Tahlia got to meet her brothers and sister and cousins, aunts and uncles and nana and pop-pop and Grandma Pat yesterday via skype!! I took pics!! She knows how to wave “hi” and “bye”…..
SKYPE IS AWESOME!!!!
She certainly has a lot of family waiting to love all over her!!!!
**update on the kiddies at home: they are doing so wonderfully with nana and pop-pop….and, Nana and Pop-pop are doing an incredible job keeping them occupied with their cousins on lots of special -memory-making -Christmas activities. Besides eating all Aunt Amy’s food, they are all having fun!!! Thank God for grandparents and family who are so supportive and helpful! We miss them SO MUCH!!!!
click on the pic to see the whole album…
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| Tahlia day 2!! |
This morning, you should have seen us….we were all standing over her crib just calling her name, rubbing her back and excited to wake her up. It was about 8am and our guide, John, was getting ready to come pick us up to take us to the civil affairs office for our official adoption application. They wanted to see if, after having Tahlia for 24 hours, were we still interesting in keeping her?? Ummmm, YES!!!! FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER!!!!
Please pray for her precious broken heart…she is grieving hard. But, its a good thing, she needs to be able to express her sadness. She was obviously loved on and attached to her nanny, and her grief shows us that she knows how to “love and be loved” which is not something many orphans know how to do. Believe it or not, this will….down the road, make her attachment to us that much stronger. But, regardless….its still so hard to watch your little girl’s heart hurting. Very hard.:(
She woke up and looked right at us (realizing that it wasn’t all a dream) 
and just broke out in a mess of tears…for many sad minutes. But, thank God she let mommy comfort her and then we got her to take a bottle.
This girl, she is amazing…instead of squeezing it into her mouth like last night. She took it from me, adjusted it in her mouth and laid it in the corner….and she just sucked the whole thing down. She wanted to show momma how’s it done!!! The best part is that she gazed into my eyes while doing it…..ahhhhhh.
We then drove back to the civil affairs office to complete all necessary paperwork to officially adopt her! Oh Happy DAY!!!
We were there for over 2 hours and Tahlia did awesome! She cried each time we changed rooms and she is afraid of elevators. But, each time she let us soothe her! She loves watching other kids and even shared a toy with a little girl….she’s going to love meeting all her siblings and cousins at home!!:)
Isabella really enjoys holding her and playing with her….Tahlia REALLY loves and adores her sister. Its a precious thing to watch….and, Isabella is in heaven!
Then, we picked up some items at the local grocery store which is an education in an of itself! Thank God for John!
Finally, we arrived back at the hotel and got to skype with papa Buddy! She then ate some congee (so happy that she is eating for us, answer to many prayers!!!) and fell asleep on momma’s chest after a few tears…..grief is a hard thing to watch your baby go through.:(
She is now sleeping, nice and cozy on our big ol’ bed….what a heavenly sight!!
Here are some videos from yesterday!
So amazing! It breaks my heart to see her, the same age and size as Haley, an orphan until yesterday and yet my heart soars when I see Isabella's smile and the three of you hold her tight and delight in her little successes… what a blessing, for her and for you. Praying you through another day with Tahlia, amazed!!
Oh Johanna, the tears flowed as I looked at the pictures! so beautiful to see you all bonding together and see her with you!! So precious!!
Oh Johanna, I love her! What a precious baby girl, a perfect blessing from God. It will just get better and better! Sending lots of love from Baltimore!
Sweet sweet beautiful baby. You're loved by so many already
I teared up when your daughter, Bella said how much she loved her and that she was a blessing. It melted my heart. She didn't just get parents; she got an entire family! From the videos it seems you all are doing a wonderful job letting her get used to the new faces. Thank you so much for sharing them with us!! She is a beautiful baby!
oh how I love these videos!!! reminds me so much of my emery when we met her! what a little sweetie pie! she fits your arms so well and I love seeing how she lets you hold and comfort her! what a strong and dear little lady!!
I am so happy for all of you! I did want to say it took our little girl about 4 mnths to really warm up to daddy. Now they are so cute together. Like you said all she knows are nannies. Please tell John we said hello he was also our guide when we were there in June,he was great! Do you know if you are going to get to visit the orphanage? Ginger