Anna's first Christmas with her family

So I am waaaay behind on posting and I really need to do an update since Halloween, BUT for tonight I will just start with some of our Christmas happiness!!

Secrets with Santa



Anna with Mawmaw

Sisters!

Yep, what was I thinking...trying to get Christmas pictures......

Anna's first Christmas parade

Anna holding her Reece's Rainbow Christmas ornament.  A family that had made a donation

to her account before we committed to her, sent this Christmas ornament to us last year,

So last year she was on our tree and this year she was in our arms :)

These girls LOVE Santa...I think he had a good time too :)

Seriously, I don't know why I attempt this EVERY year...it NEVER works out!

NEVER!!!!

EVER!!!

Help Zechariah

Back during our families fundraising days I had several people contact me who wanted to help raise funds to help bring our Anna home.  One of these precious people was a lady named Erin who has an Etsy shop where she sells beautiful handmade Rosaries. She generously offered to donate a percentage of her sales to our adoption fund.  Now that Anna is home she is a Christmas warrior for a little boy named Zechariah who has Down syndrome, is LIVING in a hospital, and is also listed on Reece's Rainbow.  As I mentioned in the post below, the goal for the Christmas warriors are to help raise at least $1,000 toward that child's adoption grant.  Zechariah currently has $694 in his Christmas warrior fund! I am asking you if you could either make a donation straight to Zechariah's adoption grant or visit Erin's Etsy shop and make a purchase of her beautiful items and she will make a donation to Zechariah's grant! If you make a $35 or more donation to RR for Zechariah you will receive a beautiful keepsake ornament with his picture on it and you will also receive a tax deduction!  You can visit Erin's blog or her etsy shop to find out how you can help by donating to an orphan with Down syndrome this holiday season!! Click on Zechariah's photo below to make a tax deductible donation!

Update on our family

   

I realize I have been a slackard, LOL, but life is busy/crazy and I am just being lazy and haven’t blogged in a while. I want to update you on Miss Anna! She is still as sweet as can be, yet she is also a thorn in Ashlyn’s side most days too, LOL. Ashlyn is 12 and also has Down syndrome. She is used to being in her zone and is rather a loner and likes to play by herself. Anna is helping her to come out of this little by little. As soon as Ashlyn gets home from school, Anna instantly becomes her shadow. She is on her heels like stink on poop and it cracks me up! Anna believes that she is Ashlyn’s new mother and she must keep Ashlyn in line….they are such a riot! They are both VERY OCD about some things and that does drive me batty! Like the bathroom door MUST be shut at all times, whether someone is using it or not! If Ashlyn has to use the bathroom, then Anna thinks she must be present on this event too! They roll around in the floor and wrestle and sometimes it does get rough and I have to break it up. Anna also has the job of slapping Ashlyn around every day. I can be sitting in another room and I hear “SLAP” on skin and the next thing ya know you hear Ashlyn whining. Ashlyn WILL NOT SLAP HER BACK! I just don’t get it. The big ol’ 12 year old girl just sits there whining without retaliating…it’s the craziest thing!

All that you read above is the only major thing we are dealing with, with Anna. I have no horror stories (yet, LOL) of an adoption gone bad! She is the sweetest little monkey around and I am absolutely in love with this girl and I feel like she loves all of us as well. She is my little snuggle bug and I am eating it up, because my Ashlyn has suddenly grown up too much to sit around and kiss mama and love mama all the time like we used to and this makes me sad! I am home 4 days a week so while the kids are at school me and Anna get our lovey lovey bonding time. I seriously could eat her with a spoon! She is so stinking sweet and baby like when she is sleepy or going to sleep. She will lay her sweet little head on my shoulder and suck her thumb and I just sit there and soak up all of the love. It’s paradise….SERIOUSLY! I know that a lot of people who read blogs about adoption think that adoptive families only write about the good and not the bad, but not here!! The first paragraph above is about as bad as it gets and if that’s the worst thing she does, well I think she is doing all right!!! I think that our adoption was a match made in heaven and God couldn’t have picked a more perfect child to make our daughter. God is so good. Anna has adjusted to our family so perfectly that it’s almost unreal and unbelievable, but I swear it’s true!

