May and June Recap

May and June have been busy months, so here is a picture recap!

May

Vacation in Cancun

 Sailing on the catamaran

 Eating yummy tacos

 Tubing at Xel-Ha with her tia

 Brielle has been working hard at therapy! One of her favorite activities is riding the tricycle

 The best part of summer is spending lots of time on the boat!

 Hosting a rainy memorial day with all our friends

We went up to Dahlongea for my birthday, and got to use our awesome Osprey pack. 

June

 Loving family time in our new house

Friend weekend at the lake. Nora loved swimming! 

Brielle has achieved an important milestone of stacking blocks.  

She also spent her first week at 'Grammy Camp', while Mommy was taking a class to finish her masters.  

 Nothing says summer like pizza and cupcakes at the pool.

 The slip-n-slide is also a new favorite.

Fun Sunday lunch playing with the cousins. So fun to have family live close!

Brielle has made some great progress in the last few months:

• She has taken a few independent steps, and is gaining confidence in her walking everyday. 
• She is getting close to using a fork by herself, and has mastered the spoon.
• She is getting her own adaptive tricycle, so she can ride while we go on our evening walks. Not only will the trike strengthen her legs, but it will also help with brain connectivity.
• She has gotten a body compression suit called Theratogs. It helps calm her system, and also helps with brain connectivity. 
• The biggest victory is that Brielle has started using two 'words'. This is a huge deal because we weren't sure if she would ever understand how sounds can have meaning. She has started saying 'mo' for more, and 'hep' for help. Most people might not be able to understand her words, but we know what she is trying to say!

It is hard to believe that we will have been a family for a whole year in August. Our little girl has amazing progress, and we are so blessed to be her parents. Thanks for your support and prayers!

March and April

It has been a crazy two months, and I have not sat long enough to write my monthly blog update. March and April have been very busy months for us as we started a new adventure as homeowners!

We started looking at houses when Scott got a new job in January. I know a lot of families deal with a commute but it was NOT working for Brielle. She was used to having her daddy 24/7, so him getting home at 7 was really hard for her. We closed on our house in the beginning of March, and moved the last weekend in March. It was a whirlwind month of packing, driving back and forth, therapy, and Brielle's birthday!

Her birthday was March 27th and we moved March 28th. As much as I wanted to throw her a big party I knew it was not in the books this year. So I thought about her favorite things, and that became her party: balloons, Chick-Fil-A, friends and cupcakes. It was low key, and just right for our sweet 4 year old. She had a blast and was asleep 5 minutes into the drive home.

Scott's parents came to visit right after we moved, and were a huge help painting. We painted our dining room ceiling, and whole master bathroom. We had the rest of the house painted before we moved in, so it was nice to check our final painting projects off. Then my parents came the next weekend, and helped us wallpaper the dining room. All we have left is to hang pictures!

Brielle has been making great progress lately. She is using her signs pretty consistently, even though she does mix up which ones to use from time to time. Now the struggle has been having her understand that she doesn't always get what she wants just because she is signing. Brielle has done pretty well with the move, and loves her big girl room. She has started standing independently for a few seconds at a time, and cruises along all the furniture to get around.

In OT she has mastered her first puzzle and a stacker toy, which are both developmental milestones. She loves the ball pit and the swing the most. PT is not her favorite, but we are seeing the results at home.

Last Friday we had her IEP test with the Paulding county schools. She will be starting their special needs Pre-K in the fall. She does really well in Sunday School, so we know  she will be ready for school. She will also receive PT, OT and speech at school.

Yesterday we got her AFOs (ankle-foot orthodics), and she really likes them! She likes things that squeeze, so she doesn't mind wearing them. She already is standing much better, and is working up the courage to take those first independent steps!

We still enjoy our sweet girl every day, but she is certainly a stubborn toddler. We have to be consistent in discipline, and the temper tantrums are fierce when she is told no. But she has become so much more aware of her surroundings and wants to help with everything from vacuuming the house to putting away laundry to feeding the dogs. She has come such a long way in just 8 months. Praise the Lord for all the healing He has done in her life!

Thank you for all your continued prayer and support!

Christmas...The time of expectations

Our daughter's first Christmas...words that held a lot of expectation. She may have celebrated Christmas in the orphanage, but we will never know. She didn't have anything to bring from their, so it's safe to say she had never received any gifts. Christmas is a time of of family traditions, celebration, and laughter. Or at least that was my expectation. We tried to keep our gifts to a few, but I kept finding more and more things I just knew my daughter would love.

Here is how our Christmas went:
We went to church on Christmas Eve, just like we've always done. Our service was at 4:30, which is prime playtime for our child. So that is what she did. Laughed and played during the service. Not exactly the peaceful service I had pictured.

Then we went to Chinese for dinner. My family has always gone to a Chinese restaurant on Christmas Eve. It's an odd tradition, but I wanted to carry it on. All she ate was french fries.

All I wanted to do before she went to bed was read the Christmas story from Luke 2. She screamed so loud the entire time that Scott had to start over twice.

