She's Here!

Meet Sakura

She made it this evening after a long road trip today. We had so much fun this evening just getting to know a little more about her. We had dinner in our home tonight. We had American food with a touch of Japanese mixed in. We had chicken strips, Japanese style white rice, Italian Green Beans w/onions followed by Pineapple. She tried everything and even cleaned her plate (which is more than I can say for my own children, they were too excited) She got really excited when we got out the Pocky (a Japanese snack we picked up at the grocery store). Then we took a drive out to a farm where we checked on some bunnies for some friends. She was grinning from ear to ear looking at the bunnies. We then showed her their pigs and all of the new piglets. I don't think she had ever seem a pig that close before. We then returned home where we played a high stakes game of UNO ATTACK. Kailey beat us all this round. She brought us all gifts so it was like Christmas morning around here. T really liked the Japanese candy she brought. I think he ate the whole bag! She brought us all chopstixs so we will give those a try tomorrow. We finished the evening by looking through a book that she made for us. She shared about her family, their home, her school, holidays they celebrate & their vacation last Summer. It was a true learning experience for me. In my last post I said we are growing, meaning by one in our family (for a time). But I know through this experience we will all be growing so much more! We have NEVER had any one in our home for more than a week (& that was family & a close friend). I was impressed by our 13 year old this evening by how she treated our guest with such poise & grace and how in spite of communication challenges she continued to make conversation with our new friend. I am looking forward to the weeks ahead and I plan to share as much as I can. Thanks for all of the prayers for safe travel and smooth transitions. God is so good!

Favorite Memory of today: The look on Sakura's face as the much taller Sammy was showing her around our home. Sakura kept looking up at Sam like she was a giant. It was classic!