Breakthroughs

We are experiencing so many breakthroughs with Collins. Her english in the last few weeks has made huge strides. Now she's saying sentences which is pretty amazing since we brought her home from China less than 3 months ago. She calls herself "Cowwins" and seems to want to add an "a" to many of her words. So she says things like ice-a-cream, and when she's claiming something for herself she'll say, "Its a Cowwins." She almost always wants to be the one to pray at meals and bedtime, and even asks to pray at random times like riding in the car or in the middle of mealtime. She always prays the same thing, something she came up with on her own. "Jesus loves-a me Daddy. Jesus loves-a me Mommy. Jesus loves-a me Tonna (Conner). Jesus loves-a me Saspensah (Spencer)......". I guess she heard us pray to Jesus and she knew the song, so thats how she put it together in her mind. She's also made huge strides in her behavior. I cannot believe what 3 months of love and nutrition and instruction can do for a child. Its really been miraculous to watch. Christmas has been great for her. She has loved having Gran Jan and Spencer here. Spencer had a party with all his friends and yes she was literally the life of the party and ended up with 4 or 5 of the white elephant gifts that night. As they were leaving one of the girls told me that she wanted to have kids as a result of Collins. That makes me smile and made me realize that maybe some of these college kids will adopt unwanted children one day as a result of Collins. When you can get to know a child that was an orphan then adoption doesn't seem so scarey or far out. I can see God using this spunky little girl already. One of the highlights of Christmas was having her hand out candy to women prisoners and kids from children's homes. They were at our church for a dinner in early December. Collins wore her santa dress and went down aisle after aisle, handing out peppermints, all the while taking her job very seriously. The women prisoners especially just glowed meeting her and hearing about her recent adoption. We had a HUGE snow Christmas day, biggest snow in Asheville on Dec. 25th since 1969. She was a little unnerved at playing in the snow at first, but soon got into it. She and her brothers and dad made a huge snowman. But the best part was sledding and shoveling the driveway. The snow kept my brother and his family unable to drive here, so we met them today in Atlanta. It was love at first sight as Collins' understanding of "her" family grew by 6 today! She took right to them and when it was time to go she wanted to go home with them. So nice for this little one who had no family to jump all the way to extended family. Seeing her giggling in her aunt's arms, and playing with her cousins....good, good stuff. On the way home from Atlanta she kept wanting to count all 6 of them, and so we went through their names over and over. I was telling her that Gran Jan was Uncle Kyle's mommy. She shook her head and said, "No! Uncle Kyle is Cowwins!" No trouble with bonding with this one....Tonight I was getting her into bed. She was putting things in her new princess purse and had just taken off her wig from the "Bippity Boppity Boutique" at Disney. She was twirling around with a pink scarf Savannah had given her and all of a sudden she said, "Mommy. Cowwins SO happy." I nearly fell over. Her english is just now at the point where she can tell us her thoughts. Her cousin Abby made her a book of their family and all of us together. We read that book and turned out the lights. She prayed and then we both laid there for awhile in silence. Then came one of those moments. Collins whispered in the dark, "Mommy. Cowwins so glad you Mommy." That is a breakthrough I will never ever forget.