Madison...
Wow...you are going into 6th grade next year. You are so big and I'm having a hard time admitting that to myself!! You are so funny! This is not a trait that I saw coming. You have always been kind, compassionate and loving, but funny is a new one. You really find humor in just about everything and you are very fun loving! I think you get a lot of that from your dad!! You are also becoming so mature. You still have issues with your little sister. I guess sibling rivalry will probably last until you're both grown and have kids of your own! You do love each other and, in fact, when you went to Disney World with Nani this year I think Abby went into a bit of a depression!! She cried for you a couple times and talked about you incessantly!
I have to be honest that this age is really hard for me! You are getting older and are a bit more reserved with your thoughts and feelings! You do share things with me, but I have to ask and be available! I pray that I will always be the one you know you can come to with anything!!
Funny story that you probably won't appreciate me sharing until your much older, but I have to anyway. I had a talk with you recently about starting your period. I told you after that talk that you could never embarrass me with any question! I told you that you could ask me ANYTHING and I would talk with you about it and that no question was off limits. I wanted you to ask me anything that you were thinking about. So, that night after I prayed with you and your sister you said you had a question to ask me in the morning. Figuring it was too private to ask in front of your sister I said okay and my mind raced all night, preparing answers to all sorts of things I thought it could be. The next morning you said, "Can I ask my question." Thump, thump, thump went my heart. I said sure and you asked me, "How come other Gods in the bible had names, why didn't God have another name." ...........................................silence and then a small sigh of relief as I realized just what kinds of things were important to you!!! You are awesome!!! You still have no interest in boys, gossip and famous people/musicians. You don't care about clothes or how you look, you are the most laid back person I know. You do however really want to figure out the bigger things of this world! God is preparing you for great things!! I am sooo proud!!! I love you angel!
Abby...
The summer before 1st grade. You've lost four teeth (the top two within a week and a half of each other) and look sooo super cute! You are all things fashion. You have really begun to understand how to pick out things that match and you love to accessorize. You also decided you needed a new hairstyle so you preceded to cut your bangs on a diagonal...ooops! What can I say, you know what you want and you go for it! You are a perfect mixture of spitfire and joyful/loving heart. You make pictures/art for everyone we see/visit whether you know them or not. If you know we are going to someone's home, you always prepare by making your picture and usually writing "I love you" on it...and you mean it! You love life, so much so that you get yourself in trouble often! You really do want to be able to control yourself better, but you have such a sense of adventure you often just can't help yourself. You have gone to bed before your brother and sister most nights this summer as a consequence and you truly hate that...you just don't remember you're going to hate it so much when you're misbehaving! Oh, how I love your spunk! We had a long talk last night about how God gave you that spunk and it was important to use it for Him and less for your own enjoyment. You are endearing to everyone you meet. You are also Sam's BIGGEST fan. You love him dearly and will do just about anything to make him laugh. You love him so much so that we've had to make a rule that you can't pick him up and carry him around without permission. You forget that one a lot too!! I love you precious girl!!
Max...
My little comedian! You are almost always happy...well, that is unless you're hungry or sleepy. You are very agreeable and easy going. You love Sam almost all the time, but one time when we were heading home and Sam was exhausted and hungry and was crying very loudly in his car seat, you said, "I want to take that baby back." You didn't really mean it though...LOL. The next day you were loving on him as usual and telling us how much you love Sam! You are still a lover of all things trains and we even got to take you on a vintage train ride out of the stockyards this summer. You loved every second! We just had our first Max and Mommy date night a couple nights ago. We went and got frozen yogurt and you got to pick three toppings (one more than usual) then we headed to Target so you could pick out a small toy...guess what you picked? A train of course! We've also spent lots of time at Hawaiian Falls this summer. It is great because you are exactly tall enough to ride the big rides and you love them! You were a bit pensive at first, but once you experiences them you were sold! It makes me realize you aren't so much my little baby boy anymore. My heart aches as I realize I will be sending you off to Kindergarten this year. I will so miss our Mommy and Max days and I am very jealous of the Kindergarten teacher who will be so blessed to have you in her class! You are the cutest, sweetest, most lovable little boy around!! I wish I could bottle up your adorable four-year-oldness forever, but I know that God has great plans for you too!! I love you Maxaroni!!
Sam...
Wow...have you only been home for five months? It feels like you've been a part of our lives since day 1. You have fit seamlessly into our family and I am so grateful! You are a very happy and easy baby. You sleep just about any time we put you in the crib and usually we have to check on you to see if you're awake because you won't cry for us to come and get you. This breaks my heart a little as I think this is because a crib was your home in the orphanage for several months. We are still working a bit on your attachment to us. I know you are attaching because you don't always go easily to strangers. You sometimes cling tightly to me. But you really don't like to make eye contact to whomever is holding you. We're working on this with lots of holding and games like peek-a-boo. Sometimes you cry because it makes you so uncomfortable to have that kind of intimacy, but we love you enough to retrain those thoughts in your head to know that it's safe and okay to love and be loved! We're getting there! You certainly are loved beyond measure by everyone in our family and our friends too! You just had your first birthday and were surrounded by so many people who prayed you home! How blessed our we!
You are pulling up and standing while holding on and you now traditional crawl as much as you army crawl You love to play with your toys and copy things we do like put a toy inside another toy, clap and nod. You say lots of things like mamamama, dadadadada, but the only word that I think you actually associate with it's object is doggy, well, when you say it it's more like da-eeee. You are almost done with formula and finally have lost your gag reflex and can handle some solids. We also had to put you on TB medicine as you had a positive skin test. 9 months of medication is no fun, but much better to be cautious! I love you precious Yacob!
