She's IN! I'm OUT!

I have something to celebrate here that I have been keeping quiet for fear that things might change. LJ has decided her crib is not such a bad place after all! Admittedly, this was not necessarily the plan for us-- we are very much a "do whatever works so that everyone gets the maximum amount of sleep possible" kind of family, rather than the "this kid will sleep here and we will 'train' her to like it" kind of family. I think I mentioned before that we figured out LJ's preference was to sleep on the floor. It was getting a little old bringing out my air mattress, setting it up with blankets folded from the previous morning, then setting out the old crib bumper and tying it to various objects in the room. Not only that, but LJ's room is tiny and all that took up pretty much all leftover floor space, so it was a pain to move about. BUT, in this experience, the Lord has FINALLY taught me an amazing lesson of patience. Specifically, when I came home from China, things were H-A-R-D. I know they are hard for anyone adopting, but we really struggled. I found myself almost constantly asking, "I wonder what things will be like in a year from now..." At that point, how was I to even know that things would be any different in a year? Who was I to inquire about the future before it happened? God started saying to me, "Courtney, it is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!!" So, I listened. I actually LISTENED!! And I cannot tell you the weight that was lifted from my shoulders. It was such a burden to be straining my eyes toward the future. And I was able to say, "okay, I can sleep in here for one more night..." "Okay, so one more night isn't going to kill me..." until the right time came.

So, the first step was sleeping in the crib. The next step, which I tried one time about a week ago, was to get myself back into my own bed. That first night didn't go so well. At about 2am, the moon was shining enough into LJ's room that she could look around a see that I wasn't there. She lost it, I came running and spent the rest of the night holding her hand (luckily, I had already set up the air mattress in case of this scenario). All I said was, "it just isn't time yet." And we all slept fine. For the past three nights, though, I DID IT!! I have slept in my own lovely, warm bed--the first three nights there since the week after we arrived home in China at the end of August! Now, these nights have not been without their interruptions, but nothing like that first try a week ago. If she cries, I can go in and either hold her hand or pick her up and rock her slowly for about 5 minutes and then lay her back down again for more lovely, precious sleep. I think this little girl is beginning to trust us! Could it be...?