Happy Gotcha Day, Molly!

Between my crazy busy schedule (no excuse, I know!) and the migraine headache I've been nursing for two days now, I actually forgot today was Molly's special day!  Thankfully, one of the sweet families we met in China during Molly's adoption trip posted on Facebook that it was their daughter's Gotcha Day, which jogged my memory!

When I opened the blog to compose this post, I couldn't believe the last time I had posted was Molly's Gotcha Day LAST YEAR!  Yikes!!  As I re-read that post, I realized that the details of Molly's original Gotcha Day have become blurry in my mind.  Can't decide if that's sad or not...but the reality is, with this little firecracker completing our family, we have kinda stopped looking backward.  Every day is another step in our journey forward in life, so it's not surprising that the details of the past are getting foggy, right? 

Many people give me a hard time for not blogging anymore.  They blame it on my current addiction to Facebook.  While Facebook is surely a culprit (making it very easy to post about the kids and their crazy antics very quickly from my smartphone), the reality is I stopped blogging because we stopped having all of those amazing "firsts" in life.  Who wants to read about my boring life in a blog, anyway?  (Well, apparently, some of you do.)

So, let's talk about this awesome young lady of ours, shall we?  It is so difficult to describe a ball-of-energy like Molly in just a few words.  She is incredibly smart, hilariously clever, precociously spiritual, frequently frustrated, always opinionated...and so much like me that I can barely believe it.  (She IS adopted, ya know.)

Oh, sorry, baby girl...am I embarrasing you??  Well, get used to it.  There are MANY more things I'll be sharing in this post!

 OK, OK...I'll get to it.

So how has Molly's fourth year with our family been?  Believe it or not, there HAVE been some firsts!

She attended her first major league baseball game...

...had her first shopping excursion to Justice...

...had her first surgery (to extract two teeth from the roof of her mouth!)...

...had her first spa day with Mommy and Meggie (and HATED it, hahaha!)...

...and went on her first plane ride since coming home from China...

...that took her to her first Disney vacation!  While on that Disney vacation, Molly was able to visit with her honorary sister, Michelle...

...but, thankfully, that wasn't a first!  (We love our connection with the Cole family and feel blessed to be "related" to them through these beautiful girls!)

This was also the year Molly became pseudo-famous!  When she was six, we were in the right place at the right time and the girls and I were photographed at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.  They used our pictures for promotional materials for their Family Resource Center.  While that was fun, two years later those pictures are resurfacing!  This one... 

...has been used the most.  There is a HUGE print of it on the wall in one of Children's Hospital's office buildings and now it is in the rotation as a screen saver on the hospital's computers!  This one..

...is posted in the Diabetes Center, right as you walk in the door.  (No, neither of my girls have diabetes.)  As I walk from the parking garage to head to clinical at Children's, I walk past that larger-than-life pic of my girls...always makes me smile.

Also this year, Molly's hair got to its longest yet.  In fact, it became difficult to work with, because besides being long it was also incredibly THICK!  I told her it was time for a serious trim. So this sweet girl, who absolutely loved her long hair, decided (on a whim, actually) to donate her hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths.  Yep, she went from this...

 ...to this!  What an awesome, selfless thing for an eight-year-old to do, huh?

She still loves taking dance class...

...and performing in the annual recital, mostly because she gets to wear makeup! 

After a year of struggling (and MANY meetings between Mommy and the 2nd grade teachers), it was discovered that our insanely smart girl can barely read because she has dyslexia.  So thankful for answers...and looking forward to the progress she's bound to make, now that she'll be getting the proper interventions at school.

Besides school and dance, Molly is completely addicted to stuffed animals...

 ...plays almost exclusively with them, and has at least one with her at all times.  She and Carson are still thick as thieves...

...and my girl loves getting dirty with the boys in the backyard.  (Is it just me or are you singing "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better" in your head?)  These two do everything together...

...and, when they're not fighting, they are thoroughly adorable!  These two pictures are a perfect depiction of their relationship: loving each other one minute...

