Her WeGO Talker

Our Molly really is amazing.  Though she is missing her radial bones, can't rotate her wrists, use most of her fingers, and has no thumbs, this girl can do anything using her hands that any other four year old can.  She has beautiful handwriting, can cut out any shape with regular scissors, can dress herself, eat, get her own water...and the list could go on and on.  Truly, she amazes those around her daily as she is one determined little peanut.

Despite being gifted with most all motor tasks and being cognitively on target for her age , she really struggles with articulation of her speech.  It is still very, very hard to understand her.  Officially, she has an apraxia diagnosis because her difficulty seems to be related to motor functioning in her mouth and not her hearing.  Recently, we were able to get her a talker like her sister Jillian, who is almost completely nonverbal, has, and boy has it been a game changer!  She is very, very bright our Molly, and using this thing to build sentences of all kind is a breeze.  Finally, she is understood, and it is huge for her!  She uses her talker all day long, and especially loves to chatter away at dinner.  We are absolutely grateful that she has access to this technology, and that she is making such huge strides with it!

What a precious gift this girl is to our family!

Seven Years

Seven years ago something in my life changed absolutely everything.  It is still so hard for me to put into words, and, to this day, I can't speak of it without bawling my eyes out.  Seven years ago yesterday, I met this amazing, incredible girl that I would have the privilege of raising as my daughter.  Before her, this idea of orphan care and adoption..babies without mommas and daddies was so abstract..so easy to ignore.  After seeing this precious girl for myself...15 pounds at just over two years old with horrific signs of abuse and neglect..I could no longer turn my head and look the other way because instantly I loved her with a momma love that made me physically hurt for those left behind.  After this day seven years ago, I would never, never be the same.  Before her, my heart could get through a day without the overflowing JOY that comes with watching healing redemption first hand because, honestly, I have never experienced God the way I have as I have raised up this baby girl.  I have needed Him, like never before, for survival many times in the last seven years.  I have had Him carry me through some deep, dark valleys, and I have seen Him turn ordinary moments into mountain top accomplishments again and again.  I have felt Him so close, and praised Him exuberantly for not giving up on inviting me to do this work for Him.  For years, I turned a blind eye to these least as I clung to my one child policy.  My plan was to have a controlled, safe Christian life, with one bio child, and it was working out quite nicely until..Jillian.  I often look at this girl of mine, and wonder if she will ever grasp the incredible impact God has allowed her to have on me, and, quite frankly, many others.  She is a miracle that some would look at, and think of as inferior or a burden to us as we care for her as she is nonverbal, has serious difficulty processing sensory input, and has autism but the truth is..this girl of ours has something so much more precious than anything this world can see.  Many times I watch her JOY in the mud or swinging, and I wish for just one moment I could have her unique perspective because she is the one who has given me so much as I walk alongside her.  So on this day, it with great JOY that we celebrate the moment she was placed in our arms seven ago. 

We eat her favorite dinner, hot dogs with macaroni and cheese, outside in our backyard which is her favorite place in the whole world.  We swing, play on the monkey bars, dig in the mud, build a fire, roast marshmallows, and enjoy just being with her because without her my heart would be much less full, and my JOY incomplete.  Today, I give great thanks that the God of the universe had this beautiful plan for my life, and that He saw fit to bless me with this amazing girl to call my daughter.  What an indescribable, enormous JOY she has brought us!  Happy seven years home my dear baby girl!  We love you more than words can say because it was Christ who first loved us!

Five Years Home

It was a pleasure to celebrate this girl last week!  Five years ago, my dear friends and I traveled to China to adopt her.  Five years!  Where have they gone?

This sweet treasure loves to be celebrated!

And..we are happy, happy to do it.

In five years, we have both grown together so very much, and I am so grateful that this spunky, full of life girl is my daughter.

Five years...Five year...Five years.  How I love you my big girl!  Looking forward to seeing you holding up more and more fingers in the years to come!

