[lippylulu]

We adopted an 8 year old who had been in an orphanage about 3 years. She has made a great adjustment and everyone loves her. That being said, she does have her issues---loss, grief, trauma. She still misses her first mother from Russia and is in denial about how bad things really were. She has done beautifully with us, in school, with friends, etc. She is the picture of health in almost every way. We recent started her in therapy for her loss and PTSD issues since she was starting to express some fearfulness at night and having nightmares (PTSD symptoms). I am a psychologist who specializes in PTSD so I knew exactly when the time was right for her to get started (abot 1 1/2 years after she was home as she is 10 now). On the surface, our kid is more normal than 3/4 of our friend's kids...its not always easy but parenting is never easy. She is a joy and the love of our lives! We never for one second have doubted whether adopting an older child was the best thing in the world for ALL of us!