The past few days...

...have been busy!

We're in our last week of spring break.  The girls and I have really enjoyed our 3 weeks off from school, but I'm ready to get back to it!  We've been to the park, had movie and jammie days, art day, library every Tuesday...it's been a cram-packed few weeks!

This past Sunday, the 18th, was EG's  2nd "gotcha day"!  I can't believe she's been home for 2 years already!  The time has literally flown by.  She's come SO FAR in 2 years.  It really is amazing to think about.  Here is the post from the original "gotcha day".

To be honest, some days are still really hard.  Since we don't know what her life was like in the almost 3  years before coming to be with us, it's a guessing game as to how she was raised.  For the first year home, she was in survival mode...always compliant...didn't misbehave too much.

Not anymore!  She knows that she can trust us.  So she's more herself now...strong-willed...stubborn...knows that she can disobey without long lasting ramifications.  School has been a challenge.  She's so smart, but likes to have control of a situation.  It's gotten better the past couple of months, but we have a ways yet to go.

Having said all that...I'm so glad that she feels like she can let her guard down and be herself.  I'm sure it was exhausting keeping a guard up for so long.  She is an amazing girl.  She has an amazing laugh!  She adores and is adored by her sisters.  We are so blessed to be her parents.

I looked on a map the other day to find where exactly in Ethiopia EG was before coming into our agency's care. She was in Adama.  She ended up in Addis Ababa.  That's a 1 hour and 16 minute trip.  How did she get there?  We have no idea.  Who got her there?  We have no idea.  There's a lot that we have no idea about.  That's the toughest part.  Having no idea.  It's a dangerous place to reside too...the "land of having no idea".  If I reside there, my mind goes in a thousand directions that it shouldn't.  But she's my child.  Shouldn't I know those things?  Apparently not.  Apparently that's not important to the end goal...to raise a Godly woman who is sure of herself and confident of who she is in Christ.

The bottom line?  She's here.  She's ours.  And we are thankful.

That scared, "stuck in survival mode" little girl is 5 today!  She has her first big girl necklace, just like her sisters received from DeeDee and Sir when they were 5.  We will be having ladybug cupcakes tonight with dinner.  Her choice for dinner?  Spaghetti, peas, bread and chocolate milk.  (She actually asked me if I knew how to make chocolate milk!)

I think about her birth mother on days like today.  I wonder if she thinks about her baby girl, or keeps a record of how old her little girl is.  And that hurts this momma's heart.

Life for her now is a far cry from where she was on her 1st birthday and her 2nd birthday.  Even though we missed those first 2 birthdays, we are thankful that we get the ones from here on out!

Added to the birthday celebration, is the fact that EG's birthday falls on the first day of Spring!  For the cherry on top?  Her Ethiopian name, Hiwot, means "life"...rather fitting for our little girl.

Don't you think?