Okay, so recently I have received a ton of questions about Hailee’s hair.  “Why do all your other girls have long hair, but Hailee’s is short?” 

I never really thought to address that here on my blog.  I guess it must look a little strange when just one angel has short hair while all the others have long girly styles.

As much as we would absolutely love to grow Hailee’s hair longer, it is impossible.  Her hair will not grow.  As many of you know, one of the things that Hailee did in her crib in the orphanage was rock.  But not just random rocking back and forth-she sat banging her head on the bars of the crib all day long.  When we brought her home she had a big bump on her forehead and one at the back of her head too.




We have never put Hailee in a regular crib for that reason.  As soon as she sees the bars, she immediately starts rocking and banging her head.  She sleeps in a soft Pack-and Play. Some habits are just so hard to break.  As many of you who have walked similar paths with your adopted kids know, institutional behavior takes many, many months (and even years) to break in some kids.  Some never get over it.

The bump at the back of Hailee’s head has not gotten smaller over the months.  Unfortunately, her hair will not grow in that spot.  We don’t know if it ever will.  She has such very fine hair.  Though Hailee certainly has come so, so very far since coming home, there are some habits that she still struggles with.  Rocking is definitely one of them.  Scratching the back of her left ear is another.  No matter what we try, she simply will not stop doing it.  The good news is that she no longer does it to the point of making her ear bleed, and for that we rejoice.  Because her hair is so fine, the constant pulling and tugging causes her hair on the left side to come out.  She hardly has any hair there.

So trying to grow it out is impossible at this stage.  I keep her bangs trimmed to prevent her from having an backward mullet (eek!).  I think Miss Hailee will be sporting her little pixie style for a very long time.  And that’s totally okay.  She is just absolutely adorable with or without a lot of hair. 

There you have it.  This little girl is just such a blessing to our family.  There truly are no words to describe the absolute JOY that she brings into our family.  And yes, the habits are there, the extreme delays are there, and so are the difficulties that sometimes come from raising a child who has had such a rough start in life.  But you know, we don’t focus on the negatives.  What good would it do?  Hailee is Hailee.  She is fearfully and wonderfully made just the way she is.  She is beautiful inside and out.  We choose to focus on how far she has come, not on how far she still has to go.  We believe that God makes all things happen in His time, not ours.

Switching gears here…So many of you have written to ask me how my friend Janine is doing.  I so appreciate your concern.  She is doing okay.  God has been so good to cocoon her in His loving embrace in this season of grieving for her darling little boy.  Today she shared her heart and some beautiful pics of her sweet Zac right here on her blog.

May your week be blessed in every way!

I’ll be back later with a Linky tool to help all you families who are urgently requiring funds to complete your adoptions.  I hope it will be a blessing to many.