Alive

Yes, it's true.

Despite a horrible lapse in blogging, I AM still alive.

There's been alot going on for the Bergey Bunch lately, both physically and mentally.

I've been doing alot of praying and thinking about some various things---which I may or may not open up and blog about---and I wanted to keep my virtual mouth shut for awhile.

I promise to jump back into the blogging world soon. Maybe even this evening if my seven little ones oblige :)....

Missing you all,

My Oldest Son

Nathaniel Brenton. Nathaniel means "gift of God" and Brenton is after his daddy. He turned seven earlier this month.

Nathaniel joined our family in a "BIG" way.......He was my biggest birth----10 lbs, 12 oz!----but my easiest, smoothest childbirth. (Who would have thought that a large baby would be easier to birth?? :))

He's definitely a people person. Even as a baby, Nathaniel would wake up early in the morning, ready to play, play, play! His idea of torture is being asked to play alone for a while. He gets in more trouble than some of our other children (mostly because he doesn't stop to think before he's on to his next adventure!) , but he's got a great big heart and a tender spirit to our teaching. We know God has something awesome planned for our little man someday and we're so thankful we get to be a part of Nathaniel's life.

Brent and I love music and enjoy writing music on occasion. We have written several songs for our children and today I thought I'd share Nathaniel's song.

Nathaniel is my Buddy,
My Buddy, my Buddy,
Nathaniel is my Buddy-
I love him all. day. long!
We love to hop and sing,
And run and jump and say--
"Whoo-peee!!"
I love my Buddy,
And my Buddy loves me!
Nathaniel is my Buddy,
Nathaniel is my Buddy--
I love my Buddy,
And my Buddy loves me.

It's simple, I know, but Oh! how children love having a song with their name in it! This song is called "The Buddy Song" because Daddy calls his boys little "buddies". :)

Since Nathaniel's birthday is in the Fall, one of his traditions we've established is having a fire in our fire-pit and roasting marshmellows over it! The cool evening, complete with extended family, fire, and marshmellows is always a hit with everyone. Last year, we told stories around our fire, but this year, we sang. There's just something special about little voices singing praises to our Lord, circled around a warm fire. It was one of those moments you tuck away and bring out later when things are rough and you need a good reminder of why I'm doing this.  :)

Marshmellows, marshmellows, and more marshmellows!

Happy Birthday month, to my oldest son and sweet little Buddy!

Girly Girls

I finished sewing the girls' dresses today. Johanna and Eliana are having a hard time waiting until tomorrow to wear them.........

So.......

I let them try them on for a little "photo shoot" outside. :)

These girls are my little women in-training and they are such a blessing to this Momma's heart. I cannot wait to see what the Lord has planned for each of their lives-----but in the meantime, I'm enjoying having them close to me! :)

Cute

I noticed Ethan (2) and Gabbey (2) laying in this position while watching "Letter Factory" this morning.

I know I'm partial, cause I'm the Mommy :) but I love the view from this direction.

And just for fun, one more picture of toddler cuteness in our house. :)

Overheard

This conversation was overheard between Johanna (14) and Eliana (9) as they laid in their bunk beds trying to go to sleep tonight.....

Ellie: "What do you dream about?"

Johanna: "Sometimes bad things."

Ellie: "You know what I do when I have bad dreams? I pray to Jesus! Then I go back to sleep and I'm not afraid anymore."

Johanna: "Don't know how to pray."

Ellie: "Yes you do. Just pray like this, 'Dear God, please help me not be afraid. Please take away the bad dreams. Amen.' "

Johanna: "But I not know good English...."

Ellie: "Oh, that doesn't matter. You can pray to Jesus in Chinese! He understands everything!"

Reflections of Family Day....

Night has fallen on the Bergey household.

All seven children are tucked soundly into their warm beds. Brent and I sit down in front of our cozy fireplace for some "couple" time. I take a few minutes to reflect on our day.....

An early morning wake-up call by Ethan (2 years) crawling into bed with me.

