Ear Piercing, Scruffy, Random Pictures and Thoughts

 

Bethany and Ruthie's one-year post adoption reports were due in January.   We managed to finish the reports at the last possible minute.  Yeah!  But not quite -  that night at around 9pm, we got a call from our adoption agency saying that our reports were missing a recent family picture!     So we scrambled to gather all the kids and took a quick family picture, in our pajamas!    LOL  

We had a family Valentine's Day this year.  We took all the kids to Basket Robins for ice cream that night.

Sam and Ben

Faith insisted she wants her ears pieced.   So I took her to our pediatrician Dr. Huang.

Ouch! That was painful!  But in her tears, she insisted she wanted to do the left ear also.  Ok, let's do it.

  

All done.  There is a pretty smile again.      

We got her a new pair of sandals for Easter this year.  She tried on the entire Easter outfit the night before, and took a picture of herself through the mirror.    Umm... my little angel is growing up fast.

This is Scruffy.   Scruffy is with us now every Tuesday.    I want our girls to feel comfortable to be around dogs, because eventually Bethany will likely be using and depending on guide dogs.   But we really can't have the responsibility of caring for a dog now.   So our friend Ms. Cathy kindly lends us her dog every Tuesday.   And we LOVE Scruffy.    Pearl is such a natural with animals.  She fell in love with Scruffy right away.   Ruthie is doing less screaming around Scruffy, and she would even kiss him now.   Bethany has come a long way, and is more willing to pat him now.  

"My dog and I"- Pearl and Scruffy waiting for Faith's school bus home.

Bethany is learning the alphabets at school.     I try to put Braille labels all over our house to expose her to Braille as much as possible.    One of the things I did was to put the girls' names in Braille on each of their chairs.   Every time Bethany comes for her meal, I would ask her to find her chair by touching the labels.     Recently, she really began to get it, and almost all the time she would find her chair.   I am not very sure how she distinguished the different names (she doesn't quite know her alphabets yet), but that tells me she knows the difference in the four names.  And I am so excited about it. 

Braille is actually so much fun.   We all enjoy learning it.   Faith can read most Braille letters.  Pearl is catching up fast.   Well, they will probably make very good Braille-Print transcribers when they grow up!  Lol....   Here are the girls' names in Braille (faith, bethany, pearl and cc (Ruthie's nickname).   Would you like to give it a try?

They went to see Cherry Blossom with a group of friends.   It was just a bit too early - they did a lot of walking around DC that day, but didn't see much blossom.   We'll try again next year!    LOL

Lord, thank you that your mercy is new everyday.   Help me to remember everyday - "You Are I Am"

"I've been the one to shake with fear
And wonder if You're even here
I've been the one to doubt Your love
I've told myself You're not enough

I've been the one to try and say
I'll overcome by my own strength
I've been the one to fall apart
And to start to question who You are

I've been the one held down in chains
Beneath the weight of all my shame
I've been the one to believe
That where I am You cannot reach

You're the one who conquers giants
You're the one who calls out kings
You shut the mouths of lions
You tell the dead to breathe
You're the one who walks through fire
You take the orphan's hand
You are the one Messiah
You are I am
You are I am

The veil is torn
And now I live with the Spirit inside
The same one, the very same one
who brought the Son back to life

Hallelujah, He lives in me
Hallelujah, He lives in me"