It seems like yesterday that we were landing on American soil in Seattle, WA and Melanie was becoming a US Citizen. Well that was six months ago! A lot has happened in six months...
- Melanie bonded with me and Jason seven weeks after returning to the US.
- Melanie turned 2 years old in September.
- Melanie went to the beach for the first time in October.
- Melanie had her palate repaired and tubes put in her ears on October 24th.
- Melanie can hear for the first time at 100%!!! Praise God!
- Melanie had her first Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas!
- Melanie started speech therapy and communication therapy!
- Melanie is speaking English for the first time!
- Melanie was re-adopted on December 30th!
Our family has also gone through some difficult times from the very harsh recovery time after her surgery, to the lack of understanding of others with us being an adoptive family with differences in parenting, to the normal adoption adjustments. God has brought us through this so far and we pray he will be our strength as we continue to adapt to the normal adoption adjustments.
Over the last six months, we have observed those things that Melanie loves. She loves...
- to dance!!!!!
- music
- food
- doing laundry with mom! If I load the laundry or fold clothes without her, she gets very upset!
- look at catalogs and magazines...her favorite part is just turning the pages.
- being held
- being rocked in the glider before going to bed and singing
- to be read to
- having everything in its exact place
- playing with her kitchen
- to have things clean....every crumb has to be removed from the table or her chair before she gets up
- and praying before we eat!
It was exactly one year from Dec. 24th at 2am that we received Melanie's referral! It is amazing to us that it was a little over 16 months from the start of our adoption process to getting a referral....six months from getting our referral to meeting Melanie for the first time. The entire process took approximately 22 months. There were times that we were thinking we would never get her in our arms. We now see that God's plan in every step...from the long waiting periods to the time we landed in Nashville on July 3, 2013 for our family to meet her for the first time! God has truly been our Jehovah Jirah! He gets all the glory. We pray that Melanie feels safe, loved, trusts, and will love the Lord God with all of her heart, soul and mind!
