Eight months

Well, I've lost count of how many months it's been...let's see...yes, it's been eight months.  Our family's adjustment has continued to have many ups and downs and is progressing very normally.  Victoria is discovering a little more every day the joys, hardships and responsibilities of being part of her new family.  John and I have been adjusting to being parents of a child with special physical needs and a child who has spent nearly six years of her life in an orphanage.  We are making slow and steady progress in both areas, although it is very easy to become discouraged.  Jocylin and Cherith have been learning what it is to be siblings to a child like Victoria and have matured so much due to this experience.  I can't tell you how proud I am of them! 

We enjoyed the summer months by having lots of family picnics, going to the zoo, picking strawberries, eating our way through the MN State Fair and visiting the apple orchard.  About a month ago we received Victoria's adapted bike.  Thank God, all $1800 of the expense was covered with grant money!  She really loves it.  John has been working with her on the nice days and she can pedal some on her own now.  The doctors have recommended biking as a good form of exercise for her.  We are still waiting to receive the manual wheelchair that we ordered for her a couple of months ago, but we just received a loaner chair that Victoria can use until she gets her own.  This will help immensely!

We decided to enroll Victoria in the kindergarten program at FBCS this year.  Our little social bug loves it!  We were concerned that she may not be able to handle it yet, because she was so far behind.  However, she seems to be doing well and picking things up fairly naturally.  She also has been loving the AWANA program at our church and has surprised us at how she can keep up in her bookwork.  I can't say that her progress is effortless.  It has taken much effort on both her part and our part, but we're thankful that she can at least make that progress.  We hope it will continue as she learns more English and adapts to being an American child who belongs in a family. 

As most of you know, we are anticipating more changes to come!  Our family is preparing to welcome our fourth little girl in January!  Victoria, Jocylin and Cherith seem to be doing well with the news and are getting ready to be good helpers.  Oh and by the way, don't be surprised if this blog doesn't slowly turn into more of a family blog rather than an adoption blog.  While adoption will always be a significant and special part of our family, the time has come to begin to focus less on adoption and more on our family as a whole.  There will still be adoption updates to be sure, but you may start seeing more about the rest of the family too! 

Adoption has caused us to continually learn about the patience, love and mercy that God has with those of us who have trusted Jesus as our Savior, his adopted sons and daughters.  Although God has adopted us and made us His children; sadly, we often still behave like children of this world, just as Victoria often behaves as a child of a Bulgarian orphanage.  Though the remnants of our past nature are often with us, God has chosen to love us for who we are and see past this to who we can be in Him.  I’m so thankful for God’s grace and mercy, and I pray so often that God would give me His amazing love for Victoria when I can only see a pathetic little orphan child.  I also pray that Victoria, Jocylin, Cherith, and our new baby girl will all in time begin their own faith journeys as they trust Christ as their Savior and follow the paths that He has laid out for them.