One Year Ago Today......

One year ago today our precious daughter, Bethlehem, was placed in my arms. I have been thinking so much about that day - the feelings of excitement, joy, and fear. Thinking about how blessed we were to be entrusted with the care of this child. And remembering how I prayed for the Lord to give me wisdom and to make me the mama she needed to see her through the pain and fear of yet another major life transition. He did. With His help, we have seen our daughter go from a terrified, insecure baby, to a toddler who gains trust and confidence every day.

One year. A very short amount of time if you really think about it. I used to look at the blogs of mamas who had been home a year and think about what experts they were....and now here I am at one year home and I sure don't feel like an expert!!!

Today we celebrated Bethlehem. We celebrated the last 365 days that she has been in our arms (and she literally hasn't gone far from my arms in the last year!). She has brought so much richness into our lives. Here are some pictures of that day, one year ago - and then some pictures from today.

Our first glimpse of her - lying in her special mother's arms, having a bottle, relaxing - not realizing her little world was about to be turned upside down. Again. (Just fyi - bottle/nap time is NOT the ideal time to meet your new baby IF it has a personality anything like Bete's) :)

There she was. My arms had ached to hold her for SO long. And she was right there in front of me! Oh precious, precious baby!

This is your mama.

You have GOT to be kidding me! THAT is NOT my MAMA!

She was so scared, it broke my heart. She didn't know me - didn't know that I'd been praying for her, waiting for her, LONGING for her for the past 14 months. All she knew was one minute she was snuggling in the familiar arms of her special mother, drinking her bottle and the next she was passed off to a stranger. She didn't want to calm down, she didn't want to be fed a bottle by some strange lady - she wanted her special mother. So her special mother took her back, calmed her down, and got her almost to sleep before slipping her back in my arms. She fussed sleepily a little, then slept.

Together at last.

I couldn't stop staring at her! She was beautiful!

The little one I had prayed for so long was finally home in my arms.

The clothes she came with were huge - like 3 times too big for her. Just for fun, I dug them out today, squeezed her into them and put on the brown shirt I wore that day, one year ago.

Such a big girl now!

Daddy still Rocks!

Mama snuggle!

Now she cries if I don't hold her.....not when I do! :)

Aba and Tiny, loved celebrating Bete Day!

For Bete Day, I decided to let her choose what we would have for breakfast. She chose pumpkin muffins and after making and consuming some of them, we took the remainder, along with some cookies and chocolate to AGCI and visited with all the wonderful ladies there, especially our case manager, Christy. It was fun to see them all and show them how much Bete has grown in the past year!

Then we headed to Coldstone Creamery to use our free, no-purchase-necessary coupons we got a few days ago.

Waiting patiently!

Notice Abigail's mouth in this picture. This is how she usually takes bites.

Bete doesn't do anything half way. Not even little things like taking bites. This girl throws herself heart and soul into everything she does - I love it! (Except when it's a tantrum) :)

She takes bites like this......

Or like this.....

Or like this.

All done!!! That was yummy!!!

After running laps around the ice cream shop for awhile, we headed out for a snack at another place we had coupons for. :) It was a fun, quiet, family day, that ended with meeting my family at Ikea for a quick dinner before we headed to NCO where we volunteer every Monday night. A perfect day celebrating Bete!

We are so blessed. I thank the Lord for the last year He has given us. I thank Him for the hard times, the good times, the nights where I've slept for 10 hours straight, and the sleepless nights, the joys, the laughter, the tears, the lessons in love and the lessons in being less selfish. I thank Him for this little girl, the little one He gave into our charge just one year ago today, the little one who is already so passionate about Him and loves to sing "Jesus Songs" at the top of her voice (which is quite loud) ;). I thank Him for the sense of humour He gave her and the tenacity and strength I see in her character that will have her following Him even if her friends/the people around her don't. I thank Him for the wisdom He has given us this year in helping her deal with her grief/anger/fear from the huge losses and transitions she has had in her short life. (And I know He will continue to give us wisdom with this in the years ahead). I thank Him for helping us build a strong foundation for her bonding and attachment to us and us to her, and I know He will continue to show us how to grow and strengthen this bond in the years ahead. I thank Him for the grace He has shown me every day this year as I try and fall short of being the "perfect mom".

I thank Him for Bethlehem. My daughter.