On the Journey With My Chosen One!

I am sure you might wonder why I call her chosen rather than adopted.... well, adopted is just her physical condition, CHOSEN is what we both are to be a family together! God is so rich in His Blessings, and He has chosen each of us from before the time we were knit in our mother's womb to be a FOREVER family! How BIG is that? How BIG is our God!?! Thank you for following our journey and for praying for us as we wait and continue to grow in the love of God! -- Blessings!



Liliana's Verses

Matthew 17:20 - " ... For truly I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain: "Move from here to there", and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."




Zephaniah 3:17 - The Lord your God is with you. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.




Proverbs 3:5-6 ~ Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.




Jeremiah 29:11 ~ For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.


Tuesday, October 25, 2011

One year. Six Months. Many Blessings!


Where to start.... One year ago TODAY I read my Precious Peruvian's file, and yes, while thinking I was positviely insane, there was a small whisper that said, "She's the one!" Let me share with you a little about how God works.... because it is ALL for HIS glory and honor that I share this blog!

I had always heard that many adoption stories happened on significant dates. Well, I thought, that wouldn't ever be true for my story, it is neat, but does it really happen? TODAY, one year ago, I read her file and shared her story with my Mom. TODAY is my Mom's birthday! Months passed and the Spirit led me to request this little one, and the matching meeting was on December 23rd.... 11 years ago, we got a terrible phone call that my Father was very ill and probably wouldn't make it. He passed away on December 24th. (Christmas has always been a difficult time of year for me.... although I chose to be joyous.) I found out on December 24th that this Precious Peruvian would now be called my daughter! On Christmas Day, I sent my letter of acceptance for her to Peru. Our Blessing Day was on April 5th, my nephew's birthday! You see, God planted our significant dates on these other dates for the special reason of reminding me how BIG He is and because each of the birthdays are special days, and to show how He can make beauty from the ashes! So, ONE YEAR AGO, HE chose this special day to be an extra-special day! I don't know if everyone's journey has such a story, but I thought I would share a bit of God's amazing goodness to add blessings upon blessings and make beautiful what had once been a very difficult time!

SIX MONTHS! Tomorrow will be 6 months since she was officially, no longet an orphan! 6 months ago I signed the adoption papers that forever made her a part of my family! It is so hard to believe that it has already been six months! We had our 6 month follow up home study report last week. When asked what I remember of life before her, I had to honestly say that I almost can't remember life without her! Amazing how your life can change so quickly and so beautifuly!

On October 16th, I participated in the parent/child dedication at my church and vowed to love her, cherish her and raise her in a home and with a church that will point her to Christ! This was such a neat ceremony because we all got to read letters to our children.... except, I almost didn't make it through the first line...."My Precious Peruvian..." I could barely read the letter to her because God had done so much, I was so overwhelmed with His goodness and provision that there were no words, only tears! Happy Tears! But, God was good and Little Bit did great! It was such a blessing to have some of my family here, several friends and a church family, who have agreed to come along side me and support me in my efforts to raise her in a Godly home and to teach her of His love!



Well, another great thing about today.... we had an appointment with an audiologist today b/c she came with a report of being slightly deaf in her right ear. Well, yet another issue in her medical file that has been negated! She isn't deaf in one ear at all, she doesn't hear certain tones in one ear, but these tones are mostly considered insignificant tones (they are like the background noise tones) and she more than makes up for them with her other ear. We are now almost done with her appointments..... and almost nothing in her file has turned out to be as it is written in it! Praise God from whome ALL blessings flow! He is the Master Healer and Protector of EVERYTHING! Incredible! And, what is even more incredible is that she did great for the audiologists! She even though it was kind of fun! I am thanking God for this incredible Blessing!

Because everyone asks.... "How is her English coming along?" Let me tell you! She says "Roll Tide!" and "Move the Chains!" very well thanks to Grammie! She is so funny saying it too! And, she will be glad to say it for you whenever you want to hear it! Nothing could make Grammie's day more than to have her own little Alabama fan! It is TOO cute! She is also saying a host of other things both in English and in Spanish. Her receptive language (what she understands) in both languages is incredible... and her English may be surpassing her Spanish in this area. Her Spanish expressive (what she can say and express) have really come a long way in six months. We still have a lot of work to do though! She really struggles with her exprsessive language and so we are working very hard to develop this more. I believe that she is getting to a point where her receptive language is so good that she gets frustrated becasue she just can not make the words come out of her mouth and be understood! Oh, I have a feeling that we are almost there though! She is getting there and we are putting words to her emotions to help give her words to express herself.

Showing off her Tide Pride!

Celebrating Grammie's Birthday ( a little early( with a very yummy cupcake!

She LOVES "chool".... and in fact she actually called it "Sssschool" the other day! I was so excited! She does new stuff everyday, in fact I try to remember it so that I can put it in the blog, but I just can't keep it all in my head! I see such amazing things from her everyday! One thing I have really noticed about her in the last week or two, she is singing ALL the TIME! Now, we all know she loves to sing anyway, but this is such a sign to me of her adjustment and confidence and happiness at home. Mama's heart is so full! We are learning some tough things like the word "No" and that it means don't do it the FIRST time that Mama says NO! I do think this is harder on Mama than her though, I really do! It is so hard to say "No" but it is something she has to learn, especially so that she will say "No" to whatever might come her way that isn't good for her! But, overall, we are doing GREAT! We have our tough moments, and honestly there are sometimes that she doesn't like Mama because Mama won't allow her to do whatever she wants, and sometimes Mama just doesn't like bad behavior or attitudes. But, the glorious thing is that it is only for a moment and then we move on! Such a beautiful lesson, in life there are millions of times that you just have to let things go!

She has learned what a pumpkin is and she LOVES them! We currently have 4 real pumpkins in our house, two of which get carried EVERYWHERE! We bought her candy bucket for "trick-or-treating" this weekend and it is a pumpking. I thought she wanted a pink one... she VERY QUICKLY let me know she didn't want a pink one, she wanted the ORANGE one..... I mean, since when are pumpkins pink?!? So, we carry the two smaller pumpkins in our pumpkin bucket EVERYWHERE! I took her to a farm where they have a HUGE pumpkin patch. We did a hay ride and went out to pick out our very own pumpkins...... Oh my! She LOVED it!! I can only imagine it from her perspective, there were acres and acres of pumpkins EVERYWHERE! She thought it was the best thing ever! It was such a fun Mama - Precious Peruvian day! She also got to see and touch cotton in its raw form, learned about hay bales, saw the cows (which she very cordially said "Moo" to every one of them!), she saw horses, goats and a real turkey! It was so much fun!



Well, I have lots of pictures to post, because I know that is what you really want to see.... so I am going to get busy with that! Blessing to you all and please continue to pray that I will be the parent that God would have me to be for my sweet one.... because it is through me FIRST that she will know the love of God! Please pray for wisdom, strength and courage in this journey! Mama has had a few adjustments to make and had to confess to herself that she might need some help with housework, etc.. I know everything will come together and run smoothly one day, but I am so thankful to those who are coming along side me and supporting me in prayer, love and GRACE! Blessings!
Striving to make His Glory known!
Becca
PS Just a few more pics!

Playing music in the park with our friend Miss Karen

Giving Miss Karen, her Music therapist, a big Thank you, Hug!

Very sleepy eyes reading her new favorite bedtime story!