Happy Trails!

Well, this is it. The adoption is done, we've settled in to life with four kiddos, and I think it's time to officially move all this back over to my original blog (http://ephesiansonefive.blogspot.com. Click the title of this post to jump over there now... and be sure to bookmark me so you can come back for a visit! I have so enjoyed devoting all this time to Meg's adoption, dreaming of her before we knew her, and all the support the blog community has offered me.

Thank you, sincerely, to everyone who has commented. Honestly, I would check my e-mail for news from the agency, then the very next thing I would do is look for comments on the blog because they were always so encouraging and it was always so good to hear from folks who "knew" my struggles first hand. The only way you can possibly know what you have meant to me through our adoption is if you have walked it and lived it, and to all of you who have, I am SO SO SO grateful! You truly brought me through so many storms with your comments, your prayers, and your sharing of your own lives through your respective blogs.

I really hope that all of you will join me over at "Living the Dream"
. If not, I will miss hearing from all your fun and wise comments, as well as sharing that part of my life with my "virtual friends."

On one parting note regarding Meg, I feel that we have really turned a corner with her in the past few weeks in terms of her attachment. She is showing all the classic signs that she has accepted her new life and is embracing us as her family. She makes great eye contact, she turns to us when she is hurt or upset, she displays normal toddler emotions in appropriate ways (i.e. hardly ever hits or scratches), ventures out on her own into other rooms now, can let me get out of her sight for short bursts of time without falling apart, clings on to us when we hold her, buries her head in our chests when she is upset, goes to bed with no problem at all and wakes at a normal hour each morning. She is eating constantly. I can't wait to get back to Dr. Heil's office and see what she weighs now because the girl has food in her mouth 24x7. I know this is also typical PI behavior, but it's within normal range and not obsessive so I am not too overly concerned about it. I just try to give her healthy choices and let her eat several small meals throughout the day.

I wish the ladies at the orphanage could see her now. She has this goofy sense of humor. Just today she was sitting on the potty (her idea, not mine) and she kept crossing her eyes (I mean to the point where I thought they would disappear behind her nose) and laughing hysterically. She loves the dogs. She is the most limber person I've ever seen, she sits in her car seat and cracks her brothers up by putting her feet behind her head and smacking her legs.

We had so much fun today getting out all our fall clothes, the weather is turning cooler here. To steal a line from the Indigo Girls, "summer's beginning to give up the fight." It's this time of year that my thoughts always turn to Russia naturally because we made our first ever trip to Russia in September of 2000. So, with that, it seems a very fitting time and place to say farewell to this chapter of our life and move on to the next chapter, the full on adventure of parenting three boys and a beautiful little girl.

God bless you, and keep you safely in the palm of His ever loving hand! I will continue to pray for each and every one of you whose children are yet in the hands of their Father and longing for the love of a family.

Ephesians 1:5
"he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of His will."

Happy Trails! Ondrea Harrison
"Every child deserves to have someone who knows them. Someone who knows what
they like for dinner. Someone who knows that math is hard for them.
Every child deserves a mother. For some children, this can only be achieved through adoption!
Please continue to pray for orphans everywhere!"