Playing..Such a Precious Gift

Anna Mei had a five minute appointment to pick up her glasses at the U the other morning.  Because it is quite a drive, I decided to take advantage of the day by taking the girls to play at the local children's museum.  It did not disappoint.  Being with my girls playing and enjoying their company fills my heart so much.  I can't help but think that I really wasn't ever planning on being here in such a place during this phase of my life.  How I am so grateful that God didn't follow my plans because watching these babies is such a miraculous blessing to me!

 The grocery store play area is always a favorite with this one.

 The baby nursery was a favored stop too.

 These two were adorable making pizza side by side to serve up to me at my table.

 Anna Mei included mushrooms on hers...my favorite.

 The flight room was Anna Mei's all time favorite.  She loved the flight simulator.

 Molly was just tall enough on her tippy toes to get this ball high enough to float in the air coming out of the shoot.  She thought it was hilarious!

 Driving the various vehicles was a hit wtih  Molly all day too.  I made her an experience book about it as she loved driving everything.

Building vertically is such a great play scenario to build core strength muscles.  Molly loved it, and it left me wanting a vertical lego wall at home.

 She was darling building this car.

 It was the end of the day and she was getting tired.

It was a great way to spend our day.  We can't wait to have Jilly with us here as there are some exhibits she will enjoy.  They even have a free night once month for kiddos with special needs so I think this may be a place we go to play often as it was so much fun.

We Are Getting Some Language

Expressive Language that is soooo adorable..

and some receptive too..

I love watching this beautiful, valuable, adorable babe taking off!

The Desires of Her Heart

My Anna Mei's love language is gifts.  She will be the first to tell you that.  Recently, my littlest girls fell in love with the Toy Story movie as I picked up the dvd at a thrift store for a couple of bucks and they began to watch it.  It wasn't long before my little was wishing for a Jesse and Woody of her own.  Well, I googled to try to find one because her birthday was so close.  When I found them, I discovered they were out of our budget, and so I prayed because my God cares about the desires of my littlest girl's heart.  He also longs to provide for us in every sense of the word.  I knew that He would provide a way to get the dolls or He would move my little girl's heart on to something else that I could more easily access.  I check craigslist regularly because I buy lots of things (most everything) second hand.  Shortly after my littlest girl shared her heart's desire with me, these two dolls were listed on craigslist for $10.00.  Insert large, beaming smile from this momma here!  God is in the details of every single aspect of my life, and sometimes it is just so miraculous that you can't believe it.  Needless to say, I contacted the seller the moment I saw them and told her I would buy them.  Right before I was leaving to pick them up, my Anna said she really wished Jesse would have a stand that she could use.  In my foolishness, I told her not to get her hopes up that most dolls didn't come with stands, but maybe we could find one for her later.  Well as I picked up the dolls from their previous owner, she handed them to me while saying.. "This Jesse comes with a stand too.  Here it is."  God.  Only God.  He cares for even the most minute details in our lives, and He uses those to teach us about His provision because He longs to be all we need!

Glasses

Somebody is celebrating turning five with a new prescription for glasses!  She couldn't be more excited!  This is going to be a long week while we wait for them to arrive as she is asking a hundred times a day when they will be here.  She has a plan to store them safely, when to wear them, and how to keep her adoring little sister away from them.  She is most excited to have glasses just like Daddy, Emily, and Mommy as she loves being like her family.  This girl doesn't miss a beat, and she looks adorable in her new glasses!  

Five Years Old

 I can hardly fathom that this little one is five years old, but, despite my best efforts, she just keeps growing up.  Truthfully, the road to building our relationship has been rocky at times, and we are coming to a more stable, solid place on this journey which means I am just enjoying her so much these days.

 She wanted a lion guard party.  I was happy to plan a little gathering just to celebrate her complete with a kion cake, ono games, a fuli t-shirt, and lots of fun.

 She loves being the center of attention so she ate this day up.

 We had a couple of friends, and a few important teens here to help us celebrate.

It was a perfect day to celebrate our precious, amazing little girl.

