Six years of spicy

When a family expands, there are growing pains.  We have learned through experience that adding a new personality to the mix changes the dynamic.  

One thing that can be a particularly challenging aspect of growing a family through adoption is when the new member comes home at an older age.  Suddenly you've got a tiny human with a full blown personality trying to figure out what being in a family even means, let alone understanding family guidelines and boundaries while not speaking a common language.  

In the beginning it's often a great big beautiful mess.

September 2, 2013 was one of those colorful, crazy days.  I find that I can't look back at Nat's Gotcha Day pictures without getting emotional. Just shy of four years old, our spicy one had no idea what was going on...but I know her well enough now to see that she knew it was far, FAR beyond her normal. The look of uncertainty in her eye that day slays me. We were in the room with several other families and suddenly she walked into the chaos, unsure of herself and her surroundings. We learned later she had never even seen a photo of a Caucasian...(the care package we sent never arrived at her orphanage) my poor baby girl.

And then I look at her today. There is an air of confidence about her. Her natural inclination is to be larger than life.

This is now a girl who knows what she wants and has skills in place to get it.  Today, at nearly 10 years old, she loves sushi, anything related to the Disney Descendents movies, playing imaginatively with her friends and siblings and her stuffed monkey named HoHo.

She isn't afraid to go for it, she loves to help, and she is known to be a loyal friend who will stick by your side and take on trouble to help you out.

Most days she's happy in athletic shorts or leggings and a t-shirt, but she also likes to dress up on special occasions.

And today she's also confident about her place as a cherished daughter in my heart.  The contrast of how she feels now compared to our rocky start is striking.  

Below is a journal excerpt from September 2, 2013, the day we met.  

"One day, two wildly different experiences for my baby girl and me. For me it was a day I had long anticipated and therefore a dream come true.
For her it was a total shock...though her ayis at the orphanage tried to prepare her, how can words about family, a concept completely unknown, explain the total change...she lost all she had ever known and therefore a nightmare."

I'll never forget her screaming, hitting and doing everything she could to get away from me.  I knew from minute one that she had spirit and tenacity and prayed that one day she'd use both to draw in to our family.

This picture shows the answer to that prayer...she now leans in instead of away.

Nugget, thank you for being the firecracker in our family.  You keep us on our toes and I love each and every little spark of you!