Happy Thanksgiving

So much to be grateful for...sweet E. home forever is number one on the list. Add to that a personal relationship with Jesus, loving friends and family, a warm house, a job, yummy dinner, my furry kids - Lucy and Cleo. What more could one girl ask for?
I just booked tickets for Christmas in California - going to visit family and friends. The anticipation continues!

Anticipation

Today marks eight months together. Tonight E. wanted to look at pictures from Russia. As we looked at our time together there, I was struck by how much she has grown and changed in these eight months. It's truly remarkable. Not just external changes, but internal ones too. On the outside she is 3 inches taller and has tons more hair, her skin looks healthier and she has a glow about her. But inside the changes seem more profound. She is settled, happy, peaceful and seemingly aware of those things. She smiles and laughs often - two things I rarely saw her do during my three "pre-gotcha" visit trips. She is a chatter box - often telling me "know what, Mama?" and then chattering away about something that sometimes I understand every word of and others I have no idea what she is talking about. E. loves her friends and they love her. Abby, who is two and the other little girl at day care, told her mom - "E. is my best friend". This past weekend we went to our first birthday party. E. was invited to her buddy Weston's fourth birthday. The morning of the party she told me she wanted to stay home - I'm guessing she was uncertain what to expect and that was a bit overwhelming to her - we went ahead to the party and she had a blast. It was so fun to watch her with her buddies. E. loves music and singing. She loves to pray - I don't know how much she understands, but she is clearly drawn to all things Spiritual and often asks to pray. She will bow her head and say "Dear Jesus" - precious girl. E. is a helper by nature. She will see something out of place and put it back, pick up trash, put things in the sink, wipe up a spill. E. is incredibly observant in so many ways. When we drive somewhere she will point out the direction we should go or say "church" as she is pointing in the direction of church. Most times she is right on.
As we enter into this holiday season I realized that I have spent the past 4 years dreading this season - another season waiting for a child. Perhaps that has become a bit of a habit and a bit unconscious. I have so much to be grateful for this year and I want to savor the anticipation of the season. I want to enjoy every moment of life with E. each and every day. I am praying that I can see the holidays through her eyes and with her joy. Tonight as we were driving home I was talking with her about Thanksgiving and what it means. I asked her what she was thankful for? "pizza and cheese" was her answer. This made me giggle. We talked some more - I told her I was so thankful I was able to adopt her and be her second Mama. Thank you Lord for the gift of E. Silly, joyful, kind-hearted, adventurous, sweet E.

Fall Fun

Papa and his girls
I love you Papa.




Carving Pumpkins- I love pumpkin seeds - I really dislike gutting the pumpkin - slimey - eeeeewwwww - gross! E, and Syd absolutely loved it and it was so fun to watch. Syd and E love their Papa too and he came over for the fun.

My little giraffe. I loved Halloween as a kid - not so much since about college. I don't like scarey stuff and I really dislike the evil that seems to be a part of the holiday. But I really wanted E. to have the chance to enjoy dressing up and trick or treating. I was dreading it, but it was so fun. I found the giraffe costume at a thrift store for $3 yay! And she had so much fun at the 10 or so houses we went to.

Waiting for the trick-or-treaters - she loved giving out the candy almost as much as she enjoyed eating it :)

Ready to hit the town.

Applying for a Social Security Number

Today I went to the dreaded social security office. It's one of those necessary tasks that I've put off...I've had all the necessary paperwork for a couple of months, but just didn't want to hang out at the social security office for an hour or more for my turn. So, today I made the drive and waited for my turn. I was pleasantly surprised that the whole application process took less than a half hour. Woo hooo....now the interesting part was all of the questions the agent felt free to ask me. So odd the questions people feel it's OK to ask. He wanted to know, "why did you go all the way to Russia?" and "there is no father? just you?" and "does she have family in Russia?" and "so, you've never been married?" I mean, really? I'm sure he was just curious, but really, people you've just met and aren't entering into a friendship with - ought to be a bit more sensitive. Don't ya think?
Oh well...it's done.

Seven Months

Another month together. E. is learning so many things...she talks up a storm, she runs and jumps and climbs - what a monkey! She loves to be tickled. She loves to sing and read books and color. She absolutely loves to get dirty - thank you Lord for Emily who doesn't mind mud and other types of gooey messy stuff.
When we pray...she starts listing all of the people she loves and who she knows love her too...it is very sweet. My friend Lesa, who runs the kids ministry at church, says, "she's the belle of the ball every week". All of the kids who waited and prayed for her to get home now look forward to seeing her each week. She is smart as a whip and knows who belongs with who....I mention one member of a family and she lists everyone else in the clan.
Overall....she is thriving.

Happy Fall

Today we spent the day at Anderson Farms with Becky and Kelly. We had such a blast. Here are is a slide show of the photos.

Getting to the Good Stuff

I don't know how else to say it, the first few months home were just plain hard! So much to learn about each other. So many new things to learn about being a mommy....about being a daughter...not that we don't both still have much to learn, but it really feels like we are getting to the good stuff!
I was laying next to E. this evening and I realized that I find myself laughing more, smiling more, relaxing more, just enjoying her company more.
I don't think I had fairy tale views of what being a family formed by adoption would be like, but I don't think I expected it to be so hard to fall in love. I thought it would just happen....quickly. I loved E. in a commitment sense from day one! The kind of love that says no matter what, I'm here. No matter what, I won't give up. No matter what, I'm in this forever. But the mushy part - the googly eyed love part - that has been slow to develop. I guess because, well - I don't really know why. But, in all honesty it has.
Well, I'm happy to say that it's here. I get all teary when she smiles at me...when she calls me mommy....when she squeezes my neck and hugs me as tight as she can....whenever she giggles....when she asks me to "kickle me"(aka tickle me)....what a sweet life. I am so grateful I didn't miss out on this!