Ms. Anju...a beautiful woman

Ms. Anju is the director of the orphanage where Dawson is from. She has worked with 500 children, placing them in their forever homes. Wow. Talking with her I was teary-eyed in how God is using her with special needs children who will never be adopted. She is amazing. I was severely disappointed when I didn't get to meet her last May when Paul picked up Dawson, but last minute we found out she was in town this weekend and the Davidsons had us and the Hansons over for a reunion. They have beautiful children from the same orphanage as well. Bria pictured on the right was Dawson's crib mate! It was such an amazing time for me! I LOVE hanging out with the families, and Ms. Anju brought me in to her time with Dawson. A time that is pretty mysterious to me. He said Dawson didn't smile or play with the other kids. He cried a lot. That surprised me because he is our most outgoing, fun loving child. He has the best belly laugh I know. He teaches Elli how to be brave. Then she said something that made my day, my week, my year..."I can tell he is well loved as his personality has completely changed." As Dawson's mom, I did so many things wrong when we adopted him: moved 3 times, had a baby, hormones out of control, etc. and I have come to God crying many times asking for help in Dawson's transition. When those words came out of Ms. Anju's mouth (an amazing woman who has know Dawson a lot longer than I have), I almost cried in thankfulness and humility. I have been basking in those words ever since. Not that we did anything special, but God has answered my prayers with opening Dawson's heart despite the chaos around him. He is an incredible little guy who has so much adventure up his sleeve but yet wants to cuddle the better part of the day. His contagious laugh and HUGE smile catches eyes every where we go. Today I appreciated those smiles and hugs more than ever.

Brunch Bunch has multiplied!

One of my favorite things about moving to Colorado Springs is experiencing Brunch Bunch with my college friends again. It used to be us with about one or two little ones to hold...now 14 kiddos are in tote (that's with 2 missing)! It was so much fun meeting Olive and Hazel, Becca's adorable twins as well as Krista's sweet Eliana. Oh and I went crazy when Marika opened the door wearing a pink shirt...meaning she is having a girl! What an amazing season of life sharing it with friends.

Glorious Valentine's Week

Wow, Valentine's week was filled with one wonderful thing after another. Grandpa and Grandma and us went to Keystone and we have never appreciated skiing by ourselves (just Paul and I) so much! Yes, a day date at the slopes...now that is a Valentine's date! We also had a blast as a family...we went to the children's museum which rocked. We also got all of the kids bundled and took 2 gondolas to get to a swiss restaurant on top of the mountain. What an adventure, but so fun. Paul and Dad got to ski one day as well as Mom puts on quite the Valentine's celebration! The kids had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa that they are still talking about it! It was a fantastic week...a Valentine's we won't forget!

Helmet Houges

Oh man, we thought for sure Zach was going to be sporting a helmet similar to Karis' due to torticolis. We didn't have a good experience with Karis' and my prayer was that somehow Zach wouldn't need one, but inside I thought that was impossible. His left side was so flat from always wanting to lie on it despite our valiant efforts. His pediatrician (the one besides his daddy) said she didn't know how we would get out of it either...so we had our first appointment with his physical therapist...I was dreading the day. She showed me some exercises to increase his right side movement and told me a few things to buy to assist his right side lying activities. She said we would watch his head measurements to make sure they are getting better, but don't expect anything to change for 3-6 months. That appointment was 2 weeks ago. This week's appointment brought incredible news! He has full range of motion on both sides and the difference of "head flatness" went from 10 mm to 5 mm!!! Can you believe it?! God answered prayers in a miraculous way...a way I totally didn't expect. Needless to say, a warm moose is the only thing that he will be wearing on his head!

Daddy-Daughter Dance

Paul took Elli to their first Daddy Daughter Dance last night. Elli was so excited as we had practiced all week dancing to Sinatra (but Dawson was her partner, while Paul was mine). Elli picked out her "up-do" from pictures I showed her on the computer, and she looked adorable. They had so much fun and Elli didn't want to go to bed because she wanted to tell me more and more about her evening. Elli is quite the dancer and what a special time...can we just keep her this age forever?!