"I need to 'nuggle, Mommy." he whispered. "I'll be quiet!"

I find myself sandwiched in-between Lyssie (also 2 years) at my back and my sweet-smelling Ethan at my front.

I attempt to fall back to sleep, but then Gabbey (also 2 years) wakes up. I can hear her fussing from the bathroom (her crib is in there) and wake Brent up since I'm already squished by the two-year-old sandwich.

Gabbey crawls over Lyssie to lay on my chest.

I officially cannot move or even breathe.

I look over at Brent and he whispers----"How can anyone not LOVE two-year-olds??" :)

Egg and sausage casserole feeds our family breakfast.

We head to town to run errands. Brent drops the four girls and I off at Joann's (I had two gift-cards from the Adoption Shower!).

Johanna (14) and Eliana (9) pick out a gorgeous turquoise and pink print for new Sunday dresses.

(If you're now thinking "when does she have time to sew??" the answer would be, I don't. All I know is, I am thoroughly disgusted with the lack of modest, feminine dresses for older girls so I will HAVE to find time to sew this week! :) )

The dollar menu at Burger King feeds our family lunch. The kiddos especially enjoy the play area. I love it that Johanna shows no reservations when it comes to play.

Find a couple of pairs of boots for the younger girls and Noah at a thrift store. Of course, now that almost all of my children have snow gear, we surely won't see as much as one snowflake this year.

Pick up groceries at Sam's Club. Brent and Nathaniel (7) stay in the car and listen to a football game while the baby girls sleep.

We try EVERY sample offered at Sam's and we all prefer the pie samples. Some serious YUM! :)

Avoid getting yelled at by a grumpy man in a wheelchair like our last trip to Sam's. Whew. Refreshing.

Head home. Ethan falls asleep and I carry him straight to bed.

Older girls bathe the little girls while Nathaniel and Noah (4) drenched my entire bathroom with water take their bath. I am reminded that some things do get easier--my girls are such a blessing!

Snuggle Gabbey and put her to bed.

Sing to Lyssie and tuck her into bed.

Lay on the couch with Johanna. She wants to be carried to bed by Daddy.

Eliana lets Daddy pull a tooth. The tooth fairy doesn't come to our house :) but we do put money under our kids pillows after they've lost a tooth.

Johanna tried yet again to pull one of her teeth. She's totally bummed that she lost all of her baby teeth in China and has no money-earning potential left in her mouth.

I ask her who pulled her teeth in China.

"I pull my teeth, throw them on the floor." she nonchalantly replies.

I kiss the oldest four good-night and reflect for awhile....

I'm so thankful.

For babies who sandwich.

For boys who laugh loudly.

For girls who love feminine things as much as I do.

For children growing in maturity.

For a little girls who are growing and blending beautifully into our family.

And for a daughter who no longer has to take care of things that should never have been her responsiblity.

It was a typical Family Day.

Perfect.

Family Picture

We took a family picture on Sunday.

Here's the "before" shot :)......Daddy and Mommy cleaning faces at the last minute, lol.......

And here's the "after" shot.......

The Heart of the Matter: Purposeful Parenting

(If you haven't read it yet, please start with Toddler Training, Series Overview .)

Parent your toddlers with a purpose, on purpose.

Following are the choices we've made to parent our toddlers with a plan:

1) CHOOSE A PARENTING PHILOSOPHY.

There are certainly multiple parenting philosophies out there today. Any new parent could easily be overwhelmed by all the choices and varying opinions. From breastfeeding to vaccinations, time-outs to spankings, there are passionate people on every side of the "fence"!

We're going to address this point in a post all its own, so I won't elaborate here, except to say this: In the Bergey Bunch, we try to honor God by having a balanced, well-planned, "toolbox" approach to our parenting. Regardless of what works for you, every family needs to have their own established parenting philosophy.


2) CHOOSE TO HAVE A POSITIVE ATTITUDE ABOUT PARENTING TODDLERS.

Everything always falls back on attitude. Yours, mine, our toddlers......

