Three Months Home!

We have been home with Jaelynn now for three months. It's hard to believe that all of the months of anticipation are finally over and we are trying to settle into a routine as a family of six. Jaelynn is doing marvelous and continues to amaze us. She is funny, smart, stubborn, sensitive and so much more.

We took Jaelynn to The Magic Kingdom as a late Christmas gift and she loved it. She is in love with the Disney princesses and is collecting as many of the dolls as she can. She knows just the people to ask to buy these things for her too. She has decided that her daddy and I can buy her Belle and her nanny and papa will buy her Cinderella and Tiana. 

She loves to go with her siblings to the park and see the turtles in the pond and to swing. She has started to stay in Sunday School without me and is loving it and I am actually enjoying it too. She is learning and enjoying singing with the other children songs about God and how He loves her.

A couple of weeks ago we were able to attend the "Empowered to Connect" conference with Dr Karyn Purvis. So much valuable information and a great time with other adoptive parents. We were also able to meet several of the staff from Show Hope. So many of these people had prayed specifically for our little girl.  

We are in the midst of seeing several specialist and scheduling surgeries to help Jaelynn with some of her challenges. She is scheduled for surgery next week on both feet, ankles, and one hamstring. This surgery should make it possible for her to wear shoes (probably with braces). She has requested a pair of light up shoes! She will be in casts for several weeks, which should be interesting. Following this surgery we will meet again with a neurologist and a spine doctor and will likely have some surgeries in the future for other issues. 

Having three children prior to Jaelynn who are totally healthy has made this process of evaluations and hearing what the doctors say harder than I imagined. It has been a whole new level of stress that I knew would come, but on many days it leaves me feeling inadequate and relying more and more on The Lord for strength. Please pray for our family as we tread these new waters and that we would be able to provide Jaelynn with everything she needs. 

We are as certain as ever that God chose Jaelynn to be our daughter and are honored to fill that role. As most know doing what God calls us to do is not always easy. Though the last couple of months have been full of joy, excitement, and love there have also been many times of worry, anxiety, and fear over everything from Jaelynn's  health needs, to wondering if we are parenting our adopted daughter "the right way", to finances, BUT God is good and continues to be faithful in everything.  Thank you to everyone who has and continues to encourage and pray for us along the way. God used the prayers of people like you to bring this incredible little girl to her forever family!