Heat Wave

We got an e-mail this week from Dillon International, our adoption agency that both made me sad and glad at the same time.  They let us know that they were sending 4 air-conditioners to ISRC and Matre Sneha, Micah's orphanage in Kolkata.  Apparently they are having a very hard time with the extreme heat which has started very early this summer.  The e-mail said that it has been starting over 100 degrees each day.  I cannot even imagine.  When we were there in February it was around 88 each day.  I remember when we were at the orphanage being thankful for the ceiling fans and the small movement of air they provided, even if it was air from off the street from the open windows.  We were sweating just walking around taking pictures of all the precious children.  It makes me sad to think of the children there now in their cribs in the awful heat.  I look at Micah sitting on the floor in our living room, cool as a cucumber and I am so grateful.  

All that to say this...I am so thankful for our adoption agency.  As soon as they heard the need, they quickly sent the money for air conditioners to be put in the orphanage.  I know the Ayahs and the babies are going to be so grateful.  Our agency is able to do this only by contributions made by families around the country!  We now have an interest in their humanitarian work across the ocean. :) It makes it so much more personal that we were just there and got to experience the heat for ourselves.  We are going to try to get a couple of community groups at our church to join together to do a car wash with the donations going to help Dillon and the babies at Matre Sneha...an adoption agency in Oklahoma and a little orphanage on the other side of the world now very dear to our hearts!

He's Walking!

Well, it's official...Micah is walking!  He just stood up Saturday night on his own and took off across the living room floor.  He has not stopped since. :)  He is so cute walking with those skinny little legs, and he can even change direction when he wants to.

He has also picked up two new words..."nigh, nigh" for night, night and "no."  I guess he is hearing that one a lot since he is into everything...cabinets, drawers, trash cans, the toilet.  He is also climbing anything he can get a foothold on.  He is a little handful.  Then he just looks at me with that grin that melts my heart and blows me a kiss.  What a little charmer. :)

Like he's always been...

Here are a couple of pictures from a friends birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese (my least favorite place in the whole world.)  :)  Micah did so well.  He seems to adjust so quickly to things.  He just clings and watches for a minute and then he is ready to go!  He had lots of fun riding the little rides.  I think he would have stayed for hours and hours.  He also ate 2 pieces of pizza and some birthday cake!  I haven't found much food that he doesn't like.

• The last 2 weeks I have seen so much that Micah is picking up.  I can't believe it is happening so quickly.  He is dancing now, just a little, when he hears music.  
• Now when he throws something down, he says, "uh oh!"  It's too cute.  
• When he gets our cell phones or his toy one, or a little camera or anything electronic looking, he holds it up to his ear and says, "hi!"  
• He has also started saying, "mama" this last week!  He says it when he sees me or if I am leaving the room. Of course that melts my heart!  He has said, "da,da" from the beginning, but now he says it when he sees David.  It's so cool.  
• He has gone to the nursery twice now on Sundays and has done very well...no crying at all! 
• Yesterday, he actually did the sign language sign for "more" when he wanted his snack!  I was so excited.  I taught some basic sign to all my kids before they could speak...words like please, more, done, etc.  Micah has been screaming at us when he wanted more food, so I started with him on the signs and was so shocked yesterday when he looked up at me, pointed to his snack on the desk across the room and did the sign for "more."  Of course I had to get up right away and get him some. :)
  
• I have a little climber on my hands.  Last week he climbed 14 stairs from our den to the upstairs.  He was so proud.  Then, I went in the girls room where they were playing on the floor and I found Micah on the 3rd rung of the bunk bed ladder.  We are going to have to watch him like a hawk!

I am amazed at how fast he is learning and soaking stuff in.  I am also amazed at how it feels like he's always been here with us.  I find that I have even already assimilated him into our family and it doesn't even feel like Micah was adopted.  Someone asked me recently if I loved Micah yet like I love my bio children.  You always wonder if you will, I guess, if you have ever considered adoption.  I can only answer from our experience and the miracle God worked in our hearts.  I told this person..."It is strange, but I loved Micah before I ever met him.  I know that God is the Father to the fatherless which means God himself was Micah's father and loved him like only a father can.  I cannot fully explain it, but I truly feel like since I was willing to open up my heart and take the step toward Micah, that God poured His love for Micah straight into my heart and let His love fill me and flow through me so that I felt this unexplainable love for a child I had never met.  I think He did this for me until I could hold Micah myself and get to know him and fall in love with him all over again in person."  And...I have!