I can't begin to tell you how many times I've heard negative feedback regarding parenting toddlers. (especially now that we have three 2 year olds!) "Wait 'til he's walking!" "Wait 'til she's two!" "I hate potty training!" "I am SO glad I'm done with that stage!" "You're not actually considering having more are you?"

If you approach parenting toddlers with a negative attitude, you will.not.enjoy.it. Not going to happen.

But if you choose to have an upbeat, positive, "I can do this and it's AWESOME!" attitude, you will soon find yourself loving it.

It's all in your attitude, so CHOOSE TO HAVE A POSITIVE ONE!

3) CHOOSE TO ENJOY YOUR TODDLERS.

I am determined to enjoy my toddlers. For me, this is often a choice of my will. It is easy to enjoy their cute cuddly bodies and sweet cheeks, their snuggles and kisses. It is not as easy to enjoy their short tempers, limited communication skills (aka screaming or crying), or monumental messes. :)

That is where the choice comes in.

CHOOSE to see your toddlers for who God created them to be.
CHOOSE to embrace each misbehavior as an opportunity to point your children to Him.
CHOOSE to take a deep breath, smile, and clean up yet another spill or mess.
CHOOSE to remember how much you're going to miss this when they're gone.

CHOOSE to enjoy your toddlers!

4) CHOOSE TO TEACH GODLY CHARACTER BY HAVING GODLY CHARACTER.

You cannot teach your toddlers manners if you don't use them.

You cannot teach your toddlers to be respectful if you show their father disrespect. (OUCH!)

You cannot teach your toddlers to sing praises to our Lord if you have a complaint on your lips.

You cannot teach your toddlers thankfulness if you are constantly grumbling.

You cannot teach your toddlers cleanliness if your heart is dirty with sin.

You cannot teach your toddlers patience if you CAN'T FIND YOURS.

5) CHOOSE HOW YOU WANT YOUR TODDLERS TO ACT.

This one starts to touch on the practical side of parenting---and I'm saving that for Part Two!---but I do want to encourage you to Decide how you want your toddlers to act and plan to teach them accordingly.

Here's a example of how that works in the Bergey Bunch. We want our toddlers to learn to shake an adults' hand, look them in the eye, and say "hello" when appropriate. We choose ahead of time how we want them to act, and then we set a plan to teach them accordingly.

Here's one more example. We want our toddlers to take a nap or go to bed when they're told, without crying, and stay.in.bed. We choose ahead of time how we want them to act, and then we set a plan to teach them accordingly.

(Remember, my children are NOT perfect! :) I am not saying that we never have problems in either of these areas, rather that we have goals and we are constantly working our little ones towards those goals.)

6) CHOOSE ACTIVE ("on purpose") PARENTING RATHER THAN REACTIVE PARENTING.

This is such an important part of toddler parenting! It is so easy to spend your day reacting to your toddlers messes and mishaps and literally "flying by the seat of your pants" parenting.

I do not recommend this. :)

Research, read God's word, glean wisdom from other godly Mommys, communicate with your spouse, and plan, plan, plan for parenting your toddlers! Do not expect godly character, good manners and self-control to just "happen". It takes active, not reactive work.

Rather than reacting to every stage and event in your toddler's life, be active in planning their day, their character, and your discipline.

7) CHOOSE TO WORK AS A TEAM WITH YOUR SPOUSE.

I have spoken to countless women over the years who have been frustrated by their children's behavior and either their husbands harshness/over-strictness or uninvolvement/careless attitude. Obviously, this could apply to wives as well, but I'm not usually discussing parenting with men :).

The truth is this: children are better off with two parents on the same team than one strict parent and one lenient parent.

Whatever parenting decisions need to be made regarding your toddlers need to be made TOGETHER with your spouse.

 In our home, we sit down several nights a week and talk about each one of our children. We evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and work out a plan of action regarding each child. Brent will then text or call me throughout the day and "check-in" on the children and me. We make communicating about our children a top priority.

