A Corner ...

I think we turned one.  The rest of the week was much better.  It turned out that Gus had strep & scarlet fever, so we got him on meds and he perked up pretty fast.  The weather improved dramatically, and, best of all, Ruby is a rock-star sleeper!  I know that many of you had read where we really suck at getting our children to sleep, so we were hoping that a child that was free of our genetic taint might behave better in that regard, and I think it may be the case.  I don't want to jinx it, but she is sleeping a solid 11 to 12 hours a night.  It's nothing short of a miracle.  Also, she is adorable and laughing and we are having so much fun with her.  She is into everything, chuckles at her own little jokes, and is starting to try to talk to us.  So far she knows doggie, cat, daddy and something that sounds like Gus.  Finny and I are not taking it personally though, we know she loves us.

Speaking of love, I have had a revelation this week as I have watched Ruby open up and start to reach out to us.  All this time that we were waiting to adopt her, I focused on how much we would love her.  I would feel sad that she - and orphans in general - didn't have a mother and father to love them unconditionally and above everyone else.  And that is sad, so sad that I try not to think about all the children who grow up in orphanages around the world who don't have that.  But until I saw Ruby crawl over to Gus the other day while he was sitting on the floor crying his heart out because he didn't want to go to school to give him a hug, I never thought about the fact that learning to give love is as much of a gift as receiving it.  Ruby has so much love to give, and once she started trusting us even a little bit, she is so eager to give it.  We are far from all the way there in terms of Ruby feeling attached and secure, although we step a little closer every day, but I feel so overwhelmed and honored that we are the ones to whom she is starting to trust her little heart.

Ruby posing for Finn's Teddy Journal for school.