but my heart is overflowing this November when I think about National Adoption month.  I just can't even express what a blessing adoption has been in our lives!  There aren't words to express our gratitude for our beautiful Pipsqueak!  She is simply an amazing little girl!  She is resilient, strong, brave, courageous, and determined.  She is so so SO smart!  She is growing by leaps and bounds developmentally and loving her life!  She attends preschool three mornings and week and loves it!  She has friends - they fight over her even!  She loves holidays and watching movies and playing outside.  She is learning.  She is discovering herself.  She is just simply amazing and we are grateful every single day to have her in our family!!!

Is adoption all rainbows and glitter? Of course not ;)  It is a lot of hard work on the part of families and the adoptees!  Learning a whole new way of life with strangers is HARD!!!  It takes so much courage and learning to trust is hard hard hard sometimes!   Sometimes it felt like one step forward and two steps back - but we all kept moving forward - and it has always - every single minute - been worth it!

Our journey to Pipsqueak brought us so close as a family and community!  It brought us closer to our Savior as we definitely felt his hand on every single step of our journey!  Every.single.step!!!  He loves his children - all of them - especially the "least of these".

So - this is my shout out for adoption!  It is worth it!  These kids are worth it!  Our life is different - the logistics of things are different sometimes - but change is part of life - and we have a good one!  We have a good family - and now Pipsqueak has a family!  She has someone to rock her to sleep.  To hold her hand and help her when she needs it.  She has someone to hold and comfort her when she is sick or sad.  To an extent she had that at her care center - but it is impossible for two caregivers to meet the needs of 10 toddlers on the same level as one mom who has fewer children and not 10 around the same age.  I truly believe that many (not all :(  care centers do the best they can with the funding they have - but it simply isn't the same as having a family!

Our cute girl is learning!  She is confident!  She is happy!  She is thriving!  She has opportunities!  All because one family stepped up in faith, and because so many of you stepped up with us and helped bring her home!  Thank you for your faith and prayer on Pipsqueak's behalf - we can never repay your kindness enough!  

Now I ask you to think about all the others left behind.  The children in foster care in our own country.  What can you do to make a difference in their lives?   Remember that you don't have to adopt to make a difference!  You can help a family with financial donations here - http://reecesrainbow.org/category/sponsorafamily/almostthere - those families are often most in need because they are getting close to travel - which is often a big chunk of adoption costs.  You can volunteer at Big Brothers and Sisters - http://bbbsu.org/.  Or so many other worthwhile causes that can help in the life of a child in need.  I promise they are worth it - and you may just be surprised that you are the one is blessed in ways you couldn't have imagined.

Adoption is love!  Adoption is action!  Adoption is work!  Adoption is worth it!!!



 Because of adoption - our Pipsqueak's world has opened up and the possibilities for her to achieve her potential have been magnified!



Because of adoption - our Pipsqueak gets to show the world how amazing she is!  And that she is a true hero for her bravery and courage!!!


Because of adoption - our Pipsqueak gets to go to school and learn and grow!  She gets to change the lives of her friends and teachers!  She gets to be a contributing member of her community!!!


Because of adoption - our Pipsqueak gets to belong!  She gets to be a dual citizen of two amazing countries.  She gets to celebrate freedom - every single day!!!


 Because of adoption - our Pipsqueak is loved and adored by her big brothers and sisters.  Because of adoption - someday SHE will be the one wearing a graduation gown and hat!!!


Because of adoption - our Pipsqueak gets to spend her summers playing in the pool and honing her awesome swimming skills.  She may even get to try out for a school swim team someday!!!




 Because of adoption - our sweet girls gets to spread awareness of both the abilities of people with Down syndrome and how adoption changes lives!   She gets to meet some of her favorite people and gets to experience things she would not have in her care center.  I am pretty sure they didn't have over sized Chik fil A cows and huge bouncy slides there :)


 Because of adoption - our girl gets to become the crazy cat lady she was born to be :)  She gets to have pets and learn how to take care of them!!!


Because of adoption - our cute girl gets to be an aunt to two amazing little babies - at only  5 years old!!!

Because of adoption - our sweet girl gets to make choices.  She gets to choose what to and what not to eat.  She gets to choose her clothes.  She gets to choose what toys she wants to play with.  She gets to choose what learning activity we should do first.   She gets to choose what movie she wants to watch!  She gets to choose what game she wants to play or what color of play doh to play with!


Because of adoption - she gets to have her very own birthday celebration!  She gets her own cake and presents and celebration of just her!!!!  She gets to feel special on her special day!!!

 Because of adoption - she gets to go to a school that challenges her - socially, emotionally, physically, academically!  She gets to have a teacher who believes she can learn and modifies things to help her learn in the best way possible.  Our Pipsqueak LOVES school!





Because of adoption - our Pipsqueak gets to experience the beauty of the world.  Inside and out!  She gets to explore and learn through play.  She gets to learn from technology.  She gets to learn through hands on experiences in a world that is so much bigger than the four walls and play yard of her care center!