Sensory Fun For Winter Days

Cold, winter days haven't stopped our fun.  Though we prefer to be outside, we have come up with some sensory play and a few art projects to keep us busy.  Anna is painting an egg carton that we turned into a shoe tying toy.  She is getting the hang of tying her shoes with it too.

Molly is painting herself and the table which is her usual routine when the paint comes out.  We turned her egg carton into a button practicing toy.  It actually got very little paint on it though. :)

I had a couple of boxes of jello, and I wasn't sure why.  I made them one day just play in as my kids don't eat it.

Anna loved the science behind this jiggly stuff.

She played in it for 90 minutes.

Eventually, I got out some droppers, and food color.  She loved mixing and creating new colors.

Molly saw that mixing blue with the yellow jello turned it green.

They were quite stained, but, after a good soak, they came clean again.

It was well worth the twenty minutes it took me to clean up.  Thank goodness we have wood floors everywhere though as it wipes up easily.

Jilly is really into (literally) cloud dough right now.  I often let her play with flour last winter, but it was so hard to pick up all that dusty flour.  Cloud dough cleans up like a breeze as it clumps so much easier.

This girl needs to scoop and fling.  In the backyard, she spends hours flinging dirt, gravel, wood chips, and anything else she can find in nature.  I am thankful to have this substitute for the winter months as she really does need it.  Though we are managing to hang in there while playing inside I can't wait for spring to be here so we can be back in the yard playing.  Counting the days!

Her Smile

She smiles.  

When you get the camera out, and ask her to smile..

she finally can!

After nearly five years home, this girl is finally finding her smile.

She is still nonverbal, but is beginning to sign how she is feeling.

There is nothing like having her look in your eyes, and sign "jillian, happy"because there were days as we were fighting for her heart and mind in the beginning that I couldn't imagine her so happy and so connected in our family!  This little babe has come so very far!

It is priceless and it melts my heart!

Hearing Aids..Two Weeks In

I am not sure I have the words to describe what it was like to see this little peanut hear my voice clearly for the first time.  There were so many emotions swirling in my head as I sat there and watched her fitted with her helper ears.  Honestly, this technology will give her so many opportunities, and to think that she would have likely never had the chance to access it if she wasn't home is so much for my heart to bear as I just keep thinking about the millions of other children waiting for a momma and daddy who will never know sound.  While I rejoice that she is hearing, my heart breaks for the others daily as I have watched her thrive with these new ears.  Yesterday, she heard the phone ring for the first time and she brought it to me.  She heard me come in the font door and up the steps for the first time too just a few days after having her aids placed.  She has loved having her new ears to help her and she doesn't ever fuss about having them on.  She wants them on as soon as she gets up and points to the other ear as soon as the first one is placed.  Time will tell if her language skills will catch up, but we are continuing to use both sign and speech with her.  She is bright and growing more and more each day!  While I am an so anxious for her ability to grow to communicate, it is bitter sweet to watch her becoming such a big girl as I missed so much of her babyhood.  I wish that I could make these days last forever somehow as I enjoy her so very much! Praying for wisdom as we navigate the road ahead, but resting in knowing that Jesus is already there and knows exactly what this baby girl's future will be.

Christmas Eve Worship...

I am so behind with posting, but I don't want to forget the smiles, the laughter, or the memories of our Christmas.  I am so grateful to God for the blessing of these babes.  They fill my days with more love and joy than I could have ever dreamed when I was "planning" my life.  God is good!

The School Christmas Program

 We had our annual Christmas concert at CVCS.  Em and Anna participated.  Anna is wearing this dress that Jillian wore a year earlier.  She is so much smaller than Jilly was at this age.

 Jillian and Molly Kate enjoyed watching.  They were adorable, but getting them to sit through the hour and thirty minute concert was an adventure.

 Anna loves to wear her pearls from China when she gets dressed up.  She is looking so grown up.

Only one more year of school concerts for Em.  Where has the time gone?

Here is Anna in the PK4 portion of the concert..

