Christmas Eve 2014

On Christmas Eve, Jonathan and I baked pumpkin muffins and made a card for the local firemen. We also made a birthday cake for Jesus.  (Marble cake with hot pink icing and gingerbread men, as per Jonathan's request.)

We attended the Christmas Eve service, but managing two little ones on my own during the service proved to be quite an ordeal.  So, rather than participate in the service, we went to the cafeteria and colored, and also ran through the hall.  It was difficult, but I've learned to not have expectations as a parent so that I'm not disappointed when things don't go the way I'd like.

After the service, we went to the fire station.  The firemen were all asleep, but a wonderful Ross cop showed up while we were ringing the bell and he let us inside.  We saw firetrucks, ambulances, and the living area for the firemen.  Jonathan proudly delivered the muffins and card to the policeman, who promised to leave them in the kitchen for the firemen.  Then we were offered a chance to sit in the squad car.  Jonathan played with the lights and gears, and then he and Owen both sat in the back of the car. Owen kept saying, "Shut door" to the police officer, but he politely insisted that if he shut the door, he'd have to take the boys downtown. ;)  

We had fun with my family on Christmas Eve (and some tears were shed by Jonathan and me due to a major meltdown; his, not mine).  It's always great to see my aunts, uncles, and cousins all in one place.

Quincy took some family pictures for us.  I think the last one, though a bit fuzzy, sums up our family of four the best.

"Dear Firefighters, We made a surprise for you!  The end, Jon."

Sitting in the back of a police car...

Blurry, I know.  But this is my favorite picture of all time.  

Thanksgiving 2014

Thanksgiving brunch was enjoyed by all at my dad's house, and dinner was enjoyed at my brother's house a few hours later (just enough time to let our breakfast settle before round 2!).  I really don't know how I managed to get through the day with only taking a few pictures, but I realized by the end of the day that I didn't get one of Jonathan...or of us as a family.  Oh, well.

Prayers for Jonathan

I have had concerns about Jonathan's sensory issues since he was about two years old.  He is especially sensitive to loud noises, bright lights, strong smells, and various textures.  However, he has shown improvement over the years.  His fine motor skills became more of a concern over time, particularly with handwriting and cutting with scissors.  Last year I consulted the occupational therapist at my school (definite perk of my job), and she suggested various strategies and activities to work on at home.  She told me to wait until he was a bit older and to give him more time to develop.  This school year, Jonathan's teacher and I both had the same concerns with his fine motor skills.  I showed Jonathan's portfolio of work to the OT at my school, and she suggested that I have him evaluated for occupational therapy at this time. 


So, last week, Jonathan and I went to see an occupational therapist for an evaluation.  Jonathan gets extremely uncomfortable in unfamiliar situations with people he does not know.  So, he was pretty wild during the evaluation.  However, he did attempt to complete everything that was asked of him.  Then the parent advocate came in to talk to me and it took everything in me not to break down in front of her (I saved that for the moment I got home).  You see, as an Intervention Specialist, I'm used to being on the other side, and I've never gotten to experience the parent side.  It was a very humbling experience. 


The evaluation results came today, and while I can't say that I'm surprised, I can say that I'm sad.  At the same time, I'm praising God for my precious boy because he is in good health and is a fantastic kid.  I'm honored that God called me to be his mama.


Jonathan's overall diagnosis is Disturbance of Skin Sensation, Dyspraxia, and Muscle Weakness.  The OT recommended that we have a physical therapy evaluation as well, so that is one of the next steps.  Jonathan will begin therapy in the next week or so, and the estimated duration is once per week for six months to one year, maybe more, depending on the results of the physical therapy evaluation. 


Jonathan's going to have to work extra hard to compensate for his weaker muscles.  I know the struggle that other kiddos like him face because I see it firsthand at school.  I know that Jonathan's been teased by kids and some adults, too, because he's not very strong and because he's very sensitive.  I hope that this gives those who know him a small glimpse into his world so that they may be more understanding of his unique needs. 


Please pray for Jonathan.

GoFundMe Project

I have a huge family, and many members of my family are nearby.  Others are all the way in sunny California, so I don't get to see them as often as I would like, but they are close at heart.  My Uncle Karl just completed a fundraising project for our adoption, and now my Aunt Kathie is beginning her own through GoFundMe.


About three weeks ago, Aunt Kathie sent me a letter explaining her idea.  And it literally brought me to tears.  Along with the letter, she sent a pink suncatcher for our precious daughter.  This is her first gift, and we will treasure it forever.


Her idea is to make and sell gorgeous suncatchers to help offset some of the cost of bringing our daughter home from Uganda.  It's humbling, really, to think about the time that some of our loved ones are investing in us and in our daughter's future.  We are not a perfect family, but we have a lot of love to give, and are extremely blessed to have so much support.