Holidays and Family

At each holiday that falls during the year, I am reminded once again of how blessed I am to have family.  My family is very close in relationship, even though we live far apart.  We make every effort to get together whenever possible, and there is no place we would rather be than with family.  If we have any type of break in our schedules, we travel somewhere in the US to stay with another family member and visit for a while!  My kids are so lucky to have right now 4 great-grandma's, 2 great-grandpa's, 2 sets of grandparents, and many, many, many aunts, uncles and cousins!  I was fortunate enough to marry a man who comes from the same type of family.   

David's family, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, all used to get together every Sunday afternoon for lunch at his Ma-maw's and Pa-paws house.  After Pa-paw passed away it went to one Sunday a month.  Now, we still get together once a month, but on a Friday night.  I love that everyone just knows that it's important and if at all possible, everyone is there.

As our families grow...we get more children, get married, move away, etc., this gets harder and harder, but we keep it a priority.  I know not many families have this opportunity and I feel very blessed and thankful.  As I look at these pictures from our Easter get-together, I pray that I can instill this same love and devotion to family in my children that I grew up with myself!

Already at home!

Can you tell my little boy is already feeling at home?  Here he is in a little baseball outfit, playing with his sissy's Nintendo DS.  I think he is holding it steady with his big toe! Who knows.  He fits in that way too, since all of us in our family have long toes. :)  

For a quick update...Micah is quickly learning and copying everything.

• He took his first steps this week without holding on!  Of course now he won't do it again, but we must be getting close.  
• He is eating everything in sight, and I mean everything.  If he can reach it, it goes in his mouth.  I'm having to baby proof again.  The only food he has not been fond of was strawberries and mandarin oranges...I guess they are kind of sour. 
• He likes to ride in the stroller and has gotten used to his carseat really quickly.  In fact, he usually falls asleep almost immediately when we head somewhere.
• He has figured out what a cell phone is for and will hold ours up to his ear every chance he gets.
• He no longer screams and cries when we change his diaper or his clothes...we never figured that one out.
• He is still fighting me when it comes time for naps and bedtime, but not nearly as badly and I am figuring out a system.  I may still end up with a busted lip or broken nose from being butted with his head, but I guess that is a small price to pay. :)
• He LOVES bath time now!  If there is water running, he wants in.  He will climb all over Nathan to get the water spout when they are taking a bath.  Then he will do everything he can to climb in the tub with Emma, jammies and all.   After that, he'll stand there getting sprayed with the water while Hallie takes a shower!
• He loves seeing himself in the mirror and will just coo and kiss his reflection forever.
• He is a very social little boy and will go to almost anyone.  However, after just a few minutes, he looks around for Mommy or Daddy and wants to come back.  Of course I love that!

Such a sweetie!  We are all relishing in this Springtime of getting to know each other and watching Micah bloom!

 

Giving Birth and Adoption

Yesterday in the van my girls were having a conversation in the back seat about how they came from my tummy, but Micah didn't.  I gave them the typical answer you always hear..."I carried you in my tummy and Micah in my heart."  Later though, after analyzing things as I do, I regretted saying that.  :)  Really, I carried them ALL in my heart long before I knew them.  I guess it got me to thinking about the similarities between a pregnancy and an adoption even though the majority of people think they are worlds apart. 

