A Wish in the Making

[Perrinsmommy]

Those outfits are adorable!!!

 

[HeatherSP]

"There's a ball at the castle
And I've been invited
And I need to practice my dancing"

Have you heard that song? Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman. It was the song that the girls sang after opening yet another Big Give!

Today we got a Big Give from cjbear.

I love Lhea's face as she opened it! She was so happy!

Ciera and Lhea both got beautiful dresses! They were twin Cinderellas. The girls danced and sang and spun their dresses! They were so sweet!

"Oh I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone"

 

[mommy2mrb]

they are adorable....love the song too

 

[chelleydi77]

Aw, I love the dresses! What a great Big Give!!!

 

[petals]

Luv the song Cinderella.

All the big gives are so cool they look so happy with their gifts

 

[brookerene]

Twins...how cute!

 

[kaileighbug]

The hair accessories are so cute and I love the luggage tags
The minnie dress is awesome. Can't let DD see that one....

 

[mommy2mrb]

just checking in to see how everyone is doing!
hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

 

[HeatherSP]

We got home today to find another box on our doorstep. This one was from Colleen. She must definately understand what it is like to be a busy mom. Her gift will make my job so much easier when we get back from Disney. It was complete with an adorable handmade card.

Lhea opened the box to find a beautiful homemade scrapbook.

It was perfect for someone like me who has 0 talent for scrapbooking. The pages were premade and had places to put pictures in it. There were pages for each of the parks and places for our favorite pictures. I am so excited!

It is so perfect! The kids are going to really love this! The little ones love looking at pictures of themselves.
Thank You So Much!!!

 

[mommy2mrb]

that's a beautiful gift! you will have so much fun filling it up, you might want to get into scrapbooking!

 

[kayrosek]

Woo Hoo! What beautiful gives for a beautiful family. I love how Atalhea got her name. I remember reading a little about your family but then I lost track of your TR before I ever posted (I think) so now I'm subscribing and so excited to read more.

 

[wishin' on a star]

What a beautiful scrapbook!!!

 

[tinytreasures]

That scrapbook is beautiful
What a sweet gift. I have no talent for doing doing scrapbook at all.

 

[sl_underwood]

What a lovely gift. I also am not a scrapbooker but thankfully I have a friend who loves it! She will be making ours when we get back.

 

[sl_underwood]

We thought it would be a good idea for Lhea to learn to swim before going to GKTW. So we signed her up for swim lessons at the Y. She was so excited and talked about it all week. She picked out her favorite swim suit and off to the pool we went. When we got there she was so excited and happy.

Now before I go on I think I must give you a little background information.

I have mentioned before that we adopted Lhea from foster care. Lhea was born to drug addicted parents. Actually her birth mother grew up in the foster care system and was bounced from home to home until she finally aged out. I believe her mother never learned to bond with anyone which of course led to her not bonding with her children. Lhea spent the first 16 months living in a drug filled home with LOTS of domestic violence and was severely neglected. All of this on top of being very sick. When ever Lhea was hospitalized her birth parents would just leave and not return for days. She was removed from the home once before and then returned shortly after and her birth parents were given in home services in hope of keeping the family together. Needless to say ultimately this didn't work and when Lhea's life was in danger the hospital social worker had her removed again. That is when she came to us. The night I picked Lhea up the social worker carried her in screaming, absolutely filthy, wearing boys clothes that were way too big and had the worst case of lice I had ever seen. Not to mention that the bottle that was given to the social worker for her was filled with curdled milk. So when I went to pick Lhea up to hold her she refused. She screamed. She pushed me away and would have nothing to do with anyone. She was terrified of being held. I don't think she had ever really been held. But it only took me about a day of "holding her against her will" for her to decide that she really did like to be held. Actually she began to make me hold her ALL of the time. But it was a great bonding experience for her.

I tell you all of this because it explains her SEVERE seperation anxiety. Whenever Lhea is in a new situation she totally clings to me. First she wouldn't let me put her down. Then she wouldn't let go of my leg. I tried to sit with her at the edge of the pool to help her feel more comfortable. Nothing helped. Finally I just handed her over to Miss Katie to see how she would do

Well she cried, just about the whole time. They wound up having to place her in the lowest level class because she refused to do anything and just cried. I am so torn now. I don't know what to do. Do I try again on Wednesday or just pull her out of the class?

Chiming in a little late, life here has been crazy so I am finally catching up on my reports. How could life be so cruel to keep me away from Disboards! I just wanted to tell you that my son is this way as well. He also came from a similar background at 3.5 years old. For him, swim lessons only worked when I put him in a mommy and me class. I hate to swim because I hate to put on a swimsuit. Always thought I was keeping the rest of the world from having to see a horrific sight, if you know what I mean. However, when the swim coach reccomended mommy and me classes I agreed to try. I am so glad I did. Luke has some muscle tone issues and swimming has been a godsend for us.

 

[brookerene]

Awesome scrapbook! Luv it! That will be great for you afterwards.... wish my mom would have had something like that for us kids growing up! (You should see our photos... glad we have em but wish they weren't stuck in one of those magnetic photo albums).... who needs souveniers from Disney when the BG has given so many?!

 

[mom2pixies]

That scrapbook is amazing--what a great way to remember such a magical trip!

 

[HeatherSP]

Thank you all for all of your wonderful replies to our big gives. We have been so blessed! When we were foster parents we were exposed to the worst behaviors of people and how they treat children. Now we have seen the exact opposite - the love people truely have for children. You all have renewed our faith in the goodness of people. Thank you all for being such a huge part of our lives! This has been an experience that will stay with us for the rest of our lives.

 

[mommy2mrb]

Thank you all for all of your wonderful replies to our big gives. We have been so blessed! When we were foster parents we were exposed to the worst behaviors of people and how they treat children. Now we have seen the exact opposite - the love people truely have for children. You all have renewed our faith in the goodness of people. Thank you all for being such a huge part of our lives! This has been an experience that will stay with us for the rest of our lives.

that is so sweet Heather! I can say for myself, I get so much from doing the BigGives....seeing all the happiness from the families is priceless to me and knowing I'm a small part of your magical trip, well says it all!

Hope everyone is feeling good, how are swimming lessons going for Lhea? you are getting so close to your trip

have a wonderful day

 

[angeque143]

We got home today to find another box on our doorstep. This one was from Colleen. She must definately understand what it is like to be a busy mom. Her gift will make my job so much easier when we get back from Disney. It was complete with an adorable handmade card.

Lhea opened the box to find a beautiful homemade scrapbook.

It was perfect for someone like me who has 0 talent for scrapbooking. The pages were premade and had places to put pictures in it. There were pages for each of the parks and places for our favorite pictures. I am so excited!

It is so perfect! The kids are going to really love this! The little ones love looking at pictures of themselves.
Thank You So Much!!!

THAT IS SO SO AWESOME!!! I LOVE IT!!! You will have so much fun filling the pages with fantastic memories!!