letters and numbers...

potential future career paths #12...

Shall we do it again? (Who says you can't have any fun even when your hair's falling out?)

Let's see what I could be destined for....

Hiker on the Appalachian Trail.


Handywoman. (yes, this was the scene when our family locked ourselves out of the house this week & we tried to "break in" by attempting to crawl through the pet door...it was quite like a scene from Mission Impossible! ha!)


Professional taste tester. (yummm...next cupcake, please!)


The next Lynchburg RUF campus minister??? ha ha!


Dog whisperer.


??? Now it's your turn! Let's hear your guesses & we'll pick a winner!

a birthmommy's love...

Birthmommy Megan, we were SO excited to get your birthday packages in the mail yesterday!


And good grief! You and Grandma B. totally went overboard! There is NO doubt that this gal is loved.


When I saw Abby, I blurted out loud, "Abby's Flying Fairy School!" (those of you who know Sesame Street know what that means) :)


Mommy Megan, I'm LOVING being a ballerina! I like to put on my new tutu and spin around! Thank you and Grandma B. so much for everything. We love you.

From Mommy: Megan, it has been SO good to catch up with you again over the past few days. It is so wonderful in adoption to have another "mom" out there that loves my daughter and is grieving as well through this whole ordeal. I know it must be hard sometimes to only see the still images on this blog, especially when they only seem to worsen and worsen as each hair or eyelash falls out. You (and most others who read this blog) don't get to see all the hilarious things Caroline says and does on a daily basis. It's all the new, amazing things she's doing and saying that make you notice the hair less and less the more and more you're around her. As you said the other night, she is TRULY beautiful.

I love how you admitted that you are putting blame on yourself for somehow "giving" this to her because I struggle with feeling the exact same way! Somehow I'll start to think, "What have I done to her??? What did I do wrong?" Aren't we nuts?? ha! :) I know you struggle with guilt over this, and maybe you feel like you somehow gave me a "faulty" child. But I want you to know deep in your heart that you gave us the GREATEST child we could have ever asked for. Oh, Caroline is a dream come TRUE!, and you placing her in our family was the greatest thing that has ever happened to us. Almost every night when we pray, we thank God for His plan in adopting her into our family. Our love for her (whether she goes bald or not!) is just as strong (if not stronger) than if she had come out of my tummy.

I know our hearts break together over this, and it's just nice to have someone else out there who truly understands when it's your child. We really appreciate how supportive of us you are and how you show you have complete confidence in us. (although we tried to tell you we were cursed!! ha ha!!) You probably already know this and I probably don't even have to say it, but I am a fighter & we're gonna get this girl the best help we can find!

Thank you (and your mom!) for sending all the great clothes and gifts our way. I know that right now Caroline doesn't really understand how awesome that is, but it won't be long before she'll be able to look back and see just how stinkin' loved she has always been from the very beginning!

What a special girl she is. And what a special gal YOU are to US!

We love you!
Amy

at 24 months...

At 24 months...

• I LOVE animals, especially Aunt Sharon's doggie, Sydney. "Pet her," I say.
  
• I weigh 27 1/4 lbs (50-75% percentile).
• I'm 34 1/2" tall (50-75% percentile).
• I can sing my A,B,C's & Twinkle Twinkle Little Star perfectly, even with the right notes! I also know most of the words to "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," "Holy, Holy, Holy," and the Lord's Prayer! Music is definitely MY thing! (I wonder why...)
  
• I can point to & recognize almost every letter in the alphabet! (Mommy thinks I'm one smart little girl!)
  

• A fun idea to me is playing play-dough together with Nanny. (although I still refuse to learn my colors...except for pink!!) :)
  
• I'm talking in complete sentences! (ex. "Mommy has glasses on." "Mommy, I want to get down please." etc. etc.) Language is an AMAZING process to watch.
  

• I LOVE to play and explore! (here I am at the interactive children's museum in our town. I loved to crawl in this little cubby of the "Big Red Barn" and play with the chicken's eggs!)
• My new-found love is to push a chair up to the kitchen counter and get into the top cabinets...
• I'm a very sociable girl. I tell everybody "hi." After my bloodwork at the doctor today, I said, "Thank you, doctor." ha! Other words to describe my personality: active, VERBAL!, sweet, understanding, smart, & inquisitive.
  

• I'm a pour-the-sprinkles-onto-my-cupcake-kind-of-gal! (and then knock the entire cup of sprinkles onto the floor!) I had fun at my friend's birthday party this weekend. (Jonathan was born the exact same day I was!)
• I absolutely LOVE it when the RUF college students come over to our house!
• And regardless of how many hairs I do or don't have, I am my Mommy & Daddy's beautiful princess!

