1 year ago today!
At this time, last year, we were tired but excited! We had been up since 3am - to get on a plane (Jeremy, myself and Meghan) to go finally pick up our daughter Wendy!! I can't believe a year has gone by! I can still remember the excitement in seeing our beautiful daughter again - being brought to us by her house dad Antonio, and the sweet, but slightly unsure look on her face when she saw us. It was as if she kind of remembered us, but wasn't sure who we really were. She easily came to Jeremy when passed into his arms, and let me take pictures of her and all of us together. She was a bit sleepy as it was almost nap time, and we had interrupted her lunch - so I'm sure that played into things. We let her go finish lunch, and then joined her to let Meghan play with her a bit before nap time. Despite the language barrier, they hit it off right away! By that evening they were chasing each other and laughing constantly! We were so glad we had brought Meghan along. She really did help Wendy transition into our family and feel comfortable and welcomed. Wendy had done well with us when we had visited last April, but she was very quiet. With Meghan around, we got to hear more of her awesome giggles and sweet Spanish speaking voice!
So - here we are - a year later and Wendy hardly remembers any of her Spanish! Yikes! I asked her the other day what "bed" was in Spanish. She said "ummm . . . . . bedito?" :) LOL! I just died laughing. I then asked her what "food" was in Spanish. "umm . . . . Foodeeo?" :) I love that girl! I am a bit sad she has lost so much of her Spanish. Maybe one day we'll teach her again. I think her older siblings know more Spanish than she does now! :) She was just so hungry to learn English when she came home. She would walk around every day, all day long, asking "Que es eso?" (What is this?) I would tell her the English word and she would repeat it. Very rarely did we ever have to tell her twice what something was. She is a fast learner!
Today is the first day of public school here (Ty started last week), and for the first time in a looong time, Wendy is home alone with just me. She's already asked me this morning when are we are going to pick up Jacob (he had half-day kindergarten last year). She is already missing the kids! I think it will be a bit of a shock for Wendy to be just with me for long periods of time, but it will be good. We can actually have playdates and DO things together! :) Yeah!! Mommy and daughter bonding time! :) She is very excited though to start preschool tomorrow! She has been begging to go to school since last October! :)
I think that instead of celebrating a "Gotcha Day" today, we will celebrate a "Forever Family Day" on Sept 7th - the day we brought her back home to the US and we ALL became a family forever!
I had wanted to compile a video of pictures and video snippets of Wendy for this 1 year anniversary . . . but August was sooo crazy around here that I haven't had time. Plus, I don't think I have the software on my computer anymore. Jeremy had to wipe my hard drive clean twice this year! I'm sure he could still reload it if I asked. We'll see. Right now - I've got a lot of organizing and catching up to do after a crazy month. I might just be able to get some of it done with the kids in school now! :) You can see some of our visit trip and pick up trip pictures to the right. There are other pics of Wendy throughout the blog as well. I have some video of when she was younger (around 1 year old), but I don't think I've uploaded that to the computer or this blog.
Blessings to you all!
Lori :)