She has been singing the sheep song at the top of her lungs since the concert.

To Molly Kate

To My littlest babe,
For six months, I have held you in my arms.  These last six months have honestly held some of the most joyous moments of my life as you have added so very much to us.  As I held you this Christmas Eve, giving you a bottle and rocking you to sleep, I looked down to see you dimly lite by the glow of your night light all snug cradled in my arms with the widest smile while your little eyes were closed in sleep.  You are so very content in our family, and to say that you make my life so full is such a injustice because words are so limited.  You never leave the house without your baby doll hanging at your side.  You mimic everything I do with you as you play with it.  The other morning, we were looking and pointing at picture books as we talked about each word for the pictures.  After we finished, I tiptoed back to your bedroom where you were playing to find you with your little doll sitting up as you were holding that same book pointing to the very pictures I had with you the hour before.  You so easily receive love and you are so very willing to give yourself away.  I love how you insist on sitting on your Daddy's lap to eat your meals, and how you point both of your pinkies at him shouting yeah when he comes home.  You want everything that your sisters have and you want to do everything that they do all the time.  When they get a toy and you want a turn, you get the most darling crumpled face as you cry and cry until they surrender to you.  In this way, you hold the baby role very well in our family.  You are darling in every way and it is so hard for Daddy and I to discipline you because of it.  You are so bright.  Nothing in this life gets by you and you are quick to learn everything.  Though your hearing test results tell us that you can hear no speech sounds, you continue to mimic our language and pick up new words.  In this way, you are truly a miracle.  Your favorite things to say are..Jillian, Anna Mei (alot of Anna Mei), Emily, daddy, mama, here you go, want more, thank you, no, and stop.  You are picking up a lot of sign too.  In just a few days, we will watch you have your first set of hearing aids placed and your hearing life will begin.  I can't wait to walk alongside you as you grow.  In every way you are such a tremendous blessing and we love you so very much! Happy six months home baby girl!
Momma

Adoption of a Special Needs Child Will...

Adoption of a special needs child will lead you to stop everything you are doing just to watch your treasure play with a balloon in the foyer.  You will tear up for a good twenty minutes because your precious treasure used to shut down and melt down with intense fear anytime a balloon came near her, but today..TODAY SHE LAUGHED, SMILED, AND PLAYED WITH A PINK BALLOON.  

When you adopt a special needs child and this happens, you will feel as if you are the luckiest person in the entire world to be watching your most precious, amazing little treasure  just playing with a balloon because you never dreamed that she could overcome so much.  You never dreamed that she would be so full of life when she was first so void of it.  You could have never planned that watching her would make you so very happy or that she would be the one to teach you so much.

She Shared Jesus

Four and half years ago, I walked into a smoke filled government building in Xian, China and was handed a screaming fifteen pound twenty-six month old.  She was horribly neglected, probably abused, and an empty shell of a child nearly completely void of life.  The enemy of this world intended to destroy her.  Never did he dream that God would bring a family for her, and that our loving God would restore her heart in order to further His Kingdom.  Today, this, once discarded little one, who is my Jillian, shared Jesus with her first grade class.  The class had a project assigned to complete a poster about their family's special holiday traditions.  I designed her poster so that buttons on her Nova Chat could be created so that she would easily recognize them and that would allow her to follow along with the poster explaining each of our traditions.  We cut and glued pictures to create her poster and then we practiced hitting the buttons that represented each picture.  She talked about our family celebrating Jesus' birthday, investing in others, having a lazy day on Christmas in our pajamas, laughing a lot, including cookies, and taking part in our nativity play.  She rocked her presentation with the help of her special personal teacher.  Her first grade teacher sent the above picture of her sharing.  It brings me to tears to think of all that God has brought her through, but I also feel a great sense of triumph at all that I have seen her overcome because of Him.  Honestly being her mother is one of the greatest privileges of my life!  Millions more of these amazing treasures wait this Christmas for someone to come for them believing that God will restore their hearts and use their lives to further His kingdom.  This Christmas, PRAY that these children will not be forgotten by the church.  Pray that more will be welcomed home into a loving, Christian family, and that they might grow to know, love, and serve Jesus!

