Adjusting...

"Baba, what have you done to my hair? I don't really think I like this."
One more shot of how long her hair has gotten. I can't wait until it grows a little longer so I can do more with it. It is so thick! Now, onto the adjusting...

Lily has spent two days with Cindy now. Yesterday, Lily refused to take a nap. I mean, actually refused. She shook her head and told Cindy "uh-uh." She was not going to take a nap, period. Of course, eventually, she did sleep for a little while in the afternoon. But, she slept on Cindy- not in a bed. She wouldn't go to the potty at all, and she wouldn't drink any milk. Today, she cried all morning. She wouldn't even look at Cindy, and even Sesame Street didn't make her feel better. She fell asleep early on today and took a 2 1/2 hour nap... on Cindy again. She had a better afternoon, but still gave Cindy a hard time. Cindy is so sweet and honest about what happens during the day. She understands that Lily has had a lot of adjustments over the past couple of weeks. It has been really hard on her, and it is starting to show. However, there have been no more tantrums. That has been wonderful. Regardless, I believe that Lily is just waiting to see if Cindy is going to stick around. She knows what it feels like to have people leave her, and it takes her awhile to trust people. I am thankful that Cindy is so kind and sweet that she is going to give this adjustment period some time. I am hopeful that Lily will settle in and enjoy her time with Cindy very soon. Please pray for our Lily and for Cindy, too.

A Great Weekend!

We had a great visit with our new social worker this weekend. Her name is Debbie, and she was super sweet. We have been very blessed through America World! Our first SW, Rachel, was completely wonderful, too. She and her husband are now in Africa working for AWAA and their program there. The meeting with Debbie was so terrific. We just never know how Lily will react in new situations- whether she will be herself or totally be shy. This time, she showed off her shy-self for about 2 minutes, and then she showed her true personality. She was so happy and giggly. We love being able to share our daughter with people when they are able to see who she truly is. Lily shared with Debbie quickly, and we knew we were on the right track. When she starts sharing with you- she trusts you. So, here are a couple of pictures of Lily in her new carseat. We had to buy another one for our new babysitter. So, Cindy is getting the older one to use throughout the week as she takes Lily to her home in the mornings and back to school in the afternoons.
Lily loves it! She just knew it was for her as soon as we took it out of its box the other day.
Here is Lily climbing up the stairs. This is one of her favorite pasttimes. She is getting quite good at it. Notice the remote control in her hand. That is our Lily...
She is very proud of herself as we watch her make her way upstairs as we watch in waiting in case we need to catch her or something.
This is our Lily after a LONG week. Jamie says that apparently she felt some stress too this week. How would we know that, you may ask... She slept for 4 hours today! She has never slept that long ever. That is following two nights of 12 hour sleep, too. Regardless of whatever the reason for all of the sleeping- we are all looking forward to a good, positive week of a Godly change in our lives. Please pray that Lily will be accepting to this change and that she will become attached to Cindy quickly. I will let you know how tomorrow goes. Bus duty with Lily should be very interesting... it will definitely make it much more fun for me!
Have a blessed week, everyone!

How Faithful He is!!!

Happy Birthday, Aunt Suzette!



I have wonderful news! We found a babysitter- or I should say that she found us! On Sunday night, after days of not sleeping, feeling emotionally drained and worn out from making phone calls and talking to everyone we knew about babysitters, I finally surrendered all I had to God. I laid in bed and watched Lily sleep thinking of how thankful I am for our beautiful gift that God has given us. I cried and prayed, which I have done since last Wednesday night. But, this time my prayer was different. It was a desperate prayer. I prayed that God would bring the perfect person for Lily to me. I told Him that I could not take anymore and I knew Jamie could not take anymore. The past 5 days had been stressful and there was no way that I could make it another day without rest. I am an obsessive-compulsive person anyway- and trying to find someone to care for Lily was awful. So, I gave up. I had no idea what we would do, and we had already talked about Jamie quitting his job. So, I knew that we at least had a plan for the worst scenario that could happen. Until then, we had kind people that had stepped in to help.