If you are so inclined, please check out the gofundme page she created.

Adoption Update

We have chosen our agency and are preparing to complete a mountain of paperwork!  Thank you to all our loved ones who have made sacrifices to support us on our journey to our precious one in Uganda.  Please keep us in your prayers. 

18 Months

18 months.  My little baby is growing into a toddler with an unbelievable amount of energy.  Owen has been a great addition to our family and we love him for the wild and crazy little bundle of joy that he is.  The great outdoors brings him the most joy.  Owen loves running around in wide open spaces, with the sun on his face and the wind in his long, blonde hair.  He has an adorable run with feet pounding the pavement...or hardwoods when he's running through the house like a maniac.  Each time he looks out the window, he gets a huge grin on his face and can't wait to get outside.  Unfortunately, this family has been inside since we saw the snake on our deck a few weeks ago...  Another of Owen's favorite things is going for rides in his little blue car.  Darin makes sure to take him for walks outside in the toy car at least once a week (over the summer it was daily).  Owen loves his big brother immensely and wants to do everything that Jonathan is able to do.  It's so fun to see the boys play together (don't worry; we're not perfect...they fight together, too).  Owen is mischievous; he knows what he is and isn't allowed to do, and he smiles when he knows he's doing something wrong.  He purposefully takes Jonathan's favorite things and runs away.  He loves to play hide-and-seek, and is quite good at it.  He won't make a sound when he's hiding, and he won't come out until he's found!  Owen loves music and instruments.  He can sing to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", "the ABCs", and a "Star Wars" tune.  He is really into books now, loves to plop down in any willing person's lap.  Basketballs are his favorite type of ball, even though they are bigger than him!  Owen is a picky eater; he avoids most vegetables and meats.  He loves fruit, yogurt, bread, and pasta.  Water is his favorite drink and he guzzles it like it's going out of style.  He sleeps about 12 hours a night (usually 6:45 until 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning), with one nap in the afternoon.  He is saying lots of words now!  Definitely not talking in sentences, but he can combine words.
Mama
Dada
Jona (for Jon)
Gamma (for Grandma)
Papa (for Grandpa)
Dada (for Granddad)
Deank (for Jeank)
Wawa (for water)
Night-night
Bye-bye
Seal (for cereal)
Petzel (for pretzel)
Apple
Orange
Cup
Foon (for spoon)
Pate (for plate)
Caca (for cookie, cracker, and everything in between)
Beant (for binky)
Mite (for Mike the Monkey)
Bankie (for blanket)
Pool
Poop
Pee
Dipoo (for diaper)
Pway (for play)
Amen
Imean (vitamin)
Yellow
Pink
Boo (for blue)
Ball
Pino (for piano)
Car
Up
Down
Outside
Peas (for please)
No
Feesh (Fish)
Girl
Boy
Book
Sues (for shoes)
Coat
(Yight) Light
Gamma (Grandma)
Nate
Calalalee (Colleen)
CaJosh (Caleb Josh)
MiteSam (Mike Sam)
Gaycie (Gracie, Colleen's dog)
Hemi (Colleen's dog)
Cacack (quack, quack)
Milt (milk)
Moo
Abeat abeat (ribbit, ribbit)
Frog
Pig
Tweet tweet

18 Month Stats

Weight: 24 lbs, 7.5 oz.

Length: 33.5 inches



Your Questions Answered

Many of our family and friends have asked us questions about our adoption, so we thought we'd answer them all in one place.  Some questions were easier to answer than others.  Some questions appear to be more invasive, and were somewhat hurtful to us.  However, we know that many people are simply curious and we want to be fair and honest with our answers.


When will your daughter be home?
We do not have an official timeline.  We have a mountain of paperwork to complete (deadline: October). 


Why Uganda?
It's hard to explain why we chose Uganda because it's difficult to explain God's calling to those who may not understand.  When we first talked about adoption back when we were dating in 2005, we both had our hearts set on China.  Then we talked about South Korea, but the orphans are very well cared for there, so we didn't pursue that option.  We finally ended up on Uganda after reading a blog from a missionary in Uganda and then researching the vast number of orphans and the poverty in Uganda.  Through much prayer, we felt that God was leading us to a little girl in Uganda.


You already have two beautiful biological boys.  Why can't you just be happy with the children you have?
You are absolutely correct.  We are blessed to have two biological children, and we are extremely happy with our boys, Jonathan and Owen.  They are gifts from God and we treasure them.  However, we know that our family is not yet complete, and we are being obedient to God by adopting a little girl.


