1 Year ago

One year ago today we got the call at 11pm from our adoption counselor saying she had found a little 3 yr old girl who needed to be adopted. This very day last year was the first time we saw our daughters face for the first time.

Now a year later & home for 6 months with Madison. Adoption truly is something only our God could put together. This process has not always been easy, in fact there are still days that are quite challenging but through it all God has been with us. Madison has come so far these past 6 months & I cannot wait see how far she has progressed in September when we celebrate 1 year home!

Here are a few pictures from her first days with us:

Our first night home, Morgan was the first person other than David & I to hold her.

Oh my word, look at that smile!!

I think this is one of my favorite all time pics of her. This was taken the first week home.


What a difference 6 months can make:)

BIG NEWS

Madison slept in her BED last night!!!! Woohoo! This is BIG news for us. For the last 6 months she has slept on the floor, refusing to even entertain for a second that she would sleep in her bed.


Yesterday we read books in her bed & I said " look how comfy your bed is, do you want to sleep in your bed tonight?" and she said yes! Well she has said that a few times and when it gets bedtime she always gets upset & doesn't want to get in her bed. Well when it got bedtime last night I said "are you ready to sleep in your big girl bed? and she said yes! I laid down with her for a while and she did it... ALL NIGHT LONG! I checked on her a few times to make sure she hadn't fallen off:)
And of course you know I got a picture of her first night sleeping in her own bed, now the quality is horrible but I turned off the flash so that i wouldn't wake her up!

And this was earlier in the day when we were reading books on her bed:

Another milestone, I am trying to remember to take it all in & cherish ever minute.


Happy Wednesday!
Melissa

SIGNS

Every month I make a sign for Madison to hold so that I can take her picture.  Well, she has started making her own "signs" that she brings to me and wants me to hold so that she can take my picture:)

This is the one she made a few days ago!

Madison is getting so much better at writing her name. I really think going to VPK a few hours a day has helped her a lot. This is a picture of what she wrote last night (the first "Whitten" I wrote & she copied it).

I have got to get better about writing down the funny things she says. There have been several things lately that have been so cute but I have forgotten some of them because I didn't write them down:(

I do want to share one though...I am trying to start going back to the morning service at church (we've been going to the 5 service ever since we came back from China). So last week there is a sweet older lady who is what we call a "snow bird" because she only comes to Florida 6 months out of the year in the summer time. Anyway she had not met Madison yet so when she saw us she was SO thrilled to meet her. She went up to Madison and said hello and this was Madison's response, "Hello Grandma, thank you for the Christmas presents & for valentine presents." HA! Bless her heart, everytime she sees someone with gray hair she calls them grandma.  I think our recent trips to Alabama have confused her a bit but I'm she'll get better.

Regarding instructions the other day I asked her to close the blinds & she went to the microwave & opened it. I said no go to the window & close the blinds then she went to the fridge and opened & shut it. So we are working on giving her directions at home & teaching her how to understand what we are asking her to do. It is a work in progress for sure but to look back 6 months ago till now, its amazing to see how far she has come.

I will leave you with a few random pictures:)

No we did NOT get a dog:) This is a friends dog that Morgan fell in love with. My whole family has been begging for a dog (even David) but I'm still standing strong & refusing. I think I have enough on my plate right now with trying to raise three kids...a preschooler & a teenager at the same time....wow, not a good combo let me just say:)


Happy Monday!
Melissa

Saturday

We have had a nice day at home today. David had to work this morning so me & the two "little's" went to walk and play at the park. After the park we came home & was in the pool for the next 6 hours!

Swimming in Feb....why not?

6 MONTHS

Not flesh of my flesh, Nor bone of my bone,
But still MIRACULOUSLY my own.
Never forget for a single minute,
You didn't grow under my heart
but in it!!

Wordless Wednesday

A whole lot of randomness:)

This post is going to be a lot of random things that's been going on lately. First, Madison celebrated her first Valentines Day last week and she had fun at her party at school.

This was her box she decorated to put all her Valentine's in.

The above picture is of McKinley's Valentine's that I made for her class. This was my first pinterest project (and quite possibly my last)! Although my friend Jenn helped me it still took us hours to make and I know realize the value of buying the old fashioned heart candy in a box...much easier.

It says :" I DIG your friendship" thus the shovels.

In other random news, my precious "almost" teenager decided to dye her hair with kool-aid a few weeks ago...Now this is all the rage with 12-13 year olds and according to the wisdom of the Internet she said it would wash out after a few washes. So I thought "what is the harm in that, right?" Well I will tell you the harm..... IT"S PERMANENT!!  Morgan's teacher at school said it was against the dress code so we promptly went to our Salon and after several failed attempts to wash it out, highlight it out and color it out, it's still there.

Thank goodness she only did one piece of hair and it was an underneath layer!

Our family friend, Jennifer is home from the mission field right now so she has been spending some time here in Fl visiting with several families. My girls love when "Ms. Jenn" is over because she loves doing projects & baking . Morgan loves a challenge in the kitchen, so for the last 4 hrs they have been
destroying working in my kitchen. Their "project" high heel cupcakes.......

The finished product!!!

I can't believe it's only Tuesday, It feels like it should be Friday already:)


Happy Tuesday!
Melissa

Happy Valentines Day!

From our family to yours!

Chinese New Year

Last Sunday night the University of South Florida had a gathering to celebrate Chinese New Year. I really want to help Madison learn about and remember her culture and where she came from.  We all went as a family and as you can see the "Little's" dressed up in their Chinese silks and they looked so cute.

While the night wasn't quite what we all expected (we met another family at the event who've also adopted some beautiful kids from China) they did have some traditional Chinese food for us to sample and a program that included Chinese songs, poems, dances, etc. At first Madison was scared because the opening act included a lady singing (very loudly I might add) a traditional Chinese New Year song. Slowly she began to engage and it seemed like she understood a bit of what was being said. However, she didn't want to stay and so we left a bit early. 

When we adopted Madison part of our commitment to the Chinese officials was to teach her about China and her culture and heritage. We're trying and will try again in the future.

On another note Madison is doing really well and is still enjoying school, in fact she begs to go every weekend. She has started getting books and "reading" everyday. Today she sat in her room for 30 minutes & just read books:) I hope her love for reading will continue as she grows up.

She has a Valentine party at school tomorrow so I cant wait to see how that goes, I am sure she is gonna love it because I bought cupcakes for her class:) The girl LOVES to eat, she ate 3 taco's for dinner tonight:) I wish I had her metabolism!

Happy Wednesday!

Melissa

UNcommon weekend!

Each year our youth has a weekend long retreat where the youth stay in host homes Friday & Saturday night and they have different sessions, have some fun ice skating and playing laser tag, as well as doing a community service project.

This is Morgan's 2nd year to go and she had a great time .

at their host home (thank you Byrne family!)

Silly face pic

So thankful for our church & our youth group!