Five Years With our Girl

How do five years go past so very fast?! At the risk of making me sound like a grandma, it just seems like yesterday that this little lady joined our family.

What a five years it has been.

Today she is a lively, exuberant little girl of eight years old.

She loves horses.

She loves spending time with others whom she knows were adopted.

She loves playing babies.

She loves having a 'happy family'.

She loves that Jesus chose her to join a forever family.

She loves life.

(See her back there with her mouth wide open?! I can guarantee there are peals of laughter billowing out of her.)

It hasn't always been that way. Just five years ago she was in a baby home across the ocean...floundering.

She was one of 12 (I think) children in her group and they learned to live life the hard way.

In fact. We just learned this week that her life was likely even more difficult than we had ever imagined. I don't make a habit of sharing very many details of our children's lives before they joined our family as I don't think it's really mine to share. They don't seem to mind sharing details with other folks themselves...but I want them to be the ones to share...not me.

Anyway. This week we had visitors from Minnesota. These visitors weren't just any old visitors. We first met them in Russia when they were bringing home two boys and we were bringing home Addie and Will. Addie and their two boys came from the same baby home, and while they aren't too far apart in age, they weren't in the same room.

In fact, they weren't even on the same floor of the baby home. Their boys were on the ground level floor and Addie was upstairs. Why is that significant?

Allow me to explain. Dennis and Terri told us that when they picked up their boys they requested to tour the baby home. They weren't allowed to go upstairs as 'that is where the sick children live. You wouldn't want to see them.'

What?! THAT is where our daughter lived. Sick?

Yes. Her medical did claim that she had cerebral palsy, but that was totally not true. Why was she in a room with the 'sick' children?

In that country once an orphan is diagnosed with a disease, the diagnosis never changes. When Addie went to the baby home she had so many issues that they thought she was seriously ill. Once she stopped exhibiting those symptoms it was too late to change her medical.

So. She was placed in the 'sick room'. We always thought it was a little strange that there were several down syndrome children in her room, but just thought that her baby home was 'above' separating them out.

Not so.

I don't know if you have ever read anything about the 'sick rooms' in a baby home/orphanage or not, but the happenings in those rooms are simply terrible.

While Addie has overcome so many things, we now know a lot more about why she still has so far to go...simply because we now know that she was in 'that' room.

It breaks my heart.

When we said that we would accept her as our daughter, our coordinator had to sign a waiver of some sort saying that they could not move her. We were told that had they moved her she would have become unadoptable. In other words, she was likely going to be moved to an institution where all the 'sick' children go. And she likely would not be alive today.

She was to be moved at the age of three...we brought her into our family at the age of 3 years, 3 months.

God has a purpose for this little girl.

Back to her family day, which was yesterday.

She bounced down the steps in the morning with a grin that would rival a lottery winner's grin. She was elated and told everyone she came in contact with that 'today is my family day!!!'

Family days at our house are nearly a bigger production that birthdays. Basically our children have two birthdays a year (except poor Ty).

One day to celebrate the day they joined their forever families and one day to celebrate the day they were born.

She did 'nothing' all day in her terms.

'Nothing' consisted of making my strawberry jam for me,

playing, swimming at Grandmas with the cousins, and consuming a chosen supper of bob evans wildfire chicken salad (made at home), garlic bread, and a dairy queen ice cream cake. My kind of girl, right there.

Then came the gifts.

Before supper she wrapped her own gift. Her idea, not mine. :) When I asked her what she wanted the very most she told me that she really wanted American girl bitty baby twins....BUT "I'll be thankful for whatever is in there."

After supper she daintily tore the paper off the box and proceeded to be shocked.

"What in the world?! Oh my word. I am amazed. This is so exciting! I cannot believe this. I thought you said they were too expensive?! Oh my goodness. I am so thankful."

The twins were named Zhanna and Nickolay and they came home from Russia yesterday. They will be one in July. :)

And the shutterfly book that is usually the highlight got shoved to the side and never glanced at twice.

She deemed her Family Day a blast and wished that every day could be her family day. :)

We had a blast too! It was so fun to look back over the past five years to see just how much she has grown. Both physically and mentally.

We love you Addie Zhanna and pray that you become a young lady who serves Jesus all the days of your life!