So many new things!

   Wow 6 months flew by! We have been home with our little Kannika for just over 6 months now. We just finished our 6 month post placement visit which means that within the next month we should be able to finalize the adoption in the US. I know this is just a formality but it's a pretty great one. We get to give her our last name and I am so excited to be almost done with the initial adoption phase. We still have to jump through hoops to apply for citizenship but at least she will be officially ours! I will probably cry when we finally get to change her name. I know our adoption journey will span her whole life but I am very excited to get this part of it over.
  She is adjusting so well. She is completely potty trained now, even at night time. She still has a few accidents but hasn't had enough for me to say she isn't potty trained. For the most part the accidents happen when she is not with us and I think it is more separation anxiety related than not being potty trained. She still has her random temper tantrums but she's also 2. Sometimes the tantrums are sibling related and sometimes they are language barrier related. Sometimes she gets mad because she wants to do something we told her not to do... you know normal 2 year old stuff. I rarely see the confused/sad look anymore. She is not waking up at night much anymore.  It is wonderful to see her happy, sassy, stubborn little personality coming out. I remember when we first came home and for the first 5 months I wondered if we would ever see her real personality or if she would always just mimic her siblings and us. I am happy to see that the real Kannika is emerging. She is not in her survival copy mode anymore. I am seeing the little girl we read about in the reports we received from the foster family.
  At her recent speech therapy appointment we discovered she attempts to say over 100 English words. They aren't perfect and sometimes we are the only ones that know what she is saying BUT I think that's amazing for 6 months. Sometimes I have to remind myself that she is new to all of us and this culture and remind myself to give her more grace. She is really doing that well that I have to remind myself she hasn't been here forever. I did not expect that but I credit that 100% to God and the many prayers of the people that love us. God created an amazing little girl in our little Thai princess.
  I often find myself looking at her and praying her mom will know someday how amazing her little girl is and how much we love her. I pray that as missionaries travel Thailand that she herself will find God. I tear up at the thought of this precious child's mother finding peace in God.
   On the medical side of things we have been told she does not have Proteus Syndrome (an overgrowth genetic disorder) which is what the Thai doctors originally diagnosed her with. She is in a clinical study out of the National Institute of Health that will hopefully help the doctors learn more about overgrowth syndromes and help us learn more about what is going on with her. Surgery time has still not been decided. We are waiting to talk to the geneticist and see if he can recommend someone. We want to be sure it's done right and all at once if possible since we will most likely have to travel out of state for the surgery. Since she is not in any pain and it is not affecting her development it is not urgent. We, of course, for her sake want it done but it's not something that has to happen right away.