3 weeks as a family!

Tomorrow will be our three week family anniversary! Needless to say, it's been the biggest three weeks of transition in our life. Tabitha is a champ. She has taken everything in stride. Her life has been full of transitions, so this is nothing new to her.

She started school at Ruskin Christian the Monday after Thanksgiving. She loves it there. She has made fast friends with everyone including her cousin, Micaiah. She is a bundle of energy and hops, skips, jumps, and runs everywhere she goes. She is also cheering on the JV Cher squad as well as practicing with the girls' basketball team. Her smile lights up when she gets to go to Wednesday night church with CORE (the middle school youth group). She is just a genuinely happy kid. After knowing what she has gone through, we are amazed at how happy and positive she is.

Of course, there are little things that we're working on, but little T is eager to please. We're sure it's just the honeymoon phase, and she'll jump into normal middle school mode soon enough. For now, we enjoy this sweet family time.

Every night, we read and pray together before bed. It's a great time for us to talk and bond. A part of our reading the other night was about how God uses hard times in our life for His glory. Tabitha said that she had hard times in her life, but she knew God had a purpose for it and now she has this wonderful family. (Insert melting heart). The best is hearing her in the shower besides it sounding like world war 3 just exploded in there... We get to hear endless singing and cheering in there. Some songs she evens make up like last week's was "daddy is awesome and mommy is pretty cool too!"

This past weekend we took her to Disney for her first trip. It was like she was five years old and full of excitement. As we went throughout the weekend, she kept saying "this is the best family experience ever!" Great memories were made, and it was super special for the entire family

We're very grateful for our friends and family who have stepped in and helped love on T in various ways from hanging out with her, doing homework, hugging, coaching, and caring. It means so much so her and she is overwhelmed with her new life. We don't know what the future holds for this special girl, but God has big plans.

Pray for us tomorrow. We have a court hearing to review her case and hopefully get some tentative plans set for adoption finalization in the spring.

Ps. Christmas cards are being sent out this week!