We were counting our blessings this year in New Jersey with my mother and father. Grace finally got to meet her Pop Pop and begin to warm up to him while bonding a bit more with her Mom Mom.  The first few days my mother only got to smile and play with her while in the perceived safety of my arms. But soon enough Grace was smiling at her and allowing my mom to hold her and shower her with all of the affection of a grandmother hopelessly in love with her newest little grandchild.  She also got to add her little handprints to the table cloth we traditionally all write on each year.  And I was thrilled to write onto that tablecloth that FINALLY Grace was with us.  Her name was mentioned many times on the little slips of paper that we put into a special Thanksgiving bowl.  One of the little notes simply said, "Grace" by one of the boys and yet another son wrote, "Grace, duh."  Duh indeed -- I'll bet all of you knew what we were thanking God for this year and what we will be thanking him for as we gather round the tree in a few weeks as well! 

Every Thanksgiving for the past 3 years we had a stab of pain in our hearts because we had expected Grace to be there with us.  We have a fun tradition where we all get to write with a washable marker onto a special linen tablecloth at  our place setting. We have unsteady signatures from boys learning to write, to cartoon drawings as they grew older, to the more elaborate art work from Pat.  Mine have been more simple, but those of latter years have had "Hoping for Grace" or something similar penned next to my name.  This year, finally, Grace will be around our table and she too will partake in our family tradition with a precious little hand print.

It isn't hard to guess what all of us gathered around the table on Thanksgiving Day will say we are thankful for this year! But those of you who also know us more intimately, know that it has also been a difficult year in many respects. So we will not only be thanking our Heavenly Father for what is seen but for also what is unseen. The Bible says, "For now we know in part and see through a glass dimly" and that is true for us right now.  One day, we will be able to see it all clearly and at that time the rejoicings will flow without sacrifice. But for this year, we have some thanksgivings that will come with sacrifice -- the Bible calls them "Sacrifices of Praise" because you praise despite not seeing. God made the rough patches smooth with our adoption of our Grace and we are confident He will do this in the other rough patches of our lives.  Until then we hold tightly to His hand and praise Him with total trust.  Blessings to you and to yours this Thanksgiving season.  Praise Him for He is good!

Yes, Grace is starting to stand on her own. Mostly she likes to stand for about 3 seconds and then fling herself forward into our arms. She smiles this wonderful "I did it!" smile while standing and then a gleefull "Here I come!" smile when she's done.  Even within the few days that she began this trick, we're seeing how she's discovering how neat the standing trick can be and how versatile it is too! Now she can hold onto the ottoman and then stand just long enough to reach the other ottoman. I also see the wheels going in her head with "Now, how do I sit down without falling -- oh bother, just. ..  (boom) fall down!"  It's fun to see not only the motor skill, but equally fun to see her confidence in us. She knows we'll catch her.  On the most fundamental level, she knows we can be trusted.  Isn't that wonderful? 

In the middle of a family card game we noticed that Grace was bobbing to the music - a perfect time to grab the video camera.  This video also features Grace's first attempts to stand unassisted.  She's so close to really getting it!

CLICK HERE to see the video.

I threw this video together last night at Sharon's request.  This shows Grace's first laughs, her first attempts at crawling, her first waves, and yes, a lot of love.  We hope you all enjoy this glimpse into life at the Fitzpatrick's home these past few weeks.

CLICK HERE to see video.

Grace is waving now with double fisted squeezes that make us laugh every time.  She hasn't yet figured out that that little trick does double duty for waving good-bye as well but that'll come soon, I'm sure.  Seeing her put so much effort and joy into that little motion reminded me of those of you who wrote recently that you check our site frequently to see if we've posted here. On one hand that makes us feel so loved and special, and on the other, I hate the thought of disappointing you day in and day out!  So those of you to whom this applies, this little post is just a little wave "hello".  It's a way to say, we're thinking of you, and so thankful for you!  Just a few pics from today!

And by the way, Pat did not get to working on more of our China videos this weekend.  I did, however, get Grace's wave caught on camera along with her first rudimentary attempts at crawling.  Perhaps I can entice Pat to download these and give you one more little wave hello!  And finally, if you'd like me to inform you whenever we post something on this site, just make a note of it in the comments here and I'll be happy to do so. It would make me feel better not to disappoint you every day, that's for sure!

 At eleven months old,  Grace is sleeping in our bed, waving, likes being on her belly, rolls around, can pull herself to standing, LOVES to stand in her crib and bounce around, and is sleeping longer and with only a few wakeful interruptions during the night. Yeah!  They said in China she is "restless" and that describes our Grace - she wants to MOVE! She loves having brothers who toss her around, that's for sure! But look out boys, I see she's into your Gamecube below!

