Move In Day- 2007

It is hard to believe that it has been almost a year since our girls moved in with us. It seems like not too long ago I was blogging about their arrival. Looking back at the year it is amazing to see how far these two girls have come. Both girls came to us with joyful smiles but hurting hearts. It did not take long for us to bond as a family and I can’t seem to imagine my life before them. I remember vividly the events when our girls first walked through the doors of their new home. They were both hungry so they sat at the little red table in the dining room and ate cheerios. My oldest did the talking since her sister did not have much of a vocabulary. Speaking of my youngest, she could not even get up on the little chair without help the first day they were here. For months bedtime was rough. Countless tears and screams, stumbled trips in the dark to calm nervous toddlers; that was our life, and I loved it!! It was not long before I was quite competent at changing a diaper at 2:00 AM in the dark, silent as a ninja. Those first few months were quite noisy around our house; lots of screams and grunts and tantrums on the floor. But in the midst of it all was the formation of a family. Built with hugs and kisses, ketchup dip and applesauce, we were all being changed and it was great. Our girls have grown up so much in the past year. Most of the screams have been changed to laughter; grunts have become words (lots of words!!). It is not uncommon to hear the "ABC song" or "Angels We Have Heard on High" at all hours. Colors, numbers, and shapes dominate the girl’s thoughts and they just love to be silly (silly shoes, silly cereal, silly pants, silly songs, silly anything). Dora and Diego have been teaching them some Spanish and Elmo and Cookie Monster help them learn other new things, not to mention what those Disney Princess are teaching them. Our girls are quickly ascending the size charts and we are on the lookout for shoes in size 8 and 9 now! They are thriving in preschool and they love playing with their new friends and learning about Jesus. One of the highlights of my day is being able to sing with them at bedtime. A few months back I taught the girls a song that my Oma sang to me when I was a child. It is called “Müde bin ich geh zur Ruh”, and like my Oma, I sing it to them in German. They now sing right along with me and at times it brings tears to my eyes. It has been a year filled with amazing highs and even a few lows but through it all it has been the best year of my life. Have a great week!!!