My kids are getting a little older now and starting to make connections between where they started and where they are. I'm very open and have been from the very start with my little ones. They know that they are adopted MY SPECIAL GIFTS children. However, they still don't fully understand the magnitude of what that means but I know that they will with time. I'm trying to get away from talking so much about their pasts and focus more on the present and their futures. The reason that I even share at all is because they do have a story. It's their very own special story. It's what makes them them and by sharing their story it helps others understand who they are...who we are.
Today, I'm going to share a little about Miss L. She started out life with a very long name (5 names total). I changed and shortened her name to Ashton Layla. We call her Layla. I chose Ashton because it's a name that I've always loved. Most use it as a boy name but it always sounded girly to me. Then I added Layla because it was super close to her original first name so Ashton Layla it is! I always thought if I had a child named Ashton it would be a brown eyes little girl and that she is. I think it fits her perfectly. :)
June of 2015, I got the call about her...a 5 month old little girl needed a home. She was in the ICU at the Children's hospital in Atlanta due to severe abuse/ neglect. She had been life flighted to CHOA in critical condition. She was hospitalized with a traumatic brain injury, multiple broken bones, fractured skull, and hematomas behind both eyes. They suspected shaken baby syndrome. A MRI also showed evidence of HIE Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy. The severity of her injuries also caused her to be developmentally delayed, have right sided weakness, apraxia, and dyspraxia. She was also diagnosed at age 4 with neurofibromatosis type 1, after having a tumor removed. We knew that it would most likely be a long road to recovery and it has been, but she is doing absolutely amazing!
She is 5 now. She has spent the last 5 years in therapy multiple times a week (in private and in school). She has made HUGE progress. We still have a ways to go but I do believe that she won't need therapy for all that much longer. Yes, you read that last sentence right! She is doing that good! She still has some issues with processing information and with her speech but even that has majorly improved.
She just completed her last year of PreK. She has been in the special needs PreK program since she was 3. She will be headed to kindergarten in the fall and will move into an inclusion classroom. I'm so excited for her! This sweet girl is so smart and I know that she is going to do great things!
I'm not going to go into all the adoption/ legal/ case stuff. I can just say this case was my longest hardest case. It took 5 years to complete and turned our lives totally upside down. I had no intentions to start with of adopting another child when I got her nor did I think that they would even allow me to adopt her, because she is a native child. ..which further complicated our case. However, after five years and multiple trials, hearing, appeals, etc the state and the native's gave me their blessing and allowed me to make this little girl my baby FOR EVER AND ALWAYS AND NO MATTER WHAT! It became official on March 5 2020.
She is my final baby and she completed our family. I love my sweet Ashton Layla. <3
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him,and he will direct thy paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6
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Thanks for visiting my blog today! Stop by and visit again soon.((hugs)) ~Sandy