It’s hard to believe that Josie’s only been my our daughter for a year.  True, she’s been living with us since October of 2010, but her adoption was finalized April 8, 2011.  So we got to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and Josie’s adoption day!  That, my friends, is a fiesta.

It’s been a pretty amazing year, filled with firsts and news and wows and laughs and tears.  As much as she’d like to measure her growth in inches (she’s pretty much stuck at the 4’10” mark, which makes her almost as tall as my mom!) we can definitely track growth in other areas.

She’s still one of the most content people I know.  She hardly ever complains.  She’s had 3 major ear surgeries, and the hearing tests would lead us to believe that the surgeries are working.  Josie LOVES baby Charlie, and would hold that kid all day long!  She’s quick to jump up to help with whatever needs to be done, can’t wait to tell you how her day went, and is just as happy to play basketball with Isaac, cards with Sadie, Settlers with Mom (and Annabelle) or hang out on the floor with Charlie.

She’s still working on her social skills.  She has her moments of sibling squabble.  Her lack of language still gets her stuck sometimes.  She’d be happy to bag math class, and would love to have a really good girl friend to hang out with.  She’s learning in all these areas, too, and continues to show improvements.

Overall, I’d have to say that she’s blossomed over the past year.  She has the most beautiful smile, and asks the best questions about our family Bible reading.  She’s come alive spiritually, recently praying with her small group leader about following Jesus.  We thought she had already made a that decision, but she definitely understands more about what that means than she did a year ago.  She wants me to baptize her at the end of the month!

Easter was great at midtown/calvary, and a wonderful day for our family.  But the fact that we got to celebrate a resurrection in Josie’s life this weekend made the whole celebration spectacular.

We are absostinkinlutely thrilled to be Josie’s family.  It seems like she’s been part of us forever, and I can hardly wait to see what the Lord is going to do in her life in the years to come.

Thanks to all of you who have prayed and cheered and rooted and asked and given and been part of Josie’s story.  We couldn’t do it without you!


1 Comment

kim · April 10, 2012 at 10:30 am

Wow! What a year! I think your pictures are great…but don’t forgot one of the greatest highlights for Josie and all of us this past year….and that was getting to take her back to CHINA!!! What an amazing Journey….God is so good! Thanks, Stac, for documenting it all so well! I am blessed to be the wife and mom of the greatest people on earth!

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