Days Fly By

I must say that I'm horrible at keeping my blog updated. I read other blogs and they are updated every few days if not every day. Here it has been 2 weeks and I'm just now updating. Oh well. Here I am. We have been busy and I can't really name too many of the things we have been doing. We went to my mom's for a cookout on Saturday for Ananya to meet more family. I found out that the family is growing. My cousin is having a baby early next year. My aunt and uncle got to see Ananya. It was a bitter sweet reunion as they lost their son in 2005. They need prayers. It is still tough on them. But it was nice to see them hold my daughter. BTW, that is Anthony's friend in the background. He isn't a member of the family.

Ananya is doing wonderfully. She has started crawling on a regular basis. She is able to crawl on the hardwood floor. She has been in the floor and in the grass as well. She reaches for us more when we are feeding her. She is an absolute joy. She is so stubborn. If she doesn't get what she wants, she will throw a fit. We are learning to handle it more now. This is my mom.

I'm thankful everyday for God's blessing to be able to raise my daughter. I can not imagine the pain her birthmother endured for me to be able to do this. I wish that she could know that her daughter is safe. That she has a family. And she is thriving. She brings joy to us everyday.

In other news, we have decided to home-school Anthony. We will start in the fall. We are going to use My Father's World ciriculum. I think Anthony will do well. I already have our first field trip planned. We are going to Biltmore Estate in September. I think that it will be fun. Anthony has also started a list of the things he wants to try. So far we are going to try karate, soccer, gymnastics, soccer, and today's newest, tennis lessons. I think that 1 or 2 a semester will be ok. I also want to try swimming lessons. I have a fish. He has already been swimming twice at Grandmas and the pool just opened. So anyways, next year will be even busier than this year. This was his painting submitted for the Fine Arts competition last month. Budding Artist.

Now alittle about Mommy. I decided somewhere along the way since we got home that I love my life but wasn't necessarily happy with myself. So of course, I decided to change myself. This isn't an easy task, by the way. My biggest change is God's role in my life. I'm sad to say that up to this point, God hasn't played the biggest role in my life. I have started searching out His Word. I'm trying to figure out how to become involved in a church. ***I work EVERY saturday night because I only have to work 2 days for full time pay and benefits.*** The church that I want to go to has a service a 10:00am. Preaching doesn't start until 11:00am. I think that sometimes it goes on for a while. I just don't think that it would be good to just stay up on Sundays. I'm not my best and brightest if I don't sleep. I have to investigate more, but I think they may have a Wednesday service. That of course solves the problem. If anyone has any other solutions, let me know. I have started trying to improve my health by changing my diet and exercising. I'm not doing it so much for myself. I know that I'll feel better though. I just feel like I need to provide a good example to the people around me. My family, my friends and my patients. We are on a financial makeover too. I won't go into detail, but hopefully this will allow us to give a whole lot more to others. The trip to India was so eye opening for me especially. I want to go back. I want to do mission work in the country I love so much. I want to visit beautiful India again many times. These children are in my thoughts daily. I will do everything that I can to help them for my life now. They are so precious. ( Sorry, I've removed the picture).

Well I'm going to run. I have to get some sleep and start over again tomorrow. Before I go, I'm going proclaim my faith.

Jesus Christ is my Savior. He is the only Begotten Son of God. I'm not perfect and never can be. I will sin. But I am saved through the Grace of the One True Living God. He sent His Son to Die for me so that I may be saved.

I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish therace and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given to me -- thetask of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. -- Acts 20:24 NIV

Wonderful Days

My life is full of wonderful days. I have a handsome son, and gorgeous daughter, and a great husband. I have great parents and wonderful friends. Over the last couple of days, I've done alittle crying because of this.

My daughter blows kisses to me because she is looking at me. She reaches for me when I'm vaccuming her rug. She reached up for me.

All of this sounds like normal behavior for a 2 year old. Well, its not that easy when you adopt a child who is 2. Sometimes they don't know to do these things. It takes time to learn. Learn that Mommy loves you unconditionally. That Daddy loves you. That seeing you smile will melt someones heart.

In the morning, I get snuggles. Ananya is just waking up (because I turned the light on) and when I hold her she cuddles next to me. Hugs at any other time aren't as easy to come by. My baby doesn't really know how to hug. She has learned though that Mommy, Daddy, and even brother will give her an unlimited supply of kisses when she wants them.

She laughs when I say "I love you". I yearn for the day when she will say "I love you Mommy". It will come with time. But that day will melt my heart all over again.

Some days I know my strength and energy will have to come from God because I'm tired. Other days, I praise God for blessing me with such wonderful children. I have a son who is in awe of his sister as much as Patrick and I are. Who is patient and friendly with everyone that he meets. I have a daughter who fights everyday to learn new things. Who amazes everyone regularly with the new things she learns.

For Mothers Day I was just greatful for my children. Without them I wouldn't celebrate. It wasn't about me but them. They are the greatest wonder. I can only hope and pray that God will bless me with more children. To be their mother, it is and will be the greatest thing I can ever accomplish.

Updates

First, sorry that I haven't updated in so long. We have been busy and I'm adjusting to working again and have been very tired.

We started therapy last week. Speech on Mondays and PT and OT on Wednesdays. Lots of work to do. Ananya has decided that she hates speech therapy. The first week she tolerated about 15 minutes before she started crying and we trudged through another 15 minutes before moving to play type therapy. This week, Kerry (our speech therapist) walked in and Ananya started crying. She won't let me put her down so we didn't have the best session. PT and OT aren't that bad. They do more of what we do with her already. Stretching and strengthening. Poor baby needs baby yoga. We should start to see results soon.

I must say that this doll is doing wonderful. She is making great progress before therapy can start to do its job. Last week she finally started drinking out of a sippy cup. She is sucking very well now. She drank half of a sippy cup yesterday before we resorted to drinking without the lid. She has decided to be loud again and is vocalizing alot. All of her normal sounds. We are trying to give her new ones to imitate now. She is sitting up straighter. She is sitting longer on her bottom too.

The all time greatest though is that she moved. She bounces up and down when she sits on her knees. Well last Saturday, she decided to bounce around the rug. I mean really around. She went 3 or 4 feet BOUNCING!!! It was the funniest thing. She looked like a little bunny.

Yesterday we all went strawberry picking with some friends. Ananya loves to be outside. She would only eat the strawberries that I gave her bites of. Maybe next year she will be with the other kids chowing down as she picks.

I can not say enough about how much this girl is a blessing to our family. It feels like she has been here forever. I've been surfing other blogs and this morning I was in tears. I was watching a slide show by a mom who is waiting to bring her baby home. The family went on a visit (a Guatemala adoption). I can remember the pain of the wait so vividly. I would not trade one tear though. The waiting was definitely more than worth the reward. It honestly made me strong in my faith. I know that God is in control and all of the things she can't do are coming. I have to be patient. I try to keep looking for all the little things she does new each day. She is so happy now. She smiles so much. She makes us smile.

MY KIDS ROCK!!!!

On a personal note. I'm dieting with some other bloggers. These women are such a great support. We are all on a mission to make PERMANENT changes in our life to model a healthy life for our children. Anyone interested in joining us, the site is www.nomorejunkytrunk.blogspot.com. I have been doing well and lost a few pounds in almost 2 weeks. I've been trying to exercise at least 3 times a week as well.

I'm going to go to sleep now. We have our 2nd postplacement visit on Thursday.

I can't believe that we have been a family of 4 for 11 weeks now. Its just great.