Referral-versary!!!!!

It's been one whole year since I saw this sweet face for the first time. Can you believe it?!! I sure can't. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was surprised and shocked, and totally ready to begin the wait to bring her home. We studied her picture for countless hours. (she still, to this day, does the confused eye brow look when you bust out a camera!) That's my baby!
Seeing her face for the first time in my email was intoxicating! The sad part was is that I couldn't wait for Chad to open it up with me! I told him that I would wait but, he told me to go ahead. I tried sending it to his phone but no avail. I was the first to see her. Then the boys. They were excited and proud to finally be big brothers.

We went over her file with a fine-toothed comb when Chad came home from work that night. We fell in love with her immediately. Hook. Line. And Sinker.

There was a little part to her background that made us worry a bit. Nothing big. Nothing alarming, but we did wonder. What if? We talked about that 'blip' many times over the night and throughout the weekend. Satan really dug in his heals and made us fear. He tried to make us give up on her. But we couldn't. We couldn't let her go. She was ours.

So we took a leap of faith, and accepted Monday morning. It was done, she was ours and we prayed endlessly that the 'blip' would be non-existent. So far, we have yet to see any implications of the 'blip.' Not one.

It helped us to realize how faithful God is, and how grateful we are that we took that leap. She was meant to be in our family. From the beginning, she was meant to be ours. May the glory be to God, because He is the only one who is responsible.

One year. How time flies . . .

Final Finalization and Molars

WOW. It has been a looonnnggg time since I posted. I wish I could say that something MAJOR has kept me from blogging, but truthfully, nothing really has. Time has just flown by, as usual.

First things first, we got our Finalization date! Almost a year to the day that we sent our acceptance to AAC! It's Friday, November 5th! YAY! I really didn't look at this date, in the beginning of the process, as something special. I guess I just had my 'eye on the prize' of just getting her home. Now, I really view it differently. It's the end and a beginning. It's the end of the process, paperwork and the end of waiting. It's the beginning of her life with us. Her name will legally change, and she is all ours! She's been ours and has been with us for four months, but it will be legal and final. We will still need to get her a passport, and Certificate of Citizenship, but the 'adoption' part is pretty much over, come November 5th. Yipeeeeee!

In the last two Progress Reports, I have put that Joye is teething, but no physical evidence has erupted yet. (I wonder if they actually believe me that she is actually teething) Well, I am happy to report that those nasty molars have finally made their way to the top. Although we haven't seen the white's of their pearly being, they are almost through the gum. However, we have three more to go. Just the lower right has made it's way home. I am so looking forward to more fevers and clingy-ness for the next three. Not really.

We also celebrated Joye turning 17 months old (on the 2nd of October) in my blogging absence, AND being home for 16 weeks. Our four-month mark will be on the 16th of October. Can't believe it.

I have also been working on our "Journey to Joye" video and taking recent pictures for that. It's been fun to see the pictures of us first together and the pictures of us now. I will *hopefully* have that done soon, but no promises.

We've had progress in the walking department! Joye has taken 11 steps to date, and is getting stronger and more stable. She still has days where she crawls the majority of the day, and walks a few steps. But then there are days when she tries and tries and tries and gets herself all worn out. LOVE IT! She's sleeps better on those days. :)

She's getting more verbal and expressive with her words and we see the 'wheels turning' all the time. Her progress is more visible each day.

There are days when she thinks that she's in charge and that we are all here to serve her. Those are the fun days. Then there are days when she is just sweet as pie. I seemed to have forgotten the wonderful seasons of Toddler-hood. Or maybe I just blocked them out. I can't recall what happened to those blessed memories. :)

Otherwise we have just been hanging out, doing school and enjoying the nice fall weather. Buckling down for the ever-present existence of winter approaching. Yuck.