It's been 1 year since we met her

It's hard to believe that it has been one year since we met Yuliya. Whoever said 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder' must have been going though an adoption. Carrie and I were remembering the sleeping situation after Yuliya arrived: The first 2 nights, Yuliya and Eliza would fall asleep in separate beds placed next to each other. Every morning, Eliza would wake up with Yuliya next to her in her bed. by the 3rd night, they just started sleeping in the same bed. On the 5th night, Yuliya and Eliza talked me into lugging Yuliya's mattress into our bedroom next to our bed on Carrie's side. (The picture below is one I snapped while both girls were laying on the mattress. Yuliya is wide awake waiting for us to come to bed while Eliza is sound asleep.) By night 7, Caleb decided he wanted to be part of the slumber party, so he collected a bunch of blankets and made a bed next to my side. By night 12, Brandon decided his bedroom is too quiet without Caleb, so he made a bed at the foot of our bed.

And this is how we slept each night until Yuliya went back to Ukraine.

"The so innocent, precious soul:
You turn around, an' it's time to let them go.
So let them be little,
'Cause they're only that way for a while.
Give them hope, give 'em praise,
Give them love every day.
Let 'em cry, let 'em giggle,
Let them sleep in the middle,
Oh, but let them be little. "
-Billy Dean, "Let Them Be Little"