Here's a practical example of a conversation between Brent and I. We talk about how Gabbey (2 years) has been doing lately, pointing out that she has taken to whining. Alot. We also converse about her attachment issues and adjustment to two new sisters. At that point we decide to work on scripting words for her when she whines and we both commit to spending more time one-on-one snuggling her to help with her attachment fears.

If you're frustrated at the inconsistencies between you and your spouse in your parenting, consider setting aside more time to communicate about your children.

CHOOSE TO WORK TOGETHER AS A TEAM WITH YOUR SPOUSE.

8) CHOOSE TO VIEW PARENTING TODDLERS AS A MINISTRY.

Ministry is defined as "the act of serving".

Ministry is often used to refer to public Christian service, whether in one's local church, prison, nursing home, etc or as a missionary on a foreign field. Clearly these are services and ministries that are Biblical, needed, even necessary for the furtherance of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We believe parenting the next generation in a God-honoring way is also ministry. It is not glamorous. There are no bright lights or applause. No one will shake your hand and thank you for a job well done. Your name will not be highlighted in bold print anywhere and people will not praise your gifts or talents. You will be exhausted, frustrated, and overwhelmed at times and ask God, "Can I really do this?"

But if our hearts are yielded to His will and we are willing to follow Him (even in the seemingly mundane tasks of parenting toddlers!) then we are serving Him in the vital ministry of godly parenting.

Right now, with the current ages of our children, we are sometimes limited in our ability to serve in public ministry. (Just keeping track of three 2 year olds is a full-time job, lol!) This limited ability can especially be discouraging for mothers with young children. Perhaps they were faithful in many church ministries and then the babies started coming and their focus needed to change for a season. A nursing infant or newly adopted, insecure toddler need alot of Mommy's time. Discouragement can set in when the efficient care of their children limits for a time their involvement in more public ministries.

In reality, raising godly chilren IS ministry! We like to look at it like this: We are sacrificing now to raise a whole army of servants for Him. Our children are learning to serve God at home so they can one day be effective workers in His army.

CHOOSE TO VIEW PARENTING TODDLERS AS MINISTRY.

In conclusion, Purposeful Parenting is the choice to joyfully and actively embrace, plan for, and pursue the ministry of parenting. Join me next time as we consider Parenting Philosophies:Which One Works For You?

Toddler Training, Series Overview

I'm SO excited to begin this series! This will be a two-part series covering everything from parenting philosophies to potty-training.

Part One of this series is going to cover Purposeful Parenting, while Part Two will cover the practical Toddler Training Tips.

Toddler, Defined

The word toddler could mean different things to different people, but for the sake of this series, we're going to consider all little ones between the crawling stage and kindergarten age "toddlers".  Our expectations--and their abilities---will grow with their age, but most of the things we'll be talking about will apply to this age range.

Clarification

I'm not the world's greatest parent. Shocker, I know. :) I'm not writing this series because I have all the answers. I don't. I do think I have great children, but they're certainly not perfect. Nor do I expect that they ever will be. Without their sin, they would never realize their need of a Saviour, so in a way, I'm thankful for their childish misbehavior.

This is not a "How to Have a Perfectly Behaved Child in 3 Days" series, nor is it a method guaranteeing Godly children because it's the only Biblical way to parent toddlers. Nope. (Neither one of those really exists anyway.) It's not the ONLY way to successfully parent toddlers,  SO if you have a better or more efficient way of parenting, don't listen to a word I say! :) Better yet, add your ideas to the comments as I'd love to try them sometime!

My goal in writing this series is simply this: To share what works for the Bergey Bunch and offer encouragement to other Mommies in the midst of the busy toddler years.  

Topics

Here's a few of the topics I have planned:

--The Heart of the Matter: Parenting With a Purpose
--Parenting Philosophies: Which One Works For You?
--Jesus' Take on Toddlers
--Potty Training 101
--Manners: How Scripting Can Teach Our Children Manners
--Bedtime: Back to Basics
--Discipline, From Do-Overs to Spankings
--and many more!

Have a topic you'd like to see covered? Let me know!

