Our family was honored to be a small part in Dave and Andrea’s adoption of Meiling and Jimmy. This adoption had been in the works for over a year. They already have seven kids — and we can’t imagine their dinner table with nine kids now! We are amazed at their faith and huge hearts. They are truly blessing Meiling and Jimmy’s life for eternity!
I picked up Eliza early from school on Thursday, November 20th and we met Dave, Andrea, Joseph and Meiling at the location where they would be picking up Jimmy. Eliza kept Meiling happy with a small bag of toys and snacks we had brought from home. The room was set up like a conference room. Andrea was nervous and asked me to do yoga breathing with her. They finally brought in Jimmy, who was happy and full of energy. He made us all smile. When we returned home, we were shocked at how uncontrollable he was until we got him to bed. He was bouncing from one thing to the next and 2 to 3 people needed to be watching him at all times. Once the kids were asleep, Dave and Andrea wrestled and prayed all night wondering if they should keep Jimmy. Could they really add him to their family or would his endless energy and the required attention be too disruptive to the young kids they have at home? In the morning they knew they would keep him. Thankfully each day Jimmy calmed down a bit and became more obedient and manageable.
Meiling is a delight. They picked her up several days before in Lanzhou. I loved watching her smile when she would eat. She had such a sweet calm presence about her. Eliza loved being with her and Eliza would get teary when she would translate Meiling saying, “Help me find my mommy. I don’t know where she is.” Meiling had been fostered for two years by a Chinese family. Apparently that father was not around much so it was very easy for Meiling to attach to Dave and call him Baba. She is five so it is completely natural for her to miss her foster mom and sister. And not to mention the language barrier!
Meeting Jimmy!
Saturday we ate lunch at East/West after attending our school Christmas bazaar.
Celebrating Thanksgiving on Sunday (a few days early)
A few moments I don’t want to forget:
The weather and air quality were so nice during their stay. I loved looking out the window seeing them all jumping on the trampoline.
During Sacrament meeting Jimmy sang so loud and confidently. Jimmy and Meiling attended my Primary class with Dave. The kids sat still and listened. They both participated in our sharing time and felt like they belonged. Andrea played the piano for sharing time. In those sweet moments I felt so grateful that these two kids would feel loved and accepted and fit in beautifully with the Larsen family.
John’s Chinese helped this transition immensely. For example, the day they were returning to Jimmy’s orphanage for a tour, John explained the situation to him in the morning. “Your new parents want to go today and see where you used to live, but they will not leave you there. They love you and want you to stay with them and become a part of their family.” He was still nervous and couldn’t stop talking to our driver about it all the way there—but what do you expect for an eight-year-old in this situation!
I enjoyed talking with Andrea about vitamins and oils. I also enjoyed getting a foot massage with her one afternoon while Dave and Joseph stayed home with the kids.
I had such a great time shopping with them — they had nice suits made for Dave at the fabric market and bought all sort of things at the fake market: hats, sun glasses, scarves, bathrobes, backpack, suitcase, chopsticks, t-shirts… I also liked seeing how grateful and happy the locals were to see that Dave and Andrea were adopting these two Chinese children. They would say how lucky the children were to be going to this American family. One lady even gave Meiling and Jimmy a free stuffed pandas.
On Thanksgiving day our school does an all-school chapel. We all attended. Part of the chapel they had a student from each grade talk about what they were thankful for. Emma was the Jr rep and had Dave, Andrea, Joseph, Meiling and Jimmy stand up. She said she was grateful that her Aunt, Uncle and cousin could be here and for their great example and hearts for adopting two children from China. She also said that she was grateful for her interim in October at an orphanage where she could feel that they were all Children of God. It was such an uplifting hour of singing and just feeling grateful!
