One Month Home!

One month- it has been one month since we landed here in NC with our precious girl! Time has been going fast and slow at the same time.  Sometimes the days are long, but the weeks are going by fast.  I look back at pictures from 4 weeks ago and can't believe how far Ryah has come in such a short time.  I see a very unsure, scared little girl in the pictures from our first days together. Her entire world changed in a matter of minutes.  We had been preparing for that for years, she had no idea it was coming.  Despite everything that has changed in her little world in the last month, she continues to surprise us daily with her resilience and amazing personality.  She has rocked this transition like we never expected.  I prayed for a long time, and many of you prayed with me, that God would prepare her heart for a family, and he has most definitely answered that prayer.  It's hard for me to think that 4 weeks ago she would barely move from our bed or leave our bedroom.  Now, she walks around this house like she owns the place.  She moves from room to room like she's been here forever and hasn't known anything different.  The dog that she had a total meltdown over seeing when we got home, she now chases around the house to give him kisses. It's the sweetest thing.  She has come leaps and bounds with my hubby as well. They have had 2 afternoons by themselves so far and she has done awesome! She gets so excited to see him come home from work each day and runs to greet him, along with the crazy dog she was once terrified of.  She continues to spoil us with her sleeping and eating habits, sleeping 12-13 hrs each night and napping 1-2 hrs in the afternoon. She has tried so many new foods and has turned down very few of them. Girl loves to eat and I find her in the kitchen with daddy cooking something up more often than not.  She is picking up English words here and there.  So far she can say: mama, dada, tucker, no, more, up please, water, hi, bye bye, yay & bath. And she understands so much more than she can say!

We are just in awe of how well she is doing and we can only attribute it to God's grace.  Because the reality is, amidst all of our joy in having her home, our precious girl has experienced a great deal of loss in her short 2 years of life.  And I don't want to paint it like we haven't had any issues. Trust me, we've all had our frustrations and seen some tantrums that we fully expect and understand. Everything is new for her and she is grieving for things we sometimes aren't even aware of.  And she does so well, that when something hard does happen it takes us by surprise and we have to remember all she has been through.  But overall, she is doing so so well.  We have been cocooning pretty tightly so far but we are starting to venture out a bit and she has done well with that also.  We are just so blessed by our sweet girl.

Ryah Grace,
Daddy and I waited so long to have you in our arms, and now you have been here a whole month!! It's still hard to believe. You have done so well with everything you have experienced lately- from the airplane ride home, to making friends with Tucker, to seeing your first snow, you have embraced it all and we are so proud of you.  You surprise us daily with your antics and personality and you have an infectious laugh that I hope you never lose.  We love you so much sweet girl! Happy 1 Month Home!!!

1 Week Home

So hard to believe that Ryah has been with us for 2 weeks now, and we've been home for a little over a week.  Overall, we couldn't have asked for a better transition. She is seriously rockin' it out!! She is an amazing sleeper and eater- she slept until 9am this morning, she's already recognizing the beauty of sleeping in on Saturdays and mommy and daddy definitely appreciate that :)  Her attachment process is going well so far as well. She has been super attached to me from the beginning, which I am so thankful for! We had been praying for so long that God would prepare her heart for a family, and he has done just that. We are still working on bonding with Aaron, but today has been a really sweet day for the 2 of them.  She's been helping him around the house this morning and letting him hold her and love on her more than normal, which has been so sweet to see.  She is just having to learn what a daddy is, and we are happy to teach her that daddy's are good and can be trusted.  She is still letting him feed her at every meal that he is home for, which is awesome and shows that she does trust him on some level. She has made huge progress just in the short 2 weeks she has been with us. We can already tell a difference in her when looking back at pictures from our time in Ethiopia to now. She is seriously doing so great! We have transitioned her into her own bed this week, and she's rocked that too! She is sleeping much better and longer in her bed, which we thought would be the case.  Her little personality is coming out more every day and it is precious! She is really a happy, joyful little girl.  Much different than the very first pictures we got of a very sad, scared little girl 8 months ago.  That is a huge testament to how much her nanny loved her and poured into her over the last few months. We cannot thank her enough for loving her so much until we came for her. The goodbye between her and Ryah was one of the hardest things I have ever experienced. It was heart wrenching. But that's a post for another day. Here are some pictures from this past week at home- she has stolen our hearts, that's for sure! There are lots more pictures on Facebook or if you follow me on instagram :) The ones at the bottom are her first trip out into the yard at home this morning, hence the pajamas and bedhead :) It was finally warm enough to venture out for a little bit, she wasn't quite sure what to think.

We are HOME!!!!

I am so thankful to finally be able to write those words! Our sweet girl has been in our arms for 10 days now! It is still a little hard to believe, but she is doing awesome! We have already seen such great progress in just 10 days, it's amazing.  God truly answered our prayers to prepare her for a family.  Our days spent in Ethiopia were good- and our trip was much shorter this time. But it allowed us a few days to bond before we got on the daunting 15 hour flight home. Yes, I said 15 hours- with a 2 year old who doesn't really know us. To say we were nervous was a bit of an understatement. Thankfully- she did awesome and she slept for about 13 hours of the flight- praise the Lord! Her bonding and attachment and trust of us is going great as well! She is extremely attached to me, although she's still not so sure about my hubby.  But she feels comfortable enough with him to let him feed her, which is great! She is sleeping and eating like a champ- and we are all happier when we get some sleep!! She really is just doing so great, and we are so thankful! Thank you all for your prayers over this last leg of the journey. It has been a crazy ride and we are glad to finally be on this side of the process, with our precious girl home!! I was trying to sneak this post in while she napped this morning- but she's awake and busy now so I will update more later. But here are some pictures from our first week together! At the bottom are some pictures of my first attempt at doing her hair. She has so much hair and I have so much to learn!!