One year ago today, this lost-looking little girl walked out of an orphanage hand-in-hand with her Daddy.  She made no fuss about leaving the only life she’d ever known, but it wasn’t because she was looking forward to her new one, only that she had never learned to attach to anything or anyone.

One year later, our precious daughter is blossoming!  She still struggles in so many ways, but there is so much hope.  While she used to laugh wildly when she hurt herself, she will now come to us showing her boo-boo with a very deliberate (if slightly fake) “Oww!”  While a hug from Delia (even one initiated by her) used to almost always end in getting elbowed in the face or getting my hair tugged, she can now sit calmly on my lap and be sweet.  She loves to be lifted up and danced with, though still always on her terms.  And that’s okay.

Our beautiful little girl, who was classed as completely non-verbal before coming to us now uses about 30 ASL signs and attempts to speak several of the words while signing them.  She also sings with gusto!  We are finding more and more ways to connect and engage her, including the recent revelation (at AWANA) that our girly, who wants nothing to do with any coloring activity loves painting with watercolors!  Looks like we’ll be doing a lot more painting around our house.

It’s hard to say quite what we expected our first year with Delia to look like.  Did we think she would talk more? Maybe.  Did I fear she would still be waking me up with blood-curdling screams each morning at 2 or 3 AM?  I prayed not (See: the Delia Sleep Miracle of February 2014).  What I do know is that when she first came home, I learned a lot about what hard looks like, and now, by the grace of God, we don’t see the hard stuff nearly as often.

Oh, and this girl?  The one whose file said, “this child rarely smiles”?  I think she likes it here just fine.

Happy Gotcha Day, our beloved Delia Mary!