So much to say, so little time to say it in!

So if anyone out there reads this blog I would love to let you know that we are home! We have been home 8 weeks today and wow how different 8 weeks can seem. In some ways it seems like forever ago, but in others it feels like only moments ago. Khari is doing wonderful. I am learning first hand all of those wonderful adoption parenting skills that our agency tried to prepare us for. First of all having 3 biological children prior to becoming an adoptive parent, I think I expected things to be just like it was the first 3 go rounds. What an eye opener that has been!!!! The love I have felt for her since day one has been the same, but parenting is so different. She didn't have the privilege to hear my voice for 9 months, or even be placed in our arms soon after birth. So there is a lot of new stuff for her to take in!
            Bonding is going wonderfully, but trying to remember the loss and change that even an infant has undergone is unconceivable until you have been in this situation. I have to tell my self daily, she was born in a third world country, we know nothing, and I mean nothing about her birth relatives. She was most likely premature and then sent to live in an orphanage.  3 pounds at 8 weeks old, surviving, in Ethiopia is enough to make your head spin. Wow, she made it!!!!! What a miracle!! So we hit the ground running!!
I mean really running, I am bringing home a baby girl that has never known the love of a mother or father, brother or sister. She has not had the physical or mental stimulation that a premature baby needs. So to say the least, I feel like, it is my duty to give her all of my time and energy to give her the best possible outcome in the long run, since she missed so much in the beginning of her life.
  What a gift! Two people that I have never met, or will ever be blessed enough to know or meet have given our family such a tremendous gift. But in doing so, she lost so much. Will I ever be enough to fill that void? Will our family do her birth family justice in the way we raise her and teach her to grow and thrive.  I now have some mighty big shoes to fill, but the good news is we have God. He is teaching me everyday the love that she needs and we all need. I have learned that walking by faith is really the way he wants us to serve. It is soooooo hard, but soooooo worth it!!!

So Max, Emma and Samuel are smitten with Khari. They could not have imagined a baby any better than her. So my prayers were answered that they would be able to accept her as their sister and adjust smoothly.

  I am amazed daily by how much she has grown in size and strength since coming home. She is now bearing weight on her legs when held and in her exersaucer. She is playing with toys, grabbing and chewing on them. She is starting to sit on her own. She enjoyed sharing her first halloween with her brothers and sister!  We are starting therapy, most likely occupational and physical. At first I thought she would need speech for her eating skills on solid foods. Now, I think she is doing great with solids and we won't have to worry with speech!! Hooray!!  We have a long, long way to go, but we will get there!!!! So happy to have her finally united with us and to be able to share her love for us and our love for her on a daily basis!

So I better go get some sleep before it is time to wake up and start the craziness of parenting four children all over again tomorrow! It is crazy, but so worth it!








So on the last note, Khari has now been completely inducted into the McQuilkin Family, because she has been placed inside a humongous pumpkin. This is a time honored tradition in our family. So daddy was sweet enough to carve Africa on her pumpkin with a heart in her homeland Ethiopia for his Ethiopian princess on her 1st halloween!!!

Blessings to you!!