Growing in size and in my heart...

Lindy had her first appointment with our 'regular' pediatrician today, up to this point we have been seeing a doctor that specializes in international adoption at our Children's Hospital... Unfortunately, we had to get her up to date on some vaccines, although our doctor was impressed that she has had many of the standard vaccines and really didn't have that much to catch up on! I was also anxious to see how much she has grown... it is harder for me to notice because I am with her everyday, but we have had some friends mention how much she is growing in a matter of a few weeks... they were right! She has grown an inch and gained 2.5 pounds since our medical appointment in Kenya. She is 50% for height and between 25-50% for weight.

Something I didn't think about was filling out the paperwork.... there was an entire section on family history and pregnancy and delivery... It brought me back to the thoughts of her very early days of life... what her birth mother must have been going through... the emotions involved in giving up your child after having gone through the pains of child birth... Evelyn (my oldest daughter) loves to watch the video of her own birth... the video starts out with me in a rocking chair about 3-4 days before she was born, we were watching my belly move around... fascinated by it, and then it follows us to the hospital, a brief section of moaning and groaning on my part and then the glorious presentation of this beautiful baby girl all covered in slime... and various wires and clamps all monitoring her heart rate and respiration rate and temperature and whatever else... And I think of my youngest daughter, with no glorious presentation into the world... no video documentation... I don't know if it was in a hospital or in a home... or who was present... there were probably no wires monitoring her vitals....We are grateful for the mercy of the Lord that allowed her to be brought to the Sisters, who cared for her and gave her the love she so desperately needed and deserved! And we are so thankful that this journey has led us to her! She is home and we are overjoyed!

A little something I have noticed is how my love for her has changed in the past week or so... I am not sure how to describe it, but it just feels like she has always been a part of me somehow. Don't get me wrong, I have loved her from the moment I saw her... even before, and the first time I saw her in our referral picture I knew God had ordained her to be ours... but lately, I have just had a deeper love for her; the love a mother has for HER child. Maybe it is partly due to the fact that I have been with her for seven weeks now and that initial love I had for her has grown. She is familiar, she is mine, she is a gift from God and I am forever grateful. She is what we have been waiting for... and boy, was it worth the wait!