Moritz Adoption

It's Moritz Crazy Six Day! :)

It was been one whole YEAR since we came home from Russia and started
living in Minnesota with our family of 6. The kids are all looking
forward to our family day celebration tonight after swim lessons. We
are sticking with the movie plan and lots of treats. We'll see "Shrek
the Third". I'm anxious to see what Regina and Lilia think of the whole
movie theater experience. We love Shrek movies so even Dan and I are
looking forward to it. Today is the last day of school for the boys so
they have that summer break excitement feeling. I am enjoying my last
20 minutes of quiet time (at least until September) while the girls
sleep. The boys will be home in 10 minutes with huge smiles on their
faces. I must admit that I feel a bit giddy myself!

Lilia's gotcha day was on Sunday, June 3rd. I didn't talk much about it
with her because she's too young to really understand it. I just
remember what a whirlwind it was when we got her. She came to us one
night and 36 hours later we left Khabarovsk on an 8 hour plane ride for
the Russian Embassy in Moscow. Other than her illness (pneumonia) she
handled the transition very well. But the orphanage setting has had
lasting effects on her. She has had a much rougher time transitioning
once we came home than Regina has. We've been concerned about Lilia's
speech and language development and her overall delays. It is to be
expected for a child who lived almost her whole first 2 years of life in
a crib...probably 20+ hours a day. So we had her evaluated through our
school district for help next year. She qualified for this wonderful
program! We are thrilled. She'll go to preschool there 4 mornings or
afternoons a week next year. They will help her mostly with her speech
delay but with all general areas of development as well. And get
this...it is FREE. What a blessing to us. I was sad to cancel her
enrollment in the church preschool we've always done in the past, but we
know that Lilia really needs this extra help right now.

I've been thinking a lot about the girls being with us and how it came
about and the scripture that God gave us to lead us down this path,
etc... Today it's been on my mind quite a bit as we celebrate the
anniversary. As I read a book on the couch after lunch and listened to
my daughters playing in the background, Regina just melted my heart.
She had no idea I was listening to what she was saying. She was in a
princess dress (of course!) singing a little song she made up. It went
something like this, "Who loves me? Who loves me? Mommy and Daddy do!
Mommy and Daddy do! SOOOOO much!" She just kept singing it over and
over. Now, I know this paints a rosy picture of life in the Moritz
household and how joyful and happy it is. But please believe me when I
say it has taken so much effort, patience, love, self control,
compromise, kindness, and so many other things to get through the last
365 days. I never realized that fulfilling a dream (adoption) could
take so much work and have so much heartache along the way. God has
taught me so much. But just like our Isaiah 60 verse says, my heart
does swell and throb with joy. Maybe not all the time, but it is
happening. I can see how far we've come since June 7, 2006. That was
probably one of the most overwhelming days of my life.

Thank you, Lord, for these 4 precious children you have loaned to us on
Earth. Please help us continue to meet all of their needs and to be the
parents they need us to be.

posted by Dan @ 3:55 PM