Summer 2009-RECAP

WOW, I can't beleive I let over 2 months go by since a blog update. As I sat to reflect on the last two months and all we have done I quickly realized why. We have been crazy busy enjoying many firsts with Adia. Life this summer has still been wonderful for the most part with a couple weeks being extrememly tiring and stressful. I will say, that I am thrilled school is starting this week and I can't wait to get back on some sort of schedule. The older kids are definately ready to get back in school and have been asking for a count down the last few weeks. What perfect timing for Adia to come home, the kids had the whole summer with her and I know it was extremely helpful for their bonding.

Adia continues to do really well and surprise us everyday. I think this girl is brilliant, she has learned a huge amount in her 2 months of being home. Her language is improving everyday. She has about 20 english words and uses them quite a bit. This girl never stops talking and I mean NEVER! She also has about 5-words in sign language. She has such a wonderful spirit about her. She is really happy most of the time...minus those couple of weeks where we had continuous wining 15 hours a day and I wanted to cry. She brings a HUGE smile to everyones face as she greats them with a wave and a HI! She is also known for always blowing a kiss and saying MWAH to anyone and everyone as we leave somewhere. We are blessed by this precious girl in so many ways and can't believe she is actually home. We are always saying how it seems she has always been here with us. She was a perfect match for our family...Only God can do that!

We are still fighting Giardia and have been given another new medicine to start tomorrow. They are hopeful this will finally kill any parasite. It will be so nice to change a normal diaper and be able to start potty training. Afterall, my girl will be 3 October 26th. She is a great sleeper at night but naps have become a little problem. She has only been sleeping about 30 minutes for naps, UGH!!! I do have to lay down with her to get her to sleep and sometimes this can take up to 2-hours. I have really been struggling with this the last few weeks because I don't have 4-hours of my day to spend laying down trying to get her to sleep. I'ts not fair for the other kids. Last week I started laying her down at nap and letting her fall asleep on her own and she has done pretty well. She only cries for about 1-2 minutes and she is out. This has been a huge relief! I don't mind laying down at night because Eric is home and able to be with the other kids. If anyone has ideas please let me know????!!!

We started our adoption finalization a few weeks ago and should be done with that in November. We also had our first post-placement visit this last week. It went really well and Becky was thrilled with Adia's progress. She said if she didn't know any better she would have thought Adia had been home 6 months or more. :) I was thrilled with that statement. The other kids were not on their best behavior that night which was quite frustrating but thankfully Becky has been with us several other times. Nothing like going to show her the kids bedroom and finding horrible graphic pictures that my son had put on his door. Animals with blood coming out and a few pictures that he had drawn of swords and guns...YIKES!! Not Good! My 6-yr old is a very talented artist but... We are going to our agency picnic next Sunday which will be soooo fun. I am really looking forward to meeting some other families that have adopted from the same orphanage. A few weeks ago we went to the India Festival and had a great time. We were able to meet up with April and her family which was a real treat. I made a conection with an Indian christian church that is about 30 minutes from our house. I visited with them and they spoke to Adia in Hindi and she loved it. We are hoping to start going to their congregation once a month to develop realationship and have Adia be a part of their community...SO EXCITED!

OK...I wont ever take that long to post again and if i do I will just try and catch up with pictures. Happy Fall to everyone!