This was this morning when she woke up.

 

This was taken at dinner time. Not as puffy and swollen, but sure is more red and purple looking.

Raven's leg is looking so good.

 

Quynsie had her friend over today and I let them walk to the gas station for the first time. I have never allowed that in the past, but I am trying to trust her and allow her to do more things that kids her age are doing.

 

I love Quynsie's friend Alina. She is so willing to play with the younger kids and include them. I was upstairs when I heard a bunch of screaming and laughing so I went to investigate and I found them all having a pillow fight. I am not sure why Raven is on the floor, but she has covered herself up with a pillow...LOL

Quynsie and Alina have a big huge thing in common among other little things, but they are both adopted and were adopted about the same time.

Also according to Alina, I am the best Mac and Cheese maker in the world.

 

There is freedom in letting down your wall and letting love in. ~Heather Forbes~

 

I just told Raven this a couple of hours ago. She has put up this wall lately and won't let her dad and I in. She allows others to comfort her but not her parents. I think she is afraid that since life has settled down a bit she doesn't want to get attached to us because if she does we will go away and hurt her just like others have in her past so she clings to others that she isn't so attached to to give her the comfort she is looking for. Please don't take it personal if we say no we will comfort her or whatever. We just found out between yesterday and today this is how she is feeling so we are going to take some extra steps in making sure she knows what it feels like to be comforted by a mom and dad and letting her guard down with us.

 

Travis,

At this time Joe and I have decided to take a step back and re-evaluate how we want to go about contact with Raven and you.

I want you to know that I will still stay in contact with you, but until we figure out the direction we want to go, we are going to put a stop to letting Raven email. She has always been distant with us as her parents, but she has really put up some walls in the past couple of weeks and has pushed her dad and I away. She is not allowing us to comfort her, love her, be there for her among other things. The one good thing is that she is now able to voice her thoughts and feelings. In fact she has gotten such an attitude that she is yelling at us more than not. Trust me, I am thankful that we are making some kind of progress even if it is yelling at us because it is better than her sitting there saying nothing. She is afraid that if she puts those walls down and lets us in then we are going to hurt her just like everyone else has in her life.

I honestly think we are finally making some sort of progress. I don't care that she is yelling at us, at least she is getting her feelings out and letting us know what she is feeling so that we can help her.

Just like I said above, please don't take offense to this, we just want her to know what it feels like to be loved, cared for, and comforted by a mom and dad who are so madly in love with her and want what is best for her. We want her to feel secure with us as her parents and be able to come to us for comfort and advise.

I have full confidence that we are going to make great progress in the next few weeks and we will keep you posted. By no means are we wanting to shut you out completely because you have done nothing wrong, its just another step towards forming healthy relationships with everyone involved.