Easter!

Happy Spring Everyone! Though if you are from here in Michigan you already know that spring is late coming this year. As Olena says….”bbbrrrr….cold”!

We experienced our first Easter with our little one and she enjoyed it very much. The idea of baskets filled with toys and candy was very intriguing to her! All I heard all day was “Yummm, cacki” (aka candy) We had an egg hunt in the house and she loved it, then we had Jason’s family over for breakfast. After nap, we made our way over to my grandparent’s house where we had dinner and shared some time with our aunts, uncles and cousins. The kids taught her how to slide down the carpeted stairs on her butt and once she figured out how fast she could go, there was no stopping her…she was obsessed. She is a climber and a jumper. It drives me crazy but she has fun. Her Nana and Dadu built her a puppet stage, which is GORGOUS! As you might remember she has a little obsession with the movie “The Sound of Music” and one of her favorite parts is when they put on the show for the Captain and Baroness with the marionette puppets. So my parents built a replica of the stage. She was so excited and even resorted to hugging it when they set it up! Lucky me…looks like I will be taking up puppeteering very soon LOL!!!

Things are honestly going GREAT! She is growing like crazy though she could stand to gain a few more pounds. She is just growing so tall so fast, her weight can’t keep up. She will get some meat on her bones, and then spurt up a half-inch. Since coming home in December she has grown over 2 ½ inches taller. Right now she only at 23lbs but she is completely healthy so I am not too worried about it. She has a very good appetite and pretty much eats anything I give her.

A few weeks ago we got the results of our bio family search. Our translator located her birthparents, and her biological brother (who was adopted as well and lives in Spain). This was great news for us and we were excited to read what he had learned. We were able to get a few pictures, and got a few questions answered. We are going to keep the details private because this is her life, not ours. When she is old enough to understand we will share what we have with her and let it be her decision on what she does with it. It is a touchy situation and I never thought that I would care. Before the adoption Jason and I discussed it and my feelings were much different. I didn’t care about her biological family. I felt that I was going to give her a new life and what happened in the past was exactly that…. the past. The only reason I wanted to complete the search was for medical information and for her peace of mind when she gets older. But once Gene contacted us with the story and pictures I started to feel differently. I could see how much Olena really did look like her bio-mother, I learned about her father and what type of man he really is, instead of what I thought he was. I passed a lot of judgment on 2 people whom I never knew and this was unfair. I think God brought this to me for a reason. Now I have a new respect for them, and I have a new and better understanding of my daughter. I am very happy with our decision and I hope that she too is able to look at this in a positive light when the time comes.