Happy Birthday Meena!

Last Friday(January 11) my little girl turned 4 years old! We celebrated by going out to dinner at an Italian Restaurant. At this lovely Italian restaurant, my son and daughter enjoyed their favorite meal-chicken nuggets! Yes, Meena is madly in love with chicken nuggets. She will eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, if I allowed her. Meena loves anything to do with fairies and things that fly so I made butterfly cookies for the kids to decorate instead of a cake. Meena does not like cake, so this seemed like a good option. They had a good time decorating and eating all the candy off the cookies!

On another note, Meena is becoming more independent by the day! She wants to do what she wants, when she wants! It doesn't matter if I am in the middle of baking or cooking, when she wants a shower, she goes right upstairs and takes a shower! Such a polar opposite of my first child! On Sunday while I was in the shower, she decided she wanted to take a bath. She went into the hallway bathroom and proceeded to get in the tub and start filling up the tub! Luckily, I was getting out of the shower and realized she was missing and got her out before anything happened. Whew!!! (She definitely has a thing about being clean!!!)  Another FUN thing Meena has learned is to cut her own hair! We have a lovely "do" without any bangs now!!!! Luckily hair grows and hers grows very quickly..........

I will post pictures of our recent adventures soon. Until next time.......... Colleen

A Visit With Santa!

Yesterday we made the trek to Bass Pro Shop to have a visit with Santa. I was impressed with the activities the store had available to keep the kids occupied while we waited. It was very crowded but at least the picture was free and they allowed you to take your own picture too! Thank you Bass Pro for also having a Santa that was jolly with all the children and did not show any frustration. Here is the result.....

The Adoption is Final!

On Monday December 10, 2012, Meena's adoption became final!!!!!  I went to the court house with the last of the needed paperwork and waited for the Clerk of Courts to sign the finalization papers.This was a very happy day for our family. One more hurdle crossed in our long line of hurdles! Now we have to get her a Social Security Number and a new Birth Certificate with her new legal name- Meena Lynne Fink. Here is a copy of her Announcement......

Thankful for one less orphan.....

Happy Thanksgiving! As I reflect on this past year, I have to say that I am thankful for the humbling experience of creating a family though adoption. God calls each of us to care for the orphan and I am honored to be the parent to one of the sweetest little girls! Meena is no longer an orphan but is part of a family that loves her so very much. She has endured many trials in her short 3 years of life and has overcome each one with a smile (a run, a jump, and a climb!). Thank you God for allowing me the privilege of being her mother!

We Received A Good Report From the Cardiologist!

Dear Friends,

I hope you have been following my Facebook updates and know all about Meena's heart surgery. I am going to try and move them from Facebook so everything is in one place. In the meantime I wanted to let you know that we visited the Cardiologist yesterday. He performed an Echo-cardiogram and said that the surgery fixed the hole in Meena's heart! He was happy with her lung function and with how her incision looked. She continues to have pulmonary stenosis, but not anything we should have to worry about. Today we went to the the Heart Surgeon that completed the second surgery. He was also very pleased with how her heart sounds, how she is acting and healing. He along with all the nurses were so intrigued with how beautiful and smart she is. No one can believe she has only been home for 9 weeks now! So much  to be thankful for during this Thanksgiving season! We will be flying on Sat. to Pa. for a week. It will be nice for all my friends up North to be able to meet my daughter!

Blessed~Colleen

A Party to Welcome Meena Home

On October 14, 2012, some friends had a party to welcome Meena to our family! The party was held at Hickory Grove Baptist Church. We had a wonderful time visiting, eating, and opening presents! Thanks to those that planned the party and to all the wonderful people that came.  Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!

Happenings with Meena!

Update on medical: Meena has had two more ear infections in the past week. Her pediatrician referred her to a different ENT. The ENT we saw first was not able to piggy-back on her heart surgery(Nov. 1) and she really needs tubes put in as soon as possible. We had the appt. with the new ENT this morning and he is going to try to work Meena into his surgery schedule that day. I hope they are able to schedule it all. I also discussed with the ENT about Meena having an MRI of her head. The MRI will show if she has an auditory nerve and some things about the cochlea. The nurse is supposed to call me after she works on all of this. In the meantime, drops were prescribed for the current ear infection.

Update qon Meena's growth and development: Using one rating scale, Meena has a minimum of 100 expressive signs. She is learning more vocabulary everyday- her strength is animals and food-two of her favorite things.  Speaking of food, Meena continues to love to eat! She has gained 3 lbs!!! Her legs actually have a little "chunk" on them!! So easy to squeeze. Her favorite foods continue to be: chicken, veggies, fruit and nuts, and yogurt (of course lollipops and chocolate are still on the list).  I need to digress a little and tell you a Meena "funny". It was the first week we were home and Meena and Connor were outside riding bikes. Two deer(mom and baby) ran through the back yard. Meena looked up at me with HUGE eyes and said "elephant"!!!!! I said, no Meena you are not in India anymore! We have deer not elephants in our yard.........
Connor has become another favorite in Meena's life. It is so nice to see her look up to him and be concerned when it is time to get him from school. She seems to know when it is time to go get him and will ask "Where Connor?", "Go car get Connor school!" She also likes to copy his behavior that is not "the best", like taking the cushions off the couch and jumping! We do have a trampoline for that purpose but the couch must be better.......

I am still waiting for a meeting to be scheduled with the school system to start her services. The evaluating team is ready, we are waiting for the "downtown" person to agree to a date. I think they will drag it out as long as they can. Until then, I have extended my leave in order to minimize her transitions.

 More to come..........