A Happy Post

I feel like I've written a lot of "downer" post lately. And I don't like that feeling.  Yes, adopting this time has been harder than before.  BUT, the first 3 adoptions were hard too, I think I have just forgotten how hard.  Plus it was a different kind of difficulty.

BUT, the last two days have been good.  Hope is still "curious" and touches just about everything, but...not as frequent.  The one thing that is tiring is Hope says "Thank you Mama" ALL.....DAY......LONG!  And not in an appropriate way.  She will come up to me and just say "thank you mama" like 10 times in a row. For no reason.  At least no reason that I know of.  After the 500th time yesterday I said "Maybe she's thanking me for her new life".  :-)  She always says it with a smile, and she always uses the "ok" sign when she says it.

The girls truly are precious. The smile are frequent.  Maggie is definitely comfortable with us now. It's like something clicked.  She is dancing silly and making silly faces. She is trying to tickle and chases her dad around the house.  She adores big sis Tiff.  She still yells at Hope and now even hits her (we are working on that stopping) when Hope is doing something she knows either annoys us or if she's doing something she knows she should not be doing.

Hope wakes up happy. She is independent. She asks before she does anything.  Normally I would like that. But when she asks to go to the bathroom or blow her nose, well we tell her "it's okay, just go do it".  Then she giggles and goes.

Thankfully the girls ask for everything. Meaning they ask for a drink. They ask to eat.  They don't just go and raid the fridge and pantry.  I'm thankful for that.

Eating....Let me just say EASY!!!!  The first two meals or so, we got the noses scrunched up and the hands waving back & forth saying "NOOO".  We said "Sorry, this is dinner" or "this is lunch" etc.  They were not happy. But they tried it.  And every meal they ask for seconds.  One meal they asked for thirds.  (yes we give them enough food, they just like to eat LOL).  They have now learned to not scrunch up their noses or tell us "no" because it won't matter. We are going to make them try it first.  I was worried about food when we were in China.  And I'm so thankful that this has not been an issue.

Another thing I worried about was bathing.  And again, not an issue. They LOVE to take showers. They LOVE to brush their teeth.  The first night in the hotel and here at home I needed to show them how to use the shower.  And that's it. They did the rest on their own.

We saw the doctor the other day and she said we needed to call a neurologist for Hope's developmental delays.  And to get an EKG for Hope for her small heart murmur. And to also call an orthopedic for both girls.  So I did that today.  We are going to Shriner's Hospital on Sept 11th for both girls to get evaluated for the orthopedic issues.  On Sept 13th Hope is getting an EKG.  And on Sept 18th Hope is seeing the neurologist.  She is getting an EEG that day.  Praying that we can get results from each doctor.  All three of these doctors we were not expecting to have to see.  So praying they can give us answers.  So thankful that they could see us soon. I was anticipating on waiting months to get in.

Still waiting on school.  The school is talking to someone before calling us back on how to place the girls.  They want to place them according to age (grade 7 and 8). I said "no way".  So they are discussing this.  Praying for guidance on the school issues.

So I think that's it for now.  The girls are starting to settle in to their new lives.  They have not asked to call their nanny's or to even go back to China.  They have seen photos of their friends who are still in China and they get so happy to see them.  And when I tell them that their friends will have new families soon, they get so happy.

Please continue to pray for all of us. I know that the days will not always feel so easy.  I know there is a long road ahead of us.  But I'm so thankful for the good times that we are experiencing as a family of 8.

Can you believe these princesses have been with us for only 3 weeks?  The miracle of Adoption is powerful!!!!!