Happy Birthday Pavel Micah :)

Yesterday was Micah's first birthday with our family. And though it was a crazy day (for lots of reasons) and we're celebrating in a couple of weeks, all day I kept looking at him and thinking about how much he's grown in the last year. We first met him on May 20th. Court was June 1st, we left Ukraine that same day, his birthday the 4th, and he came home to me by the 27th. (What a crazy, unforgettable few weeks that was. You can visit our adoption blog here to read all about it.) And in the last year, Micah's come so far.

His speech development is still really slow coming but there IS SOME improvement. He's been kinda-sorta stringing two words together. Like, he'll sign "cup" and say/grunt "Cuh Muh" which means "Cup Mom" :) Love it. And sometimes he's been saying the full word Mom instead of Muh or Moe.

His understanding of English is great though and kinda blows my mind if you wanna know the truth. He understands every little thing we're saying and it isn't like we say it slowly or exaggerate certain words. We talk to him the same as the rest of the kids. Up until a year ago he'd never even heard English! Crazy to me.

And man has this boy grown. He's gotten taller and heavier. He's tan as could be- I can slather on the sunscreen but he just keeps gettin' darker. And blonder. :) The severe eczema patches from orphanage neglect are gone. And dare I say it- his intestinal problems are getting better. We had the long awaited appointment with the GI doctor and he says that having a parasite for years on end (which is what we're assuming) can keep your body's enzymes from properly breaking down and digesting... and a bunch of other medical jargon which basically means: he's lactose intolerant! :) Which is GREAT to know! So he's on Almond milk, lots of probiotics and we're still doing some more testing to see what else is going in those little bowels. :)

But the biggest change to me is his laugh. I've been going back and watching all the little video's from our trip to Ukraine... and its funny to me how different his laugh is now. Then he used to laugh uncomfortably, like he didn't do it much. And it was kind of a higher pitch. Now he's got this deep gut laugh that bubbles up naturally whenever something strikes him funny. I LOVE it.

I sure love my little man. This year has been a wild ride but every day I grow closer to that point of forgetting he was ever not mine.

I've heard a lot of adoptive parents talk about the biological mom on their adopted children's birthdays. Does she think about her baby on this day? Where is she now? What is she feeling? And yes, part of me wonders this. And I am sad for her that she's missing out on this loving, playful little guy. But the other part of me is looking ahead to the future. His future. I think about the day that God said to me that my heart was as a woman in labor pains. He knew. He had a plan to redeem this mini man of God.

I can't wait for Micah's 10th birthday. His 15th. And 20th. What is God gonna do and where is He going to take him? We'll see. I believe with all my heart that God has BIG plans for Pavel Micah.

Happy big five buddy. You are LOVED.