One Year Anniversary

I cannot believe it has been a year since we met our dear Chloe.  Wow, what an amazing year!  One year ago we spent the day sitting in a small hotel room with nervous anticipation trying to kill time until we met her.  Our last moments of waiting for this child that we had been praying about for so long.  Boy was the pay off great!  Now as we think back, the four year wait before this day seems like no time at all.  Funny how life is like that. 

This last year has been wonderful and I could not imagine a life without Chloe.  We certainly have faced challenges, but those are the same challenges anyone faces with raising an independent 2 year old.  She has her own opinion of how things should be and so do I.  Those ideas do not always match and can lead to conflict and sometimes crying and fits (usually hers not mine).  But the fits are usually short lived and most of the time she is easily distractable to other topics.  She has learned so much in the last year.  Anyone would agree that she is a smart little girl.  She has learned a new language and continues to progress on her speech. She can count to 10 by herself.  She can complete puzzles and read books (and even "read" them to you).  She has learned to swim and many other things.  Most importantly she has learned what it means to be part of a family.  

As I reflect back on the year, the thing that stands out to me more than anything else is how adaptable she has been, even from the very beginning.  When you think of all the things she has gone through in the last year it is pretty unbelievable.  I hope this is a character trait that will follow her through life.   

Just like a 1st birthday for a child, I wanted to do something special in honor of her first year with us.  I was going to write a summary here over her past year, but if you really want to know that, you can just read over my previous posts.  I decided to create a video that seems to adequately summarize her first year with us.  We have appreciated your support and prayers and feel honored that you are interested in our lives even though many of you have never even met us or Chloe.  Please enjoy.

Our American Girl

It was fun to celebrate Chloe's first 4th of July.  We were really not sure how she would like the fireworks.  She gets scared with the thunder and so we were worried she would be scared of the fireworks.  We tried to show her some videos of fireworks before and explain that they can be loud.  To our surprise she loved the fireworks! She even did sparklers and held Roman candles.  She was not afraid a bit.  Here are a couple photos of my American girl.



As I have posted on previous posts, Chloe loved our dog Bailey.  This spring we found out the Bailey had a terminal bone cancer in her shoulder.  We explained to Chloe that Bailey had a boo boo on her shoulder.  Chloe is all about boo boos and always makes a big deal when she or someone else gets one.  She would say Bailey boo boo and point to her shoulder.  It was really cute.  We finally had to say goodbye to Bailey on Monday July 9.  It was a sad day at our house.  I was crying and Chloe was so sweet to come over and sit in my lap and wipe away my tears.  She would say Mom happy, as to say, Mom be happy.  We did not know if Chloe was going to understand that Bailey was gone for good.  That Friday we picked up her ashes which came in a nice cedar box.  Caleb was explaining to Chloe that Bailey was in the box.  Chloe wanted to hold the box and she very sweetly held it and started to pet it and then gave it a kiss.  Maybe she does get it!  Here are a few photos of the kids and Bailey.

Looking forward to the one year milestone of getting Chloe this Thursday!