Were all Adjusting to being Home

My goodness, we seem to have forgotten what life is like with a baby...its only been 8 years! Bella really is doing remarkably well, in fact, the busier we are the better she seems to do. You can tell she is used to a lot of activity and action at the orphanage, not to mention lots of different faces. I think she gets bored looking at me and Beagan (the dog) all day. She is now eating solid foods twice a day, as you can tell from the video below, she does not like veggies, but she's getting used to them. Napping is still something we are trying to figure out. I am not sure if she does not need a lot of sleep, if she's being stubborn, afraid or cutting teeth. So I am trying everything in stages to figure it out. I have taken her morning nap out for the last 2 days and she naps 2-2 1/2 hours compared to her hour nap before. I noticed today that it appears that she is cutting her second bottom tooth (so don't want those teeth, I just want to keep her little for ahwile) so I gave her some Motrin at nap time to see if that helps. She sleeps straight through the night now, does not even wake up and sleeps 11 hours, AMEN! The boys adore this little girl and she sometimes gets agitated with all the kissing that goes on and passing around of her. She is like a little football. Beagan thinks she taste delicious and licks her as much as he can. Bella never cries, just makes funny faces. She loves to grab his fur. They tell us she is full Latino, I dont think so.....this girl absolutely has some "fighting Irish" in her. Literally, she balls up her firsts and tightens up her arms and face like the Fighting Leprechaun of Notre Dame. In this family, if you are not born Irish, you end up being adopted Irish and she caught on to that right away. This little face is so funny, I have to catch it on video. She does it a lot. Bella makes us laugh all the time, she is such a joy. I can thankfully admit that I am not in any way shape or form missing the daily grind of the adoption process. I just look at her and praise God that she is home. Yes, we are experiencing transition, but most of that transition is us not having had a baby around in years. Bella acts as though she has always been here and with us. I struggle to sleep at night, I go in her room at least 20 times just to watch her sleep. Since November of last year, I walked in to that little lady bug room imagining what it would be like to see her in it, and here she is. I keep thinking the adrenaline will burn off, but I don't want to miss a second of her life....8 months are already gone. Yet we have had so many firsts with her and God has been so faithful in replacing the time taken.

As I look back on the journey of bringing Bella home, I see now that I was the closest to my God that I ever have been. And with all the business of her being home, I miss quiet time with God, but I know that He is there, smiling on me...and I hope his thoughts are "well done my good and faithful servant", for this journey was all for the glory of Him.

Blessings, Susie