Still More Lizzie News

Welcome to another Lizzie update. I have had a plethora of requests for another update. It has now been almost six weeks since Lizzie came into our lives and changed them forever. I find it hard to believe myself but I love Lizzie more each day that passes and cannot imagine life without her. Ashley and I want to thank everyone who has shared in our joy and for the outpouring of love we have experienced. Lizzie has enjoyed a month long birthday party. Each week brings more gifts for her. We have been a little tardy in getting thank you cards out but they are coming. Really, they are.

Let me see if I can catch everyone up in as short of an email as possible. First, try to buy school uniforms six weeks after school starts if you want an exercise in frustration. We are living proof that it can be done but it is not easy. Lizzie is in school again and adjusting great. She loves her teacher and is making new friends. She is still a little behind where she should be at this point in the school year but she is rapidly catching up with the rest of the class. She enjoys being read to and now she is starting to enjoy reading to us. We found out the hard way that young children require more sleep than we thought. She now gets between 9 and 10 hours of sleep each night and her capacity to learn has grown. Lizzie makes friends with everyone very quickly and loves to give hugs and kisses. She enjoys dress up and is a little clothes horse.

Lizzie has still only mentioned her old family a few times and she has never become home sick or asked to visit or speak to her old family. A couple of weeks ago Ashley was taking Lizzie through the Springhill section of town on the way home when Lizzie noticed some of the older homes in the area. She asked if the homes were "condos." Ashley replied that they were not but that people lived in them. Lizzie said that she thought they were condos because she had stayed in one at the beach and they had "lots of boats." Ashley said, "I bet that was fun" to which Lizzie replied "Not really." After a few moments of silence she asked Ashley if she ever had to go back to her old family. Ashley said that she didn't to which Lizzie said, "Good. I'm glad we found each other." It melts my heart.

We are letting Lizzie's hair grow out. Lizzie asked to have longer hair because she does not like to be mistaken for a boy. It has finally grown out enough that we can get a bow to stay in her hair. Lizzie enjoys going to Sunday School and Praise Workshop, a type of children's church for 4 and 5 year old children. She loves the dogs and cat and says a "God Bless" for each dog and the cat when she says her bedtime prayers. The cat really loves Lizzie because she is so gentle with the cat and will just pet the cat for days. I have never seen a cat not run from a 5 year old.

Lizzie continues to be very independent, the one thing I hear over and over is "I can do it." Lizzie is very clean and neat and is good about picking up her toys with out complaining. She also listens to reason most of the time. She is totally mesmerized by Sesame Street and of course her favorite TV show is Spongebob Squarepants.

We still need to add some flooring to the attic to make room in the closets. Things have now overflown out of the closets and onto the floor but we will get to it soon. A little over two weeks ago I developed a rather large pain in a very tender place. I had surgery on September 26th and have just in recent days been able to sit for an extended time with out having to spend time soaking in a tub. Let me tell you that the type of surgery I had is the most painful and uncomfortable thing I have ever experienced. But things are much better now. Although it was a big pain in the rear, it seems my troubles are behind me now.

Ashley and I are ready to move ahead with the adoption and have been for weeks. However, Lizzie's old parents are not responding to phone calls, voice mails or e-mails. If her old parents would sign the "consent to adopt" paperwork we could move forward quicker. Without the consent forms we have to wait of our November 30th court date where we expect to be given permanent custody of Lizzie. Once we have permanent custody of Lizzie we can consent to her being adopted, by us. However we then have to serve her old parents with papers showing our intent to adopt Lizzie. After being served, Lizzie's old parents have 30 days to hire an attorney and contest the adoption. We expect that they will not contest the adoption. After that it is just the adoption itself. That sounds like a long process and it is. Everything could be done a lot faster (and cheaper) if her old parents would just answer the phone or reply to e-mail.

The PE teacher at school today commented on how fast Lizzie can run. The PE teacher said that when the class runs laps that Lizzie never looks back and just hauls butt. She said that Lizzie is very competitive about it and leaves the rest of the class in her dust. Maybe we have a budding track star.

I have a few more photos on my Picasa Photo Site. Here is the Link.

http://picasaweb.google.com/toobing.

Well that is about it. Take care everyone and thanks for all the support and prayers. We love you all.

Reggie