Almost One Year...

I can't believe we've been home with Dasha almost a year. I just Fed-Exed our application for our 12 month postplacement report and couldn't believe that this time last year we were waiting to find out when we'd be able to go back to pick Dasha up and bring her home. What a merry Christmas this is going to be!

In the last year, Dasha has grown 4 inches, learned to speak English (sometimes too well!), been to the ocean for the first time, had her first pony ride, her first birthday, her first Christmas tree....wow, it's amazing how all of our lives have changed! I am so blessed to be her mama and be able to watch her grow!

Dasha riding a pony at the Old Time Fair

Our little ladybug on Halloween

Our baby is three years old! She loved her Dora cake!

Dasha loved helping to decorate her first Christmas tree. She hung all her ornaments on one branch!

Apple Picking and other stuff

Sorry it's been 2 months since our last post, chasing a two and a half year old takes up most of my time these days! So here's a quick update for our friends and family still following our blog. I'll try to do better with updating more often. Dasha's birthday and Christmas are just around the corner so we should have lots of pics to share in the coming months.

School is back in full swing and Dasha is loving her new preschool. Since August we have been apple picking and to the Old Time Fair at Chris' work. Dasha got to ride a horse and she loved it! Dasha goes to Tumblebus at her preschool every Tuesday and I may be biased but we may have a budding Nastia Liukin on our hands! The jumping and flipping is great for her energy level, she's quite an active little girl.

I'll post again soon with more pics from Halloween, the horse ride and her school picture.

One Year Ago

It was one year ago today that we received the call that would change our lives in ways we didn't even know yet. Standing in the middle of the teacher store, my cell phone rang and when I answered, our family coordinator said she getting Chris on the line and then that she had good news for us, a referral for a little girl born on December 5, 2005 named Darya and that she was beautiful. We raced home to see her pictures that were emailed to us. I could not get home fast enough! Then, since we have dial-up, we couldn't get the pictures to open fast enough either. So we went to my mom's house to tell her we had pictures of her grandaughter and we needed to use her computer to open them. She was thrilled! I will never forget the first moment that I saw the top of her head, then her eyes, then her little nose, and her perfect cute little mouth as the picture opened. She was ours, we knew immediately that we would be meeting our daughter soon and that she would be with us forever.

We love you Dasha!

My, How My Baby Has Changed

It's hard to believe how much Dasha has changed since we met her last September. Here are a few pictures showing how much she's changed, she hardly looks like the girl we met on our first trip and her personality has changed so much too. She was a sad, angry little girl when we first got her and now she is a giggly, happy little girl. I am so proud of how well she has adapted to her new life, what she's been through would cripple most adults and she has thrived. I love you Dasha and I'm so proud of you!

Trip One- Sept. 2007
Trip Two- Jan.2008

Home 1 month- March 2008

Home 5 months- July 2008
By the way, our first postplacement report arrived and has been apostilled and Fed-Exed back and should be on its way to translation in Russia. We took Dasha with us to get the report apostilled. I think the ladies in the Secretary of the Commonwealth's office enjoyed meeting her!

Six Month Post Placement Visit

I can't believe we have already been home with Dasha almost 6 months. We had our 6 month postplacement visit on July 3rd (we have three more to go--12 months, 24 months, and 36 months). It was surprisingly painless, just a lot of questions about Dasha's adjustment and how we felt she was doing. The social worker looked at Dasha's room, but did not inspect the whole house the way she did for the homestudy. It only took about 45 minutes for the whole visit. Finally, a Russian adoption related event that was actually easy! (Although, maybe I should not say that yet, since we still have to get the report and have it apostilled to send to AWAA!)

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day! I wish you a day enjoying the freedom allowed by our country and the freedom that only comes from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Cherry Cobbler

Last weekend our cherry tree in our backyard fell over, so we had to pick the cherries that day. I picked enough to make a cherry cobbler, which turned out delicious! Dasha loved helping pick the cherries and eating the cobbler. We were getting ready to share a bowl of cobbler a few days ago when a friend of ours came to the door. I went to put the cobbler on the stove so we could answer the door and when I did, Dasha ran after me yelling, "Mama, share! Mama, share!" I think she thought I was going to eat it all by myself. It was so funny! I guess she really is learning what sharing means and she wanted to be sure I was going to share with her!