Ziyi (zoo-yee) is here!

From Monday to Thursday I ran around like a mad woman trying to get ready for Ziyi! I had to unpack and clean up from India, finish unpacking Jonathan from camp and get Lindsay moved out of her room and into what is now called The Girl's Room. It was chaotic!

We grabbed Jason from work and we got to the Austin airport with plenty of time to spare before her flight arrived.

Here she comes!

She got right down with Lyvia to check out the sign she holding. People who instinctively get down on a child's level just warm my heart. I took it as a good sign!
I was hoping she would be a calming influence on the family -- ha! The kids went BONKERS trying to show off. Lindsay could not control her talking and was just carrying on and on about pretty much anything that entered her mind and didn't really even take a breath and just keep going and going even though I pleaded that she please please stop. Really. Stop.

We got home and showed her around the house. She gasped and said how beautiful her room was when we opened the door. I'm so glad she liked it! For dinner, I had taco soup. The pressure of feeding a child whose home food is drastically different than anything in America that I am capable of preparing is a bit numbing. I know she just has to go with the flow, but who likes to feed people something they will hate? Right away she jumped in and helped get the bowls of food ready. It was obvious someones parents had given them an earful about helping out around the house.

After dinner Dylan desperately wanted Ziyi to watch him jump on the trampoline. As she headed out the back door, she said for me to call her if I needed help cleaning up. I'm in love. Dylan continued to accost her with requests to watch him blow bubbles about 1,000 times and she kindly obliged. When it was time for her to unpack, the kids lined up chairs in her doorway and watched. What a hoot. She is taking it all in stride so maybe we won't scare her off too quickly.