About My Girl

I have 15 photos, 3 minutes of video, LOTS of doctors reports, and 4 social reports about my girl. Partly because she has been in care 13 months now, partly because her health has been the object of MUCH concern since she has been in the care center in Addis. And this concern is coming from doctors and nurses very used to working with severely malnourished children. But through all of this, I have probably learned more about my daughter than many people do before meeting their children.

Here's what I know about Eden:

She is BEAUTIFUL!!! Seriously. My baby is not cute, she's gorgeous. And it's not just a momma's love, everyone who sees her photos says the same thing.
She sucks her 3 middle fingers.
She's tiny. At 10 months she was the size of a 1 or 2 month old. She gains 1/2 lb each month if she's lucky, though she's had a month or 2 where she gained 1 lb.
She is very curious and alert. I have never seen a baby so small looking at the camera in every photo! In the video she watches EVERYTHING, follows the people and their voices with her eyes.
Her fine motor skills are good. I watch her play with a little toy, and she can manipulate it really easily.
She loves to be held! (Pretty excited about this b/c I don't plan to put her down!) It's written in her reports, but in the photos you can see how very cuddly she is.
She's crawling. A huge improvement from what was expected.
She has stranger anxiety.

What I wonder:

How long will she be terrified of me?
How long will it take her to bond with me? Me with her? (I know it will just be survival at first, hoping and praying we get through that pretty quickly!)
Is there something more than just malnutrition wrong with her?
Will we end up in the hospital as soon as we get home?
When will she get home?

At this point, I'm hoping I will travel in July. Hoping for the 1st embassy date, though not much is logical at this point. Praying for her health, for her little heart to be prepared for this huge transition, for us to attach well and quickly, and get past survival to routine soon after getting home. Getting her room ready, buying a few clothes, diapers, starting to pack. While I would have loved to have her home all summer, it will be nice to have a few days off to get things done. And I'm so not upset that I don't have to start back to work in the middle of August! Knowing through all this, God's timing is best and she is in His hands.