Merry Christmas! It is hard to believe that today is Christmas Eve. Where did the past 11 months go since bringing Makena home. It seems like we were just celebrating last year as a family of three highly anticipating our travel approval to climb aboard a plane to China. Now we are celebrating Makena's first Christmas as part of a family,our family. For those of you that know Makena at all you can imagine that she is soaking up everything that Christmas brings with it and loving every minute of it! The best part has been watching her stand on stage and sing her heart out about the true meaning of Christmas.
The past 5 months since my last post have been ones of progress, new experiences and more change.
Cameron continues to impress us with how easily he has accepted all the change and challenges that adopting Makena has brought our way. Makena couldn't have hand picked a better big brother. He started kindergarten this year and is doing great. My little man that has loved books since he could hold one up is reading and it has been so awesome to see him grow! He loves telling his new classmates and teachers that "he " adopted his sister from China.
Makena continues to grow in every way. Her language is unbelievable and man has she learned how to throw some attitude with it. She can be quite the little diva... Something Pat and I are still trying to get use too;). This world of girls is certainly something to get use too. Her adaptability to her new life and all the thing and people she has experienced in the last 11months has been something we certainly hoped and prayed for but couldn't have imagined would be so easy. She loves being the center of attention and hasn't questioned her role in our family for a second:)
Well, this year has been one of great change for us, so why we were on a roll we decided one more change was needed. On November 29th, I left my job as a CT technologist to become a full time stay at home mom. This was a huge decision for Pat and I. I have worked for 20 years, 15 years as a technologist so work is a part of who I am. Pat and I have always trusted God to direct our paths in life and this decision was no different. In true God style he led Pat and I to this decision at the same time giving us clarity that this was his will for our family at this time. When we first got home from China I had a 12week maternity leave. At the end of that leave I felt for my own sanity I needed to go back to what I know and what is familiar to me-work. Life was a bit overwhelming for me at home and I needed to know I was still there. I know that sounds selfish but it was needed at the time. On the outside everything looked easy but life at home was harder than it looked. That worked good for about six months. Makena thrived in her preschool and life was normal for Cameron. The problem was during the week there wasn't a lot of time in the evenings for me to have the time and patience I needed for both my children and my husband. It seemed clear to both Pat and I that although family life was functional I was getting spread pretty thin. So we prayed and talked and prayed and talked some more. As scary as this decision was for me to walk a way from a job I really truly enjoyed it felt like the right decision. So for the past few weeks I have been settling into my new full time job and I gotta say it was an easier transition than I expected. The extra time that I have to focus on my family has already showed a big change for everyone.
Lastly, I want to share how God keeps giving us pieces of the puzzle to Makena's past. Just before Thanksgiving a friend of ours that we traveled to China with saw a picture on Facebook posted by Half The Sky Foundation. The picture looked just like Makena! So I contacted the foundation and IT WAS HER! We were able to find out from that random post that Makena was in a child care home for 10months being taken care of by nurses and caregivers from this foundation while she recovered from her would infection. What a blessing it is to know more about her past. It is humbling to know that such selfless people cared for our daughter when we couldn't . God has truly been holding her in his arms and putting people in her life along the way!
God is Good!!
