Rose's 6th Family Day

Dear Rose,

Every year you look forward to your Family Day celebration. It's a day all about you and choosing exactly what you'd like to do. A rare occurrence when you are one of five siblings. This year, we celebrated a day early since your special day fell on the same day we'd be driving back from our vacation in Florida. And sitting in a car all day is no way to celebrate you!

More often than not, your Family Day lands on our Spring Break vacation. Just like it did 6 years ago on that extra special day when you were first placed in our arms at FANA. Reminiscing about that special day brings so many joyous emotions to our hearts. We had waited for over 4 years to see your precious little face. 

When we started our journey to you in February of 2011, we had no idea the obstacles we would face, and the twists and turns that would happen in order to be united with you. But each step of the way was one step closer to you. We had just started out on the wrong path many years before you'd even be born. 

It would be nearly two years until we'd find the right path to you. With paperwork stalls due to our adoption agency merging with another and then the closure of the Los Pisingos orphanage where we had planned to adopt, we were left wondering if we'd ever see your beautiful face. But as fate would have it, FANA would graciously accept our family back into their adoption program and a couple years later we would finally get the call! A beautiful 5 month old baby girl was waiting for us at FANA! All those years and nearly the whole time we had just been waiting for you to be born. Our precious baby girl! You were so worth the wait!

A devastatingly slow approval from USCIS would make us wait nearly two more months before we were able to board a plane bound for Bogota. Finally, on March 20th, we were on our way to FANA to finally meet you.

We arrived at FANA and were guided into the Green Room where we had met your brother Owen almost 5 years earlier.  All the same sights and sounds came flooding back as we anxiously awaited your arrival. Soon we could hear the commotion from the hallway and knew that it was time. 

The moment that we had been dreaming of and preparing for for over 4 years was finally here! Around the corner you appeared dressed in pink from head to toe and carried by another FANA adoptee. He gently placed you in my arms and in that moment, everything felt as though it was meant to be. 

Our journey to you was complete and we were so very excited to start our new life together as a family of five.

For your 6th Family Day, you woke up to a surprise gift from El Raton Perez and the Tooth Fairy. Your loose tooth that had been hanging on for weeks got bumped hard when rough housing with your brother the night before. It was a quite traumatic way to lose your tooth and you made sure that El Raton and the Tooth Fairy knew with a hand written note: "I got hurt but please leave me a gift."

That note must have tugged at their hearts - they left you $5 AND a toy!

We were in Florida on Spring Break for your special Family Day celebration which was perfect. You could spend the entire day playing outside and splashing in the water - your favorite things to do! You spent most of the day swimming at our rental house. You are quite the fish and love the water. You basically taught yourself how to swim while on vacation.  Despite my plea for you to use a life jacket, you refused over and over. And why? Because you can't swim under water in a life jacket. Geez, Mom!

For lunch, you requested one of your all-time favorites...Wendy's! Wendy's is your typical weekend lunch spot with Pa. You got your usual - a hamburger, chicken nuggets AND french fries. You have a big appetite when it comes to Wendy's!

Later that afternoon, we loaded up our 15 passenger van to pick up a souvenir and ice cream.

We made one last visit to the beach that evening. Despite the chilly temperatures, you were still wading in the ocean to get pails full of water to play with in the sand.

The day ended with more ice cream of course! You made a yummy ice cream sundae all on your own complete with chocolate fudge and strawberries.

Rose, you are such a creative and thoughtful little girl. You love opening the mail to see what exciting items are lurking inside. If the box is big enough, you quickly get to work making some new project or fort out of it.  If the item in the box seems gift worthy (for example, if Pa orders a new shirt for himself online), you find the perfect gift bag and tissue paper complete with a made-from-scratch card to go along with the "gift" and proudly deliver it to its intended recipient. 

You are always up for perfecting new skills - bike riding, roller blading, ice skating, snow shoeing, golfing, you name it! You love being on the move and are eager to try your hand at anything that comes your way.

You have become quite the little chef. Want eggs for breakfast? Just ask Rose! You are a master at cracking eggs (you're even better than Pa when it comes to keeping the shells out.) With just a bit of guidance, you can easily whip up a batch of cookies or muffins. You love to bake!

Rose, you have sure grown up since the first time we laid eyes on you six years ago. We are so very blessed to have been chosen to be your family. We love you to the moon and back! Happy 6th Family Day!