other American six-year-old real soon, I can tell.

One of her most delightful behaviors is that she acts out our mommy-daughter interactions with her Barbie. If I bathe her, she bathes her Barbie. If I brush her hair, she brushes Barbie’s hair. If I tuck her in, she tucks Barbie in. I love being her mommy!

She’s kind of OCD like me, except not like me, because she can’t seem to tolerate messiness, and I’m MESSY. She always wants everything in it’s proper place. She’s always smoothing down blankets and rearranging things according to her sense of order. She gets very upset if we have trash and have to carry it with us awhile before we can find a trash can. In the Frankfurt airport, she insisted on changing her clothes, since she spilled some powdered creamer on her shirt in the plane.

I bit into a hot pepper on the plane and Tarana, seeing my distress, offered me her cup of yogurt because she’s Indian and she knows that yogurt is the solution to too much spice.

She is way into Disney already, totally mesmerized by the movies Enchanted and Mary Poppins. It made my heart so happy to see her laughing at Bert and friends floating on the ceiling from so much laughter.

She knows a lot of songs! She can sing “If you’re happy and you know it” and “Jingle Bells.” She knows about Santa Claus…he visited the orphanage! We’ve seen pictures!

She’s vegetarian. She’s never had meat, and coke makes her throw up. So we’re going to ease her into the American diet sloooowly. We’re not even going to give her meat broth until after my sister’s wedding in a little over a week. 

oh, and p.s. We are SO thankful to all our friends and family helping us with things like communication, transportation, housesitting, dogsitting, kitchen stocking and child care.  We are so blessed by our family and community!