Esther's 9th Birthday

Oh boy! As I was going through the photos to see which ones I still needed to add to the blog, I found some from Esther's 9th birthday on June 3rd. I am amazed at how far Esther has come since she joined our family. Her adoption was awful. It took us 3 years to complete. We went to Haiti to visit her about 4 or 5 times while we were in process. We were worried about her the whole three years, as she was severely delayed. We were even concerned she might me mentally disabled or autistic. We just didn't know. We'd been told that no one had ever heard her talk. She never talked to us when we visited, just made some odd sounds here or there and cried really loudly. She was four months away from turning six years old when she finally did come home. She weighed 26 lbs. She barely walked. She had to use the stair rail to pull herself up the stairs. She learned how to jump a couple of days after coming home and delighted in jumping all over after that. She couldn't read or write. She did not know her colors or shapes our numbers or the alphabet. She didn't really even start trying to talk to us until she had been home for a couple of weeks. She didn't respond to English or even the little bit of Creole we had learned. We wondered if she could possibly be deaf. She wasn't. She wasn't autistic, either. She was severely delayed. She caught up physically the fastest. She has slowly been improving academically. She learned how to read last year! She can write. She is doing well in school. She has awesome resource teachers and has just flourished under their tutelage. What a difference we have seen in the last three years of her being home. She isn't like the same child at all. Great job Esther! We love you!

For Esther's dinner she chose: fish tacos. For her dessert she chose: funfetti cake with sprinkle frosting.