Originally posted on March 5, 2017: I’ve been trying to write this post all week.  My brain has worked through so many thoughts but my heart had a hard time putting any of it to print.  My girl turned 6 on Wednesday.  I can’t believe how much she’s grown, both physically (I’m buying 3T for warm weather this year!!) and developmentally.  She’s such an amazing little girl and continues to touch peoples lives, for the better, on a regular basis. As I am posting all about her birthday and some updates from the past year, I LOVE looking back at where she was and how much she’s changed! Each year…

And the second post…also still the same feelings!    Posting twice in one day, after nothing new for months, shocking, I know!  I wrote earlier today, about my daughter & her pony and my love for all things EAAT.  Our events of today actually inspired my thoughts of posting about how certain life events are recently coming full circle, and hopefully now continuing, round and round.  Since Josie and Mr. Bean were really the first of a few events, I wanted to start there.  But today was pretty amazing and completed a couple different circles.     Today was the National Down Syndrome Society – Buddy Walk for our area. Our local organization F.R.I.E.N.D.S.,…

This is one of the first posts from the old domain, still just as true today!        Most often you hear people talk about circles with no beginning and no end, which is true, once they are made.  But to form a circle, you originally have to have started at one point and your circle is complete when you arrive back to that point.  Now, once you have made a circle, yes, it is not easy to define where it began and where it ended and so then, it becomes a continual loop… as the saying goes, with no beginning and no end. Recently, in our lives, Josie and…

Almost two years ago, I attempted to revive my blog in it’s own location.  After only a couple posts, it took a seat on the back burner.  We’ve had such a rollar coaster couple of years but I’m going to attempt this blogging thing once more.  I posted our last update – an overview of my girl’s first year home, multiple summers ago.  When I was switching over to the new domain, I started with this post:  For the past two years, I have been privileged to parent the most amazing little girl.  I often use that word to describe her, I should probably check with a thesaurus occasionally, but she…

  Every November and December, there is a campaign that is run by Reece’s Rainbow to help raise awareness for 100 orphans waiting for families. This campaign is called the Miracle of Adoption Christmas Campaign or MACC.  During MACC, individuals chose one child to advocate for and raise grants funds during the winter months in hopes that that child will be seen by their future family and that family will also have a small amount of grant money to help with the adoption process.  All of the MACC kiddos have a special need and are orphans living in another country.         I have been a Miracle Maker for three seasons…

   It’s been many, many months since I have made a new post to the blog.  I had attempted a new domain and had a few posts there, but that just didn’t work for me.  (And now, it’s seems I’m not technologically savvy enough to get those few posts back to the old blogpost domain….oops!)  I’ve come back to the blog to continue to share about my amazing daughter who happens to have a little extra something.  She was blessed with one more chromosome than most and it makes her even more amazing, more loving, more enthusiastic about life, more stubborn, more huggable, more full of sass (or that might…

It has been one entire year from the day I sat in that little room in an orphanage, waiting to meet the most perfect little girl. One year from the day that I walked out of that orphanage with that little girl, my daughter. A year seems like such a short time and at the same time I feel like she has been with me forever. I am amazed at how my girl has grown. How well she has handled the multitude of changes that she has faced. And how sad it makes me when she continues to struggle with some of those changes. Sad to think of what her…

Whew…It is crazy to me that we are already over 6 weeks into the new year!  Before we know it, I’ll blink and it will be July and we will have been home for a year.  I already find it so hard to believe that my girl has been my girl for 8 MONTHS! wow. just. wow I know I have not updated for quite some time.  As in, months…almost 4 months, but life has been constant and I have been spending my time keeping up with the busy, busy, bundle that is my daughter!  We had a very busy few months with a move, illness, holidays, vacation, more illness,…

This post is a few days late.  I know it shouldn’t be this difficult to stay on top of daily posts, but some days really are harder then others.  Sure, I can find the time but as I sit here typing I’m also thinking of the 512 other things that I could or should be doing. (Even if one post does only need to take 10 minutes…so does cleaning the bathroom…) November is National Adoption month and the 9th was World Adoption Day.  The first one ever!  To celebrate, there was a photo op going around of adoptive families taking pics with smiley face drawn on the palm of their…

   As a kid, we sat at the table and had dinner on a very regular basis.  Talked about our days, joked, laughed and enjoyed the company of our family.  Sometimes there were faces at the ‘yucky’ food we had to at least try, most often the meals were delicious and seconds were often enjoyed.  Sometimes we got to choose a meal.  Mom would let us pick our favorite dish, sides and dessert.  It seemed like such a big deal to get to choose dinner!  There were certainly nights that one parent had a meeting or one child had an event or it was just simply a ‘lazy’ night and…