Sania Louise’s School {and life} Update!

Hey friends!

I wanted to pop in and give you an update on Miss Sania Louise!

This. Girl.

How did we ever live without her?!

She has been home with us for 9 months now.  Can you believe that?

She continually amazes us, and we are thanking God for the way she is adjusting and thriving.  

She started school back in February.  We started her only half a day because we were not sure she could handle a whole day with her Sensory Processing Disorder and being at a new school and all.   I assumed it would stay that way the rest of the school year, but I was wrong. 

Sania Louise has done wonderfully at school!  She absolutely loves going to school and loves her teachers.  They are soooo good to her.  She spends most of her half day in the special “resource room” getting the extra help she needs.  Her teachers are AMAZING in that room, and she has felt safe and gained confidence in herself. 

They have a behavior chart in that room where she is constantly “moving her clip up” for good behavior.   She gets SO excited about moving her clip up, and it makes me so happy to see her having success in school for the very first time.  

 

On Friday, I had another meeting with her teachers and other staff members to discuss Sania Louise staying in school ALL DAY!  Her behavior has been so good that we all feel that she is ready to stay the whole day.  And Sania Louise is super excited about it!!  She will be spending more time in the regular classroom, but they will be giving her work that is on her level.

She just started trying to learn to read English when we brought her home in July, and she is already beginning to read on a 2nd grade level.  We are so proud of her!!

And as successful as she has been at school, what I am most happy about is something she said at church two Sundays ago.

I shared the story on Instagram, but I wanted to share it with you on the blog in case you missed it.  

The Sunday before last, I went to Sunday School with Sania and Eli.  Cy and I are usually in the worship service during this time, but this Sunday was a special time for parents to join their kiddos in their Sunday School groups.  During that hour, we were all in one large room, but the kids were sitting with their Sunday School classes in small groups. I sat with Sania’s class, and Cy hung out with Eli’s class.

One of the questions that the teachers asked the small groups, as kind of a conversation starter for the lesson that day, was “Tell us of a time when you have been lost.”

Some of the girls in Sania’s class raised their hands and began sharing stories of times that they were lost.  They shared of getting lost at the mall or the zoo, or stories like that, and I began to think in my head if Sania had ever been lost from us since she came home with us in July?

Since she is rarely more than 10 feet from any of us at any time, I couldn’t think of a time that she had been lost.  I could tell that she was thinking about it and waiting for her time to share.  I thought maybe she was going to share a time that she had gotten lost when she was living in Latvia?

When it was her turn, the teacher asked, “Sania, is there a time that you have ever been lost?  

(Here is where I wish I could insert her sweet little Latvian accent and expressive personality.). :)

“Oh yes!” she said.  ” When I was in Latvia, I was lost.  I didn’t have family.   Now I not lost.  I have family.”

Most of the little girls didn’t even hear what Sania had just said because there was a lot of movement and noise in the room.  But I heard it loud and clear. 

And my heart stopped. 

My little girl knows what it means to be truly lost.  It’s a feeling that most of us will never fully know or understand.  

But the good news is….she also knows what it means to be found.  She is not lost anymore.  She belongs.  What an amazing feeling that must be!

And it is not a coincidence that I heard her utter those beautiful words as we sat in God’s house.  And it did not pass me by that I was truly lost at one time too.  Until I found Jesus, and He welcomed me into His forever family.    I am so grateful for this reminder.  I feel it every day when I look into my daughter’s eyes and realize that I have loved her since before she was born.  She is as much mine as my boys are.   And I think, “God, is this how you feel about me?”

Many people tell us that we have done such a wonderful thing by adopting Sania, but she has done more for us than we have ever done for her.  She has opened our hearts in ways that we didn’t even know existed.  She has reminded us of what is most important in life….faith and family.  And she has been a daily example of the miracles that God can do in a person’s life.  

Thank you for your continued prayers for Sania Louise and our family.  I don’t want to present our adoption as if it is all “pie in the sky,” because it is certainly not.  We still have difficult days too, but they are fewer and fewer as God continues to work in all of our lives.  We are certainly celebrating all that God is doing each day in our daughter’s life.  To God alone be the Glory.

 

44 Comments

  1. Thanks so much for sharing the update. I love reading about the love you have for each other. I wish for every mother to have both a boy and girl selfishly because that’s what I was blessed with and my relationship with each of them is so different and special. I’m so happy that now with Sania Louise you too have a mother/daughter relationship. I know you love and adore your boys, but it’s so fun to have a daughter too. And on a side note, her little distressed jeans and fringe sandals are absolutely DARLING!

