It Feels Like Forever

Another month has passed. Today marks six months since we received our referral, and four months since we met Sera.

Sera has become such an integral part of our lives that I can't remember how we filled our days before she came home. I can promise you that whatever we were doing, it wasn't important.

The smile that lights her face when she spots Jim or me after even the shortest absence just melts away any troubles.
Everybody has this album, right? We have a couple actually. One of them has the pictures we put in it and brought with us to China. There are two pictures of Jim and me, one of Shadow, one of our house, one of me with my dad and step-mother, and one with me and my mother. Sera loves looking at this album. She will point to every person in this book and call them.....dada.

We took this album with us on vacation, but she hasn't seen it since we got home. When I unpacked, I put all of her belongings in a tote and hadn't put the stuff away in her room yet. Not until yesterday that is. Last night, we were in her room playing a little bit before bedtime. She spotted the album back in her toy basket. She got very excited, picked it up, brought it to me and opened to a page with a picture of Jim and me. She pointed to us and said, "dada, mama, dada, mama." It made me cry. It was one of the best milestones ever!

A special shoutout to granddaddy here. Sera stopped at your page, too. When I said your name, she just looked and looked and touched your picture. I think she recognized you.