Nine

Nine.  How did we get here?  I can hardly believe that we are going to celebrate seven years home in a few days.  CRAZY!  We were thrilled to celebrate her with a cooking party!

We decorated aprons and chef hats!

We also had a make your own pasta dish activity.  Each girl got to create their own recipe with unique sauce, cheese, pasta, and vegetables. 

Jillian LOVED it!  Cooking is one of her favorite things to do!  I can hardly believe it honestly!  She still doesn't chew so pasta that could be easily pureed was a perfect choice!

She loved opening gifts which is another miracle as stuff just doesn't interest her too much.  She does love wands AKA "sticks" to her.  She was happy to get these sticks!

We also decorated our own cupcakes with fruit, candy, filling, and icing. 

Jillian loved the icing!

She wanted a yellow and blue cake with a yellow and blue party.  I was happy to oblige.  We had a great time!  How thankful I am that we could celebrate this very special little girl on her ninth birthday!  We love her so!

Maple Syrup

Over our spring break, we had a chance to take a field trip to learn about maple syrup making.  It was Jillian's spring break, and so she was able to attend with us.  It nearly brought me to tears watching her "labeling" everything she saw with sign, and so freely exploring this new place.  My heart was overflowing!  She was totally connected to the speaker, asked questions via sign, and commented on so much all with her sign language.  In the beginning, we could have never, never done anything like this.  Her anxiety would have gotten the best of her or she would have preferred to pick grass and not get involved with the group.  NOW...she is just so so interested, able to communicate, and best of all........HAPPY!  Fear doesn't so easily overcome her and I was over the moon to get to have this day with her!

Anna Mei carried this yoke like a champ.  We had just talked about being unequally yoked in marriage as she comes up with the hardest questions during Bible time so it was so neat to have this physical representation of those verses.

Mini Molly was a champ.  It was cold outside, but we learned so much!

The girls each got a chance to drill into the tree to collect sap.

They loved all the hands on activities.

We ended our time eating ice cream with maple syrup on top, but I didn't get one picture.  I think I was finally warm being back inside that I didn't even have any feeling left in my hands to find my camera.  It was a great day of memories with my girls despite the frigid temps!  Spring break in the Midwest can be COLD. 

Easter 2018

It was snowing so we had to move our hunts and all activities inside this year after our worship service, but the girls didn't mind.

They are getting so BIG.

It is such a tremendous JOY to watch them celebrating Jesus.

My biggest girl was home from college, and we always love having her here.

Emily did a find job hiding the eggs for the hunt.

Ellie did a find job of getting into everyone's things!

I am beyond blessed to have these babes as mine!

There is never, ever a dull moment around here!

The Hospital and Some Results

Since coming home, our sweet treasure has really struggled with gut and digestive issues.  In China, this girl was never fed any solids, and given only milk based formula.  She was 2 1/2 when she cam home to me, and always has had very runny stools, gas, and pain.  These issues have kept her from eating normally, caused her great pain and discomfort, and made acclimating to a new life a challenge for her.  Poor sweet girl has been through so much.  Daddy and I pray daily that we will find some way to help her with this as it is the most difficult thing to watch her go through.

We recently did an overnight at the University Children's Hospital, and went through lots of tests.  It was hard on our baby girl, but so much more manageable than I had dreamed as I was waiting for the days to come.  She is such a good baby girl, and was a stellar patient.  There is nothing that bonds a baby to her momma like a hospital stay that is for sure.  How I love, love caring for this amazing, wonderfully made little one.

The test didn't show much of anything to help her which is good on one hand.  Having normal looking insides is a blessing, but it also left us with no real way to help her.  Recently, though there is no explanation, she has been incredibly stable which is reason to PRAISE!  Her pain has lessened significantly.  Her bowel movements are not painful and are much more normal.  When she isn't experiencing pain all day, she is able to make so many gains as well..socially, developmentally, and otherwise. 

