Springtime Family Fun

I realized that I haven't posted to this blog for a few weeks. Life has just been moving on, as busy as ever. We made it through Gabriella's first Easter with us -- complete with an Easter Egg Hunt in the rain. We were pulling into the church parking lot and Miles turned to me and said, "You brought an umbrella, right?" Oops! I remembered the Easter basket and the camera. At least we all had hoods on our jackets!

On Easter Sunday we went to church and then drove to Sandpoint to have lunch with Miles' family. It was the first time for Gabby to meet her Uncle John, Aunt Michelle and 2 cousins -- Nichole and Angela. It was a very busy day and Gabby and I both fell asleep almost instantly when we got in the car to come back home.



I am so excited because Gabby is learning to love books and reading time. When she first moved in, I couldn't get her to sit through even one book at bedtime. Now the library is one of her most favorite places, and she can sit and listen to me reading for a half an hour or more. When I can't sit down and read to her, she'll even sit and "read" through the books herself. She LOVES Dr. Seuss books and we are slowly reading through every one we can get our hands on. So one night last week Miles thought it would be fun to have green eggs and ham for dinner. It kind of psyched us out to eat these nasty-looking eggs, but it was a fun dinner. Gabby thought it was really funny, so it was well worth it.



We bought Gabby a bike and when the weather is nice, she is learning how to ride -- slow, but sure!



We feel like we are still on a sharp learning curve in parenting a child with attachment problems. She definitely keeps us on our toes, and daily we pray for wisdom in how to respond to her in a way that will make her feel safe and learn to trust and bond with us. She still seeks out strangers to try and provide for her, pick her up, give her affection, etc. But we know that this is not because she doesn't love us, but because it is scary to trust us when she has already lost 2 other "families" in her short life. Thankfully we have the support of a wonderful counselor who is doing some good, yet hard, work with us and Gabriella together.

There are still days I look at her and think, "Wow, she is my daughter." God is so faithful to us and I am humbled by this little girl He lovingly brought to us.