Jenna's Gotcha Day and Desi Update

I want to start today by remembering Jenna's Gotcha Day!!!! It's so hard for me to believe that 7 years ago today Steve and I were in a hot, sticky Civil Affairs office in Changsha, China being handed this tiny little baby wrapped in THREE layers of clothes. She was sooo hot and sweaty that I immediately began removing the layers just so she could breath. She only cried for a couple of minutes and then became happy and chatty the moment we brought out the cheerios:-) Even in China she was always the one you could hear whenever or wherever we were. To this day she is STILL talking!!!! LOL

Here's a picture from that day:

Now a little update about Miss Desi. Let me just start by saying that she is NOT the sad, scared little girl I met November 27th. Desi is now a happy, talkative, bubbly, talkative, sassy, talkative, silly little girl. Did I mention she likes to talk???? LOL She and I have made HUGE strides in our relationship. Just this week Desi has started sitting beside me on the couch and SNUGGLE!!!! Yes I said snuggle!!!! She will hug me without prompting and without me FORCING her too:-) I just can't believe how much she has changed lately. I was starting to wonder if she was ever going to let down her walls and let me in, but we prayed and prayed and prayed to God for this to happen and I believe that HE has helped her understand that family is good. She is having a lot more to do with her daddy too. She does the cutest thing when he comes home from work. When she hears the door open she will come running, wave at him and yell HI DADDY and then take off to finish whatever she was doing:-) Her little voice is too cute for words!!!

Her English is nothing short of amazing. If I were to sit down and write all her words it would definitely be well over 100. Granted, sometimes you have to really listen to what she's saying because her pronunciation isn't perfect, but she is using her English words and she's using them appropriately!!! Yea!!!!

She is still stumbling and falling a lot, but I hope with summer coming and her being able to get outside to ride bicycles, run, jump and get in the pool, it will help build up the muscles in her legs and body so she is able to be more steady. Most people have absolutely NO idea she has spina bifida.

I guess that's about it for now. We are so happy right now and feel so blessed that God has chosen two beautiful Chinese Princesses to be a part of our family. What Steve and I did to deserve them is completely beyond our comprehension:-)