WOW, AM I A BAD BLOGGER OR WHAT? Sorry but life, work and these two little blessings are kicking my butt! These last five months have flown by and it amazes me that we are at the five month mark with Sarah being in our family!
So how is she doing? I will start with adopting a ten year old is a lot harder than adopting a 5 year old was but the good news is she/we are making progress every day! Sarah is one tough little girl! She misses her foster mother so much STILL.... She calls her "The grandmother" and has moments where she still cries for her. I will be honest, she blames me for taking her form her foster mother in China. She does not know what her life would have been had she not been adopted. She has NO CLUE what her fate would have been.....She was happy there, loved her foster family and her life there BUT it would not have gone on that way forever, they could not have kept her after she turned 14...BUT WE WILL.... so we are trying are best to understand this for her. She clings to the photos and memories. We are trying hard to help her remember and keep connected. We will be having her write a letter soon to send to the foster family with pictures. I really need to make that a priority in the next few weeks. I have been in contact with the family of another child that was fostered by the same family before Sarah went there that was equally loved by them. So this is good news! It amazes me that there is a women on the other side of the world that loved our girl so much and so well.... I wonder if she is hurting as our Sarah is and I can only guess she is... I pray for her daily and will forever be greatful to her....I pray that another child is now helping her heal and knowing her love....
Manon and Sharh are continuing to grow as sisters. The first few months Manon was so patient and understanding with her but I am happy to report that they are now bonded as real sisters and fight like they are! Sarah makes sure that all is fair in love and war! If she does not think it is, she will let us know (not always a good thing!)! A lot of the time they do get along well but they are driving us CRAZY with their fights! We are trying to teach them ways (and ourselves ways) to deal with their frustration with each other and learning how to be more patient with it ourselves.....We are all a work in progress but I am so happy to be able to say PROGRESS being made!
I do have to say the Manon has been so super at sharing us with Sarah and is truely happy to have a sister from China! She did have a little bit of a tough time in school at first (which we did not notice right away..sigh...) but is right back to being a SUPER student and getting great grades again! May 8th marks four years for our sweet Manon! Because Manon has done so well, we are able to understand that Sarah will also!
It has been a long and TOUGH winter but this Spring promises to bring great things for our family....The girls have both learned to ride bikes in the last two weeks. Ron and the girls have spent a lot of time picking out the "RIGHT" bikes. They were delivered at the end of the week and we are hoping they will be able to ride them tomorrow! I will be sure and post pictures (if my camera cooperates!).
Sarah went swimming for the FIRST time last week! She was so nervous but did fine. She does not like to stand out and insisted on taking the deep end test at the YMCA... They were good with her and let her try. They threw her the tube right away and she spent the rest of the time in the shallow end. She is excited to know with the summer season coming she will have lots of tiem to learn how to swim! We bought her her life jacket today to use on our boat. It should go in the water within the next two weeks! I am super excited to see Sarah and our granddaughter Kelsey experience the boat for the first time! We are so lucky to live where we do! We have a little beach and boat docks on a beautiful little lake. I just wish we had more time to enjoy it....
Sarah is doing so well in school. She gets English as a Second Language for about a hour a day and gets extra help with reading. She has the perfect teacher and it is really showing. Ms. Cooper is so patient and understanding with her! Sarah was resistive to speaking English very much the first few months but did learn it was easier once she could speak Englich. There are days now thast I think "who thought teaching this kiddo English was a good idea?????" She is able to express complex thoughts now which as a ten year old is where she is at. If you tick her off, get out of the way! She lets ya have it full throtal! We are teaching her how to do that in a polite way and give her apporpiate outlets for some of her frustrations... Sometimes I have to bite my tongue really hard though!
Sarah has played basketball and been in cheerleading camp at school. She loved both. She will start softball this week. We just bought their gloves today. Ron will work with her when he can like he does with Manon. I will tell you these two little girls can hit the ball like CRAZY! They both impressed their brother Nate on Easter! Poor Nate had to chase the ball a ton and was the recipitent of a few good hits (sorry Nate, hope it did not hurt too much!).
So I bet you are wondering how much does she weigh now? She started out at 49 pounds and stayed there for a few months in spite of us pushing her like crazy to eat.... BUT two weeks ago she weighed in at 55 pounds! That is just 4 pounds behind Manon! She has grown 1.5 inches too! She did have to have five baby teeth pulled last week and has lost two (boo hoo) pounds in the last week. She had a follow appointment at the dentist yeaterday and all is healing well. The tooth fairy was super nice to her! I think her eating is back to normal now so maybe she will regain those two pounds...She still takes forever to eat but is eating so much better.
Sarah now LOVES our dogs Macy and Molly! She and Manon are so good to them! Our vet might not not agree though because he thinks they are overweight but we think they are well feed/loved! Macy and Molly think it is pretty nice to have TWO treat givers in the house!
Sarah and Manon both LOVE their big brothers! All three boys and their girls are so great to their little sisters! This just does this momma's heart so well! Sarah LOVES her niece Kelsey to pieces! You can tell she has cared for MANY babies in her little life....She is a baby pro for sure! Kelsy knows this too! She really loves her aunt Sarah! Now if we can just get Kelsey to love her grammy a little all will be well! Kelsey is 20 months old now and such a sweet and beautiful little blessing! She has the most amazing parents! I have to say that to see your child be a wonderful parent is something....
Speaking of boys, I am happy to say that all three of my wonderful sons are doing so well. Nick and Cynthia are adjusting to life in NY well but we JUST WISH WE COULD SEE THEM MORE OFTEN...I know Cinthya misses her family in Peru very much and am hoping she can visit them soon! Nick is lucky to have such a wonderful wife!
Alex and Pitsa are coming up on their first anniversary in May! Alex will graduate from Law School in May too! We are so proud of him! Pitsa is such a wonderful wife to our wonderful Alex! We wish we could see them more often too! Nate and Kristen are getting married in mid July! I am super exciterd about this! Manon and Sarah will be in the wedding! Now if I can just get their dresses ordered....Tomorrow's task! We are going to watch Kelsey while they are on their honeymoon! I wonder if Kelsey agrees with this plan....I can not wait to find out! Like Cinthya and Pitsa, Kristen will be a wonderful wife! I love that all three of our guys have been blessed with super girls! I sure wish we could see Nate, Kristen and Kelsey more often too! Kristen will be graduating in May also. I am so impressed that she has been able to be a SUPER stay at home mom to Kelsey WHILE completing her Bachlors degree on line! Kelsey is so nice to let this happen! Congratul;ations Kristen!!!!
So as you have read, Sarah is doing well. She is happy most of the time and when she is not happy, we are comforting her. She is learning to be our daughter and we are learning to be her parents. We are so proud of how brave and trusting she is! As I said earlier, she is one tough little girl but we are teaching her she no longers needs to be a tough cookie! We have our 6 month post placement appointment with our social working in a week. I can't wait for Kate to meet our Sarah and let us know what she thinks.
We are so looking forward to what spring and God has in store for our family! I will try harder to be a better blogger so you can follow along!
Many blesiings,
Brenda, Ron, Manon and Sarah