...annoying each other the next! Hahaha!!  While my baby girl LOVES hanging out with Mommy...

 ...especially on our backyard swing...

...goofing around with her big sister is what really makes her day!

Happy Gotcha Day, my sweet girl!  You have come such a long way in these last four years.  And while you hate to be reminded how quickly time passes, you certainly cannot deny that you are looking more "pre-teen" and less "baby girl" with every passing day. 

We love you more than the moon, more than the stars, more than the whole universe, more than you can ever imagine!!  There is no doubt in anyone's mind that God intended you for our family and we are unbelievably grateful to be your Forever Family!

Mom, Dad, Meggie, Carson...and Buster

Happy Gotcha Anniversary, Molly!

Could it be? It's been THREE?! (Years, that is.)

Yep. On August 3rd, 2009, we exited the bus and headed into the poorly air-conditioned building in Zhengzhou, China. We were told some of the children had arrived already and some were still in transit. We knew Molly's orphanage was about three hours away and assumed we would have a bit of a wait. We assumed incorrectly. As we stepped through the doors, I saw her with one of her nannies.

It's so odd to finally meet the child you've only known (and loved) through pictures and I wasn't actually sure it was her. She was so tiny and they had chopped her hair super short. But oh, yes, it was our Molly!

She was very clingy with her nanny and wanted no part of us. None. At all. The more the nanny tried to convince her, the more she cried. And screamed. And fought.

It was heart-wrenching, and awful, and hands-down the worst moment of my life. She had not been prepared for what was coming. We sent care packages during the wait. She saw them but never knew where the gifts came from...and did not get to keep them.  We sent her a birthday cake when she turned four.  She ate the cake, smiled for pics...and had no idea who sent it.  So sad...

Ugh. Enough of the bad stuff.

Every year on the kids' Gotcha Anniversaries, I look back at how much they have changed. This year is no exception.

Here, we have Molly on her Gotcha Anniversary in 2010 (which was a pretty drastic change)...

...in 2011 (even more drastic changes)...

...and this morning, on Gotcha Anniversary number three!

(I realize Molly and I look NOTHING alike, but that picture of her reminds me so much of me at that age!  Maybe it's the hair style.)

During this year, our baby girl has finished 1st grade...

...and is SO close to reading independently. She loves books and can't wait to get real homework in 2nd grade. (Just like me, she is a total dork about school.)

We call Molly our little preacher girl. She LOVES going to Church and is totally on fire for God! Want to get her fired up? Tell her you're skipping Church to sleep in, or go shopping, or do anything else...she will let you know where your priorities should lie! Hahaha!!

In February, she stood up in big Church (well, technically, she floated and hung onto Mr. Chris because she was too short to reach the bottom in the baptismal pool) and told everyone she has accepted Jesus as her Savior through Baptism.

She did a great job at her dance recital in the Spring...

  ...loves going to the pool...

...and had a blast playing in the sand during our beach vacation in Gulf Shores a few weeks ago!

She and Carson are either fighting like an old married couple or playing sweetly...and that can switch back and forth multiple times during the day. Either way, they are brother and sister, through thick and thin...

...and share the same wacky sense of humor!

She adores big sister Meggie more than ever!  Nothing makes Molly happier than shopping or practicing hair and makeup with Meggie.  If it were up to Molly, she would already be a teenager.  After all, she has the attitude...

Molly is addicted to stuffed animals, Disney movies, big hair bows, jewelry, and talking. But mostly talking. Which she does endlessly...all day long. Not even kidding...this girl just has a LOT to say about EVERYTHING! She is crazy smart, incredibly inquisitive, and is CONSTANTLY asking questions.  (In fact, it is a struggle for me to watch movies with her now...she has to understand every scene and every spoken word.  I feel like I'm being quizzed the entire movie!)

She is always very excited to point out all the ways she and I are alike. To the complete annoyance of everyone (except me...I love it!), she will notice something that she and I have in common and then announce (in the same happily shocked tone of voice every time), "That's ANOTHER way we're alike!!" Hahaha!!