So, the following day was a field trip at school. It would be Lily's first day with a stranger- Mrs. O'Malley- who is one of the best Moms that I know. I knew she would be well taken care of. I just worried about her. But, everything went well that morning when she left with Mrs. O'Malley. Then, it was time for our field trip. I was not happy about going. I knew anyone could have taken my place, and I had the feeling that Lily just needed me to care for her today. She is my responsibility, and I felt guilty for bringing her into this situation of having to find someone else to care for her so soon. But, I still have a job with 16 wonderful students who I am also responsible for. So, I put on my happy face and did my job.

Of course, seeing my children always makes me happy. I adore my kids this year. They are completely terrific. So, we got to the corn maze and began our day. I was stressed about not knowing where Lily would go the next week, but I prayed and tried to move on remembering my prayer of the night before. While I was standing listening to the adults talk to the students about the workings of a farm, a parent from another class came over to talk to me. It was a lady I had seen a dozen times before. I knew her children, and they were so sweet. She was always so nice. We started talking, and before I knew it and before she knew it- she said that she would love to keep Lily. She said she had been praying for a job just like this, but she wanted me to pray about it, too. Was she serious? I could not believe that this was happening. It happened just as I had asked the previous night. We talked and talked the remainder of the morning.

Later, Aunt Trina- who teaches with me- commented that she knew she was watching God at work as the conversation unfolded in front of her that day. A couple of days later, we went to meet with Cindy and her husband. We sat in their home, and Lily was very comfortable there. So, Lily will begin her days with her new babysitter on Monday. Cindy is very excited about being Lily's sitter, and we are very blessed to have her. Lily will be the only one with Cindy all day long, and that is how Cindy wants to keep it. We believe that is what Lily needs right now. So, Lily will continue riding to school with me, and Cindy will bring her back to school at the end of the day. I will get to see her for school functions during the day, and I am really looking forward to this change. God knows the future, and we will never understand why things happened the way the did. We also have more healing to do from the whole episode simply because things like that hurt when family is involved. Yet, we should know that God's plan is perfect. It does not matter if we ever understand it.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3: 5-6

Faithful Father

I open my heart embracing Your change. On You I fix my gaze. I feel the heat of Your lamp on my feet guiding my way. Why do I worry- why do I worry about tomorrow when You are the one who holds my future in Your hands. Faithful Father- I surrender all to You. All my love and all my devotion- all to You. Following peace, completely fulfilled and confidently still through King or stranger You broaden my path as I walk out Your will.

These are lyrics to a Sarah Kelly song, and they completely say how I feel today. Lily spent the day with Mrs. O'Malley. I put her in her car this morning - and there were no tears. Then, when she brought her back to school this afternoon, I learned about all of the fun things Lily did today. She went to the potty for Mrs. O'Malley with no problems whatsoever; she picked up eggs on the farm; visited with sheep; explored her house; played a Grand Piano; went to sleep easily; and slept all afternoon. Lily had the best day, and she was soooo happy when the day was over. She didn't complain one time on the drive home. She just talked and giggled all the way. Now, she is happily playing with her Baba.

We are still searching for a babysitter. As of last night, we hit 85 phone calls. We are meeting with a really nice lady tomorrow afternoon. I will let you know how things go, but I am going to leave everything up to God. I just know He will send the perfect person to us for Lily.

By the way, we had a wonderful friend to take some amazing photos of Lilybug a couple of weekends ago. I would love for you to check them out. The address is http://www.collages.net/ Our Username is Jamie, Stephanie and Lily. The password is 23972. You will have to put in your email address and your first name to view the site just for recording purposes. But, the pictures of Lily are so beautiful! Jamie looks quite handsome, too.
Please continue to pray for us! All of the prayers are definitely working!

Faith, Hope, Love, and Lily

Please pray for our family. We have just lost our babysitter, and we are in desperate need for someone to take care of Lily. This is something we never saw coming, and we have made almost 75 phone calls at this point-and we haven't found anyone that can take care of our daughter. However, a BIG THANK YOU to Mrs. O'Malley and her family for taking care of Lily until we can find someone permanent. It is a big sacrifice for her family to make for us, and we truly appreciate it more than words could ever say!

