I love seeing pictures of babies as they grow month to month; now days moms have all sorts of cute ideas on how to show that their baby is growing and developing. A lot happens in just a short time in the life and brain of these little ones. So as we passed our "6 months at home" mark, I've been reflecting a lot about how much has happened in our lives over the past few months since Hope joined our family. God has been teaching us A LOT.
Well, to begin, Hope is rocking a mullet as her hair grows out. Check out how different she looks!
But seriously, in the last 6 months, Hope has had a couple of significant milestones! She learned to ride her bike without training wheels, which, if you had seen her ride her bike WITH training wheels, you'd understand the miracle this is. Truly. I didn't really even think it was possible to fall off a bike with training wheels. But it can be done. So to see her ride around and around our street cul-de-sac is utterly amazing. She's come so far!
She also lost her first tooth; well, not her first, but her first with us. Priya was more excited than Hope was, considering that Hope had no idea about the tooth fairy. Then when the tooth fairy DID come, Hope was super excited about it. Then Priya told her she should call Grandma and THAT tooth fairy "would be even better". Turns out she was; apparently the Grandma tooth fairy has more funds than we do. $5.00? Seriously?
And we celebrated our first birthday with Hope last weekend. That was an event. To say Hope was excited is the biggest understatement ever spoken. She could hardly sleep for the week before the party, and we literally had a countdown going. We normally try to limit gifts for the birthdays, since you already know Grandma is out-of-control, but we decided to allow them for her "first" party. I'm so glad we did. That girl was flipping-out-excited about all of them (Mommy is less excited about the Elsa doll from the Krugers that sings "Let It Go" in English AND Spanish! Oh my word. If I hear "Libre Soy" belted out in the wrong key one more time...)
But I think she felt SOOO loved. She said many times that evening, "a lot of people come to my party. A lot of presents! A lot of people love Hope." Aunt Leslie made the best Cinderella cake ever, and Hope kept saying that "Aunt Leslie is a very good artist at cakes." My heart was full to see hers overflowing.
And we've learned a whole lot more about our sweet girl than we knew before. She doesn't love pink and yellow anymore; she loves pink and BLUE. Because Mommy and Papa love blue. She loves Indian food still more than any other food in the USA, except bacon. She LOOOOOVES bacon. Asks for it every morning. She says she doesn't think they had bacon in India. She loves to play with Barbies and babies, to pretend the babies are adopted by the Barbies. She and Priya also love to play "Orphans", which I'm not really sure how I feel about, but nonetheless they pretend all of their stuffed animals are orphans, and then they go and adopt them. Sometimes they even play "Orphans with lice" to which I quickly put an end to...I mean, seriously.
We've learned a lot about her nights at the orphanage. She talks a lot about them. She talks about India a lot. It's interesting to hear her memories of India, because while she has many memories of bad and traumatic things, she also remembers anyone and everyone who ever helped her.
The other day she told me this story:
"Mommy, one time in India I was very hungry. I was walking with my birth mother very far. My feet were very tired from walking, walking, walking, and my stomach was so super hungry. The market had so many people. I was very hungry. This man gave me his bread. So I sat down on someone's motorcycle to eat it because my feet were hurting so bad. Then this other man yelled at me, "HEY! GET OFF MY MOTORCYLE YOU DIRTY KID!" So I felt very scary and me and my mommy ran away. But that nice man gave me bread. I think so God told that man to give me his bread, and he obeyed."
I literally can't stop crying when she tells me her stories. I just look at her and think of all that her little heart has had to endure in her short life. Hunger. Abandonment. Rejection. Homelessness. Pain. Loneliness. Unanswered cries.
And yet today, she walks downstairs with Priya, both of them holding their purses in hand. They have each been saving money for a toy. But today they said, "Mommy, we want to give this money to Luv Luv's trip to India." Now, here is my sweet cousin, Luv Luv, who is easily in their "top 5 favorite people" list:
Well, to begin, Hope is rocking a mullet as her hair grows out. Check out how different she looks!
But seriously, in the last 6 months, Hope has had a couple of significant milestones! She learned to ride her bike without training wheels, which, if you had seen her ride her bike WITH training wheels, you'd understand the miracle this is. Truly. I didn't really even think it was possible to fall off a bike with training wheels. But it can be done. So to see her ride around and around our street cul-de-sac is utterly amazing. She's come so far!