So Happy Gotcha Day, Molly girl! We love you to the moon and back and are so blessed to have you in our lives!


All our love,

Mommy, Daddy, Meggie, and Carson
(and Buster)

Playing Catch-Up...

Wow, it has been a LONG time since I've blogged regularly. What can I say?  Life is just too busy and something had to go!  A quick snapshot of what you've missed while I was slacking:

I've been working too much and still chugging along in grad school.  But I LOVE my jobs (both of them) and my students (most of them)...and I only have two more semesters until grad school is just a distant memory!

While I struggle to be there for the Littles with my busy schedule, Daddy has been AMAZING in picking up the slack.  In fact, I give him credit for the fact that both of them are finally reading!  (He really surprised me with his dedication to homework time.)

 

In February, Molly was baptized in big Church, proudly proclaiming herself to be a Christ follower (and making her Mommy cry just a little bit in the process).

Buster has settled nicely into a routine with the family, but he is still boisterous and occasionally destructive...so obedience training is in his very near future.

Carson and Molly are busier than ever!  Carson is back to playing soccer...

...and playing better than ever!  (See him there in the center?)  He has a new focus and determination that makes for a much better spectator experience for Mom and Dad.  And he LOVES the game!

Molly is taking dance again...

 

...and loving every minute of it!  Well, she loves the costumes, and the music, and the attention.  But the listening and the following directions?  Well, she's working on it.

The Littles are also in the Kidz Choir and AWANA at Church.  They have decided they want to take music lessons next year...we'll see how THAT goes as Carson learns drums and Molly learns piano.  Something may have to give, but we'll see.

We are VERY into baseball these days.  Evan is pitching for U.C. and we attended as many games as we could this season...and even got to see him pitch in a few!  He and Meggie have been dating for 18 months now and he really is like part of the family!

That was all the kids on Easter Sunday, which also happened to be Evan's 19th birthday.

We sold Daddy's pickup truck to get rid of a car payment and a huge gas-guzzling vehicle.  We made enough on the sale to pay off the truck, get a small used car (which promptly stopped working the VERY NEXT DAY, but we're working on that)...and we'll be using the rest of the money to fence in our back yard for Buster and pay off some debt.  (Dave Ramsey would be so proud!)

Meggie survived and thrived in her first year of College!  I mean, yeah, she texted me pretty much constantly with questions and complaints about dorm life, and homework, and difficult courses, and everything else. But she did it...on her own!  She finished Freshman year with some new friends and a respectable GPA all while working two part-time jobs and volunteering at Children's Hospital once a week!

And now Meggie is back home for the summer!  It is so awesome to see how much she has grown this academic year...she is so focused on her education and career path and really making her Momma proud! And it's nice to have her back in the house...she really is a pleasure to have around!

Whew!  I think that was at least the highlights...but there is more to come, for sure. 

For whoever is still out there lurking in Blogland, thanks for not giving up on me!

Simply Amazing...

In the mornings before school, Carson gets ready so much quicker than Molly. (In her defense, girls are a bit higher maintenance with grooming.) So, while I am wrestling Molly's hair into an acceptable, bow-adorned look, Carson is more than willing to help me with little chores. This morning, I asked him to empty the clothes out of the dryer and dump them on my bed.

Watching him handle this chore took me WAY back. He has always been a sweet and willing helper. In fact, before he really understood English (or had much use of his little arms), he loved helping me with laundry. These pictures were taken a few weeks after coming home from China back in 2007...
...and show my Little Man dragging the basket down the hall (our laundry room is on the second floor) and taking the towels, one at a time, and flinging them on the bed. It was a laborious process back then.

This morning...
...this task is as simple for Carson as it would be for anyone in the family!

Having this amazing young man in our lives has been such a blessing, but the incredible progress he has made (physically, emotionally, and academically) often gets forgotten in the day-to-day shuffle of life. I am so thankful for moments like this morning, when something as simple as helping with laundry takes me back and reminds me just how far he has come.

This sweet, adorable boy of mine is simply amazing...