One Month Home!

Part of me can't believe it's been 4 weeks since we arrived in NC and part of me feels like it was months ago! To sum it up - this has been one AMAZING month! I know about "honeymoon" periods and waiting for some problems - but I can honestly say life has never been better! Ira is one amazing girl! She is the happiest child I think I have ever known and Tom and I are constantly blown away by her! She wakes each day w/ smiles, hugs and laughter! She is happy and pleasant throughout the day. I have learned that she is the happiest when knowing her schedule and what to expect so every day we go to the calendar and talk about the next couple of days and what to expect and that seems to give her a great sense of peace.

She is doing wonderfully with her English tutoring and truly loves her teacher (so do I)! She is growing leaps and bounds with the language and is now working hard on math as well. She thrives on positive reinforcement like no child I have ever known! The more positive the praise the harder she works. She is very very smart and grabs on to of everything you teach her and just runs with it.

Tom and I are just overwhelmed by her and her wonderful personality and disposition. She is so affectionate and loving - she is gentle and compassionate. This beautiful girl is truly a blessing and a gift and we are beyond blessed to have her here with us in our lives. Neither one of us can bear being without her these days and don't know how we got so lucky as to not only know her but have the honor of having her with us and parenting her. Our only prayer is that we can be good enough to deserve such a blessing.

We are enoying the language transition and know that while we are looking forward to her being fluent we will miss some of the "faux pas" that exist during the transition. For example - the other night I was tucking her into bed. We had been working on "pleasantries" such as good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good night. As we hugged and kissed goodnight and said "love yous to each other" and "sweet dreams" - I then left the room only to have Ira call me back. She called out "mamishka" and I said - yes honey" - She said "mama - I love you - good afternoon"!!!! Does it get any sweeter than that?????? The sweetness, the trust, the love and the innocent "faux pas" of the language!!! That's what I mean when I say we will miss some things for sure once she is English proficient. So we are taking things slowly and just enjoying the moment of where we are each day as each moment is precious beyond belief!

We truly can't imagine life any other way! Ira is a blessing we never counted on!