The things we take for granted...

Sometimes it takes something very simple to serve a s awake up call to life as most of knew it growing up. Here is something that happened yesterday that was a major eye opener to both of us.

As Anyssa stands next to her growth chart, it's becoming more and more obvious that she was malnourished while she was in the social welfare institute. In the first 6 weeks she was with us, she grew (no lie) 2 inches. As she grew vertically, she grew in other areas also. Specifically, her feet. we bought her shoes when we first got home, but due to the fact that there was so much going on, it was no big deal. lately, she was complaining that her toes were hurting. Lo and behold, she had outgrown the shoes she got a few months ago. So, off to Target. Since she is a major fan of Dora the Explorer, it made sense that when we spotted the Dora shoes, we showed them to her. She seemed to like them, so we went through the ritual of " stand up, wiggle your toes" as we felt for the right sizing. When we were happy, we asked her "do you want these?" The answer was a subdued yes...no big deal, she needs shoes and this was the pair. She immediately wanted to put them on but we explained that we had to pay for them first. "The car" she repeated...yes, we told her, when we get to the car. We made it all the way home and she hopped up on the dining room chair and pulled off her old shoes. I put on the new shoes and that was it. She was smiles from ear to ear. She ran to show mommy then ran around the house. She wore them all evening.

When bedtime came, we put on pajamas and, yep, you guessed it, the shoes. She looked cute running around with her jammies and shoes on. I told her that I hoped she knew that she could not wear them to bed. When it was time to sleep, she took off the shoes and put them neatly back into the box.

This morning, I was watching TV when she woke up. When she came downstairs, she was wearing the shoes. We sat her down and asked her "is this the first pair of new shoes you've ever gotten?" For the most part, it seemed that the answer was yes. Yeah, I know she had the pair we first bought her, but this was the first time she was involved in picking out something she wanted and approved of. It makes sense: back in China, the state owned everything and she probably had gotten nothing but hand-me-downs.

It was a real eye-opener to me that something that I not only took for granted but actually hated shopping for could be such a big deal. Before bed last night, when we said our prayers, she piped in and thanked Jesus for the money she got for the 2 teeth that fell out and for the shoes. Amen.

That said it all.