Today was a day of rejoicing in our little household.
If you have journeyed with me for a while here on my blog, you already know that our beautiful Haven is a non-verbal child (I hate that expression…but for lack of a better one, I’ll use it). We adopted Haven 14 months ago after her first family disrupted the adoption. They returned her to her orphanage after just five days–feeling that they could not handle her needs.
It was been such a joyful 14 months with this angel. She is just so very sweet. God reminds us over and over again that He kept her just for us. We’re so thankful for the precious gift.
So every now and then we can get Haven to imitate us. She has no idea how to move her mouth to make the sounds come out properly, so most of the things she tries to repeat after us sound nothing like the way they are meant to sound. They’re just like baby sounds.
But, every now and then, she gives us a glimmer of hope. Hope that someday she will, indeed, find her voice. These times are so rare–so when they do happen, oh man, do we rejoice around here.
Today was one of those glorious days. We saw hope. We heard hope!
Our son was sitting on the sofa in our living room. He called Haven to come and sit with him (he is such a tender-hearted angel boy). Haven, very uncharacteristically, decided to play with Kellan. She walked up to him, grabbed the backpack on the sofa next to him and proceeded to walk to our front door. When she reached the door, she spun around and said to Kellan as audible as can be, “Bye-Bye”…and she waved to him, pretending to walk out of the door.
Oh my goodness!!! She has never, ever done that. Ever. She never initiates play in that way. And she never spontaneously says anything that makes sense!
All on her own, she decided it was time to play a little joke on her brother.
When you live with a child who is completely silent for 99.9% of the time, this is HUGE!
“Bye-Bye.”
Any girl with a little fashion sense knows that you never leave home without your most stylish pair of sunnies on. Whew, at least I’ve taught her something well.
“Bye-Bye.” Two such tiny little words. But what hope they represent!
Today we’re rejoicing. We’ll continue to take the baby steps with this treasure, for each one she accomplishes is such a sweet victory.
