June 23rd--Two Years Since Finalization

This Thursday I had to work in the morning. But, my afternoon was free, while Jay had to work. So, Penny and I got out of town by driving up to Horsetooth Reservoir. She said, "Mom, I think we came here just after I came to America, didn't we?" "Yes," I said, "that's right." Later we went to Watson Lake and the Fish Hatchery.

Again, she said, "We've been here before, haven't we?" It's fun to see that she's starting to have more memories associated with her home in America. I think in many ways it still doesn't feel like home for Penny. After all, she spent the first thirteen and a half years of her life in Thailand. She's still very apprehensive about meeting new people and not eager to make friends here. I'm just thankful that she is bonding and connecting with us as her family. In all of the adoption books I've read it seems that the main thing to remember is that your child must go through all of the normal developmental stages that any child does with their parents. That means that emotionally your child is the age at which they entered your family. So, it makes complete sense that at the two year stage in our relationship she feels safer clinging to her family and is wary of strangers. So, I'm praying that God will help her and strengthen her for the big transition to go to high school, where there will be so many people! Here are pictures of Penny from Jan. 2009, when we first got home and from this June 23rd and you can see how she has grown so much! There are also a couple of her on our recent trip to Watson Lake.