Happy Birthday Rakieta!

Rakieta before we met her

Rakieta 2 weeks after arrival in 2003. Amazing what a little food and love can do for a kid.

Rakieta last May in her Cinderella dress at Stephanie's First Communion.

Saturday, January 5, is Rakieta's 18th birthday! Sigh. I never thought this day would come. We have worked so hard and so long to make sure she is healthy. This is child number 3 of ours reaching adulthood. Well, at least I am not having nervous breakdowns anymore. One thing I have learned in this family of girls is that girls never really leave you. They just keep bringing more people home and they cost a lot more the older they get. We sent her the money to get her cell phone. She is very excited and told Jeni that she wants to get a "Motorola." In the end she will get what she can afford.
Last weekend, during a family Christmas gathering and my birthday celebration we called her and all sang Happy Birthday together. She loved that.
It seems like yesterday that we picked up this tiny, very fragile, scared, little girl with no English who could barely walk from the liaison. We have never regretted it. We are truly blessed to have her and all her family members as part of our family.