She also lost her first tooth; well, not her first, but her first with us. Priya was more excited than Hope was, considering that Hope had no idea about the tooth fairy. Then when the tooth fairy DID come, Hope was super excited about it. Then Priya told her she should call Grandma and THAT tooth fairy "would be even better". Turns out she was; apparently the Grandma tooth fairy has more funds than we do. $5.00? Seriously?
And we celebrated our first birthday with Hope last weekend. That was an event. To say Hope was excited is the biggest understatement ever spoken. She could hardly sleep for the week before the party, and we literally had a countdown going. We normally try to limit gifts for the birthdays, since you already know Grandma is out-of-control, but we decided to allow them for her "first" party. I'm so glad we did. That girl was flipping-out-excited about all of them (Mommy is less excited about the Elsa doll from the Krugers that sings "Let It Go" in English AND Spanish! Oh my word. If I hear "Libre Soy" belted out in the wrong key one more time...)
But I think she felt SOOO loved. She said many times that evening, "a lot of people come to my party. A lot of presents! A lot of people love Hope." Aunt Leslie made the best Cinderella cake ever, and Hope kept saying that "Aunt Leslie is a very good artist at cakes." My heart was full to see hers overflowing.
And we've learned a whole lot more about our sweet girl than we knew before. She doesn't love pink and yellow anymore; she loves pink and BLUE. Because Mommy and Papa love blue. She loves Indian food still more than any other food in the USA, except bacon. She LOOOOOVES bacon. Asks for it every morning. She says she doesn't think they had bacon in India. She loves to play with Barbies and babies, to pretend the babies are adopted by the Barbies. She and Priya also love to play "Orphans", which I'm not really sure how I feel about, but nonetheless they pretend all of their stuffed animals are orphans, and then they go and adopt them. Sometimes they even play "Orphans with lice" to which I quickly put an end to...I mean, seriously.
We've learned a lot about her nights at the orphanage. She talks a lot about them. She talks about India a lot. It's interesting to hear her memories of India, because while she has many memories of bad and traumatic things, she also remembers anyone and everyone who ever helped her.
The other day she told me this story:
"Mommy, one time in India I was very hungry. I was walking with my birth mother very far. My feet were very tired from walking, walking, walking, and my stomach was so super hungry. The market had so many people. I was very hungry. This man gave me his bread. So I sat down on someone's motorcycle to eat it because my feet were hurting so bad. Then this other man yelled at me, "HEY! GET OFF MY MOTORCYLE YOU DIRTY KID!" So I felt very scary and me and my mommy ran away. But that nice man gave me bread. I think so God told that man to give me his bread, and he obeyed."
I literally can't stop crying when she tells me her stories. I just look at her and think of all that her little heart has had to endure in her short life. Hunger. Abandonment. Rejection. Homelessness. Pain. Loneliness. Unanswered cries.
And yet today, she walks downstairs with Priya, both of them holding their purses in hand. They have each been saving money for a toy. But today they said, "Mommy, we want to give this money to Luv Luv's trip to India." Now, here is my sweet cousin, Luv Luv, who is easily in their "top 5 favorite people" list:
Through tears, I reply, "aw, girls, you are so sweet. That is so thoughtful. Are you sure you want to give ALL of your spending money, though? You don't have to do that. I mean, you could give part and still spend the other part." (Nice parenting, by the way. Way to discourage your child from giving. Mom-of-the-year.)
Priya says, "It's ok. I want to give it all to her."
Hope says, "Mommy, I think so the girls in India need this money more than me. I have a lot of toys here."
So, all their dollars and coins are bagged up, ready for Luv Luv's mission trip to India.
And so, although my sweet little 7 year old daughter may not be hitting the milestones that other kids her age are hitting, I see God already doing a tremendous work in her heart and life. And I realize that the milestones that I once thought were so important actually don't matter at all. She'll learn to read, eventually. She'll speak English fluently, eventually. She won't spill her food at the dinner table, eventually.
What matters most to me right now is that she lets me rub in her lotion after her bath without quickly saying, "no thank you, mommy, Hope do it." Now she says, "mommy, will you rub my lotion and sing the song?" And instead of lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, indifferent to the fact that I'm there...now she cuddles, snuggles, and asks me to stay.
That, my friends, is huge progress for my 6 month old baby girl.
I Corinthians 2:9 "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him."
