Four months home

Hard to believe that a mere four months ago, on May 1st, we landed in Sky Harbor Airport with Sophie in our arms. What a thrilling moment to step off the plane and know that we were home and it was all finished. She is ours forever, and we are so thankful.

Since coming home Sophie has celebrated her birthday, learned to walk, sprouted 6 teeth, has grown two inches taller, gained five pounds, begun using English words (momma, dada, Ella, hi, bye-bye, up, no, mine, baby, nana (banana), uh-o, woof woof, quack quack, set - go), uses sign language to say: more, all done, bath, thank you, eat, milk, and drink, has become a much happier child all around, has traveled to Denver, Michigan, and Rocky Point, Mexico, loves to snuggle, gives big pucker lip kisses, has the worlds greatest giggle, learned how to remove her helmet without undoing the Velcro, learned how to undo her diaper by undoing the Velcro, loves anything water related, has had lactose (milk) and sucrose (sugar) removed from her diet, has been introduced to Cheetos thanks to her brothers, is now a happy stroller rider and is no longer allowed to be a mommy rider, will now happily walk bare foot in grass, has grown very fond of her buddy Luke, discovered the joy of putting her hands in the toilet at every opportunity, has eaten the tops off of several crayons, discovered her nose hole and anyone else's that will hold her close enough to reach, loves to play with baby dolls, feed them bottles, and pat them on the back, has learned that mommy does not like pinching, has a great love for phones and remotes, still sucks her thumb to go to sleep and has to hold a blankie as well, knows the Mexican hat dance and which way the ladies ride, loves to dance and clap to music, throws her sippy cup off her tray at any opportunity, has learned to feed her buddy Banjo the rest of her meal when she has finished, takes one 3 hr nap a day, has grown more curls in the back but is still lacking in the front, loves belly buttons and will lift other's shirts to find them, greets me with a "hi!" after each nap, and has found her way even deeper into all of our hearts.

Oh how we love our Sophie Joy Tufah, and are so blessed to have her as our child. It has been a busy, crazy, exhausting four months home. Sophie has come so far in understanding what it means to be in a family. What love looks like from a well meaning six year old brother's tackle hug. How to show love through kisses and snuggles. What discipline means, and how to react. There used to be so much crying for every. little. thing. Now, I can redirect, close a cupboard, or say no with out the full body flail, tears, snot, and sobs. Now, if you take away an iPhone that she swiped off the night stand, you might still get the flail, tears, snot, and sobs. The girl really likes her technology :).

We would do it all again to have the privilege of having Sophie in our home. The dreaded paper work, the excruciating wait, the travel, the bulging disks in my back, every last detail we would do again, in a heart beat, for the joy of being her family. God is so good!

Hooray for four months of being a family of seven!