A Birthday Party for the Girls

Elainea taking a seat at Hannah's CCD class.

Sisters playing in a chair.

Elainea on her new tricycle.

Dad and Elainea having fun on the rink.

Hannah on her new scooter.

Today well-lived...makes every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Anonymous

On Saturday the 24th we celebrated Hannah and Elainea's birthdays. We went to the Classic Fun Center in Layton so Hannah could try out her new scooter and Elainea could ride her new tricycle. We learned a very valuable lesson today. Whatever big sister has little sister wants. We ended up renting a scooter for Elainea and we were all amazed at what a little thrill seeker we have.Joe would push Elainea from behind while on roller skates and he could not go fast enough. The faster he went the more she liked it. She would jump up and down with excitement and let go of the handle bars and clap her hands. She is all about being active and enjoys any type of physical activity.Elainea is learning quickly. She does not like to sit down for longer than five minutes unless the Teletubbies are on the TV. She loves to watch LaLa play with her ball. She clearly shows that she does not care for the mischeviousness of Naughty Noo Noo the vaccuum that sometimes sucks up LaLa's ball.Elainea is also picking up some English words. She says Night-Night when it is time to go to bed, of course she says La La when watching Teletubbies. She said Lettuce at dinner the other night. When she knocks her head or pinches her fingers she will hit the object that hurt her and say "Bad", then she will come to me and say "Boo-Boo".I am so amazed at how well she is adapting to life in our family. I was so worried about bringing in a child at the age of two that had spent two of her most important years of growth in an institution. We have not seen significant behavior or attachment issues. She is very attached to her family and beginning to become attached to her extended family as well. She still has night terrors which means we still do not get very much sleep, but it is all good. She is a very loving child that loves to give hugs and kisses.We have set a date for her baptism. It will be on April 15th after the 11:30 mass at Saint Mary's Catholic Church. We are so excited for the big day. All are welcome to come and see the big event.We are preparing the house for the big Easter party at our house next week. It is tradition to have Easter at our house. The girls have been helping me prepare the house and we are all excited for Elainea to experience her first Easter egg hunt. We will definately have to post again for the each of these events over the next few weeks.We can not imagine our lives without our Little Miss Elainea and look forward to participate in her amazing life journey.

Adjusting to Home Life

Enjoying the swing with Jei Jei

Party Girls

Grandma with almost all her Grandchildren

Elainea fixing Aunt Nanny's hair

Jei Jei left holding the bag

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to the stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear on cheerfully, do all bravely, awaiting occasions, worry never; in a word to, like the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common.

William Ellery Channing

It is hard to believe that we have been home for almost a month now. Our days are hardly typical yet, but we are communicating quite effectively with each other. Elainea's still likes to eat in large quantities, but she will refuse food that she does not like. She seems to prefer meat, fruit and crackers. Occasionally she will throw in a token lima bean or green bean, but otherwise veggies are met with a sour face and get spit out immediately.Elainea is fearful of animals and bugs. She likes to hide in the pantry and say "Bye-Bye" as she shuts the door. Today she went in and started screaming because she saw a spider. The poor thing will not go in there anymore. She whimpers around her Grandma's cat and does like stuffed animals.We were given the opportunity to speak at a parent's meeting for WIAA. It was difficult to talk about our experience again and it brought back many emotions. I still do not think any of us have finished processing what has happened in the last two months. We are way too busy to sit to think, analyze or reflect on what has happened. However, I would not have my life any other way. Elainea is the most precious gift we could have ever received. I am so proud of her and would not change a thing about my life now. Adoption is truly a miracle and is not to be considered as the last resort to complete a family. It was predestined for us to adopt and to have Elainea in our family. To all the families that are still waiting for their children, we can not offer any advice for the long wait, it is difficult and nothing makes it any easier. The best thing you can do is just find a coping mechanism and hang in there. Once you are on the other side you will think it is worth it!We are trying to plan for Elainea's baptism. We have scheduled it for April 15th. We bought a beautiful white dress and when we tried it on Elainea beamed from ear to ear. She ran around and twirled in the dress and did not want to take it off. We look forward to the day that she will join her Catholic family.We celebrated Pam's mother's birthday this weekend. It was wonderful. "Having Elainea come home was the best gift I could have asked for", she told us. That speaks volumes of her. Elainea is very lucky to have her as her Nei Nei. She watches Elainea on Thursdays when MaMa is at work. When Pam leaves she cries for a half hour. We are so proud! She is bonding with our family. She is also getting closer to her Aunt LeAnn (Nanny) and KayDawn (KK). They were so happy to spend some time with her during the birthday party and Elainea was just loving every minute of it. Aunt Nanny surprised us with a beautiful scrapbook derived from our blog entries. It is so well put together and Elainea loves to look at the pictures in it. How wonderful it is to have such family support. Both sides of our family have welcomed her with open arms and hearts. Our family would not be complete without her. All of our family members on both sides are truly grateful for God's grace and blessing of our newest family member.