Hello Everyone! It has been a long time since I've posted. We are so busy. I'm back at school, Jordan is playing on two basketball teams that keep us on the run, Chase is going to dentist or endodontist every couple of weeks to see about his broken tooth, and Lee is working out of town alot right now! Whew! Sophie just takes it all in stride. She goes to Mrs. Tina's house about four days a week and her grandparents all take turns keeping her the other day. She goes to ballgames and plays and eats candy and chews chewing gum. (Those are her favorite things in the whole world!) She amazes me every day! I can understand just about everything she says. She is potty trained. She has really accomplished so much in just a few months. Her tantrums have almost stopped completely, I guess because she can now communicate with us much better. Looking back, it almost seems like we brought home some little "wild thing" and now, she is just a little lady. She LOVES pretty dresses, bows in her hair, and her baby dolls. She likes to paint her finger nails and the folks where I get my nails done paint her nails every time we go! She wants her ear pierced because one of her little buddies (Charley) has her ears pierced. She points to Charley's ears and then points to her own ears and says, "Mine". (That's her favorite word.) She dances constantly! In fact, she's got more rhythem than anyone else at the Butler household.

Christmas was a ball! We hadn't bought just tons of toys after Sophie came home at the suggestion of odoption experts. Well, we made up for it Christmas. Rather, Santa Claus made up for it. She got a Baby Anabell that sucks water from a bottle and then cries real tears. When Anabell cries, Sophie's little chin quivers and she starts to cry. It is so sweet! She got a Cinderella vanity table and pretend make-up from Nana Jane and Papa Russell. She LOVES this. Sometimes she beats me out of bed and heads to her vanity first thing in the morning. She got "My Little Pony" toys, Weebles, doll high chair, and a Cinderella electric car. I just knew she would go right to her car first thing. Well, I was wrong. She just looked all around the room, spotted a little Princess purse and sang, "A puurrssee! She proceeded to put it over her arm and just walk around looking at everything. We filmed everything. But, can you believe, I didn't take the first picture! I was so worried about filming her, I didn't think to get the other camera out. I could really kick myself.

Tomorrow is a really big day. We actually go to court in Lauderdale County, Alabama to readopt Sophie. This will be our final step. Sophie is already a Butler, but this will give her an Alabama birth certificate. She'll be a true Bama Girl! This will make life less difficult when she goes to school...

Someone asked me the other day if we planned on telling Sophie that she was adopted. The answer to that is yes! (I don't think we could keep it from her anyway, because our whole community has gone on this journey with us.) I think Sophie has an amazing story. She comes from a beautiful country with wonderful people. She has come to a wonderful country and blessed our lives in more ways than I could every have imagined. I hope she will someday be proud of how she came to be with us. I couldn't be more proud of her!