Are you an experienced Mommy who would like to contribute to this series? Leave a comment or email me with your ideas!

Showered With Blessings

We are blessed.

Last night, my friend Teresa from church and my younger sister Lauren threw our newly adopted daughters --- all three of them!--- an Adoption Shower.

It was unexpected and so precious to me.

My sister Catherine made these beautiful pictures with each of my girls' names on it!

Johanna's smile lets you know how she felt about the whole thing.....

I was and am truly overwhelmed at the outpouring of love from family and friends. We were spoiled with toys, clothes, books, scrapbook supplies, pajamas, gift cards/cash, and much, much more.

As I found a place for all of the new things late last night and re-read the cards.........tears of joy. Not so much for myself, but for our girls.......their hearts are mending, day-by-day, and we are forever grateful to those who come along side us in this process and love our girlies like we do. :)

Yummy Cake!!!

Cameron with Gabbey and Bethany with Lyssie:

Me with my four girls!

Brent's sister Rhonda came for the weekend. We all love her and are so thankful for her part in our lives.

With two of my sisters: Catherine on the left, and Lauren on the right. Love you, dearly!!!


Alyssia received her first doll!!! Teresa gave her a little Chinese baby doll. Lyssie just giggled and smiled when she opened it, and then hugged it over and over again.

It was such a lovely outpouring of love on our family. The girls and I are very thankful to each one of you! Special thanks to Teresa, Lauren, and Catherine for the time and hard work they put into giving us such a lovely evening.

A Song for Mommy....

(I haven't forgotten about the new series I promised! Please continue to give me feedback as I pretty much have even votes for each topic!)

The other night, Johanna (14 and home from China for 3 months) called me into the girls' room.

"I sing for you, Mommy." she shyly whispered.

Knowing how much she loves to sing, I smiled and replied, "Okay! I will listen!"

"I sing this song in my bed in China." Then she proceeded to sing a lovely Chinese song.

The only word I was able to make out was "mama", which was repeated several times....

"What is the song about, Johanna?" I asked.

"It is 'I Miss My Mama' and I sing it in China at night in my bed." she answered quietly, as little tears started to trickle down her cheeks....

"Oh, Johanna!" I exclaimed. "Come to Mommy." She climbed onto my lap and wrapped her arms around me tightly.

I snuggled and loved on this precious child, sang her our special song, stroked her hair and wiped away the tears while shedding some of my own.....Thinking all the while of her childhood that was spent in a orphanage---warm and fed, yet deprived of the one thing every child needs and deserves:

Her Mommy.

The Blog

Messing around with the layout of my blog a bit.

Trying out a new header, one that I think will work until we get a new family picture (a monumental feat these days! :))

Wondering if anyone knows how to categorize my posts and label them? I haven't got a clue how to do this.

I'd like to start a series and have several topics in mind. If you have a second (and an opinion) would you let me know which series interests you the most?

Attaching with toddler adoption/Attaching with teen adoption/Why International Adoption/How to start the process for international adoption/Disciplining Toddlers

Thanks and good-night all! :)

Just Some Lyssie Sweetness

Brent took me to P. F. Changs for dinner Friday night, in celebration of my birthday. We took Alyssia along and had some wonderful time with each other AND her :)

Here's a glimpse of our little dinner companion:

My Birthday

Yesterday was my 33rd birthday.

 I must admit, I do love birthdays, especially my own :)

This year was extra-special, for a myriad of reasons. The biggest one? The fact that all three of our three Chinese blessings were here to share it with me.

Last year at this time, we were anxiously waiting to travel for Gabbey.

And this year, not only was Gabbey sitting next to me at my party, but two more sweet China-girls have since joined her!

My oldest two girls (Johanna, 14, and Eliana, 9) were just precious about Mommy's birthday.

First, they bought a cake mix, icing, candles, and two birthday cards while I was grocery shopping (they had permission to surprise me).

