Another Best Day of Our Life?

Psalm 100

"Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth.
Serve the LORD with gladness;
Come before Him with joyful singing.
Know that the LORD Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving,
And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him; bless His name.
For the LORD is good;
His lovingkindness is everlasting,
And His faithfulness to all generations."

This is how we just ended our day, reading (out loud and together, mind you) Psalm 100. Whether Xiao Qian understood any of what was read is really irrelevant as far as Victoria and I are concerned, because the Spirit within us is almost leaping out of our skin (no exaggeration, really) singing this Psalm of truth and praise. And after reading this Psalm, the three of us sat on the bed, held hands and then prayed together. Victoria kissed her sweet little hand, and we said, "Wan an" (good-night). Right now I can hear fiddling around in the suite getting ready for bed. Sometimes it's just the simple sounds that bring so much joy.

Victoria is laying in the bed next to me and wanted me to tell you all this, "Today is one of the best days of my life." "Do you really want me to write that, Honey?", I asked. She didn't hesitate for a second to tell me to tell it like it is. I've heard her say this on about a half dozen occasions during our more-than-a-quarter century of marriage, and they've always been announced at the sweet spot of connection with either our children or me when you just  know the Lord is flooding kindness over our cup like a champagne class overflowing with bubbly.

Let me share just briefly a few of the highlights of our day (day three) today. First, after enjoying another nice breakfast together, we took a taxi over to the pearl market (just the three of us) and we spoiled Xiao Qian with a pearl necklace and some matching earrings. You should have seen her face light up when we put the pearls around her neck after they were strung. I'm tellin' ya what, the glee in that little Southern China-girl's face melted my heart (check out the photographs, attached). At that moment she could have asked me for anything and I would have given it to her. Sound like another relationship, only on an entirely different plane?

We then enjoyed a nice lunch together eating nothing but vegetables, and man were they good. You'd have been proud of us westerners working our way through the crowded foreign streets of Guangzhou all by ourselves (granted, we did have a native with us, but her ability to translate is "not so good', as she likes to say). The most tender moment of that meal, and a milestone in our minds, is when she poked the desert fruit with a toothpick and with a hearty smile handed each of us a piece of melon before she had hers. You could just tell it brought her joy to give us a little something from her own hand (little does she know she's already given us more than we could ever ask or dream).

We then went to the Police Headquarters and received our official papers memorializing that Xiao Qian is now a Kruggel. Sounds strange, doesn't it? You know, an American-German name mixed with Chinese. It is what it is, and we're now a family of eight. Unbelievable, that's all I can say.

We later came back to the hotel, played cards, went out to eat, and then played more card games after we got back.  A few tender moments of the evening came when Xiao Qian asked (with peering interest) what Victoria's hobbies were. It was the first time since we've had her that she's gone out of her way to get to know us just a little deeper. To me, that was a light-year advancement and my heart leaped when I heard her pose the question to her MaMa. The next significant moment came when we arrived at the hotel room and she immediately grabbed the playing cards, skipped (that's right, skipped) around the bed, jumped on it, knocked her shoes off and looked at me with a big grin on her face, like, "Let's get going here - we have the whole evening to have fun together." The three of us then played countless games of Crazy 8's, Go Fish, and War (that's about the extent of our card game repertoire). She managed to whip us at all three games (which lasted until about 11:00 p.m.), and laughed hysterically at our losses. All the while, her English skills were blossoming right before our eyes, and we're seeing that she knows and understands more than she initially led on.

Here are some other things we learned about our new daughter today:

• Her favorite colors are (in this order), pink, yellow and blue.
• She's very generous, giving Victoria her last piece of candy this evening (a sign that has more significance to it than meets the eye).
• She likes sports, and is a long-jumper in school.
  
• Her comfort level with children amazes us - she'll go out of her way to be near them, hold their hands or kneel down at their eye level to smile at them.
• She's got a laughable, confident, fearless spirit about her that rocks the both of us back on our heels. This girl is good for the Kruggel family.

Tomorrow we go to her home town to visit the orphanage and some other friends of hers. She's giddy with excitement about that, and we're curious to see the real Xiao Qian (as if it could get much better) in her comfortable environs so we might know better what it could be like with her months, and maybe even years down the road. I suspect we'll get back late tomorrow night.

Our kids back home (at least Austin, Meagan and Barret) are sick. We're so bummed they're not feeling well, and just hope they recover swiftly and that Poppy and Willow do not also get sick. If you think of it, please pray for all of  them. We miss them so much, and our hearts ache knowing we can't be in two places at one time, also caring for them in their illness.

Signing off again - tired, exhausted, and whooped, but o' so full (bao), satisfied and content.

Yet another best day,