One month

One month ago today we signed the papers and Renee became our daughter! Today was an amazing day! Sunday thru Thurs. were tough days. We had food wars and meltdowns and adjustment having a two year old was just plain hard. I was discouraged. Then I read a face book post: "This is not an option, but a COMMAND!!! 'Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.' Joshua 1:9" It is a command to not be discouraged. I took it to heart. It finally was warm enough this morning to take Renee outside. I borrowed my friends jogging stroller and off we went! I have not gone for a run since before China. It felt so good! We stopped at a park and played just the two of us. It started to rain just a little before I got home. It smelled like rain! What a wonderful smell!!
When we got home Renee wanted me to paint her toe nails. I had painted mine yesterday and she shook her head no when I asked her if she wanted hers done. Today she was ready. Here are our toes!

There were no wars today. Just fun and relaxing as a family. I needed this to recharge my batteries. Thanks God!!


Renee understands so much that we say to her and her list of words that she can say is growing by the day. Here are the ones I can remember: toes, bye bye, night night, eat, tired, potty, water, coat on, shoes, bird, done, please, we think she is saying one of her brothers names(Daniel) otherwise it is guh, guh(this is Chinese for older brother. Problem is that she calls all four by this name. We are never sure who she is wanting.), baby(she also calls her baby dolls May May; which is Chinese for younger sister), Roco(That is our dog's name) and yesterday my youngest son had a tuna sandwich and said very loudly, "Tuna," Next thing I know Renee is saying tuna!
She doesn't like TV very much, but guess what her first show was that she sat glued to the TV? American Idol!!

We have our first post placement tomorrow and needed a few more pictures of her and us together.

And just for Annette here are some random pictures!!

My girl is a meat eater. A close second is her rice. She was very happy this meal. Meat and rice!! Which do I eat first? Let's just eat them both at the same time. A spoon for one hand and a fork for the other! Too cute!

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