Big Girl Bed

Valerie is now in a big girl bed in her very own room! She has been sleeping in a crib in our room since we brought her home last summer. This was working well for her but not so well for Todd and I. Valerie still bangs her head alot in her sleep and the whole crib would rattle loudly each time. We decided to try to move her to her own room and I worried that it would be a difficult transition. It worked out great and everyone is sleeping better! She pats herself and says "big girl" when we put her in bed. She has gotten up a few times and we just tell her to go back to bed and she does it with very little protesting! I think she is more comfortable and I haven't heard much head banging going on since the switch. I still have the crib up in our room. I feel a little sad because my baby really isn't a baby anymore!
This is the sure sign that Valerie is sleepy. She even sucks those fingers in her sleep.

She is so proud of herself!

Static Electricity

One Year Ago!

One year ago today we received our referral for Valerie. I'll never forget that feeling as I read over and over the very tiny bit of information we first received.

The email simply said:

Dear Cindy,

The Department has issued a referral for you - a girl, light featured, Valeria, DOB August 26. According to her referral letter, her diagnoses look average. My question is Valeria is half year older than you requested, will you consider her referral and we can work further on getting more info or would you like to turn her down due to age and ask for a younger referral?

Best Regards, Olga

She was older than what we had originally requested but we had been praying that we would get the referral that God meant to be our child so I immediately emailed Olga back and said we definitely will consider her, please get us more information. Two days later we received another email with her medical report and current pictures. Irina, the coordinator in Khabarovsk had gone to the orphanage and taken the pictures that week! When I saw her, I knew that I could never turn her down. She looked beautiful and scared and I wanted to go get her right then. I read over the medical and it scared me to death with all kinds of horrible sounding diagnoses but Olga assured me they were fairly typical of what they see on most medicals from that orphanage and she also put me in touch with Dr. Skurkovich, an international adoption doctor. He said Valerie seemed to be more light, more fragile, and certainly 4 or even 5 months delayed in development compared to the average US child but nothing that wasn't correctable. He gave a low-risk assessment. She had no physical signs of fetal alcohol syndrome.

Doesn't she have amazing eyes? I blew these precious pictures up to 8 x 10 and printed them off. I stared at them and prayed for her constantly for the next month until we traveled to Khabarovsk to meet her! They say not to fall in love with your referral because you might meet her and decide she's not the one or she might be adopted by a Russian family before you are able to complete the adoption. I heard that advice but didn't heed it. I was definitely already in love!

A Really Nice Day with My Family!

Today was a great day. There was no school because of MLK Day. We all slept in until about 8:30 and I stayed in my pajamas until after lunch! I played with the kids all morning. I made pizza for lunch and we were all together to eat it. Todd was working at home today so during Valerie's nap, Blaine, Champ (the dog) and I took off on a really long walk in the pasture. It was a beautiful day with warm sunshine and a cool breeze. We had the best conversations about everything in the world. Blaine found a few treasures to bring home. Out of the blue, he said, "I love you, Mama" and it made my day! We stopped off at Mamaw's house on the way home and he wanted to stay and help her with some yard work so I came on home alone. Todd took off to build some fence so Valerie and I went on a walk and had a little special time with just the two of us. While we were walking, she said, "Hand, Mama" which means she wants to hold your hand. She grabbed my hand and kissed it like I always do to her! She is getting to be such a little sweetie! She has also learned to say, "luboo", which means I love you. Todd grilled some burgers for supper and again we were all home to enjoy eating together. I wish everyday could be like this. But I guess if it were, it might not seem so special. I'm counting my blessings tonight!

Cowboys

Here are some pictures of my cowboys on one of our cow works in early December. Polly Sue and I were the Chuckwagon Gang and we shot these pictures when we delivered their lunch.Todd

Blaine


The whole crew
Can you spot little Blaine out there with all those big men? He loves to work cows!

3 Generations!

Todd, Blaine, and Larry

4 Generations of Cowboys!

Bub, Larry, Todd, and Blaine

Christmas Cuties

Here's a few Christmas pics of the kiddos. GranJan got these cute pajamas for them and they both wore them all December. Actually they are still wearing them! We used these 1st two pictures on our Christmas cards this year. Valerie - age 2

Blaine - age 6





We had an extremely fun and very messy time making Christmas cookies. Valerie thought the sprinkles were pepper and she shook them on saying, "pepah, pepah". All of Valeries cookies were completely coated in "pepah"! We enjoyed eating them and Santa must have also because he only left a few crumbs!

I'll post a few more soon.

7 Months Ago.....

Seven months ago today a judge in Khabarovsk, Russia told us that our adoption was approved and we became the proud parents of this precious little girl! She has grown and changed so much and we are more in love with her every day!

She is much taller and slimmer now and looks more like a little girl and less like a baby.