When we were in Ru$sia adopting Anna, the orphanage director told us over and over how afraid she was that we were going to hurt Anna. You see in the eyes of the Rus$ians, they cannot understand why we would even want to adopt her because of her “disease” (Down syndrome). Thankfully on our 3^rd and final trip she realized that we did love Anna and that she was going to be fine being adopted into our family. I was so happy to hear her say this. This lady cried in court telling the judge over and over that she was so afraid to give her consent because she was scared that Anna was going to be hurt or killed. This really got to me. I sat there in court feeling so bad for this lady (and cried right along with her) because she was honestly afraid because she just could not comprehend why we wanted her. We promised her that we would send photos and updates of Anna and we have. I have already sent about 4 sets of photos to her email of our sweet Anna. I want this lady to *know* that Anna is loved and wanted. I want to prove to her that these children are not a *disease* and that they are worthy of being loved and having a family. I do not believe that God put these children on earth to be hidden away in mental institutions. These children are blessings from God, plain and simple. Well, after sending the 4^th set of photos of Anna, the orphanage director finally wrote me back. A wonderful Russian lady that I met in Moscow translated the letter for me. It was beautiful~

Hello Traci, Nastya and all your big family!

We enjoyed to look all of your pictures, she looks so growing up and happy.
We are very glad that our baby is doing so well in new country and with new parents. On the pictures we see that all members of your family take care of Nastya and do things that make her happy. Also it was interesting to see pictures of Halloween celebration and it looked like Nastya liked this celebration also, she looked very puzzled in this pumpkin patch!

Respectfully,

E

There. They finally get it! They enjoyed seeing her with her new family and that she is so happy and loved. She is wanted. This discarded little girl was chosen by her adoptive family because she has Down syndrome. She was abandoned by her birth family because of Down syndrome, BUT chosen by her forever family because she has Down syndrome. What a blessing she is to us. WE are the lucky ones!

No one has ever been adopted out of the mental institution that Anna came from. Ever. That’s why no one at the institution could comprehend why we were there and wanted to know “what we were doing there”. Two days after our court date another person showed up at this same institution to adopt one of Anna’s little friends. Ivan on Reece’s Rainbow has a mama coming for him. She met her sweet boy back in June and is still waiting on a court date to go back and rescue her son. Ivan’s mommy told me that she sat in the director’s office and the director started crying. She poured out her heart saying that she was so afraid of American’s adopting these children with disabilities. (this was before our final trip). But before his mommy left it was pretty obvious that she too had changed the heart of the director towards families wanting to adopt children with Down syndrome. How awesome is this? They are finally seeing that these children are special, loved, and wanted!! We don’t have any sneaky agendas for traveling all the way to Rus$ia to adopt our children. We just love them. Jesus loves them. *He* has laid it upon our hearts to rescue THE LEAST OF THESE. HE sent us half way around the world to seek and find his hidden treasures that are hidden away in mental institutions. *HE* is the reason that so many children on Reece’s Rainbow are finding families!!

Right now Reece’s Rainbow is having a HUGE fundraising event for the children with Down syndrome 5 years old and younger. They have what they call Christmas Warriors where individuals or families pick a child and try to raise at least $1,000 for their grants to give a kick start in the childs adoption funds. If you make a $35 or more donation to a child on the Angel tree at RR you will get a beautiful keepsake ornament with that childs picture on it. And as always, remember that your donation is tax deductible! All donations go to the child of your choice and will help the family who decides to make that child their son or daughter! Maybe for Christmas this year you could make a donation to a child in honor of one or your friends or family members that would help bring a child home to their forever family.

Here is the link! Please visit and look over all of the beautiful children who are desperate for a family of their own and make a donation to help make this possible for them! Thank you all and God bless you!

Grab This!

Down syndrome awareness month!

