Little Miss Priss

She came out of her room looking as cute as can be. Not sure where she found the hat. She even had a shower curtain ring/bracelet on her wrist!

Where is . . .?

Just ask our daughter, although she might not tell you! We couldn't find either of Cassie's dishes last night. They were still missing this morning. More often than not one of them is missing, but we have never been without both. Steve happened to lift the lid to the trash can . . . And no, neither Steve nor I threw them out!

Can you do the "Mashed Potato?"

Lily ate lots of taters tonight. She kept handing me the bowl and asking for "more, more." She did a pretty decent job of feeding herself I might add!

Lily

Lily is having a few issues right now. For most of my life, Ps 122:1 (for I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go to the house of the Lord) has been true for me. BUT . . . Sundays have been really hard for the last 6 weeks. We aren't sure what is causing it exactly, but something is triggering fear in her. She has been waking up really early and not wanting to let us out of her sight. I really think her internal clock is telling her it is Sunday and she will be going to church.

It is probably a combination between a number of things. One being that the Holidays were hard on her. She gets overwhelmed by lots of people. Large numbers of people and or children can trigger memories of the orphanage. This is why large gatherings and the nursery are hard for her. Large gatherings can be hard on any kid, but they are especially difficult for Lily. She continues to have a hard time being away from Steve and I (with the exception of G-ma and G-pa Robey).

I wish that we could just leave her and let her cry it out. You can do that with most 21 month old children. Most attachment specialists recommend that you treat an adopted child by the amount of time they have been in your care. Anytime you pull a child permanently from their primary caregiver (even if it is a nanny in an orphanage), they start over emotionally in their ability to love and trust. Lily is 21 months old, but has only been in our care for 9 1/2 months. She is emotionally only 9 1/2 months old. "At about 9 months, your baby gets upset when you or another caregiver leaves." In this regard, she is normal :) for her emotional age!

She doesn't have the same amount of trust and security that a 21 month old child born into a family would have. If we were to let her kick and scream and get really worked up after us leaving her somewhere, it could disrupt the progress that she has made to date. We might not start back at square one, but with my teaching position in May, we can't afford to lose any ground at this point.

Please Pray for:
1. Lily's Attachment and Healing
2. Socialization skills for Lily
3. Sundays

Teaching in May

I observed in the classroom last week and the principal has confirmed that I will receive long-term Substitute pay, so it looks like I will be filling in for Mrs. Young at Central Elementary in Amherst County. As of right now, I will start April 28th and finish the school year (25 days).

Off to the Races

As I type this, Steve and Lily are just finishing up their races with the shopping cart and baby stroller. Most of them involved going from one end of the house to another, but his particular one was just going in circles around the blanket on the floor. Enjoy, It made me smile!

The Ark

Lily has started really playing with and enjoying her Little People Ark set. It is the first thing that I have found that will occupy her for 15-20 minutes. I have been able to get a few things done while she is occupied. Thanks Aunt Kim, Uncle Chris, and cousins Luke and Hannah. The best Christmas gift to date!

Who needs a furnace?

Well, it has been an interesting 36 hours here at the Woof house. Yesterday morning it felt like the house was getting cold. We tried the reset button. Didn't do much good.

I (Yes, me) changed the oil filter for the furnace. No luck, but I sure got oil all over myself. We called and got on a list for someone to look at it. We ended up calling it off, because we thought we had it fixed at 6 pm, but once again NOPE.

Called to get back on the list, but they couldn't come until 9 or 10 pm, so we threw an overnight bag together and headed to my parents for the night.

By about 1:30 we had heat again. We still had 1/3 of a tank of oil. Due to the age of the tank, the bottom third is useless. We just needed to get more oil, $483.13 worth. We have about 80 gallons of oil that we will never be able to use sitting at the bottom of the tank! We are in process of getting estimates to switch out the oil furnace after the heating season is over!

21 months!

Can you believe it? Lily is 21 months old today. In only 3 months, we will officially have a toddler and not an infant, a TWO year old. Yikes!

Back to Normal?

I think Steve and Lily are pretty much back to normal. They are both eating normally with no ill effects. I had some stomach cramps, but that was it for me.

I did find out that if I do one of the long-term substitute jobs, I will most likely not be starting until May. It is a good thing that I have more time with Lily, but I have to check and make sure that the job will be for 20 days. If it is under 20 days, then I only get regular sub pay. That doesn't even pay for gas and childcare, so I may not take it. We'll see!

Sandi and Hannah Update

Thought you would be interested in an update on Sandi and Hannah. Sandi posted this on our agency's message board today:

"Thank you for asking about us. Hannah is doing really well and has gained almost three pounds since coming home in November. She continues to learn more and more every day. She is becoming very affectionate and gives me a lot of kisses (especially when she has done something naughty). I on the other hand am taking one day at a time and trying to get through the different milestones. It has been very hard but I am very thankful that I have Hannah in my life. She is such a blessing to me!!!!"

Continue to pray for them!

Sorry!

Sorry for the delay with posts. My brother, sister-in-law, and their kids were in town. Then Lily came down with some kind of funk (both ends). She has gone three hours without a stinky. Much better than 3 stinkies in an hour!

Bad news, Steve is sick now. I am not convinced that it is the same stuff, but he is sick and home from work today. If you know him at all, he goes to work if he can walk!

Needless to say, I have been using the hand sanitizer all morning. Pray that I stay healthy!

Tomorrow

I just got an e-mail from the principal. I am to talk to an administrator at the orientation tomorrow. Pray for God's will and my nerves. The principal did say that she hopes we can work something out.

Thank You

I know many of you have been praying for me/us over the last few days. I appreciate it more than you know. I go for substitute training Wednesday morning.

All of my references have said they would be more than glad to serve as such and are in process of filling out the forms. The position that "I" think would be the best fit could start in as little as two weeks, so I hope to know something soon.

We do have a family that has offered to watch Lily if I were offered one of these positions. They have an adopted daughter from China who is just a month older than Lily. The Dad stays home and the mom works at the school where I "could be" working. We used the same adoption agency. I met them when I was working at Lion and Lamb. There are so many "God connections" or as they say in the China adoption community - "red threads."

I'll post as soon as there is something to post about!

Lizzie

We named the doll Lily got for Christmas Lizzie. Here she is reading a book to her. Yes, she climbed up in the chair with book and doll without prompting!

Ring Around the Rosy

Lily saw some little girls playing Ring Around the Rosy a couple days ago. Night before last Lily was obsessed with it. I lost count!

Prayers Please :)

Nothing really life-threatening . . . I had a meeting with a local principal about a couple long-term substitute jobs for this Spring. Now most of you know that I love being a stay-at-home most days. Most of you also know that I have sworn off teaching on multiple occasions. I wasn't really looking, but I will most likely have to be going back to work in the fall. More to come on that, but back to the topic at hand!

I/We have come to the conclusion that I need to pursue this and let God decide whether it is time or not. These positions could get my foot in the door for the fall. The Reading Specialist position starts next month. Not sure if it goes to the end of the school year or if it is just a 6-12 week stint. I have said that it would have to be the right job, right circumstances, right school, right principal for me to even consider it.

I have said for years that I felt that my strengths in teaching lie in small groups and not having my own classroom (reading specialist/resource/etc). We'll see what happens soon as the position starts next month. I feel that this is God's way of taking control away from me and teaching me that He has us in His hands.

Pray for the following:

1. Clear Direction
2. Peace for me
3. Lily's continued attachment
4. Affordable/Peaceful in home care for Lily (not daycare)
5. References to call me back (so I can submit my app)