Another Good Week and a very Happy Valentine's Day!

We've had another good week with very little whining and no big anger outbursts! Now Penny is starting to express more and more about what she did NOT like about the Girl's Home. She even said she would not like to go back there. When I told her that we could send one of the two new blankets someone gave her to the Girl's Home she said, "NO!" The reason was that it would not be well taken care of. Before she was always talking of the Girl's Home and wanting to send all of her gifts there. So, it seems that while she still cares about her friends there she is also getting a more realistic view of life at the orphanage. And I think she is losing some of the fantasy image of her new parents and learning to accept us and our form of discipline more and more. One thing I've noticed is that while she has chosen to do less of her chores that we require of her on her Responsibility and Rewards Chart, she is not throwing a fit about getting less allowance. And she's beginning to show more curiosity about learning more about money. She was happy to receive her new bicycle that the grandparents purchased for her and has been able to ride it once. Now it's too cold and snowy. She's actually saying that she likes snow, although not as fond of the cold. And she was excited to see all of my seed packets and think of Spring coming.

Valentine's Day was thrilling. She just kept hugging and giggling and telling me how much she loved me all morning. She noticed me sneaking down the hallway but didn't follow me to the basement where I was secretly blowing up balloons to hang on the dining room light fixture. She was so excited to get a package of goodies from a cousin and roses from our friends at the Japanese church. While there, she seemed more comfortable and just curled up next to me the whole service and let me stroke her hair. She was even brave enough to try Japanese curry and ended up liking it. Yeah! One more food I can add to the list of foods she'll eat. After that, we stopped by Jay's parents to exchange Valentine's gifts. After running a few errands we came home and exchanged our personal gifts as a family. She was very excited about it and I was shocked by the beautiful "LOVE" necklace that she had picked out for me with Jay. Then we enjoyed Skyping my family members in South Dakota. She enjoyed seeing her cousins via the computer. And in the evening we went to a live theater production of Willy Wonka. We were given free tickets by one of Jay's students who was performing in the musical.

How thankful we are that our daughter is gradually adjusting and feel more and more comfortable. We just pray that we'll continue to adjust as we're not used to a loud teenager in the house. : )