October is Down syndrome awareness month!!!  I think it's time to move Anna and her new life over to our family blog (that I totally neglected during our adoption)!  I will continue to use this blog for adoption awareness and for fundraising (which I plan to do) for waiting orphans listed on Reece's Rainbow.  Just click on the link below or the link on the right side column labeled "Loving Life", which I think totally sums it up to how Anna is now, and it will take you to our family blog!  I have posted some cute photos of Anna's first trip to the pumpkin patch as we tagged on along on her big sisters field trip!!!

Click on the photo to visit our family blog!!

Anna's friends :)



We met two of the sweetest Russian ladies this past week! They are two sisters from Moscow who now live in the USA! My sisters MIL knows one of them and told her about our adoption while we were in the process of adopting Anna. She lives out of state but was coming in for a visit and found out that Anna was finally home and wanted to meet her. She brought her sister who lives just a couple of cities away from us. It was the sweetest meeting! I had tears in my eyes as I watched them speak to her in Russian.  They also brought a Russian storybook and read to her and brought her gifts too! We went out for lunch and it was great hearing them talk about their culture and why Ru$sians believe some of the things they do, their customs, culture and their fears of people with disabilities. It’s all about education people…..education. That country is still living in the past when it comes to people with disabilities. Many of them have never even seen a person with disabilities (because they are hidden away in institutions at birth) so they are naturally curious (why we got the stare down in public) when they see people out in the community with disabilities. Many of the people are so uneducated that they fear they may get a disability just getting too close to someone who has one.

We also talked about orphanages in Ru$sia and how the orphans are treated. It is not pretty. One of the sisters helped out in an orphanage when she was in school and took two of the children “under her wings”. She said that the life of orphans are really sad (as we can imagine) and she talked about the harsh treatments that they endure. I told her that I could not imagine how they get the orphans with disabilities to be as “disciplined” as they are. She told me that it is really bad what they do to them and that I should just not even try to think about it; it is that bad. Our little Anna came to us with several scars on her little body that we have no idea how they happened. She has a couple on her stomach that look like she had some type of laparoscopic surgery, but the orphanage doctor assured me that she had never had any type of surgery. Our pediatrician thought the same thing when she saw Anna’s stomach. She has several scars on her body that have no explanations to go with them. When we took her out of the orphanage she had a big ol’ boo boo on her scalp that left a good sized scar too. I hate to even think about everything this tiny, precious little girl had to experience for her 6 years of living in an orphanage and then a mental institution.

I am so thankful that God made a way for us to bring Anna into our family and make her our daughter. I recently saw a picture of her biological mother on the internet and I just get so sad every time I think about her. She was so young, only 22 and married when she had her. She had no idea what to do with a baby with Down syndrome. I imagine the doctors at the hospital pressured her into leaving her baby at the hospital and sending her to the baby house where she lived the first 4 years of her life. Just two days after she was born, Anna’s mom and dad signed over their parental rights to their precious baby girl. They have no idea just how precious this little girl is. She looks just like her biological mother and I tell her that all the time! She is so cute, funny, playful, inquisitive, a copy cat, smarty pants, girly girl, wrestling tom boy and LOVING, all wrapped up in one little girl. Oh how I just love this girl of mine. Even though I love her to pieces and am so thankful to have her as my daughter, I am still so saddened that her parents will never know all of this about her. They will never know her BEAUTIFUL smile that lights up the darkest of rooms; the smile that takes up her whole face when she does it. They will never see the sweet little hands that are learning sign language, that make me smile every time she does it. They will never know the squashing bear hugs that she gives. They will never know the ability her strong little body has that reminds me of a gymnast. ( I have never seen anyone with DS with the strength and tone that she has-she really should be in gymnastics!) They will never see how cute she is when she puts her hands on her hips and starts to boogie to the music, no matter where she is, and how she taps along with her feet like she has already been in tap lessons, LOL. Her parents will never know how much LOVE this little girl has to give and that she never meets a stranger!

