One year ago today our daughter came home from Hong Kong. I can’t believe it’s been that long and yet sometimes it feels as if it’s been longer. It’s been a hard year, I won’t lie. We have survived and are doing better now than we have earlier in the year. There were times I didn’t think we could make it, but we have. I don’t think all adoptions are as hard as this one has been, but not everyone adopts a child with severe special needs, who is older and also has lived in an institution their whole life. It’s been a year of craziness. Over Thanksgiving we got to share with some of our family the real picture of what this year has been like. I have been hesitant to share all the trials we have gone through, just because I like to keep that stuff private, as much as possible, but I will say it was nice to share the real story so that people can know how to pray for us.

Before Kaki ever arrived home I started having panic attacks. About a month before Glenn travelled I started to realize somewhat what we were getting ourselves into and it scared me. I wasn’t sure we could handle it. And when she arrived home, I really wasn’t sure. Those first few weeks dealing with a grieving child and jet lag were very difficult. Then things slowly got better and were pretty good for a few months. Then we started to wean her off a medication she had been on for her whole life, because the doctor’s wanted her to not take it anymore since it wasn’t a very safe medication. Then things got hard again. She didn’t handle that very well and started tantruming. Then in the summer she started not eating. She didn’t eat at home for four months. She lost weight and we really got scared. We weren’t sure what to do. We were in crisis mode. Then we got on a new medication about two months ago and things started to turn around. She started eating and her attitude started to change. She has now gained 7 pounds and grew 1 inch in two months. She is eating all the time now and she is participating in school. Things are getting better, slowly. It’s been a rough road, and we are not out of the woods yet. There will continue to be rough times. Raising a child with severe special needs is not easy. She has a lot of issues that we may never overcome, but we are seeing some progress and that is encouraging.

Thank you for all your prayers and support. We have really needed it and continue to. God has not called us to something easy, most things worth doing are not. I can’t say I would ever want to do this year again. I am glad it’s behind us and we are hopeful that the future will bring more progress and easier times.