We had an eventful week here at the Fitzpatricks.  Grace's Gramma and Grampa  Peter (Pat's Mom and Step-Dad) joined us on Wednesday evening for a visit to see Grace for the first time.  They were also able to take in the kid's school play of Our Town where Adam had a significant part and Ryan handled the lighting on the crew.  (They both did great, by the way and Adam handled his role as Mr. Webb with ease and great humor). Then on the following morning, Peter had to go to the ER after complications from a routine test he had done last week. It was frightening, but thankfully the doctors discovered the source of the problem and took care of it.  At this writing, Pat, Mom, and Peter are waiting for the discharge papers after he has been there for over 2 days now.  So Pat spent his weekend shuttling the boys back and forth to the play performances and Mom back and forth from the hospital.  Meanwhile, I held down the fort and of course, continued to hold Grace. 

At nearly 11 months old Grace is now standing while holding onto things but still not sturdy enough not to fall if unattended.  She is also much more comfortable on her tummy and can scoot -- backwards a little. She is still stuck in the "I eat everything I can get into my mouth - particularly paper" stage and she particularly likes to suck on the end of my belt.  As for sleeping, she is now sleeping in her crib for naps and in our bed for evenings. Consequently we are getting MUCH more sleep since we brought her into our bed. She still wakes with cries of alarm or a racing heart but having me and Pat near calms her quickly and we are only momentarily interrupted from our sleep. She has been getting in about 10 hours of sleep but at around 8 hours, she starts pulling her legs up as if in pain, signaling a need for food. Once she downs a bottle, she immediately goes back to sleep for the remaining 2 hours and wakes happy and smiling. 

Mom said, "She only has eyes for her Mama" and yes, she is beginning to rely on me even more.  Everything I've read though shows that this is a good thing and it is developing in her a confidence that we are her forever family who will love her and meet her needs unlike any she has known before.  At night when she reaches for me in the dark she grabs my hand and interlaces her little fingers through mine.  She also will reach out in the dark and find my face with her fingertips and I hear her breathing slow and her body grow still and calm.  I've also noticed that when I carry her, she holds on -- something she did not do for weeks.  Instead she would keep her arms outstretched. And finally, she is beginning to make more eye contact with me and the rest of the family. This is a significant breakthrough and shows she is really beginning to embrace intimacy with us.

Below you will see this week's hodgepodge of pictures. As I look at them, I realize that it's been a while since I've had a photo taken with my daughter so I'll have to correct that next week!  She is still a little angel and we are enjoying her more and more and feeling blessed beyond measure every day to have our little China doll heavensent.

While we were walking through the Newark airport en route to China Sharon asked me to write a tribute poem for Grace.  As she asked this, a sparrow flitted through the airport.  I was struck with the thought that this bird is trapped inside the airport and probably isn't even aware of it.  I thought this sparrow could provide an appropriate metaphor for Grace's living conditions in China:  Abandoned at birth, confined to the poor, rural lifestyle of her foster parents, suffering through a harsh winter without heat, living under the mantle of communism - and all the while having no awareness of the life that awaited her back in the states.

I couldn't get this picture out of my head, so I had to put pencil to paper (actually fingers to a keyboard).  This won't do for the real tribute poem that I intend to write, but now that this poem is out of my head I can start dreaming again.

Happy one month home anniversary to us and to Grace!  Grace was running a fever for the first part of this week but licked it and is back to her sweet wakeful self. I have to admit that having a sleepy baby was kind of nice for a few days!  Overall, however, it's been a month of more firsts, more AND less sleep, more development with sitting, standing, and grasping, and most notably, more attachment.  Below you will find a hodgepodge of pics from this week.  You will find Grace getting help from her brothers for all sorts of fun things, like airplane rides, upside down rides, shoulder rides, piano playing in traditional and novel ways, and yes, drooling.  You'll see Grace learning that glasses are hard to figure out but so is this whole big new world she's in. You'll also see that Grace has learned that her Daddy's chest is a nice big bed and that her doggy is still a curiosity.  She also played wtih a doll this week (thank you Kelly!), and she discovered that her hair is yummy to suck on. 

For Pat and for me, this month has had its fill of change as well and it was easy to see the major advances for us on a week by week basis:
Week One -- Jet Lag and the fog of sleep deprivation as Grace tries to change to our time zone.
                        Thankfully, my Mom was here to help us survive and keep the household running!
Week Two -- Grace is now on our time zone but is not sleeping through the night so sleep deprivation for us continues. 
                        The adjustment curve to life with Grace and our four boys without a tank filled with sleep is difficult.
Week Three -- Grace sleeps a bit more at night, we feel more human, and we see the light at the end of the tunnel.
                         By week's end, Pat and I are laughing and joking with one another again after a long draught of survival mode.
Week Four -- Life is much more manageable and although we still aren't getting a full night of rest, it is enough to function well.
                        We're getting out with Grace and getting into more of a system at home and life is looking and feeling much better!