Visiting Santa

We don't celebrate with Santa at our house, but she got to meet a Santa at the Shriner's patient Christmas party.  She wasn't at all afraid to sit on his lap, but also didn't wait for her presents.  After all, she had no idea what presents were as this is her first Christmas home with us.

Molly stole the hearts of everyone.  She was darling in her red corduroy dress! Like I said, she didn't wait around for Mrs. Claus to pass off her gifts as she had no clue gifts were coming.

After receiving her gifts, we showed her how to tear them open.  When she discovered there were toys inside that were for her, she was all in.

There were three gifts for her to open so she became quite good at it by the end of the party.

She was so good at it at the party that she decided to begin tearing into a few gifts under the tree when we got home.  I heard Anna Mei shouting from downstairs..Momma!  Molly is opening the presents right now!

She was pretty happy with her gifts!

A wagon with blocks was a perfect choice for her at this stage!

Anna Mei accompanied us and she loved the party!  We had a cookie activity, craft, lunch, and juice boxes.  My littlest girls were thrilled with the fun clowns and balloon animals too!  We are grateful for the care we receive at the hospital and this party was so thoughtful too!

Bike Riding

I can't believe this weather here in the Midwest.  It was nearly 60 degrees all weekend.  We were outside for two hours on Saturday morning riding bikes.  I even gave the girls the used scooters I picked up for them that I intended to give them for Christmas.  It was just too nice to wait.  Molly is again amazing me with her ability to do so much.  She can pedal, steer, and navigate a tricycle already.  She fell off of this tall one a couple of times as it tends to get a bit top heavy, but got up and right back on.  She is one determined little lady.

The Results Are In

On November 20, we woke at 4:00 AM and headed a couple of hours from our home to have Miss Molly Kate's ABR done.  We had to travel so far because the children's hospital closest to us couldn't get her in for several months.  This momma just couldn't loose several months of hearing while we waited.  A wonderful couple from our church woke early with us, and drove us to the hospital.  The support we have is just so amazing.  We arrived a bit ahead of our scheduled time, and Molly did great with the waiting.  She kept signing to eat, but was easily distracted by the tv, toys, or a walk.  Soon, it was time for her to be taken from me.  This is a sedated procedure, and the hospital wouldn't let me stay with her until they put her to sleep like the University does.  Needless to say, this little lady was pretty upset to separate, and even more upset to wake up and find I still wasn't there.  She calmed down as soon as I got to her.   She took a bottle and fell right back to sleep in my arms after it was over.  She hasn't slept through the night since then as the separation really stressed her out. :( It took almost twice as long as expected to get results from the ABR because this sweet treasure of ours is a puzzle.  According to her results, this baby can't hear any speech sounds.  She has hearing, but it is above the frequencies for normal speech.  This just baffles us as she seems to understand what we say when we are close to her, and even has some expressive language herself.  She can say many words.  Aside from words we understand her saying, she is constantly babbling.  Her therapists and hearing impaired teacher continue to say..we just can't explain this girl.  She can even model words with the correct number of syllables when she hears you say them.  Her loss seems to be complex and not at all ordinary.  She may have a conductive component as well as some sensory neural loss.  What all of this means is a bit beyond me, but we head to the ENT doctor in a week so my understanding is that he will order an MRI so that we can get a clearer picture of her ear's anatomy.  If she is missing a bone near her eardrum, they can actually replace it using another bone from her body.  AMAZING!  We are plugging ahead and placing aids before this though as it won't hurt to get her hearing something even if it isn't the best.  She gets her shiny purple aids with hot pink molds (she picked this) on the 30th and we are so excited to see where they take her.  I know every momma says this about their child, but my Molly seems so bright.  She continues to amaze us with her fine motor ability and problem solving.  On top of that, we love, love, love her!  She is such a precious, happy, joyful little bundle who continues to be such a blessing to have in our family.