Zoë

The other day, Zoë and I were taking a walk around our house and we ended up in the library.  She glanced up and saw the picture I have on my desk of my mother and me.  I am standing behind my mother and my arms are draped around her.  Zoë walked over to me and said "hugs."  She understood that I was hugging my mother, so she wanted to do the same to me.  It brought tears to my eyes.  She has the soul of a woman wise and old beyond her years.

Home One Year...How Far We've Come...

China 1/9/2012

Zoë giving Poppi a kiss goodnight.  Home 1/20/2012

We've been home with our sweet whispers from God (this is what I called them before I knew them because I always felt their presence in my life during the five year wait and it felt like a whisper, soft and gentle. )

The girls have come so far from those wobbly first crawls in the solitude of our hotel room in China.  They were so fragile at first, but as the days went by their burgeoning personalities blossomed and they grew stronger and their small smiles became lilting laughter. 

In all honesty, the first six months here at home were some of the hardest I have experienced in all my days.  The overwhelming need for sleep so that I could be strong for them coupled with the desire to be vigilant and protect and nurture were at constant odds.  Now, though, a year and some distance from those difficult days have brought me peace.   And when I see how far they've come, I am certain I "[w]ouldn't take nothing for my journey now."

I understand now what it meant all those years ago when my mother used to tell me "you have to find your inner strength."  I dug deep in those first few months and did whatever it took to make my girls feel my love.  They are safe now and are where they were meant to be--nestled deep inside my heart.

See Poppi "Read"...

I was in the other room yesterday, and when I walked back into the play area, this is how I found Poppi--"reading" Dick and Jane ; she and Zoë both adore "Dick and Jane" books, as did I when I was young; albeit, they are much younger than I was when I fell in love with them.  They sit happily with me on the bean bag chair while I read the books cover to cover, over and over.  I really must go out and get some others as the two we have have been read so many times I can recite them in my sleep.  I am blessed to have two little girls who have a love for the written word.  So grateful.

Zoë "reading" Good Night Moon in China.

One Year Ago Today, continued...

on January 9, 2012, we were given our hearts and....

... they have been full to overflowing ever since.

One Year Ago Today...

...we were on a flight to Guangzhou, China...

TO BE CONTINUED...

Christmas Day Tea Time 12-25-2012

This was one of the sweetest moments of our first Christmas with the girls.  They took it upon themselves to serve tea to their new friends, which were presents from Nana.