Then they made the cake, iced it, and cleaned up the mess, with only a little help from Daddy, and ZERO help from me! Eliana covered the cake with foil and I was forbidden to take even a PEEK before my birthday party. :)

Here's the proud cake-bakers:

The morning of my birthday, Johanna, Eliana, and Nathaniel told me to "sit down and read a book or the computer" because they were going to do all of "my" jobs for me since it was my birthday. The three of them whirled around like a tornado, going from room to room, vacuuming, straightening, cleaning, sweeping, mopping, etc. I kept trying to "help" and kept being told quite sternly to "SIT DOWN, MOMMY!" :)

We ate dinner as a family and then came the time for cake and gifts. Each of the older four children had purchased a gift for me-with their own money-and the look on their faces when I opened "their" gift was an adorable mixture of pride and excitement.

Eliana got me a coffee mug that says "FAMILY" on it. Johanna picked out a purple butterfly notebook with a matching pen. Nathaniel went for a little floral globe that has sparklies in it when you shake it, and Noah, sweet-four-year-old Noah......

He got me a box of candy. :) Brent told me that when Noah was picking out my candy, he wanted to know if Daddy thought Mommy would share with him?

I also received some new pj's from Brent :) He's taking me out to dinner on Friday, our first "date" (outside of our living room, lol) in several months. Of course, little Lyssie is going to chaperone us and keep us in line :)

Johanna, Eliana, and Nathaniel gave me beautiful cards. I was especially touched by the inside of Eliana's card. She wrote a list of "10 Whole Things About My Mother".....

1. sweet
2. kind
3. thankful
4. loving
5. caring
6. giving
7. sharing
8. care for us when we're sick
9. work when you're sick
10.protecting (spelled perchecking :))

Seriously. Does it get any more special than this?

I wouldn't have traded my birthday--complete with a little "box" cake and dollar store gifts for ANYTHING this year.

My children are starting to show the fruit of countless hours of repeating myself over and over teaching, training, disciplining and discipling.

And I am indeed blessed.

We put the children to bed (except for Lyssie, who we sometimes let stay up later so we can snuggle with her) and I picked her up and sat down in my rocker.

For the first time EVER, she laid her little head down on my shoulder and let me rock her to sleep.

 So, yes, I think that my 33rd birthday was my Very. Best. Birthday. Ever.

Three Peas in a Pod....

We have three 2 year olds in our home right now. I won't lie---they are work, and alot of it ;)

One 2 year old can make a mess, but you should see what THREE of them can do!

Getting them ready to go somewhere (and being on time, lol) and feeding them are two of the hardest things for me right now. They're VERY messy little eaters and it seems as if they need a bath (and the floor needs mopping!) after every meal!

BUT......they're also positively adorable. Sigh. I truly LOVE 2 year olds (and I guess that's a good thing, huh?) and I'm just lovin' having our three little "peas in a pod"....

Whether they're freshly bathed and going for a ride on Daddy's back.....

Falling off and coming up for "more!".....

Laughing hysterically at absolutely nothing......

Or just being plain cute as a button......

Yep, I love these three! Who needs TV when you have three 2 year olds to watch?! :)

We're making progress!!

I think we've turned the corner, ya'll.

After lots of this:

and alot of prayer, tears, and plain hard work.......

Our sweet, beautiful girl was completely relaxed around me today! Praising the LORD with my whole heart tonight for the hope He has given me!

We had missions conference at church last week, and Brent wanted me to stay home on Thursday with Lyssie. It was our first time being alone, and I think it did wonders for starting our relationship.

I snuggled, held and played with her all evening. It was so sweet for me to have that time with just HER. I was able to put her to bed--with minimal crying---for the first time, since she usually wants only Daddy.

Friday was a pretty good day, and Saturday and Sunday were good as well......

This was taken when she was only home a few days. You can see how empty her eyes looked at first :(

BUT!!!! Today, oh-sweet-today! Alyssia didn't cry when Daddy left, she put her arms up to me to be held, she let me snuggle her sweet little body, she came to me several times to show me an "owie", she smiled AT ME, and giggled when I played "This Little Piggy", she rolled a ball back and forth with me, AND she even let me tuck her in for "night-night"!!!!

