Handwriting Horrors and God's Majesty

Handwriting Horrors & God's Majesty

Lately, we have been working with Katie on her handwriting.  I just have to make the statement that I have a whole new respect for teachers who teach these littles proper handwriting.  There is probably nothing more frustrating (at least that I have seen so far), than teaching my daughter to write her letters.  So, let me show you what she does with the lowercase "i."

So we have been explaining to her that a lowercase "i" isn't a line with a circle above it or even a line with a dot touching it.  Aaron has had to even work with her on it.  We downloaded an App for the 1st generation iPad that she uses to "write" her letters with a stylus.  So far, this is the letter she has had the most trouble with...and seemingly, it should be an easy one.  At school, they are doing "Handwriting without Tears."  I am glad at the moment we only have ONE child to teach how to write.  I have to say that even though Katie isn't my biological child, she might as well be.  She gets so frustrated to the point of crying when she doesn't understand how she isn't doing a concept correctly.  She has the same stubborn, "I am gonna do it my way" traits that I have.  I can remember as a child (and sometimes as an adult) being shown how to do something and then thinking to myself, "It doesn't matter what so and so says....I am doing this MY WAY."  

But in thinking about this and why behavioral traits happen as they do, much of what she does is because of her formative years being in an orphanage.  Follow me, when I say that her determination to "do things her way.." probably is what made her survive and overcome the adversity she faced in the first two years of her life at the baby home.  This little sweet girl was 14 pounds when I took her from Vladivostok, Russia, to bring her home.  This ranked her in the 3rd percentile for height and she registered around 1% for weight.  Now, almost three years later, she weighs 33lbs!!!  Though there are challenging things we face as parents, but we consider ourselves extremely lucky to be the God-given, chosen parents for our Katie Allison.  I mean, think about this....we went halfway around the world, literally (see map below) to adopt this beautiful baby girl whose birth mother had abandoned her at the hospital (she reported the wrong address and left four hours after giving birth).  I see what an incredible gift Katie is to us and ask myself, how in the world could someone leave  her?

You know how sometimes you are going through something and it seems so unjust and unfair at the time?  This is how I felt the day the Reproductive Endocrinologist told Aaron and I that there was little chance I would ever carry a baby to term because of the genetic blood clotting disorder I have.  Aaron took a few days of leave from the Air Force to help me through the sadness.  

The doctor was firmly against IVF or any other fertility treatments because giving a person who is genetically predisposed for a blood clot (and I had suffered one in 2004), would likely have a stroke or heart attack during pregnancy or childbirth.  It was the most devastating news because at that moment, I felt as if our world had been torn apart.  I mean, I had beat the odds and survived a staph (MRSA) infection that resulted in a perinephric abscess.  The mortality rate for that particular strain of MRSA is 85-90%.  That day, I suddenly did not know my life's purpose anymore.  I wasn't ready to accept it, but knew the physician was likely correct, but I, being the determined person I am, wanted a second opinion.    

Aaron told me that we would pay for the second opinion (the appointments up until this time had been free because Wright-Patterson AFB had a staff Reproductive Endocrinologist) IF I would consider adoption and move on from this if the next physician agreed.  While waiting for an appointment to see this doctor, we had started working on an adoption and working with a great agency in Medina, Ohio, known as Building Blocks Adoption Service.  Ha Ha.  Before you ask, "Why Russia," well, I will tell you that it was an accident.  We chose our agency first and wanted to adopt from China because of Aaron's heritage.  

The day of the big appointment came (the one that would determine how we would grow our family).  I remember it well.  It was September 10, 2010.  We sat down with the doctor who had reviewed all of our tests sent over by the Air Force physician.  He agreed with the first evaluation and that is when I knew that we couldn't push this issue anymore.  Funny how God works, you know?  I was sad, but knew we could adopt.  We went home and our rep from the agency called that SAME day with a referral for a one-year old baby girl (our Katie).  And so it went, the six-month process of bringing her home.  

I can see God's majesty in all of this now because He planned and orchestrated EVERYTHING that happened: my horrible illness, meeting Aaron (who, by the way is the most incredible husband who has stood by me through thick and thin), the infertility and the adoption.  Another thing that is funny is that we wanted to adopt from China.  The waiting period for a Chinese baby girl with no special needs was five years or more.  Since we had already chosen our agency, we started looking at the countries they offered and chose Russia because it moved the fastest.  Little did we know that Tori Hansen would return the little boy to Moscow unaccompanied.  I remember sitting down and crying that day in the nursery we had prepared for Katie.  Again, God is stronger than I am, because he brought us through all the complications of an international adoption and gave us our little Katie to raise. What is even funnier is that unless we tell people, they do not know she is adopted.  She is Russian (most Russians are fair-skinned with reddish or blonde hair).  When we did our home study, we told our social worker that we would love to have an Asian child.  You know what?  At the time we were up for referral in Vladivostok, Katie was the ONLY Asian female who was legally free for adoption.  Also, we met two people in Vladivostok on our trip for court and to pick Katie up (second trip), who had received a referral for her and had turned it down..feeling that she was NOT the one for their family.  I am so glad they did because we have our sweet girl because God made it happen.

Thanksgiving 2013

September 2013

February 2013

Jeremiah 29:11: For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."