We took Lily out of town this weekend. It is amazing how God works. We had this trip planned for months- since the summer. We were taking Lily to her first BIG concert. We went to see Third Day, Jars of Clay, and Switchfoot. Lily was so cute as she would sign the word"again" every time the music would stop. She absolutely had the best time! Of course, God's timing was perfect for us. We have been really hurt this week by everything that took place and being at that concert helped our healing to truly begin. If this would have happened at any other time, I am just unsure of how we would have bounced back. We are still very sad, and the tears can come at any moment. Pain when your child is involved is the worst hurt I have ever felt next to losing my Mom. We had no idea this whole process would hurt this badly.

So, anyway, throughout all of this turmoil, we have our faith that God will provide the perfect person in His time. We have hope that He will carry us through this time. We have love from God that will keep us going in the rough times. And most importantly, we are so thankful that we have Lily so that we get to have drama like this in our lives. Without her, our lives would not be the same.

Please, please, please pray for our family. We need prayer more than anything else- but we really need a babysitter, too!
(Sorry, in our mess, we completely forgot our camera this weekend. Lily looked super cute at the concert, though. You will just have to take our word on that one!)

Video Crazy

Here are a couple of videos showing Lily learning her ABC's. Lily is absolutely in-love with Sesame Street's Do The Alphabet Video. So, most days we spend at least 45 minutes watching the main ABC song over and over and over and over again. It is always followed with the sign language for "Again", the word Again, and the sign language for "Please".

Next, we have a few videos from Lily in the kitchen this evening. Lily is in major copycat mode now. She really watches and pays close attention to everything we do. So, tonight, we were trying to catch her jibber-jabber. It is hilarious. Once she realized we were taping her, she stopped talking. Then, she started copying Jamie. We thought it was cute...

Then, she reached up on the counter, and she grabbed the phone. I am sure she was trying to call Aunt Suzette. She knows how to get to her number on speed dial, somehow. She has been called a few times by Lily- sometimes we know she is calling her and sometimes we don't! :0)

Then, Jamie had to plunge Lily's toilet upstairs. Jamie asked if Lily had ever watched me do this because she knew exactly what to do with it. She had seen me do it one other time, but it has been awhile ago. Here is a little example of our copycat. Jamie just handed the plunger to Lily before he ever showed her what to do tonight.

We just have to show you one more plunging episode. The second time Jamie gave her a turn- she really tried to do her best!

We hope you enjoyed these videos! We were just video crazy today! By the way, Lily will be 16 months old tomorrow. I cannot believe that 6 months with her has flown by. They have been the best 6 months of our lives!

6 Unspectacular Things About Me

Well, I have been "tagged" by a wonderful friend who we met in China, Jen. Below is a picture of her beautiful daughter, Lilli with our Lily. She has tagged me to tell 6 Unspectacular Things about myself. You can go check out her blog and see her Unspectacular Things which are really Spectacular, by the way. Her website is the link to the left titled The Princess Diary. 1. I still live in the exact same house that I grew up in! When my Mom went to Heaven back in 2001, my Dad gave us this home. It is such a comfort to keep the house in the family, and we love living where Mom taught us all she knew.
2. Clearly, I also live in the same town where I grew up. I went away to college for one-year, but came home quickly because I missed my Mom.
3. I teach 4th grade in the same school where my Mom taught 1st grade for over 30 years. I actually even taught in the same room for awhile!
4. I met Jamie when we were Seniors in high school. It was totally love at first sight- for me! We got together, split up, got together, split up again, and then one day when we were both in college- Jamie called me. He said that he realized what he had, and he wanted me back! That was that, and we have been happily ever after ever since!
5. I am a neat-freak! Everything must be in its home at all times. I spend my days (when Lily is napping) organizing closets and cleaning. Yes, I really do enjoy it!
6. My favorite place to be is with Jamie and Lily. As long as we are together, nothing else matters. I am a homebody, but I love to travel. Jamie and Lily both have the social-bug gene.
(Totally unspectacular- my favorite color is purple, but secretly- I love the color gray! All of my comfy clothes are gray. But, it is just the best laying-around-the-house color of clothing!)

One last thing:
I had to show you a picture of Lily's last ride in the Jeep Wrangler. We had to trade it in because of gas mileage, etc. So, hopefully, we will take some pictures of Mama's new ride this weekend. I absolutely love it, and Lily really loves the new ride we have! She giggles and laughs every time we go somewhere. I will post pictures soon...

