It's true, I'm Baaaaack!

It's been a really long time since I have posted on this blog. The reasons are many. In the later summer of 2011 our world stared changing. Too much was going on for me to post updates. But maybe the time has come to again use this forum as an outlet.

To quickly bring you up to speed, Anya and I are now living a few hours south of where we were when last I posted. We are doing well. We have a new normal.  She is almost 13 and is a pretty amazing kid. She is tall (little taller than 5'8"), loves sports (especially basketball, was named one of AAUs top athletes in 2014). This year she tried football...much to my horror amazement. And, she did better than most of the boys.  Not that I am a football expert, but it seems that throwing and catching the ball are pretty important...and I know she did that better than anyone else. She tells me she probably won't be on the middle school football team because "they aren't fair to the girls who want to play". Love that kid!

She has a huge heart. She is like all other 6th graders I know - texting friends and IG is super important, boys make her giggle (or raise her eyebrows!), and choosing what to wear tomorrow causes her room to look like a tornado has hit it.

So much has happened with us in the past 5 years. It is so hard to grasp that ONLY 5 years ago she was new to this country, and I was new to being a mom. I can remember some of you telling me that I will soon forget what it was like before she came home, that I would forget hard hard it was for nearly 6 years getting her here. I doubted that you were right...but you were.

Anya is still the light of my life, and the focus of my world. 

I think I am going to start to use this space (this blog) to air emotion (as I did years ago when I was trying to bring Anya home). I am realizing that I think I need to do that...and for the love of God...Facebook is NOT the place for that!

So I guess stay tuned. For what, I am not sure yet. Until then, me and my 'mini-me' will be keepin' on keeping on!