Somebody pinch me... is all of this for real?

Wow, it is still hard to grasp that we have a daughter.  We waited sooooo long but then it seemed to happen so fast.  Sometimes it doesn't even seem real.  But it is real and it is awesome!  I still cannot figure out how we could be so lucky and blessed.  Chloe is just so perfect.

I am so excited about Christmas this year.  I am reflecting on Christmas and how the gift of a child can have such an amazing influence and impact on people's lives.  God gave the world the gift of a child, His son.  A gift that has changed my life forever.  This year God gave me another gift of a child, my daughter and she too has changed my life forever.  I am forever thankful and grateful for that.  I hope I can continue to remember that as I go through all the activities of Christmas.  Praise God for his goodness.

We have been super busy at our house with the hustle and bustle of Christmas.  Caleb and Chloe went to see Santa and let's just say that Chloe was terrified of him.  At first I think she was a little intrigued, at least from a distance. But then the girl in front of us started to cry when she got to Santa and that seemed to upset Chloe. Chloe did ok walking up and talking to Santa but when we tried to put her in his lap, she would have none of that!  Maybe we are asking too much of her to go through so many first time experiences in such a short time!

Chloe has her speech therapy assessment on Thursday.  A couple of weeks ago we had the Early Childhood Intervention come out for an assessment.  If she qualified, they would come to the house for speech therapy.  To meet their criteria you have to have at least a 25% deficit.  After about 2 hours with her it was determined that she is a normal toddler.  Her motor and socialization were right on target and even her speech only had a 23% deficit, not quite enough to qualify.  It is really amazing to me that a child with a cleft lip and palate and only hearing English for 4 months could do so well.  She is such a bright little girl.  I really enjoyed watching the assessment.  Chloe was so interactive with them and she showed me some skills I did not even know she had.  So I guess the good news is Chloe is pretty normal.  The bad news is we will now have to drive to Fort Worth for speech therapy.  So we are off to the children's hospital clinic for another assessment on Thursday.  She continues to progress on her speech.  Although still not saying a lot of words, she is really trying to mimic what we say.  I can't wait to see the progress with some formal therapy.

We continue to cross paths with strangers who have adopted children from China.  Just yesterday I met a man who has adopted 2 girls from China.  It is so fun to share stories.  Chloe has been such a conversation starter on numerous occasions.  When we first came back, many people would stop us and share their personal story of someone they knew who had a cleft lip repair.  They would be encouraging about the amazing results and some would even show us pictures.  We have also talked to many people who have adopted.  Kevin and I tend to be to ourselves in public places, but Chloe has given us the opportunity to open up and share.  I guess I am now the one showing off the pictures of amazing results.