Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Every month I think of all the things I want to say about the past month with Lily and then it comes time to write it and I have a mental block. So many great and yet challenging things take place and I want to share them. I want you to see this incredible little girl learning to live in a family, hear how we take on the challenges of meeting her needs without neglecting the needs of our other children, see the joy that she brings us and the laughter and love in her eyes. No matter how hard I try I can’t convey these things well enough but I will try.

This past month we started tackling the medical portion of our adoption of Lily. At her referral we knew her symptoms and past medical history but didn’t have a clear diagnosis. We went to see a pediatric orthopedist to address her history with broken bones. After several tests it has been narrowed down to two different possible diseases. We are waiting for a final test to confirm which of these two she has. They are both quite rare but we can handle them. I felt like crying when it actually came out of the doctor’s mouth but it didn’t take long for me to remember how thankful I am that she is here with us and receiving the best medical care and future possible. It saddens my heart to think of what her life may have been like had we not adopted her. After we get a definite diagnosis we will share it with everyone. She also had the general medical checkup and everything looked great. She didn’t need any shots and all her tests came back clean. We are so fortunate that she was so well taken care of by her orphanage.

A huge milestone this past month is that she has started to verbalize her affection for us as well as shower us with hugs and kisses. My favorite thing she says to me all day is at bedtime when I am leaving her room. She will call out to me “I lud you, mommy” and I will say “I lud you too” and then she will say, “thank you”. How precious that she thanks me for telling her that I love her. I wonder if anyone ever told her that before. She is so loving and craves affection from us. We are so grateful she is comfortable with us to be this affectionate.

I thought she hadn’t grown any but recently I was going to give the “too big” clothes to a friend and decided to try them on Lily one last time just to be sure. I was completely shocked when nearly everything fit. No longer did the skirts and pants just fall to the floor. I am encouraged because I honestly was thinking that she may not be able to gain weight. Gaining weight is a big deal to her. She wants to gain weight and weighs herself nearly every day. She runs and gets me and is all excited if she gains any. I don’t even try to explain that the .6 lb weight gain is just the shoes and clothes she has on.

Language development has improved tremendously. I long for the day that we can have conversations and I can ask her about her life, before us. She wants to tell me about it and tries but we just aren’t there yet. I am still amazed at the progress though. She is often speaking in 6 to 7 word sentences which I think is amazing. We rarely have to act things out anymore and never have to draw them out. She has a great understanding of most of what we say.

Lily will start school on August the 19th. She has expressed to me that she doesn’t want to go, that she would rather stay at home with me. She is concerned about what mommy will do all day while she is at school (not to worry I am sure I will find something to do). She is extremely attached to me; she’s quite the mommy’s girl. If I am at home she is within arm’s reach. We have developed a nice routine of her helping me cook and clean and we play games. She loves card games and she recently discovered dominoes.

Lily went on her first family vacation to Bryson City, NC. We had a great time. She really enjoyed tubing down Deep Creek, cooking over the campfire and catching minnows and fireflies. She is so great at catching those things! She probably enjoyed sleeping on the couch with me the most. The closer she is to me the better.
We continue to be blessed beyond belief with our daughter. I look back at the things that took place in my life. Things that at the time made me sad but I see now how God used these times to his good. He placed one of his own, a young orphan child into a loving, Christian family in his timing. How did we get so lucky to be that family?

Stay tuned for next month’s update and hear about Lily’s first month in school…