My Little Helper

We had to take some pictures this Sunday of another beautiful dress that was given to Lily by the O'Malley family. They have really kept her in Sunday dresses this summer, and we love every one of the lovely dresses they have given Lily. So, here we are- early Sunday morning- getting ready to leave for church. You see that Kitty is still clutched in Lily's hand, as always. Do you remember when I was worried that she would never attach to anything? Boy, was I wrong. Kitty must go everywhere with us, and we even had to wash Kitty over the weekend because Lily threw up on her. It was so sad to watch Lily look everywhere for Kitty over and over again when we went to bed. But, luckily, the washing cycle only takes 37 minutes. Plus, Kitty doesn't have to be dried. So, she only had to be distracted for a short period of time before Kitty magically reappeared. Then, and only then, could Lily finally settle in for her night of sleep. It really was quite sweet to see her kiss Kitty and welcome her lost friend back.
Here is the Lily look when she is about done with the picture taking...
But, we always have to take time for some kisses!!

We finally thought to get a picture of my little helper. Lily loves to help with everything. But, I think her favorite thing is helping to take clothes out of the dryer. It is really nice when she just hands me everything. Sure, it takes a lot longer to take care of the clothes, but it is my favorite way to do it! I am not sure what I would do without my little helper now!

Lily's First GameDay

That's right! It is football time in the Davis household! For those of you who don't know- we LOVE football. We are in mourning most of the year when we don't have football on Saturdays! So, we have one more reason that Lily was made just for us! When we brought her home from China, we were flipping through the channels and the Titans movie was playing. Jamie stopped there just to watch a football scene. Our daughter, who had never paid any attention to television at the time, stopped and intently watched the whole scene. Since football has started, Lily is completely engrossed in the games. When someone makes a touchdown, she claps as she stands in front of the television. When we were watching a game the other day, she even said "touchdown" as clear as could be. So, today, we got to watch our first real GameDay. Lily stood in front of the tv, and she danced to the intro song. She clapped when the audience clapped.
Then, she especially watched our favorite GameDay guy- Kirk Herbstreit. We love him! Apparently, Lily does, too! So, we are going to watch the big game for us this evening. It will be a tough one because Miami is my favorite team, and I am really pulling for Randy Shannon. I just think he is an amazing man with so much character. However, they are playing against Tim Tebow and Florida. Tim Tebow is my favorite quarterback ever! If you don't know a lot about him- here are a few things you might be interested in. His parents are missionaries, and he spent his Spring Break in the Phillipines with orphans. He is a wonderful example of a Christian. He travels around the U.S. speaking to groups of people about being a Christian, and he even spoke at a prison recently. He is truly an awesome guy who has a heart for God. So, this will be a hard night for me. But, my team actually doesn't have much hope against Tim and Florida. So, I am just praying that they will at least keep up with them. Do you see how much we love football!!!
On another note, Jamie sent me flowers at school yesterday.... just because he loves me. I think that is the best reason of all to ever send flowers. What a surprise they were! But, the coolest part about this type of flower is that it holds a special meaning to us. These are Sterling Roses- the perfect rose that has no thorns. So, thank you Jamie for a lifetime of perfection, and thank you God for giving me the best husband and best friend in the world!!!!

Playing Star Wars

This weekend, Aunt Suzette taught Lily how to "play Star Wars." At least, that is what Aunt Suzette decided to call their game with sticks. Lily has never held a stick before, so you can imagine how excited she was. She definitely is learning to explore the outdoors. She was really happy when Aunt Suzette gave her two sticks to hold onto!
She did really well playing with the sticks! I wish you could have seen her face when she dropped them on the ground. She came over to me to with her hands turned palm-side up to show me they had dirt on them. She needed me to wipe them off for her. What can I say? She is my daughter!
Aunt Mindy took another cute picture of Lily and Nathan playing together the other day, so we had to add this to today's post. I wish I would have had a video of them this morning. They hadn't seen each other in three days. When Nathan saw Lily- their little faces just lit up. Then, he walked over and started hugging her. She leaned out her cheek for him to kiss her!!! They hugged and hugged on each other as though they were long-lost friends. It was absolutely the sweetest thing ever!