Update: Where to start?? Well, it's been a really rough week emotionally. (although it was wonderful having Caroline's birthday to take our minds off of things!) Our dermatologists at UVa are thinking that Caroline probably has a severe alopecia. (she is down to only a few eyebrow & eyelash hairs at this point, and her hair on her head continues to shed slowly. No signs of regrowth.) With this diagnosis, it is still completely unpredictable what the future will hold for us, as I've shared before. Her hair could grow back completely. Her hair may never grow back. We don't know.

We are doing some more testing on her this week to see if there might be any other contributing factors in her system to help explain this or to help us fight this. Today our pediatrician said that Caroline's case was the first she'd ever seen in her 12 years of practice here in town. (though she'd seen it once before in her time in Ohio.) It was an answer to my prayers when she started talking about the possibility of helping refer us to Johns Hopkins or someplace in the area that might be able to give us a solid second opinion. So our journey continues... I'll keep you posted.

Ways you can pray:
1) pray that the extra testing this week might help us know what's going on or provide any extra insight
2) pray that the Lord would give comfort, peace, strength, & rest to me & Marc (thankfully, SHE is as happy as can be & oblivious to the whole thing! It's Mommy & Daddy that are having the rough time!)
3) pray that God would give us wisdom to know what steps need to be taken next, and that He would continue to guide us through this tough time
4) pray that we would find a healthy balance-- all of this is terribly time & energy/emotion-consuming and it's hard to think about anything else right now! There's a fine line between being Caroline's advocate and being overly consumed, and I'm afraid I'm not doing well at finding that balance.

We know the Lord is growing us in ways we never dreamed. In part of this, I am being challenged on my ideas of beauty and the value I hold on it. ("Beauty is fleeting and charm is deceitful, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised." Prov. 31) Pray that my desire for Caroline to be a godly woman would outweigh the desire for her to be physically beautiful. (although I still think she is beautiful girl!!!) If the way God wants to work in my daughter's life to bring her to Him is without a single hair on her head, pray that I would rejoice in that above all else.

Thank you for thinking of and praying for us.

2nd birthday bash...

Since my birthday fell on a Thursday, which is our usual RUF night, we invited the students to come early to RUF to help us celebrate my 2nd birthday!


(Afterall, these guys are the highlight of my week! I know them all by name & they are practically like family to us anyway!)


Sesame Street was, of course, the theme of choice this year!


Nanny made us a delicious cake & Sesame Street cupcakes.


Yummmmmm! A cupcake here...


Some cake and ice cream there... :)


Mommy & I danced to the Sesame Street tunes we had playing.


More presents!


Thank you for my gift, Lindsay.


And what toddler birthday party isn't complete without at least a little tantrum?! :)


It was so fun to trade in our tears and celebrate! It's been the best two years of our lives.


We're one blessed little family.

b-day with the fam...

Before my big birthday party, I had a table-full of family who LOVE me! (Nanny, Papa, Aunt Sharon & cousin Laura.)


Nanny, I LOVE my new piano!!!


And while I'm playing my piano, this little bunny can keep the beat for me. It plays a drum set, and let's just say you'd be able to hear it from anywhere in the house! :)


And the most popular gift this year...BOOKS!

a very happy UN-birthday...

Let the birthday festivities begin!

My best bud Leah's 2nd birthday was yesterday. (the 16th)
Mine is tomorrow. (the 18th)

So what does that make today, the day in between?


Our UN-birthday! (and how do you like our matching Sesame Street shirts that say "Best Friends"? he he)

Our UN-birthday was filled with...

presents...


singing "Happy UN-birthday to you" followed by blowing out the candles on our delicious mini cupcakes...


shooting some hoops...


a musical concert, and so much more... it was a blast!


Let's hear it for the gals turning TWO!

king of the crib...

Before all of our birthday festivities begin, I just HAVE to show y'all how Mommy found me in (uh...more like ON) my crib this morning!


This is quickly becoming a favorite place to perch, read, and look out across my domain (also known as my room).


And I think it's pretty hilarious when I get caught up there.


Can you guess who's turning 2 TOMORROW?!?

a year in pictures...

It's been a year full of wonderful memories and milestones. From age 1 to 2, I've gone from barely walking to singing my whole alphabet!


12 months.


13 months.


14 months.


15 months.


16 months.


17 months.


18 months.


19 months.


20 months.


21 months.


22 months.


23 months.

and 24 months? Coming Thursday... :)