My God is so good and so many prayers were answered, and His peace was felt during our hospital stay.  I am so thankful we have access to such great care.  It is such a privilege to be able to care for this sweet, sweet one, and we pray for wisdom daily concerning her GI issues.  For now, we are thankful for stable and praying that her health will continue to improve.

Baby Faces

Precious Baby..If only I could freeze time.

You are getting so so big, and I long to just remember your chubby hands, those cheeks, your big round eyes.

And that darling face!  How we love you!

One Year Home

Seven days ago, we celebrated one glorious year with this girl HOME!  I reread the travel blog entries leading up to her day, loved and loved on her, and just enjoyed watching all the ways she has grown throughout this last year.  I even had the chance to speak to a group of moms on her day, and I shared about this crazy journey to my girls, and all that we have experienced with God through it!  It was a very special (weepy) time!

In the last twelve months, she has gained nine pounds and grown four inches.  None of my other babies have even come close to experiencing such tremendous physical growth the first year home.  She is still ultra tiny for a three and a half year old, but so much bigger than she was when I first held her.  These days she is 28 1/2 pounds and 35 inches. 

It is astounding to remember just how weak her muscles were when I first held her.  She could hardly sit up, couldn't hold her head up for long, go from sitting to standing, or crawl at all.  Today, she is pulling up, cruising on furniture, fighting diaper changes like the hulk, and getting into everything!

She has experienced her bouts with trial this year as her digestive issues this year have caused her great struggle, but through it all this girl has grown to love us.  She gives the best kisses, giggles like nobody's business when she is tickled, and loves to steal her sister Jillian's wands from her.

We are grateful to have this little one as ours!  She is such a precious treasure, and we can't imagine life without her in it!  Happy one year home Ellie Grace!  We can't wait to see where the years take us!

To Jillian on Her Ninth Birthday...

Sweet, dear girl,
When I was waiting for you to come home to me, I dreamed of the day you would be next to me cooking in the kitchen.  Then you were home, and so broken that I never believed the day that you would love to cook next to me would come, but it has.  I marvel each and every day at how far God has brought you.  Your heart is healed beyond what I could have ever let myself hope in that first year that I had you home as mine.  Because you love cooking so much, we had a cooking party to celebrate you on your ninth birthday with blue and yellow because that is what you insisted on.  We kept our guest list small this year as the only person you requested be there was your Miss Debbie.  How I love the way that you love her.   That you can love so deeply is another miracle that could only come from the Lord as I am reminded of the prognosis given to me by many those first few months home..you would never trust, never love, never know I was your mother...how wrong they were as you are so connected and loving considering your start.  I have watched your ability to communicate grow so much this last year!  You know hundreds of signs, and are getting much more fluent than I am.  What a dream come true that you can communicate all your are thinking as this helps alleviate your anxiety so much.  You continue to amaze me with all you can spell on your talker, and you have grown very attached to your "sticks" this year drumming many rhythms everywhere we go.  You also continue to love books, or their characters, very much.  This year, you have become attached to Mooseltoe and Cat in the Hat, but also still hold tight to your old favorites, Splat the Cat and Pete the Cat.  You are comfortable just about everywhere.  We can go on out to eat, to the mall, on field trips, to church..and you are able to function.  This is HUGE for you.  No longer are we on high alert looking for any sensory triggers that might set you off.  You have such an understanding of how to regulate yourself, and it has opened up so many more worlds for you!  You have been particularly happy this year to have a giant mud pit in the backyard (somethings never change), to get a "high" (bunk) bed, to have new paint on your walls in dark blue as you requested, and to spend hours in the water swimming or bathing!  You have taken on chores around the house and are really so helpful.  When we go downtown to serve a meal to the homeless, you are quite good at setting out the salt and peppers before dinner, and collecting them after.  You make me so proud each and every day.  I can't imagine life without you nor can I imagine that I could love you any more.  Yet, each year I do! Happy 9th birthday, my amazing girl!  I am ever so happy that God called me to you nearly seven years ago as having you as mine is one of my life's greatest blessings!
All my love,
Momma