I know that so many of you prayed, gave, and/or simply followed our story throughout our adoption process. Now, instead of the question, “When is she coming home?” we are often asked, “How is she doing?” Today I thought I’d give you all an update.

Our daughter is doing so well. We have been given so much grace. The ladies at her orphanage really must have worked with her,  preparing her for a new family and a life in an English-speaking country. She came home already knowing all of her English ABC’s, how to write her name and a few friends’ names, and knew all the names of family members that we had placed in her photo album that was sent to the orphanage.

Our biggest challenge so far has been her medical appointments. Bless her heart, they have to draw several vials of blood to run all the necessary tests on her, and we still have yet to be successful at that. The last time we told the lab workers to just stop, after they had tried three of her tiny veins with little to no luck. We are supposed to go back, but we are waiting some time to try to hydrate her more and help her feel a bit more at ease.

Our middle son and our daughter have really bonded from the start. His heart is so big. He adores her, gets a kick out of the native words she says, and is always considering her needs. It has been so beautiful watching the love between those two.

Our oldest son has been a typical older brother, trying to keep her in line, and watching out for her. He is a great older brother.

Our youngest son has had the biggest challenge. He was the youngest child for several years, and while he still is the “youngest,” he’s not the newest, and he has had some challenges dealing with that idea. We have intentionally spent loads of extra time with all of our children, to make sure they all know how treasured they all are. We knew we were turning a corner when he said, “Having a sister isn’t all bad.” 😉

Food has been a bit of a challenge. We suspect that she may have a parasite, as she just isn’t ever really hungry, and usually moans when we tell her it’s time to eat. So far, we have discovered that she likes bread, chips, popsicles, and apples. Most everything else she really hesitates to eat. We are waiting to hear back from her doctor as to how the tests went…hopefully the samples we sent in will give us some answers.

One of the most fun things to experience with our daughter is to hear her learn new words. Some of her first words were the following: Daddy, ninja, popsicle, chocolate, Let it go, Mommy, Calliou, George, all her brother’s names, Dack, Nana, Nanny, Pawpaw, no, and juice. Her newest word is adorable: “Cinderella.” I wish I had a recording to share with you how she pronounces it, but it is too cute.

Last week our daughter was dedicated at church. What that means is that we dedicated ourselves to raise our daughter in the love of Christ, not only teaching her, but also modeling godly lives so that she can see truth and Love. Later that same day, we celebrated her first birthday home. It was wonderful. She picked out a princess cake. We had a few of our closest family and friends over, and we blew bubbles. Keeping it simple, I think we were able to make her feel really special.

 

 

 

Dedication Service. Look closely and you can see how excited one of our boys was about the whole thing…;)