A Bonding Family

Life with Rae the last few weeks has been better than I could ever had imagined. Everyday she gets more and more confident, assured, and attached to her new family, friends, and surroundings. On our first Sunday together she spent a lot of time on my lap. Brady and Hally were able to play with her as long as I was a short distance away. Hally and Brady are great older sisters and brothers to Rae. Brady loves to hug and kiss on her and brag about her while he is at school. Hally was able to hold Rae on Monday. Even though it was for a short time, Hally was so ecstatic and so proud. She started to let Kevin hold her a short time after that. She now is spending most of her time playing and being silly, and only occasionally wants to be held. This changes if we are out in public. Last Sunday, we went to church, where she was very bubbly, but would only sit in my lap or be held by me. We went back to Sunday evening church where she was able to hear praise and worship (we were late in the morning). She absolutely loved the music. She almost bounced herself out of my arms, as she was so excited!!! During the evening sermon, she would tease Kevin by reaching her arms out to him, go to him, but only for a second or two before she wanted to return to me. After service she got very brave and let Hally walk her around the atrium area.

Rae is also very much developing communication skills. She has always said something that sounds like the word auntie. Whenever she saw something she was interested in, she would say, "aunite, auntie", point to your face, and then to whatever it was she wanted you to see. We found out in Addis that she was saying "hey you"!!! At the beginning of the week, she started saying momma. She doesn't really realize what this means and that it is unique to me(she has called others this as well), but she does know that I get really happy when she says it to me. She is now saying daddy, Hally, and our dog's name Jo Jo (sounds more like doe doe when she says it). She repeats a lot of words especially when looking at pictures and picture books.

Eating. Rae does a lot of it. She can really pack it down and can eat about the same size portions that I eat (maybe even more). We went to the doctor and according to their charts, she is in the 8th percentile, but I can't imagine her staying there for long. She really isn't picky either. There have been very few things that she won't eat.

We are really pinching ourselves over this really smooth transition so far. Even our best expectations for this time has been exceeded. Thanks for the prayers and thank you to God for this unexpected blessing!!!