Life is Good!

Life is good! When we started this journey a year ago, we had no idea what was in store for us. This adoption process strengthened our faith in God and deepened the love we have for each other (Did I ever mention...what a wonderful man I married?). It also brought us to our amazing daughter! As we look at her, we feel as if she has been in our family forever. I have heard this before but it is as if God hand picked her us but oh, how true it is, she fits right in and it is as if she knows that she is supposed to be with us. She brings us such joy and she is so much fun.

Just being on U.S. soil for less than two weeks, Julianne is learning SO much. Being behind in gross motor skills, she is doing her homework and trying to catch up to her peers. She has learned to roll over (yes, roll over) from front to back and back to front. She is starting to pull herself up to sitting position from lying down and is starting to show something that resembles a crawl. Believe it or not, standing and walking are not too much of a problem for her since she started to take steps while we were in China (sorry, Scott, you weren't the first). Each day brings her more confidence in this area. In due time, she will be hanging up her "infant" title and taking on the "toddler" name.

She is doing incredibly in the area of communicating too. On Saturday, she said her first word! We had our suspicions that she had uttered the word "hi" but this time there was beyond a doubt that she said it. She looked at herself in the mirror and as the word came out of her mouth, her hand went up in the air to wave at herself. Today I am almost certain that she said "bye" but stay tuned in for confirmation. She is such a fast learner....she is giving kisses, waving bye or hi, showing us how big she is (soooo big), etc.

Last week we had Julianne's big appointment with the IA doctor which lasted about four hours! They suspected that she might have spina bifida and hip dysplacia but after an xray that was NOT the case. PTL! All of her blood work and other tests came back fine. This was the absolute best case scenario we had so prayed for. God is good. The xray did confirm that she is missing her radius as well as one metacarpal. Since she is behind in gross motor, PT and OT start next week and she sees the hand/arm specialist next week as well to determine if surgery is in her future. I really don't think they will consider it since she uses her hand and arm so well. It amazes me that she was rarely able to use her helper hand while in China (it was kept covered) but yet she uses it like a pro. She is doing a fantastic job of using it and her strength is certainly getting better.

Leah and Natalie are such a help with her. They have each changed diapers (wet), helped her get dressed, fed her, wiped her mouth, etc. According to the girls, she is the best Baby Al*ve doll ever. We have noticed that they both want more "Mommy Time" these days. I received a call from Leah's preschool that she wasn't feeling well, but after I picked her up, she told me that she just wanted to be home with me. I couldn't argue since it was nice having "Leah Time". They are growing into such sweet little girls (too quickly).

Life is good, indeed! We are so enjoying our time as a family of five.

Easter morning.

Julianne loves to pull the books off of the shelf and flip through books.