Because of adoption - our Pipsqueak has the chance to experience Halloween!!!  Dressing up as her favorite character - going trick or treating - and showing off her social skills and awesome speech :)

And I really don't have much of an excuse except that we are busy busy busy here :)  Life just keeps rolling along :)

What's been going on, you might ask???  Well - for starters - Pipsqueak is going to be an Auntie :)  Yes - you heard right :)  The Big Sissy and her Prince Charming are expecting a baby this summer :)  Everyone is so excited - especially Littlest Dude :)  He sure does love babies!  Mr. Hollywood was making college decisions from the five he was accepted to - and finally has :)  We are happy because he chose one of the closest ones :)  Biggest Sissy and the Doctor are doing well - but still living out of state - so we don't get to see too much of them, and we miss them!  They will be coming out to visit here soon - so that will be awesome :)  The Princess has been busy with HS and dating and playing soccer indoors and out.  The Rocket Scientist is still on his church mission in Ukraine - we will be excited to have him home in the fall :)   Littlest Dude had some pretty significant surgery a few weeks ago, so we are still in recovery mode from that - but all is going well :)

But, you don't really care about the rest of us - so onto for my update on our Pipsqueak :)  She has been with us for 21 months now!  We are getting so close to our two year anniversary of our gotcha day :)   Pipsqueak is doing so well :)  She loves her preschool, has some good friends that she plays and interacts well with, and is speaking more clearly every day :)  She loves to play pretend, dress up, play with her babies, play with her little people, have impromptu dance parties with her older siblings, play outside, ride her bike, swim, and do learning activities :)  She sleeps well, is still a picky eater, and loves her family.  She is partial to cats and loves to tease our dog :)

Academically she is really coming along.  She knows most of her alphabet letters and numbers 1-10.  She is getting better at counting 1-10, although she seems to miss 8, quite often :)  She is even starting to know the sounds the letters make, as well :)  We are working on simple AB patterns, number recognition, name recognition, fine motor skills - cutting, pincer grasp, stringing small beads, buttoning and putting her coat on independently :)  She can use utensils and drink both out of an open cup and through a straw :)  Her oral motor skills are great and she is starting to ask questions a lot more, and sometimes answer herself :)  She is putting 2-4 words together in phrases, and can often be found making her dolls talk to each other :)  She has good imaginative play skills, and loves to play kitchen :)  Gross motor wise she is almost jumping with two feet together - she has the idea, but it's hard to make both those two feet jump at the same time :)  She is pro at climbing and running :)  I even have to pick up my pace now when she runs - her legs are getting longer and she is getting faster :)

Attachment and bonding wise - things are going well :)  She still has some anxieties in new places - especially big public ones - but with every experience it gets better and better :)  She is well attached to us, and I totally credit her earlier attachments to therapists and caregivers and just her amazing little trusting self with the success.  Attachment is a lifelong process - so we will continue to work on it - and there are things that still trigger attachment regressions in her and we just work through those as they come.  I think there will probably always be some of these in her life - but they don't take nearly as long to work through as they did in the beginning.  She knows we are here for her and when she is worried - we continue to reassure her and reinforce that :)  She is one amazing little girl, that we are so blessed to have in our family :)


Adoption has been such a blessing to our family - could it be for yours too?  You don't have to adopt to make a difference - you can advocate for a child on reecesrainbow.org to be adopted, you can donate to a family in process, you can be a foster parent, Big Brother or Sister mentor, you can donate to a waiting child or sponsor an orphan through an orphan outreach program.  You can host an orphan in your home for a few weeks in the summer or at Christmas.  Or - you can step out in faith and ask the Lord what his plans are for you :)   I know that we are so grateful that we were led to this amazing, smart, capable, joyful, fun-loving, kind, gentle, awesome little girl :)  Maybe there is a child out there just waiting for you to ask :)

Happy 21 months home, sweet girl!!!!

Christmas 2014 marks our 2nd Christmas with our beautiful Latvian Princess :)  And, what an amazing transformation has taken place over the last year!!!  Our sweet girl grows more confident every day - she knows she is loved and cherished and that she belongs!!!!  She knows that she has brothers and sisters, and a mommy and daddy who are there for her - who always come back, and who she can trust :)   She has grown physically and emotionally and socially :)  She has so much more language, she has developed so many skills, and most of all, she is happy :)   What more could we want for any of our children?

Christmas was magical for our little Pipsqueak and she enjoyed spending it with most of her siblings and Grandparents :)   Things that were foreign to her last year - were FUN this year :)   Candlelight dinners, gingerbread house decorating, decorating the tree, acting out the nativity - brought genuine smiles and giggles :)  Last year there were smiles, but each new activity was met with some apprehension.  It is astounding to see her personal growth in just a year :)    She was not unhappy in her orphanage, but she is more happy in a family :)   And - what a blessing she is to that family :)



















What an amazing Christmas season we have had - filled with love, family, joy and the light of Christ. We stepped out in faith to bring Pipsqueak to our family, never imagining the miracles and blessings we would experience along our journey to bring her home, and the huge blessing she is as our daughter.  We needed her as much as she needed us!

If there is one thing I know, it's that these children are just that - children - who need families.  Children who aren't meant to be raised by caregivers in institutions.  There are so many, like our Pipsqueak, who wait and wait and wait.  Who aren't in as nice of orphanages as she was, who don't have caring caregivers, or adequate food, medical care, support in their development.   They need families too.  There are several older children listed on www.reecesrainbow.org from Pipsqueak's country - please see them.  After they turn 16 they will no longer be eligible to be adopted to the US.  It does take a special kind of a family to adopt an older child with special needs - but - could your family be that family?   Have you asked the Lord?   Are you afraid the answer might be yes?  If it is - then He will help you - I promise!  Children were meant to be raised in families - children with Down Syndrome blossom and thrive in families.  It is work to bond and attach, it is work to overcome grief and loss.  It IS work - but - it is all worth it.   Look at those pictures above?  Look at the light in our daughter's eyes.  Look at the love her siblings and parents feel for her?  She is worth it - they are worth it.  There is simply no way to measure the blessings having Pipsqueak in our family has brought to our lives.  Please see them - please share them - please help them to know the love they so desperately want and so deserve!

Merry Christmas and all the best for 2015!!!!