Copycat Rat: Day 4 - Prepare for picture overload!

Today was a good day, but Sadie was more tired than she has been the past few days. I keep thinking about what a hard week this must be for her, yet she is taking it all in stride. She's being forced to interact with strange people day after day for 4 hours at a time. She has 7 to 8 adults starring at her, just watching and waiting to see what she will do. There is stimulation all around with people handing her toys, telling her to sing and dance, and showing her things. It's obvious that she feels like she is having a perform day after day and that is exhausting for a two year old. Almost all of our time with her has been spent in a tiny little room crammed with too many people and today you could tell she was over it. We ended up taking a walk in a pretty park area, which was a wonderful change of scenery and allowed for some sweet photos. We ate lunch with her again as well. It's been really helpful watching her eat and learning some tricks that help her get down the food. She is eating in much the same way our other kids did at about 1 year old, but I really think she's capable of much more and will learn quickly to feed herself once we're home and she's had a bit of therapy.

The biggest blessing of today was that I was able to see photos of Sadie growing up! The foster mom brought Sadie's baby pictures, pictures of her at the orphanage during the first year, and pictures of her during the past year that she's been with "Baba". Y'all what a cute, sweet baby she was! How my heart aches that I wasn't able to hold her during that time, but how thankful I am to see that she was very well cared for. There are pictures of birthday and Easter celebrations, pictures of her and her foster mom, and so much more. We are going to be allowed to keep those pictures once we come back on the second trip to pick her up. I am so thankful!!

And, now, I'll let the pictures tell you about our time together!