Anna's 4th Bday

I know. I am desperately behind on blog posts. Between school (the Davis family is ready for summer!), and building our house (yay!), and packing (yuck!), and getting the house ready to put on the market, I'm happy to get one post done a month. But I definitely wanted to let everyone know how Anna's birthday went. Last year she had only been home a few months when she turned three, and she just wasn't ready to party so we kept it very low key. This year, we didn't go overboard (okay, maybe a little), but we sure did have a big family party, and the birthday girl had a great time. Her big gift was a kitchen set . . . which took me approximately 4 hours to put together. It probably would've taken longer, but Patrick came to my rescue about halfway through. Miss Anna also got an entire summer wardrobe from her grandparents and great-grandparents, great aunt, and aunts, uncles, and cousins. Overall, she had a fantastic birthday!

These first four photos are from the morning of Anna's birthday. As you can see, it was super early (still dark out), and we're not exactly morning people around these parts. But we wanted her to get her gifts before she went to school for the morning so not so bright and early it was!

All of these are from Anna's birthday party. It was a beautiful day for a beautiful girl!

Her serious, mean face ... she thinks it's really funny.

Do you see all those clothes on the table? She is the best dressed girl in Texas.

My wonderful grandmothers.

I tried and tried to get a picture of the three of them together, but they wouldn't all look at the camera at the same time. Still, I thought this one was sweet.

After cake, and presents, and playing, Miss Anna went into her room and got in her rocking chair and covered up. She was exhausted and done with the whole party thing.

These past 17 months have been a time of amazing growth and bonding and change. They have stretched all of us in no small way. We've learned to trust in God more than ever. Sometimes people (doctors, therapists, social workers) remind me (usually in their evaluations) of the fact that Anna is, as one person put it, "significantly delayed", but I'll be completely honest, I no longer look at that. I no longer see that. Because you have to realize that this little girl is not the same terrified, hungry, infantile little girl we brought home. Maybe she is "significantly delayed" in the eyes of the world, but I like to stop and remind people of all she's done and learned since coming home. She's physically caught up in both height, weight, and developmental ability . . . she could hardly walk at pick up. She understands everything you say and if she has the mind, can follow directions quite well. She also has close to 100 words in her vocabulary, is trying to put two words together, knows almost all animals and the sounds they make, knows all her colors, numbers 1-10, shapes, and most of the alphabet, and can pick up and remember almost any song she hears. She has an amazing ear for music, and that's not just the mom in me talking. This is the same little girl that was completely nonverbal at pick up . . . not even a babble could be heard out of her. There are things we are working through. Obviously, therapy and school will continue on, and she also struggles with hypersensitivity to certain kinds of noises. But as I said before, all of us, are working with her to be able to overcome the things that currently slow her down (and it's not much).

As always, I would be remiss to not thank everyone who has walked this road and prayed for and supported us. And also as always, your prayers continue to be coveted. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!