  2. So beautiful Traci. God’s hand was truly upon all of you during that time. Best of all, she’s with a family who loves Jesus! So happy for all of you. Thank you for sharing this journey with us! XO

  3. tears of joy !! what a beautiful way to relate the lesson of our relationship with Jesus. thank you. Since you provide the option to share with FB and Twitter I jumped at the opportunity to share this twofold blessed story.

    thank you and God bless your family.

  4. I just thought of how amazing God is using this beautiful little girl to show His love He extends to all of us.. She gets it.. She knows what being lost feels like.. Thanks Traci for sharing “her story”.. God has wonderful plans for her .. I can’t wait to see Just what that entails.. And I know you’ll share with us her path as she grow in Him.. Please keep a special little girl in your prayers (Alisa)… God has a wonderful plan for her as well.. She’s 6 and precious.. she’s not in our lives, but always in our prayers..

  5. So dear. Still wearing my wonderful t-shirt and praying for your sweet girl and family. (I, seriously wear it 2 or 3 times a week)
    Both the concept of adoption and being lost are such awesome examples of our great need and God’s great grace in our lives.
    Thank you Traci!

    On a completely superficial topic…LOVE the laundry room sink! LOL!

  6. I am not married and I have no children so I enjoy reading about your journey. You are blessed beyond anything I could imagine. Thank you again for sharing with us.

  7. Oh Traci! The grace that we’ve prayed for all this time in your sweet girl ❤ You have to just watch her in awe and wonder and see what God has done and be so very proud of her fiesty little self !

  8. I found your blog thru an instagram tag a couple of months ago. I loved reading your adoption story as we just brought our 7 year old Peruvian son, John, home 15 months ago:). Our stories are so incredibly similar:) and then as I started looking thru your blog I saw a picture of your sons room and couldn’t believe it….it is the exact same picture I had pinned on Pinterest when I was dreaming about John’s room over a year ago😀 To use for inspiration. Not a coincidence I’m sure….God loves to make us smile with crazy little details like that😊

  9. Traci – my heart continues to be blessed by your relationship with your sweet daughter. I am so glad that of all people, she was found by YOU. God bless you, sweet friend!

  10. I’m always so happy to hear stories about Sania and your family. Wonderful news that she is happy and improving so quickly!!!

  11. I knew you were going to share something really special. I started crying even before you shared what Sania Louise said. She is a precious child! You all are!

  12. That is so sweet!
    I love this! Makes my heart so happy! She truly feels loved and found.
    This is so Special!
    Thank you for sharing.

  13. Shredding tears of joy for you and your precious Sania Louise! Because I have followed her story from the beginning, I feel invested in her and it thrills my heart to know she is adjusting so well. May our God continue to bless her and your sweet family

  14. Ah Traci – so happy and thrilled things are going so well with your girl! Thank you so much for the update! Love you all so much!

  15. Truly beautiful and heartwarming! God is blessing her, and your family through her, and it’s so sweet and fun for the rest of us to get a peek at the love and the transformation…so we are blessed too. Smiley face!

  16. WOW!!! This brought tears to my eyes!! God is so GOOD!!! Thank you for sharing, and thank you for showing Christ’s love through adoption!! :-)

  17. Sania’s updates always touch my heart but this one especially got to me and gave me a good cry. It’s amazing to see God’s handiwork in your lives. I pray y’all continue to be blessed.

  18. I once was lost but now I’m found….How Sweet the Sound….Amazing Grace!
    A perfect example in your story. :-)

  19. Yes! YES!! Traci, you’ve hit the nail on the head! We are adopted into God’s family, and we are not lost! Oh, Lord, may we all have Sania’s joy at being found.

    Love you, friend!

  20. Traci,
    God has given you such a wonderful testimony to share. I am thankful to have found your blog and have had the pleasure of following Sania’s story with your family.
    Blessings,
    Connie

  21. Tracie, I love reading this blog! It is positively beautiful how you all have fought for this little girl to bring her home and give her the family she so rightly deserved. “Sania”, what a beautiful name! I think I would call her Sunny for short. She has such a sunny smile and personality! I know she is going to excel in school between her parents and her brothers she will be one smart little princess! God has truly blessed you all!

  22. You can see it in photos….. she just BELONGS in your family. The smiles. The eyes. The body language. God knew how this story would go and now that we are seeing it come to pass IT. IS. PRICELESS!!! To God be the glory!

  23. I haven’t visited your blog for awhile, so when I saw your family picture I thought to myself how much the little girl looks like your family! Wow! Amazing grace! Such a beautiful story. May God bless you all!

  24. Hello, I found your blog thru Cyndi’s so now and then I pop in to see how everyone is. I have been following your adoption story and been praying for you all along the way. I stopped by tonight and even tho it’s weeks after you posted this, I just had to post how wonderful Sania’s response was in Sunday School. And how special that you were there to hear it. It brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for sharing!

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