Rani had her seventh birthday on Thursday. It’s also her fourth “Gotcha’ Day”. We started the day early with french toast in bed, her favorite! We then talked about the day we met and painted her feet red to remember it. We smelled the powder she wouldn’t let go the first 3 days we knew her and we looked at the clothes she was wearing. After that we went to an Indian restaurant with a friend and her 13yo dd who was also adopted from India. Then we came home for a “Warm Tub Birthday Party” with her friends. All-in-all it was a special day.

Here are her birthday pictures. Can you believe how small she is? That’s my dining room chair!

Virginia Loraine was born on May 13th at home in our backyard hot tub.  It was a beautiful birth and Rani was able to witness it.  Her joy is so apparent as you can hear her squealing and clapping on the video.

It has been ages since I’ve posted here.  Rani is doing very well.  She is happy and healthy and so excited about her sister that is due to be born in May.  She got her ears pierced just after Christmas and loves changing her earrings. 

She has been talking a lot about what her life would be like if she had stayed with her first mother.  She talks mostly about how much she would miss us and miss living in America.  She can’t quite grasp the concept that she would never have known us.  I just listen to her talk and when she gets weepy about missing me, I hug her and tell her how much I would miss her too.  I tell her I’m so happy that God wanted her to be in our family and I’m so happy that she’s here with us.  That seems to be what she needs to hear so she jumps up to play. 

Here are a couple of pictures I took of her yesterday.  We wanted a picture that showed her earrings and she wanted a picture of her standing on her head, her latest pasttime.

Rani wanted to do something different this year and step away from the frills and lace.  She chose to be Elizabeth Swan from Pirates of the Caribbean for Halloween and she was so cute!

Just wanted my adoption readers to know that we have BIG news on the family blog!  Check it out.

Today’s Modern Mother

Yesterday Rani turned six years old.  I can’t believe it has already been three years since we travelled to bring her home.  We met her for the very first time on her third birthday and it was a magical moment.  Many of you, my longtime readers, may remember how difficult our initial transition was but sitting here now I can hardly believe it happened that way.  Rani has now been in our care longer than the time she spent in the orphanage.  How glorious is that!  My only regret is that I was not able to adopt another child from her country so that she could have a sister close to her age. 

 The day began with french toast in bed, Rani’s favorite breakfast.  Then I told her the story of her adoption and there were a lot of tears and hugging.  After that we looked through her special adoption box which contains the outfit she was wearing, the items she was sent home with and the little lifebook that her orphanage gave her.  We read through the lifebook and enjoyed looking at the pictures of India and especially at the picture of her beloved caretaker that she had such a hard time letting go.  Then we painted her feet red in true Indian tradition and I let her wear the bright red nail polish and lipstick that had been her play-make-up in the orphanage.  We snapped a few pictures and I still can’t believe how much older she looks.  Later we had a party with presents and family.  It was a wonderful day.

 Here are direct links to her other special days.
Original Gotcha day 3rd birthday
1st Gotcha day 4th birthday
2nd Gotcha day 5th birthday

 OK I had to add this.  This is a picture of Rani wearing the before-mentioned lipstick in the orphanage about a month before she came home

And here she is now

I just thought I’d share some pictures of Rani’s Recital this year.  She’s quite the little dancer for an almost six year old.  She played a gingerbread girl in the Hansel and Gretel ballet and danced to Rockin’ Robin at the clogging recital.

I just wanted to let all of you know about an awesome organization that offers free custom photography sessions to children who have newly arrived home.  Celebrating Adoption is a wonderful nationwide organization that provides custom portraiture for adoptive families.

Emily asked for a Rani update, and I guess it is about time I posted something.  ;-)  Thanks for the reminder Emily.

Rani has been with us for 2 years and 8 months now.  She is growing and I can’t believe how grown up she looks!  She is quite the little dancer and she likes to sing…a lot…sometimes that drives me batty but I don’t tell her that. LOL

 She is SO excited to be turning six this summer.  In her mind, six is the end-all-be-all of ages to be.  Once she is six she getst to start Liberty Girls and in the fall she will get to try out for the Nutcracker for the very first time!  She loves performing and she can’t wait to be in a real ballet!

 She struggles with reading and writing quite a bit.  She can’t seem to remember the letter sounds for a very long time.  Her almost 5yo brother is starting to pass her up.  She writes her letters perfectly but often starts writing on the wrong side of the paper and writes her words in a complete mirror image.  It’s wierd.  She’s left handed and I’m not sure if that’s the issue or if she is possibly dyslexic. I’m not too worried yet as we are homeschooling so there is no pressure, but in the future if it doesn’t improve I may take her to be evaluated for dyslexia.

She is quite the little model and I can always count on her to be excited when we do a photography shoot.  Here are some recents of her that I love!  I’m just getting started with my biz, ModernExpressions, and I’m always asking her to help me out with new locations.

November 06

February 07

March 07

Well, Dave and I have discussed it and we have decided to stop persuing an African adoption at this time.  For some reason we both have felt uneasy about it and we just decided it wasn’t the right time for us to do this.  Maybe this summer we will think about persuing another country.  We just don’t think our girls are in Zambia.  Rani cried a good bit, but I think she’ll be OK.  Everyone must have been praying hard because we all feel at peace about our decision now.