Making Strides

 We made it to Delhi late on Friday evening! Keerti did great on the flights!

On Saturday, we had to have a medical appointment for Keerti in order for her to be able to get her Visa back to USA. We had to get her blood drawn, which was not fun 😞 

She weighed 9 kilograms or 19.8 lbs!

She was 79 cm or 31.1 inches tall! 

After her medical appointment, we went to apply for our exit permits. We had all the proper paperwork to do so and now we are just waiting on the results! 

Sunday was a much needed day of rest. It actually was the first day in India that we had NOTHING to do and we were so excited for that! We explored different areas of our hotel for a while and then we just hung out in our hotel room. 

The view from our hotel room...India is BEAUTIFUL!

On Monday, again, we had nothing to do, which was so wonderful! As we slowed down and got to focus on bonding with Keerti in the hotel room we really got to see her start to blossom and show her personality. That has been so much fun to see! We also had good news on Monday that the pool opened at our hotel! It has been closed for a few months now due to Covid so that was very exciting! So we definitely spent some time hanging out in there! Keerti LOVED the water and it was refreshing for all of us to be outside of our hotel room for a bit and get some fresh air!

Getting ready for the pool!

Aren't they adorable???

She LOVED it!

Today (Tuesday), we had an appointment at the US Embassy for Keerti's Visa. 

On the way to the US Embassy appointment!

Again, all went very well there! We will pick up her Visa tomorrow afternoon! After the embassy, we went to the market to do a little bit of shopping. We got a few things, but the heat got to us (it feels like over 100 degrees here plus the humidity), so we headed back to the hotel, got lunch, took at nap and headed to the pool to meet up with our friends and their daughter!

Now, I titled this blog post, "Making Strides" because of our sweet, brave, wonderful and adorable daughter and the improvements that she has made in her relationship with us and our relationship with her. 

In adoption, it is not uncommon for a child to connect/prefer one parent over the other. For Keerti, she preferred Denae immediately. Her bonding with Denae was wonderful to see. And admittedly, for myself, that was quite hard because I wanted to bond with her immediately! However, our relationship has grown so much over the past few days! I have gotten more used to her and she has gotten more used to me. Again, I will say, she is SO brave! 

The three of us have enjoyed bonding together, spending time with one another, laughing, reading books, napping, playing with toys and just being with one another. God has certainly blessed these relationships and I cannot wait to see how they will develop in the future. I know there will be harder times in the future. I know that it won't be simply wonderful feelings toward one another all the time. I know there will be stress and frustrations. But let me tell you, so far, it has been totally worth it. 

After Keerti went to bed last night, I looked at Denae and I said, "Adoption is SO cool." I really mean that. If you are reading this and you have had the little thought in your brain of "maybe we/I can adopt" please reach out to Denae or I to chat. We would LOVE to chat about it with you. There is a huge need in the world today. 

Keerti has gone from zero smiles to smiling all the time. She eats ANYTHING that is put in front of her! She loves fruit and pizza! She has the sweetest and most adorable laugh! When she smiles, this daddy and mommy's heart just melts! She is a fantastic sleeper (unlike our first two kiddos!) She loves the bath/shower! She's repeating more words and phrases every day and loves to play "peek-a-boo". She has a spicy personality which will serve her well with two older brothers. She loves to snuggle and loves all things girly... especially making sure she stays clean by wiping herself off immediately if she gets dirty. She is obsessed with birds and completely amazed by them!

Do you see what I mean with that smile???? 💓

She kept hitting the night stand with her fork and spoon, so I set up a drum set.

One of the best times of the day...nap time!

Hotel meals in our room!                                     And cleaning up afterward!

Doing laundry in our bath tub!

Learning how to brush our teeth!

As we approach the end of our trip here; we have three more prayer requests:

1) Please pray that our COVID tests would come back negative. We will receive our tests tomorrow.

2) Please pray that our exit permits would arrive on time!

3) Please pray for our trip home. Thank God that we were able to find flights home! Our flights leave Delhi on Friday, August 6 at 3:20 AM. We land in Newark, NJ at 7:55 AM. Then we fly to Detroit, then to Grand Rapids where we land Friday, August 6 at 5:08 PM!!