I pray for her parents and hope that one day they will somehow have peace and know that their beautiful daughter is loved and cherished. I cannot imagine the pain that must be in their heart, but I pray that peace and the love of God fills that void that they surely must have for their daughter.



Photos!!

Someone lost a tooth!

Can you see the little gap on the bottom row?

Please excuse the tape all over her face! She had a procedure at the

dermatologist that day to remove a wart type virus called Molluscum that she

had on various places on her body.  They are very contagious to small children and the dermatologist

recommended we treat them asap.

These pictures  crack me up.  You see, Anna has made herself Ashlyn's keeper.

She thinks that she is her mother and that she must keep Ashlyn in-line.

She also likes to dress her and Ashlyn doesn't mind because she is one lazy

12 year old girl who could care less about wearing clothes or shoes.

I think I like this cold, red stuff!!!!

Ohhhhh I saved the best for last!!!!

See my little brown haired beauty???  She is the main reason these two cute blondies both

found a family of their own now!  Anna is now Ashlyn's sister and the sweet baby boy in the photos with them is Quinton.  Quinton's mommy is Ashlyn's teacher!  She found a EE cutie of her own

when our blog led her to Reece's Rainbow too!!!  God is so good!!

Both of our families are so thankful for these treasures he has given us.



Four weeks home!!!

Wow! Anna and I have been home for four weeks today! The time has just flown by and it really doesn’t seem like it has been that long. I cannot describe to you just how well she has fit into our family. You would never know that this little girl had her whole world turned upside, moved half way across the world and joined a new family of her own in the last two months. If you didn’t know we had adopted her, you would swear I gave birth to her myself!! Anna is such a joy and has made our whole family so happy and proud and we love her to pieces.  Even the boys are giddy over her! My oldest son Spenser totes her all around the house on his shoulders all the time and acts like a big ol’ kid himself playing with her. Mason adores his little sister and Ashlyn is coming around! I think there will be a good chance that these two will be best buds before it is all over with. There is still a little jealousy between Ashlyn and Anna but it is nothing like we imagined because Ashlyn is typically one jealous girl! She does still hide the toys in the bathroom from Anna but she used to do that to the dog too, so don’t take it too personal Anna, LOL.


Anna is so happy and that beautiful smile of hers tells it all. She will just be sitting there and look up at you with the biggest most beautiful smile….makes me just want to eat her up!!! Anna is so easy to love.  She isn’t hard to please, but when she gets upset ….look out! She breaks out into a crippled walk where she bends her body to the side and walks around like she is crippled. The tears start falling BUT you do not hear a cry. It’s pretty sad and breaks my heart to watch her do this without a noise from her mouth. When she is upset she will go through all of the motions except the sound cannot/ will not come out. I don’t know if she never cried when she was upset in the orphanage because she knew no one would come or if she got in trouble for crying. I can’t quite figure this out. But when she gets hurt, like the million times she has fallen and hit her head (this makes me nervous) she SCREAMS and cries like a baby! How weird!?! She can’t cry out when she is upset but she does cry when she gets hurt. Crazy!

My sweet friends at work gave a me a surprise “big girl shower” yesterday for Anna. I am so blessed to have the friends and family (and strangers) that care so much about us and have helped us bring sweet Anna home and love her so much now that she is home.  Anna received lot’s of pretty clothes, shoes, baby dolls, a purse, toys, candy and money! Ashlyn got several gifts too. It was like Christmas last night when I got home with all of the bags of gifts!! Both girls dug into the bags and had a blast looking at all of the goodies!

We are so thankful for all of you that have helped us make this beautiful, sweet child our daughter! She really is a treasure and God couldn’t have hand picked a better daughter for our family than our sweet Anna!  I look at her beautiful face and need to pinch myself to make sure I am not dreaming......

Thank you God for this beautiful, precious gift!

I would like to post a comparison of Anna's picture last summer as an orphan and then photos of Anna this summer, an orphan NO MORE!!!  What a difference love makes!!!  We love you Anna!!!

