Catching On...

Taylor has been with us a week today, and things are much different today than a week ago.  On day one, she was a little timid and cried off and on.  By that night she was jumping in the bed.  :-)  The week has been very sweet and she now knows who we all are.  We have gone out a couple of times and she really clings to us--which is a great sign.  That means that she trusts us and is bonding with our family.  She won't let anyone else hold her.

We have seen much more of her personality, and she really just fits right in.  Check out this video of how silly she is.  This is a game that we all play sometimes with Stephen, but tonight we let Taylor be the leader.  When Stephen was the leader she didn't want to play, but when she was the leader--she really got into it.



About 30 minutes after this video, I got my biggest surprise yet.  I leaned in to give her a kiss, and she kissed me first.  My heart melted.  Then she gave kisses to Isaac and Joel--but she is playing hard to get with Stephen and Autumn.  (You can see in this picture how much bigger Stephen is than Taylor.)

Today she had a fever and was a little whiny throughout the day and slept more than usual.  But after a little bit of tylenol, she perked up again.  We are praying that she and Stephen will both feel better tomorrow.  He started feeling sick after his nap today too.

 We are so thankful for how well Taylor is adjusting.  Please keep praying for us and our paperwork and that all will get finished in time.  We can't wait to officially call her ours.  :-)

Day By Day

Each day seems to bring more progress.  Today Taylor was just as active, but today she is finally over the fear of our very innocent poodle.  Yesterday she did not want to even look at him, but today she didn't mind him the least.  I don't know what happened overnight, but it was definitely a surprise today.

She woke up at about the same time after another restful night.  We went out and celebrated a late Mother's Day because we weren't able to do anything on the day-of.  We went to the mall and ate lunch.  We could tell that the young'ns were getting tired, so we came home after that and a few of us took a nap (me included).

Then of course we had dinner and then Stephen and Taylor took a bath.  She was not too excited about  bedtime tonight.  I like to think it is because she doesn't want to be separated from us--but I can't say that for sure.  Autumn stayed in the room and read a book to herself just so that Taylor wasn't alone, but she didn't go to sleep until I had Autumn leave the room later. 

I realize these posts are a little boring, but I just want to remember what her first week was like.  Thank you for all of your prayers.  I don't think we could have asked for a smoother transition than what we have experienced so far.  We are amazed at how great she is doing.

Homecoming Day Two

Taylor slept great last night.  After jumping in the bed :-), she slept all night and woke up at 6 this morning.  She seemed a little confused about where she was, but after some morning yogurt she started acting more like herself.

In fact, today it was hard to keep up with her ...she was walking all over the place.  By about 11am, she got in the recliner with Isaac and in less than 5 minutes she fell asleep.  That was one proud big brother.  I asked if he wanted me to put her in bed, but with a big grin, he said, "No.  I want to hold her."  My heart melted.

She slept for about 4 hours.  I guess these past two days have really made her tired.  After her nap, she was ready for some playtime with Daddy.  She has been playing with the kids since they got home from local school.  And at about 9:00 we finally put her to bed. 

She cried a few times today but it has not been near as bad as what we were expecting.  She really is doing great, and we are falling in love with her more by the minute.

My Cups Overflows--You Might Want to Read This: PART 2

There are so many verses that have come to have a more special meaning to me over the past few years.  One of the ones that I am thinking about today is  “My cup overflows.” (Psalms 23)

Why is my cup overflowing today?

After waiting for more than a year and a half, today we finally brought home our baby girl.  Yes, you are reading this right.  Today, we brought home Taylor Faith!!! 

At 8:00 this morning (on the dot), we arrived to meet Taylor and have her join our family.  There were lots of tears, but after a short time (shorter than we expected anyway), she was starting to seem more comfortable.

We stayed and visited with some friends and gave Taylor some time to warm up to us.  Then after lunch we got in the van and headed home.  She slept the whole way—which was a true blessing.

After getting home, she mainly just sat and cuddled with us, but she also had some good bonding time playing with her big sister Autumn.  She didn’t eat too much, but she did eat everything that we gave her which was another huge blessing. 

Tonight when I put her in bed she really settled down and started to show her true personality.  When she realized that the mattress was soft, she started jumping up and down and clapping.    Normally I might not encourage this behavior, but I thought for the first night I was just glad she was smiling.  She was just SO happy.  I prayed for her and thanked God for giving us such a beautiful blessing in Taylor.  Then I thought I would just slip out and see what would happen.  Believe it or not, she didn’t cry but just sat in bed talking for a while and then eventually went to sleep.  Not a single tear.  In fact after we got home today there were no tears except for when she wanted one of us to hold her—which we were overjoyed to do.

I know that it could still be a difficult week for her, but we are so excited…thankful…joyful….so many emotions that I can’t fully verbalize them all.  Thank you for all your prayers and I will ask for forgiveness ahead of time for all of the pictures that I might post of her in the days ahead.  

***The adoption is not final, but we have the awesome advantage of fostering her while we are in the process.  We hope that all will be finalized in August/September. 

Sweet News

One Day Closer…

It has been a long wait, but God’s timing is always good.  Look at this sweet face… of a precious gift from God that we hope in a few months we can call “daughter.”

 A little more than a week ago we got the adoption file that we have been longing to see.  After much prayer, we decided to pursue this sweet little girl’s file, and yesterday we heard very encouraging words.  We have been pre-approved to be her parents.  This is one of those times in the process where some families wait to post pictures—similar to a mom that waits to announce her pregnancy because there are so many things that could still happen.  So we want to emphasize that as excited as we are, she is not officially ours until “Gotcha Day.”  We will be continuing to fill out paperwork and wait on additional paperwork and after all that is finished, we will receive approval to go and make it official.    We will keep you updated as those milestones come along. 

We are so excited!!!  We are also overjoyed to finally be able to share her sweet face with you.