FEISTY, BEAUTIFUL and CHALLENGING!!

Our daughter is BEAUTIFUL! Anyone who sees her, knows this. What they don't know is she is as FEISTY and CHALLENGING as she is BEAUTIFUL- now that's FEISTY! Actually, that's a nice way of putting it. This girl can drive you crazy sometimes! Yes, we sure do love her but Oh my can she be CHALLENGING!

I read that you can subtract one month of developmental age for every three months the child spent in an orphanage. This statement actually explains a lot to me. This information might explain why this beautiful girl does some inappropriate for her age stunts!

Laura spent 47 months in an orphanage. 47 months! Now, I know she was loved by most of her caregivers. I know she was loved by what I saw and by how she treated her baby dolls when we brought her home 15 months ago.

Memere holding baby Katya

 It was so cute to watch Laura tucking in and kissing her baby.

November 2010

I know Laura had at least one very special caregiver at the orphanage. I know this because Laura still talks about her. Laura even asked to go visit her caregiver so she could show her the new leg she has. I am so thankful for the caregivers God put in Laura's life before we adopted her. I am thankful because I've heard a lot of stories where the kids weren't so fortunate.

Despite having caregivers who loved Laura, it still doesn't change the fact that Laura was in an orphange for almost 4 years. Laura was in at least 2 sections of the Baby House aka orphange. I know there were at least 11 other children in her group. There were 2 adults and 12 children who resided in a section of the orphange. Their section consisted of a sleeping area, a bathroom, a walkway/locker area and a play room where they spent most of the day as well as ate meals that were brought to them from the kitchen on the first floor. The children were also allowed to go outside for a minimum of 15 minutes a day unless is was raining or they had snow.

All I'm trying to say is, she didn't spend her first years of life in a normal family setting. She probably wasn't held as a baby the way I held the boys. She might not have been rocked as long or sang to like the boys were. Dinner time was not a family event but just time to eat... and then the food was taken away. Perhaps she was even hungry at times. I don't know what it was like. What I do know is Laura has some issues with food. She asks what the next meal will be just as soon as she's finished eating the last meal. And don't even try to take away her plate or rush her, Laura will scream if rushed. She also will say she's hungry every night before bed, even if she has just finished a large meal.

Laura's favorite foods are coleslaw, pumperknicle bread, yogurt, cheese, soup and tea. The orphange reaked of cabbage soup. Such a strong odor that hit us in the face every time we visited the orphange in July of 2010. The children ate cabbage soup twice a day with dark bread and snacked on a yogurt drink called keffir. I'm not sure what else they ate. I do know she ate a lot of the above. I know the children ate a lot of eggs as babies too. In fact, the babies were spoon fed eggs instead of drinking formula from a bottle. Laura is not fond of eggs....

Eating some Yummy soup
 December 2010

Being Thankful
May 2011

So, Laura spent 47 months under a different set of circumstances. As Grandpa H like to say, "Not wrong, just different".

Laura is a survivor. She used her skills at being cute to get what she needed. She learned to be feisty and be cute to get attention. She didn't live in a family and didn't learn what that was like until she came home to us, her forever family just 15 months ago.

Dec 2010

So, when Laura is naughty or doing something not age appropriate, like cutting her hair......for the third time, drawing in a book.....yet again, drawing in MY hardcover novel, taking a pen and marking up the wallpaper in a hotel room, peeing on herself instead of telling me she needs to use the restroom, smearing something yucky on the bathroom wall, taking her shoes and "drawing" on her bedroom wall with the soles, drawing on the roof of my SUV, stabbing holes in the wall, stuffing the toilet paper roll down the toilett, emptying the entire containor of shampoo, bubble bath into the tub....again, putting tooth paste in the soap dispensor, painting the counter, refusing to get dressed, throwing yet another huge temper trantrum, spreading teeny tiny game pieces all over the house, taking my lipstick out of purse and spreading it all over her face and then lying to me about it, spreading my make-up all over her face and my bathroom, sticking her tongue out at her brother (wait, that might actually be age appropriate) then maybe I just need to pateintly love and correct her and not take it personally. Afterall, she's emotionally only 3 1/2 years old right? So, I'll try and remember to  be patient with her. I will also praise her when she IS good right? Philippians 4:8

Is someone rolling their eyes at me?


To tell you truth, I think God made her the way she is for a reason. Maybe it helps to be a little feisty, a bit challenging and of course being beautiful can't hurt. Maybe all these traits help her get through some of the difficult things Laura faces in this life.

Miss. Attitude