If you're a biological Mommy reading this, you might not see the big deal. Our bio kiddos learn attachment from us when they're still teeny-tiny babies. It just comes easy for them AND us.

But it's SO important to bond with and attach to our adopted children (and them to us!), and, quite honestly, it takes HARD WORK. It doesn't just "happen" because they're placed in our home. It's a result of planned, purposeful, repeated effort on our behalf.

So when I saw the first glimmer of attachment beginning with my little one today, I rejoiced. A few days ago I couldn't even touch her without her crying! She shut me out to protect her little heart, and I can only imagine how hard this all has been on her.

It's just the beginning, but I've been down this road before, and it's SO worth the journey!

There's still ALOT of work ahead of us, but we've started down the road to love, and I'm not looking back again.

Family Picture

If you're just reading this blog for the first time, or haven't been reading for long, just a little FYI:

Pay no attention to the family picture at the top of the page.

It's pathetically outdated.

It actually WAS taken this past spring, but....

we added two girls to our family since then.

And I actually DID post a new picture, after Johanna came home.

I'd link to it here if I had any clue how to do that kind of stuff....:)

But, anyway, we have yet to take a picture with our family as it looks today by "the" fence so I can post it as my blog header.

Mostly because our littlest blessing has only been home for 2 weeks, and has spent most of that time avoiding me like the plague :), so a family photo session has SO not been in our minds just yet.

So, if you're just joining us, pay no attention to the outdated picture.

One of these days I'll get around to changing it to reflect our growing family, and all seven of our childen ........:)

Two Weeks Home

Tonight marks two weeks that Alyssia Xiao Bao has been a part of our family. Overall, she's doing pretty well, considering her entire world was just turned upside-down.

The mommy/daughter bonding is going very slow. She definitely prefers Daddy to me, which is expected I guess. I'm doing everything I know to do, and praying she can learn to trust me. She is obviously holding back her emotions.....sometimes she'll start to smile at me and then realize what she's doing, and immediately go stone-faced again.

That being said, I'm having a hard time some days. Today was a little better, though. She actually smiled a couple of times at me and didn't fall apart when Brent walked in the door like she normally does. I can still feel her tense up if I try to kiss her or snuggle her, although she did lay her head down on my shoulder for a brief moment yesterday.

I was prepared for this, at least in my head, but I'm not sure you can really prepare your heart for the hurt of rejection. I do understand why she feels this way, but-oh!-how I long to kiss away the tears and help mend her broken heart.

Forgive my lack of blogging this week----every spare minute is spent taking care of Lyssie. We also started back to homeschooling on Monday, so my days are even busier.

In case I haven't mentioned it lately :), I LOVE my life! But my Mommy heart is sad right now, as we work through some deep emotional tunnels with our newest love.

Hopefully I'll be back to regular blogging soon!

A Perfect Day

Today was a truly Perfect Day......our first Family Day as a family of NINE.

We spent our day at the breathtakingly beautiful Carters Mountain Apple Orchard.

Picking apples.....

Eating apples and looking absolutely adorable....

Getting a quick family picture taken by a friendly stranger.....

Sitting in the grass, enjoying the cool weather, the mountain breeze, and the joy on our children's faces as they played, explored, and ate apple after apple.....

Daddy of three 2 year olds:

Momma to four girls, one of which was clearly NOT happy to be on my lap :)

Building family bonds......

Getting all sweaty wrestling with his brothers and Daddy, which then led to him losing his first top tooth!

Experiencing "brotherly love".....

Having a giggle at Noah about to lose his pants..... :)

Taking a scenic hayride through the orchard....

Yes, it was a perfect day, in so many ways.

But the best part, by far, for me?

Getting some smiles, giggles, and snuggles for the first time from my newest (and youngest) daughter:

Little by little, moment by moment, day by day, she's letting me into her world. Today, for a while at least, she let her guard down and enjoyed some Momma lovin'.

And that made it a truly Perfect Day! :)