Little Miss Anna has moved right into the Williams family and taken her place as the new household bully, LOL.  Her older sister Ashlyn isn't taking it too well.  She is used to dishing out the smack downs on the family and now someone has moved in and taken her place!! We were a little worried that Ashlyn might be a little rough with Anna but Anna can hold her own because SHE is the one issuing all of the smacks and pushing her siblings off the couch! Who does she think she is, Queen of the couch or something? She has politely taken Ashlyn's spot at the end of the couch closest to the TV and if you are in her spot, well look out...she will wedge her little 34 lb body behind you and boot you off!  I know it's bad, but she is hilarious  and too stinking cute and she knows it!  Anna really has moved right into the family so well, like she has known us all her life. I keep thinking, is this too good to be true? She doesn't appear to mourn her old life and she is one happy and LOVING little girl!!  She demands our hugs and kisses, not that we are holding out on her or anything.  You can't help but scoop her up and love on her all day long.  Oh and when she is sleepy and sucking her sweet little thumb.... I could just eat.her.up!!!!  I love to lay down with her when she is falling asleep, just like Ashlyn, you can just feel the love ooooozing out of her skin. What is it about kiddos when they are lying there all sleepy and lovey??? 

We went out to eat tonight with my stepmom Denise and her mom.  The two girls did not do well at the restaurant.  They were both just being very mischievous and showing their rear ends, which Ashlyn is known for doing, especially when Daddy is not with us!  Here are a few pics of the kiddos today~

Small update

I am so sorry that I totally forgot to post an update on Anna’s foot.  She does not walk with a limp anymore!  With all of the irritation and sores on her feet, one of the places was infected and sore and had “something” in it.  The sore has healed and she no longer walks with a limp! The poor girls feet were/are a mess. SCABIES is the diagnosis.  My heart just aches to think how long she has had those nasty little boogers biting away at her skin and oh how she has suffered from severe itchiness.  In July, YES July, they had her dressed in sock tights, long pants, undershirt and a shirt and I imagine all of that heat and sweating only made the itching worse.  She walks around scratching all over and is rashy all over because of scabies but her feet look the worst of all.  She even scratches her feet in her sleep.  Her feet are constantly rubbing each other in attempt to scratch at the ickyness that is biting away at her skin.  She and the rest of our family have been treated for scabies and the literature says that the itching can last up to 4 weeks even after the scabies are gone!!!!!!  I will be sending an email to our facilitator to get in contact with the orphanage director and the orphanage doctor because the doctor had told our facilitator that we were overreacting about her feet after we had taken her out of the orphanage. She said that we were silly and that it was just an allergic reaction.  To what????  They had no answer for that, but now we do! It’s scabies, not an allergic reaction!  I cannot even imagine how many children at that institution are walking around scratching and in misery and suffering from scabies as well.  All I can do is just hope and pray that they seek treatment for them and don’t just turn their heads to this issue.

We are home

and soooooooooooo thankful to finally be here!  I ended up getting strep throat the day before we left for home and have been trying to recover from that, jet lag, being gone for a MONTH and catching up on my family and life!  So for now you will get some pictures from the trip and hopefully you will get an update soon too!

Feeding chasing the birds

She did not like ice cream at first, but it didn't take long for her to finally enjoy it!

Anna loving on Katya, a wonderful Godly Russian woman that God placed in our path on our journey through Russia

Entertaining a few people at Red Square

Hanging with our new friend Gentry who is adopting Maria,

you can follow their journey at A family for Maria

This child would not fall asleep anywhere except her bed, until this day.....

I never thought it would happen!

A Down syndrome sighting in Russia! This little man lived in an apartment above the passport agency!

It's very rare to see someone out and about with Down syndrome, believe me, we got lot's of stares at our girl when we walked around the city.  They are not used to see people with disabilities out in the community, as they are typically shut away in mental institutions.  I honestly could not believe that this man lived in the community where we saw him.  It was a small community out in "the sticks", LOL. He was so funny. I was in the car waiting on our facilitator to pick up Anna's passport and he was waving and talking to me and he was such a hoot!