Thankful Thursday

I have been reflecting these past few days on how truly thankful I am that the Chinese Noodle is part of our family. While we were going through "The Wait", I knew God had the perfect child picked out for us...I just didn't know how perfect she would be and how perfectly she would fit into our family. I am humbled and in awe of how God places children with the right families. There is no other way to describe it, but as miraculous.

So today, I am thankful that...
--the Chinese Noodle claps her hands when she knows she made a good choice and wants us to join her(i.e. eating her meal without throwing any food onto the floor) because it means she is highly motivated by positive reinforcement/rewards/attention more so than negative
--when we are in church, she will sing along with us because it means she feels moved to praise as well
--she hides her eyes when she knows she's done something wrong because it means she is learning right from wrong
--she loves to sit in our laps and be read to because it means she is developing a love for reading
--she readily and unconditionally shows affection to us because it means that she feels safe and loved
--her favorite game is pretend (acting out activities that we do around the house) because it means she understands what is going on around her and feels comfortable here
--when she sees the consequence for something naughty that she did, even if days have gone by, she will point and say "no no" because this means she understands the consequences of her actions(i.e. marking up the wall)
--when we pray, she will say "shhhhh" at the start and is beginning to close her eyes, say Amen at the end, and then ask for "more" so we can do it all over again
--when she removes her clothes, even if she is suppose to be napping, it is because she is flexing her independent muscles
--she understands everything we say to her because it means that her receptive language is strong
--she continues to increase her sign vocabulary, vocalizations and gestures because it means that she desires to communicate her thoughts to us
--that God chose us to be her parents