Why adoption?  Why can't just try to have another biological child?
There are over 147 million orphans in the world, and God calls his followers to care for the orphans and widows.  We believe that God has chosen us to grow our family through the gift of adoption.  We do not simply want to help an orphan because we feel sorry for her; rather, we want to adopt because we love children and we want to raise our daughter to love Jesus.  Additionally, Darin and I did not know that we would struggle with infertility when we first talked about adoption nearly a decade ago.  It is not easy for me to conceive (I have PCOS), but isn't impossible, either.  My pregnancies with the boys were both very easy, but the deliveries were not.  I delivered both of my boys via C-section; it's the only way I am able to safely deliver.  It is not healthy for my body to go through repeated C-sections.  (You can read about the crazy delivery of Owen here and here.)


You do know that your daughter will be black, like really black, right?
Yes, we do know that.  :) Truth is, we have never envisioned our family looking like the "All-American" family.  We are not bothered by skin color, and if we're not, why should you be? 





Why don't you adopt a Caucasian child from the United States?  That way, he or she can look just like you.
See our answer to the previous question.


Do you have to travel to Uganda?  If so, for how long?
Yes, we do have to travel to Uganda, and the maximum stay is six weeks.  We will be taking our boys with us so that they can begin bonding with their sister immediately, can experience the culture, and can help serve others while we are there.  And, there is no possible way we could be away from them for such a long time!


How is your family handling your adoption?
I guess it depends on who you ask.  Most family members are supportive, and some are not.  Some simply choose not to talk about it at all.  Our hope and prayer is that as we delve further into the process that they will become more open and accepting.  However, we are going to adopt whether they support us or not, we just hope that they do decide to come around!  Please be in prayer for open hearts for our sake and our daughter's sake.


How does Jonathan feel about a sister?
He is extremely excited.  He calls her by name and just really wants her home.  He just prayed the other night, asking God to "please bring ____ home really soon."

If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask!  We want you all to be open with us, and we want to be open with you!  Thank you all for your continued love and support!

Excitement, Fundraising, and Prayer...Lots of Prayer

Friends, I am excited to share with you that we are at the very beginning of our month-long adoption fundraiser.  My uncle, Karl Anthony, is partnering with us to help raise awareness and promote our adoption on his website.  (You can learn more about it by clicking here.)  While this is a very exciting time for us, it is also very humbling.  It's simply not easy to ask people for money.  It is, however, very easy to ask people for prayer.  Would you please commit to praying for our family and our future daughter?  Thank you so much!

Like Manna from Heaven...

This may just be the toughest blog post I've ever written.  Good thing it's not on paper or it might end up smeared through my tears. 


This weekend we had a garage sale to raise money to bring our daughter home from Uganda.  And God showed up in a BIG way.  So many people contributed to the success of our garage sale, and we can't wait until we can share this story with our daughter someday.


Thank you to...
*Grandma Thomas - for the donations and coming to help setup and distract play with Jonathan while we got things ready the night before
*Grandma Beck - for donations and babysitting all day on Saturday while we worked at the garage sale
*Chris - for coming at 7am on Saturday to help get things setup, make more signs, and finish pricing items...and then for coming back on Sunday with a Subway lunch
*Amy - for coming on Sunday to help with setup and signage...and for the great fellowship
*Mr. Hamlin - for the cash donation
*Todd and Sandy - for making the trek from the Westside to come and show support, for the fellowship, for the purchases, and for the donation
*Connie - for telling your friends about our garage sale
*Colleen - for the prayers and sacrifice to help bring our daughter home
*Hawley Family - for the amazing connections to awesome Christians who have adopted from Uganda, as well as the prayers and support
*Friends who shared about our garage sale online
*All the other shoppers who helped make running a garage sale so much fun.  We enjoyed sharing with people about our ministry at WOCC and our upcoming adoption


Truly, from the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU!  We made over $400 in two days, and still have more sales in the works for this week.  We will probably have another garage sale next weekend before we wrap things up. 


Let me tell you, this was a lot of work.  And it certainly wasn't easy or stress free.  We were sorely disappointed when we had very few people come to the garage sale.  We made $61 by the end of the sale on Saturday.  A half an hour after we closed it up, a lady came (thanks to Connie!) and spent $185!  I spent a long time talking to her and learned that she has the same name as our daughter.  Special moment. :O)  I helped deliver items to her house (she lives right down the street from us) and she was so kind and appreciative. 


On Sunday, we received a cash donation in an envelope that said simply, "for the adoption."  We also had another donation from the Raabe's, and an extremely generous gift from our friend/sitter/teacher.


We are truly humbled by the outpouring of support from our friends, family, and strangers.  We still have a long way to go, but we know that God will continue to provide. 


Thanks for the love and prayers!

Family Pictures - April 2014

The wonderful Amy Tudor, owner of Eternal Keepsake Photography, did it again!  We met at Sharon Woods Park and she took some beautiful pictures of our little family.  I hope you enjoy viewing them, and if you'd like copies, be sure to let me know!