One small action = HUGE leap of faith

The title of this post is directed towards many things. From Sage and I having our first conversation about adoption, to signing our Letter of Intent to make Mei Jing (Haylie) our own. Each step seemed tiny to others but we truly were going on a huge leap of faith. Faith in each other, our marriage, our families, spiritually, in so many things. We dug deep and found an entirely new purpose to how we viewed things, different things became more important, and we felt pulled to change the way we live.  In doing so we have removed one child from an "empty" life, and she has filled the void in our lives.  

Today has left me emotional.  I'm exhausted, we are busy, and while I would like to hit pause for a moment, the world continues to press on around us.  Then it happened, Haylie decided to take a leap of faith on me.  She came to me (completely unprompted) and gave me a kiss, then a hug, followed by laying her head on my shoulder while we held each other. It was beautiful.  Until then she had only allowed us to give her kisses on her cheek, she has never returned a kiss to us.  Despite our differences, stresses, struggles, and stubborness, she is slowly - yet surely - allowing herself to fall in love.  And baby girl, those feelings are mutual! Our love story is forming! 

One month markers

This post will be done in 2 sections...today (actually yesterday, Feb 20th) marks our 1-month anniversary of having Haylie. It's kind of crazy, a month...sometimes I think it feels like she's been here forever and other times it seems like just last week!   So, flashback, here is Haylie the day we got her

And here she is today enjoying the warmer weather....

Since being home we have visited her cleft team and the international adoption clinic in Kansas City. Her first surgery is scheduled for April 24th and they'll be repairing her lip and hard palate (gumline).  It's taking us longer to get in for surgery then we had hoped, this is a busy surgeon! 

What's new in Haylie's life? She is sleeping through the night about 80% of the time, and she even puts herself to sleep now without Sage or I staying in her room. It's amazing the difference that made for all of our sanity! She is sleeping longer and we are sleeping soundly.  She still doesn't care for mac n'cheese, she's pretty good at eating everything else though. On occassion she'll be stubborn and refuses to eat unless she has ketchup to dip it in...and once the food is gone she proceeds to eat just the ketchup, and gets mad when we stop her! She is adapting really well to our extended family. Grandma and grandpa have both had a chance to keep her, with her brothers close by to make her feel safe of course! Sage is working a lot of hours so we are greatly appreciating the help that our family has provided us.  Last weekend Haylie got to go see Logan play basketball, and then she had her first visit to Burger King - she was a big fan! 

Then on Sunday we took her to church with us. She was looking stunning in her gorgeous dress and shoes!

A friend came by and brought her some clothes and her very own kitchen! She loves it! As do Hunter and Riley! ;-)

She has joined us for one of our famous family movie nights, she thinks the little couches are pretty cool! 

Today we enjoyed the 60° weather and finally got outside to stretch our legs and breathe the fresh air, she is quite the fan of being outdoors!

That's all for our 1-month gotcha anniversary. I'll finish this post up at the end of next week when we've been home for a month! 

March 2nd-home for a month

Well we have survived a month home as a family of 6.  Honestly, it's become hard to remember what it was like before Haylie was here! She's fitting in with the boys like a natural and the boys don't seem to mind the overload of pink that has taken over our house! 

So during this month Haylie has joined us at church, basketball games & practices, doctors appointments, and hauling her brothers around to their many activities. She enjoys playing with her cousins and has done well with our family members watching her when our lives get so busy that we need the extra help.  Sage and I got to go out last night to celebrate our anniversary, she enjoyed having her cousins and grandparents here while we were out! I have learned how to get through Walmart with two toddlers, that was seriously one of my biggest fears! 

(Excuse Hunter's goofy expression!)

Haylie being silly....

She is finally ok with Hunter hugging her!

1-month comparison photo, her cheeks are definitely filling out!