1. THE DECISION - Before trying to get pregnant, you usually have conversations like, "Are we ready to have a baby?"  "Can we do this financially?"  "Is this the right time to expand our family?"  "How will it affect our lives as we know it?"  These are some of the same questions you ask yourselves as you are starting on the paperwork trail in adoption.
2. ITS POSITIVE - Pretty self-explanatory...the positive pregnancy test...no turning back.  This was kind of how I felt when we went on the waiting list for a referral.  We made it, we're here now, no turning back.
3. THE WAIT - There is the wait till 20 weeks when you can find out the sex of the baby, or in adoption, the wait for the referral...who is my child going to be?  Then there is the next phase of waiting for the birth, and for adopting families, the wait to travel and pick up your child.
4. PHOTO - Every pregnant mom remembers their first ultrasound.  Wow, baby's first photo...even though it doesn't do our beautiful baby justice. :)  The referral photo is just like that.  Our first glimpse of our beautiful baby...and it doesn't do them justice as anyone can tell from looking back at referral photos. :)
5. THE UNKNOWN - Not knowing details about what your baby is going to be like and not knowing full details about their health is scary.  Doctors run all sorts of tests on mom and baby and can scare you with the possibilities of things that could go wrong.  The occasional medical reports or updates from your child's birth country can also be very intimidating.
6. THE LAST MONTH - This is a miserable time for any mom. :)  Your baby could arrive any day, or it could still be 4 weeks away.  You are so anxious for the baby to arrive, and yet don't have everything ready yet.  That last minute wait for passports or permission to travel is a killer.
7. THE TRIP - This is something every pregnant mom and every adoptive mom fantasize about the whole journey.  What is my experience going to be like?  The trip to the hospital and the trip to the orphanage can be the longest trip you have ever taken in your life!
8. THE GIFT - Your baby!  Whether the baby comes out of your tummy, or out of another mom's tummy, the result is the same!  You are suddenly handed a beautiful gift, created completely and totally by God!  You are overwhelmed with love and emotion, exhaustion and uncertainty, thankfulness and joy!

What an amazing journey we make to our families!

Compassion East India

I have not gone into much detail about our visit to the Compassion East India office while we were in Kolkata, so I thought that I would share our story.  It is full of little "God things" as was our whole adoption journey, so I want to share it.

We had decided that we would go by the Compassion office the day before we left India.  First, we called my friend, Janie, who is a Compassion advocate, to get the address.  Imagine our amazement when we found out that the office was only about 8 minutes away from the hotel where we were staying in Kolkata!  We had brought a backpack of stuff from my friend Jenny's family for a little boy they sponsor who attends one of the projects there.  When we arrived at the office and walked in, we stood in the lobby for a minute and then a man walked around the corner and asked if he could help us.  I showed him a piece a paper with a man's name on it and told him we had come to see the director Devasagayam Jebaraj.  He said that was him!  He took us back to his office so that he could hear why we had come.  We shared our story and he shared with us his vision for reaching more children there in the 5 states they serve.  He was very excited that we were there.  He said he was supposed to be in a meeting, but something, or "Someone" had prompted him to walk to the lobby, even though he had no reason for going there! :)  He felt like God had brought us together that day!  

We were introduced to his assitant, Ratna, and she showed us around the offices.  We got to see where they process the letters from sponsors, translate them, and send out the letters from the children, etc.  We also got to meet some of the employees and talk with them.  They all loved Micah of course and everyone wanted to hold him.  As the employees began coming back from a meeting, we noticed several Americans...the first we'd seen in Kolkata.  We began talking with them and found out that they were there from the main office in Colorado Springs to lead some training courses!  We had such a good time talking with them and hope to see them again if we ever get to visit the headquarters in Colorado.  

While we were there, I mentioned that I had also brought a back-pack of stuff for the little girl that we sponsor in southern India.  We were not able to work it out for us to visit her, but we wondered if they could mail or transport the backpack somehow to the southern office in Chennai so that she could get it.  Jebaraj said, "Oh, yes!"  We actually have a delegation from the Chennai office here for our meetings this week.  They are leaving in 3 days and can take it back with them!"  How cool is that? :)  After chatting with everyone, Jebaraj, asked us to stay and eat lunch with them.  This was our first taste of "authentic" Indian cuisine, and I must say it was very delicious, but very spicy!  We had such a fun time.  I would have to say that our visit to the Compassion office was one of the highlights of our trip to India!