Some Random Stuff

It's been a while since I've talked much on this blog.  Life is so busy and when I have some quiet time I honestly just want to do nothing. But, right now, everyone is happy, so I thought I would type until I'm asked to pour a drink, or brush hair or say goodnight.   :-)

The girls are growing like weeds.  Not only physically but in language too.  I'm floored by how fast things are going.  And there are days when I have to sit back and say "Where did those words come from?"  For example, Maggie likes to say "Oh man, Seriously???"  Yeah, I'm pretty sure she picked that up from school.  It's cute to hear "teen" expressions come out of their mouths.  Because it comes out in their Chinglish accent.  AND....I....LOVE....IT!!!!!

The girls have a new Bilingual teacher.  For the past 5-6 months they have not had a specialist helping them at school.  They have had 2 amazing people help the best they could, but this is not their speciality.  The girls have been going to normal classes and just getting by.  Not really learning anything academically.  But they have learned social skills & language.

So, their new teacher is AMAZING!  This is her 2nd week with the girls and she is really doing her job.  She is recognizing their strengths and weaknesses (academically). And she's right on target.  The girls LOVE her.  I'm excited to see them grow even faster now.  They are FINALLY being tested for the ELL program.  Basically to see where they are at.  Very excited to get these results.

Language is insane.  We are having full conversations in English. Rarely do I not understand what they are saying.  Maggie is hilarious.  She's a jokester.  Hope is precious beyond words.  She loves to make you smile and she loves to show us her smile.  I love listening to them open up to me.  If it's about school, or their life in China.  I love listening.  Hope has calmed down a lot in the last few weeks.  There were days when she would talk every waking moment of the day.  Now, she finds things to keep busy (like watching her favorite TV show or doing a word search).  She is learning to take turns and to let her siblings talk to me too.

The other night Bill & I were out and it was getting late.  I knew that Ethan needed a bath.  I asked Tiff to get it ready and asked if Maggie would bathe him.  Maggie was in HEAVEN!!!!  She used to bathe the little kids in the orphanage and she has asked me several times to bathe Ethan.  She was so happy I trusted her to do this.

Tonight I was asking the girls about a few of the kids still in the orphanage. There is 1 little boy who I wish we could adopt.  His name is "Bo".  He is missing part of his arm.  The girls told me that the kids would "ha ha ha" (their way of saying laugh) at him.  Nobody knew why he was missing his arm. And he was sad.  Hope said "He wants a mommy & daddy to bring him to America so he can get a new arm".  I said "What?  Who said that?"  She said "I just think about that".  She is too smart.  I told her how I wanted to adopt him but we can't right now.  I said I want to help find his family and they were so excited.  I love that the girls are excited to see their "sisters/brothers" leave the orphanage.  They remind me how scared they were almost 7 months ago.  And now they say "We no more scared, we happy".  So.....if you would like to adopt a little boy (age 10-12 I think) please let me know.  :-)

I asked the girls if anyone laughs at them at school.  They said "NO!"  Then Maggie said "Some of my friends ask about scar on my neck. I tell them when I a baby, my neck like this, then doctors fix it." Then she said "and my friends say "Ohhh cool".  Then they got excited and told me there is another girl at school who looks like Hope (a cleft child).  And Hope was happy that someone else looked like her.

The girls are truly miracles.  It has not all been easy.  Even a week ago we had a hard day with Hope.  BUT......the easy/fun days are starting to outweigh the hard/difficult days.

A HUGE praise!!!!  HOPE IS GROWING!!!!  She's gaining weight and getting taller.  We are so happy to witness this.  We do not know when the last time she gained weight or grew was.  Hope is excited.  And Miss Maggie is shooting up FAST!  She's going to be taller than me pretty quickly.

I'll leave you with a few photos.  I have not been taking many pictures lately.  I know, bad mommy LOL.  Thanks for keeping up with us.

Hope LOVES Hello Kitty

Hope looked so cute this day. Look at her beautiful hair.

This is what happens when you have 5 daughters.  :-)

This is What Love & Family Can Do

This weekend started Chinese New Year.  So I got the kids dressed in the outfits we bought in China.  We did not buy new ones this trip because Hope & Maggie were not interested in them.  Thankfully we bought larger sizes 3 years ago and the dresses fit the girls.  YAY!

So I got the kids dressed up.  And of course took photos.  I look at our kids, and think about where they came from.  And where they are now.  I actually forget about Abby, Jadyn & Ethan even being adopted, because they were babies when we brought them home.  But Hope & Maggie are different, because they were older.  They brought part of China home with them.  I remember how scared they were on Aug 6.  And now I see their beautiful smiles.

I'm amazed at what Love & Family can do to a child.  It changes them, FOREVER.  Even though we have some hard days, I'm so thankful that we adopted.  I look at each of them and can see God's awesome love.  I see miracles.  And I'm just so thankful.

6 Months!

Wow, late this afternoon I realized that today is the 6th.  Our 6 month Gotcha Day anniversary. It crept up on me.  How can it be 6 months already?

The girls are doing well.  Maggie is now taking band at school and learning the flute.  This is her first week so we have not heard any sounds yet.  But she is excited, because she knows Tiff plays the flute. Hope is in the wheel class, which is a bunch of classes she will take for a few weeks at a time. Classes like computers, art, cooking etc.  She did not want to do band.  She wanted to do this.

Now that language is coming along, we need to really start focusing on the academics.  They need to start reading and knowing what they are writing. They are GREAT at copying words, but I don't think they know what they are writing.

So here they are, 6 months later.  God is so good to these girls.  They are growing and blossoming just like they should be.

Thank you for praying!

8/6/12

2/6/13