July Newsletter

What a whirlwind these past few days have been!!

Maya came home on Friday afternoon.  It still feels so weird to say that!  Today we are ending 4 full days of having her at home.  Her adaption and transition period is so far, going incredibly smooth.
The girl is one happy little trooper.  It has been a joy to watch her transform and relax in her new surroundings.  She is soaking up the love and attention, we are pretty sure that she has never been played with at the orphanage how we play with her at home and she LOVES it!

OVERSTIMULATION

That is to say the least!  She has been super happy and loving life, but at the same time you could see she was totally running on adrenaline and not sleeping as much as she needed to.  But she seems to have a personality much like Ryan's, that she can go and go and is still as happy as a clam even without regular naps.  We knew though, that this wouldn't last forever and thankfully yesterday and today you can see she's starting to come down a bit from her adrenaline high.

HIGHLIGHT

Pretty much everything about these past few days is a highlight!  We constantly look at this little miracle scooting around our house and are amazed at God's goodness.  Hearing her laugh and watching her discover the world around her are priceless treasures.  But what I am most thankful for is that she already recognizes Mommy, responds and reacts with sheer joy when she hears my voice or sees me and has even fussed when I have left the room.  Little things that you totally take for granted when you birth a child, that become even more precious with a little one who has to learn who and "what" Mommy is.

We find that we've had to re-educate ourselves in babyhood and are "happily" experiencing sleepless nights again.

We need your continued prayers in two ways.

1.  Zhenya is going forward with the process to adopt her, but alone as a "single" father (with my persmission).  The paperwork will be turned into the court next week.  Pray that everything will be in order, acceptable and that we can get a court date!!

2.  For Maya's continued adaptation into our home and family.  Zhenya will be leaving for M.A. in Latvia Wednesday night and will be gone for 9 days.  Pray for God's grace to help me through this next week.

With all our hearts we thank you,
The 4 Shulgins!