sutton093

August 13th marked a very special anniversary for Maggie.  It has been one year since she received her BAHA hearing aid and started hearing clearly.  What a difference one year makes ! Last year, Maggie wasn't speaking much, just a little baby babble every now and then.   But now !!!  There's no way I could list all the words Maggie says ( or attempts to say) because she is trying to say everything. Just tonight she reached for the towel and said "towel", then started saying "wow". She doesn't link many words together yet, except for " I want" and "I have one or two" ( she's counting everything now). And for you speech people, Maggie still has a glottal stop and has trouble saying some letters:  ( D,T,SH,CH).  She does some weird thing where she tries to say the word, but won't open her mouth.  She also will not say DADDY. So, for now she is calling daddy "BaBa", which is the Chinese name for daddy and she is happ...

Maggie's age is a little complicated and here's why.  We know for sure her birthday is right, that's not what I am talking about. She has several ages that have to do with being adopted, her hearing age, her emotional age and her cognitive age. She received her BAHA hearing aid in August 2010.  So, that makes her hearing age about ten months old.  Meaning she would be expected to talk like a ten month old because she has only been hearing that long. Maggie's communication is beyond ten months for sure.     She has a   growing list of words she can say and she can communicate with sign language very well.  The picture above was taken on the day she got her BAHA and she was so happy to hear !!! We adopted Maggie when she was fourteen months old, but she was more like an infant.  So really, it was like she was one day old when we adopted her.  Her life experience up to that point consisted  of a crib, bottles and a ...

It is a great wonde r that Maggie was even born considering the option s for pregnant woman in China. It is a great wonder that Maggie was found alive by a police man, just after she was born, on the side of a road. It is a great wonder that she survived fourteen months in a poor orphanage, confined to a baby bed and silence. It is a great wonder we were able to complete the mountains of paperwork and red tape to fly half way around the world and enter a Communist country to bring home Maggie. It is a great wonder that Maggie is doing so amazing just one year after she was first placed in our arms. Give thanks to the Lord of Lords, to Him who alone does Great Wonders.            Psalm 136:3-4

I started showing Maggie what a circle was a while back.  Whenever I saw something that was in the shape of a circle, I would tell her " that's a circle" and make a big deal about it.  Then, I moved onto showing her what a square was.  For Christmas, I got Maggie a short board book about shapes and we have been reading it everyday (about three times a day or more). She loves it ! Now, she knows all her shapes.  Yep, even the odd ones like arrow, oval, rectangle and diamonds.  She can't say them ,but when I ask her where a certain shape is she points to it.   Crazy Amazing if you ask me !!! You see, I honestly didn't know what Maggie was capable of when we first got home from china.  I wondered if she would just lay on the floor and look at her hands all her life.  It is a horrible thought to have, I know.  And, if she would have laid on the floor and looked at her hands all her life, we would have loved her all the same.  We just d...

I think all the Christmas traveling and festivities has upset Maggie big time.  Her schedule has been disrupted and she has taken a step backward into the Velcro Baby phase.  She was doing so good before December and I was seeing a big improvement in her clinging to me.  But, she is back to her " I want Mommy all the time, won't let me put her down and have to see Mommy's face and sit in her lap to play".   So, of course Maggie needs me.  She needs to know I am there for her and needs to have that time with me.  It is just a part of her healing emotionally.  And, she is emotionally delayed due to her institutional background. and can not always deal with things like separation.  She's also a typical two year old and a tiny bit spoiled. I have lots to write about and share and have been wanting to post about our Christmas and how much Maggie loves her doll house and the boys love their soft blankets and Auburn shirts, about how ...

  In 30 minutes our social worker wil be here to complete our one year post placement adoption paper work that must go to China.  One year?  Does time really go by that fast ? Almost one year ago, we met our beautiful daughter.  She was a shell of a baby, unable to use her hands, she had no language or communication, no desire to eat,  no hearing, and no concept of love.  She had many signs of being in an institution (self soothing) - looking at hands constantly, rocking back and forth, wierd rolling of her eyes and head banging.  And oh ! How we loved her at first sight ! And so began the loving and nurturing of Maggie. Also lots of therapy, hearing aids, prayer and time.  One year.  Our baby is so different now.  So special and so sweet.  Ok, I'll have to finish this later...the door bell is ringing.

Last Sunday was Orphan Sunday, and I meant to write a long post about it. But, instead, here is a quick one: This beautiful little girl of ours was an orphan, abandoned at birth. Unthinkable. But true. My heart is so burdened by the millions of orphans in our world and we should be doing more. I know Chuck and I have a heart that aches for more children. Specifically children that no one wants. Please join us in prayer today for serious revival of hearts toward orphans. For families that will say yes to the fatherless. That orphans will know mercy and love. The LOVE of a forever family.

I will love you for you, Not for what you have done or what you will become, I will love you for you, I will give you the love, The love that you never knew. Words by: JJ Heler

Please take a look at Ruby.  She is a beautiful girl in need of a loving family.  My heart is breaking knowing she will age out in three years and that she has had to wait so long for a family.  I have spoken to several families that have met Ruby and know her personally.  They ALL say she is a very sweet, thoughtful, smart girl and would be a blessing to any  family that adopted her. Her special need is very minor - a port wine stain on her face that could possible be lightened with a laser procedure. Madison Adoption Agency is waving all their fees, she has an additional $3000 grant and then there is the $12,000 tax credit that is available.  She is also being advocated/sponsored by Love Without Boundaries. Please go here for more info or contact Madison. ( I will be out of pocket for a couple of days) Join us also in praying for Ruby.  Could she be your daughter ?

Maggie enjoyed her first sucker ! She has made up her mind that she likes certain sweet treats now.  As we were all sitting around the kitchen table Sunday night after church and cheering Maggie on, I thought of December 2009.  I was packing for China back then and had read that I need to bring Cheerios and lolly pops and lots of them !  So, I stuck Cheerios and lolly pops in every crevice I could find in my overstuffed suitcase.  They were every where.  Which is funny to us now, because as every one knows  - Maggie had never eaten solid food and had NO patience for us trying to put anything near her mouth.  She would break down something terrible if we even got near her mouth.  So all that to say... It was a big deal when Maggie pulled that tootsie roll pop from my hands Sunday night and went to sucking on it.  It is the little things in our  life right now, like tootsie roll pops, that really remind us how much Maggie is changin...

If you haven't checked out the new adoption website We Are Grafted In , then head on over and see what an encouragemen t this site is.  It's a Christian website/forum all about adoption ( International and Domestic). The most recent post is titled Images of Adoption and there's a picture of Chuck and Maggie that I submitted.  I am so thankful for this site and for all the wonderful families I have met through the family stories and forums.