She loves to explore and is crawling all over the house just like a 13 month old does. She is cruising and likes to “walk” when you hold her hands. Her favorite toys are definitely her brothers! She knows a good thing when she sees it! They all are so good to her! Besides playing with them she likes to fill containers with “stuff” and dump it out, and fill… but it always ends with dump!!

With the exception of last night she has been sleeping all night and taking 2 short naps a day. She is so easy to put to bed (just give her a blanket and put her down. She may occasionally protest with crying for a few minutes, but Mom and Dad are trying to teach her good sleep habits!) and of course she can sleep through any noise!

She loves the baby bjorn which she is really almost too big for. We went hiking at the park and she had her first time in the swing and loved it. She’s even been shopping with Mom already!

The thing she likes very best is eating! She hasn’t met a food she doesn’t like! She’s on table food now and has already let Mom switch her to a sippy cup. She sits in her high chair and just eats, eats, eats. I have to cut her off, since she’s never once stopped herself! She has already learned how to sign “more”! Tonight during dinner she was eating meatloaf, carrots and potatoes when the phone rang. She put her hand to her ear to “answer the phone” and made a mess of her hair! (We call that food mousse!)

Monday she learned how to say mama, but doesn’t know what it means yet! It was the first time she’d said that sound though, and she and Mom have been practicing!!

We are really enjoying her. It still seems surreal that she’s here, sleeping in her crib and sitting in her high chair and playing on the floor and riding in the van. I just love it!! It was a long wait, but worth it!!

Thanks to everyone who came out to meet us! Sorry to the others who didn’t know we’d changed plans! Please feel free to give us a call and stop by! Her homecoming was so sweet! We all thought she’d be overwhelmed by all the new faces, but she was delightful! She smiled and checked out all the people, especially the brothers and cousins that were in her face! She posed for pictures and played with balloons and after about an hour of celebration, we piled into the big white van and drove home! Matt carried her in and everyone gathered around as we showed her her room. We got her jammies on and she cuddled with Daddy until she fell asleep. He put her in her crib and she slept all night! (Thank you, God! Shawn and Deb really needed a good night’s sleep in their own bed!)

It has been a week of transition for her as she’s left everything and everyone she’s known and lived in a totally different environment with new people. I think it is getting easier for her each day, realizing that we aren’t going to leave her! She is already a Daddy’s girl, but finds that Mommy is ok if Daddy’s not around! (Lucky for Mommy, Daddy has to go to work on Monday!)

She is enjoying playing with Josh, Jake and Zack right now. I really think she’s going to make the most of being the little sister to these 5 awesome big brothers!

I’ll post some more later! Thank you for all your prayers and support!

Deb for all the Everlys!

More news to follow, keep checking here

It has been a long wait, but we are finally here. Praise God for His faithfulness throughout this process.

Please keep praying. I was thrilled to find out that a friend of mine got her pink slip yesterday, but just made this whole DNA thing harder to understand. Katie had her DNA done and sent on October 3 and my friend’s daughter’s was sent just last Wednesday. They got pink and we still don’t have it. Once again, I don’t understand. I know that God is working in me and right now I feel like I’m being refined by fire. Pray that I am strong enough to make it through to the gold!!