Christmas morning she was up bright and early at 6:30...the child who normally sleeps until 8. Scott went to get ready to video her reaction to the Little Tykes play set we built in the living room. She screamed because she wanted to go with Daddy, but I kept her in the bed room. The end of her temper tantrum is caught on video, and she just goes still when she sees the playground. Then promptly scoots back to her room to play with her beloved car.

Although everyone was excited for her to open her gifts she was overwhelmed by the attention, and mostly screamed when ripping open the paper. Then chose to play with the boxes and bags.

I am not saying all of this because we had a bad Christmas. We truly had a wonderful Christmas, and my heart was full just having my daughter here with us. I don't know that I could have endured another year without her stocking on the mantle. The expectations for Christmas were mine, not hers. She had a great time getting to know all her family better. She got lots of attention, was read lots of books, and received lots of love. And that is what mattered to her. Now we're slowly reintroducing some of her gifts, and she loves them. She plays everyday with her play set, and got brave enough to slide by herself today.

I learned that Christmas with an adopted child is best when expectations are set to the side. (Or maybe all children, but this is my first experience). Next year my goal is to just soak in the time with family, buy less toys, and check my expectations at the door.

Got to finally see the Sanjines family in the US!

Christmas in Virginia with the Hamilton Family

Christmas Eve...Our first nativity!

Christmas morning

 Christmas Day with the Dunton Family

Hiking with the family

Week 8 in Bogota, the last one!

Even though we are home I wanted to recap our final week in Bogota.

Monday: We all went up to the court with the promise of Sentencia. It is a lot of work to get Brielle ready to leave the house at 7 (she is NOT a morning person), and then drive an hour through traffic. We sat for a few hours, and then were simply told that it wasn't ready, and to come back at 8am the next day. The place where Brielle lived was a special orphanage for children with special needs called the Foundation. It was near the courthouse, so we decided to go visit. It was in Strato 1, which is the poorest area. Everyone was so happy to see Brielle, and everyone wanted to hug and kiss on her. It was nice to see how loved she was there. She was happy to see everyone, but preferred being held by Daddy. 

With some of the workers including her caretaker, Margarita. 

 Her friend Jon was so excited to see her!

Jon, Sarai and Brielle, best buds!

 This was her special friend, Juanita, from the older kids room. 

 She was worn out from her visit. 

Tuesday: I went back to the court first thing in the morning by myself to sign the Sentencia. It wasn't done being written, so we were told to come back at 2pm. I opted to wait with my lawyer at La Casa instead of driving all the way home. I talked to the kids there while I waited, and practiced English with them. When we got back the Sentencia was done, but the judge was in court so he never signed. Told to come back, and everything would be ready by 8am sharp.

Wednesday: I go back to the court again (it was a blessing that I got to go alone), and the Sentencia was ready around 9am for me to sign! Then my lawyer signed, but we still had to get the defender of minors to sign. We went up to the office and our defender had been sick for a month. My attorney had a friend in the office, but she refused to sign because of the extra work our lady was causing by being out sick. So then another guy said if my attorney could find his son a job he would sign, and so it was done! After more craziness with months printed incorrectly, and waiting for more people to sign Gabrielle was legally our daughter! So then we raced off to the notary to get the new birth certificate, and then off to the passport office to get her passport. Wednesday night we wanted to go celebrate by eating a nice Italian restaurant called Archies, and we got caught in a torrential downpour. Brielle loved running through the rain, and we ended up eating spaghetti at home. 

Our official family photo! (not easy to get a three year old to pose)

Thursday: I went back early to pick up her passport, and then we scanned it to the US Embassy and the the Embassy doctor. Our rep had informed the Embassy earlier in the week that we would need an appointment Friday in order to fly home Saturday, so we were cutting it close. In the afternoon we walked to the doctor's office to get her medical packet, and had dinner at Sopas y Postres. It was delicious!

This girl loves to eat!

Friday: We headed out for the Embassy around 11am, and when we got there they were calling "Familia Hamilton" over the loudspeaker. We rushed in to find the place empty. It turns out that the Embassy was closed for an administration day, but they made a special appointment for us! God is so good! We were interviewed by the same guy who I spoke with on the phone months before, and he said that they are always excited to help complete adoptions. We went to the mall for one last lunch before going back to pick up her official visa. It all went so smoothly! Finally, we were ready to come home!

Our wonderful rep, Martha! She made the process so smooth!

 Dinner at Archie's with our friends Sam & Brian.

Saturday: We were up bright and early to get to the airport! Brielle LOVED flying, and behaved so well the whole time. It was wonderful to have so many family and friends meet us at the airport, and finally eat some Chick Fil A! We had a wonderful time in Bogota, but it is so nice to be home!

Breakfast picnic-last time for Juan Valdez (great Colombian coffee!)

Loving the airplane! She laughed and laughed during take off!

Finally back in the US! So blessed to be home as a family of three!

We'll still keep the blog updated with Brielle's progress, and how she is adapting to life at home! We truly cannot thank everyone enough for all the support and prayers that you have provided during this adventure. We are so excited to have our girl home!