Are we old enough?

A lot has happened this past week, and thought you'd all like to know a little bit of what has gone on...

A petition was written and signed by several families adopting from the same orphanage as us. The petition was a list of questions requested to be answered, and was sent to the board of directors of the organization. It was also posted to the Yahoo Groups that I follow, and since then we've all seen many days of heated discussion and lots of bickering and mud-slinging back and forth, that I have been careful to not become a part of. I feel that the purpose - or if not the purpose, definitely an unfortunate result - of the petition being posted publicly was to encite fear and anger in those of us that were unaware of what was going on. I must say it worked. We were unaware of the reasons behind the questions that were asked, but there were a few that really concerned us. I'm not going to go into too many details (so please don't ask me), except to explain to you what of these issues affects us and our adoption process.

When we started this adoption, we knew that different agencies, orphanages and facilitators have different criteria for families to meet to be eligible to adopt. Some of this criteria we fit, some of it we do not. Many adoption programs from many countries, including Haiti, have varying requirements, such as age, length of marriage, number of biological children, etc. The organization we're adopting through, all along has had their criteria posted on their website - married couples must be 28 years of age, and married for a minimum of 5 years. Even two years ago when we first started looking into adopting from Haiti, we contacted several agencies and facilitators about the fact that different agencies had posted different requirements. I remember at least three responding, all with different answers. One told us that they would not accept us into their program, and one told us that they wat it would be a gamble. Then we were assured - by our facilitator that we did fit the criteria. That made us feel much better about proceeding with them. I'm not sure I gave it as much thought as I am now, but I'm certain that I though - OK, it's Haiti - it's a third-world country with an unstable government - it probably depends on who you know...

Now, we know that Haiti's government has had laws in place, dating back to 1974, governing adoptions. These laws state that adoptive parents must be 35 years of age, but if married, one parent can be less than 35 years of age if they have been married for 10 years. It is now our understanding that, for many years, these adoption laws have been either not followed at all, or exceptions have been very easily afforded. We've been aware of the possibility that fertility problems that result in a couple not being able to have biological children was a very easy exception to obtain. We know many families that are either in the process, or have successfully brought their children home from Haiti, that do not fit within the criteria these laws. This, combined with our facilitator's requirements of 28 years of age and 5 years of marriage, we felt very comfortable moving forward with adopting from Haiti, and using this facilitator.

The question on the petition - and I don't have it in front of me right now - was if our facilitator was aware that IBESR (Haiti's government social services agency) is planning to again be enforcing the 1974 adoption law, starting this September. Now, I'm not sure how this enforcement will work, but the worst possible scenario(from our perspective) is that they will no longer be accepting any files into IBESR that do not strictlly meet this criteria - no exceptions. I do not know if this is what will happen, but we - along with many other families - are waiting for an answer. Remember: our current status in this adoption process is that we are waiting for our orphanage's processor to have the children's paperwork gathered (which could take a while longer) to be combined with ours so that it can enter IBESR.

We are of course praying that there will be a possibility for exceptions to be made, that would allow us to proceed with our adoption. We clearly do not fit the requirements of the 1974 law - we are currently 32 and 30, and have been married for 8 years - and are very concerned for the children, and for this entire adoption process. Please pray that we will have an answer soon, and that we can accept whatever news we receive. We are of course hoping that we will be allowed to bring Ralph and Celena home, but are troubled by the uncertainty of this. We are also praying for the many, many children that this enforcement would affect. I can't help but think how much longer a child would have to wait to be a part of a family that is able to love and provide for them, if so many families no longer qualify to adopt. Perhaps it is even a possibility to pray about, that the government would change the adoption laws. That to me seems an impossible feat to accomplish after 34 years in force, but I'm reminded that "With God, nothing is impossible." (reference) Please cover us with your prayers - all families involved, the children of Haiti, the agencies, orphanages and facilitators, and the Haiti government.

Fasting & Prayer

Today is Monday. It is a day that several adopting families have set aside each week for fasting and prayer. Some are fasting a meal or two, some fasting soda or caffeine, some are fasting television or computer use, and I’m sure there are many other variations. Wikipedia explains fasting in the Christian sense as “abstaining from satisfying hunger or thirst, and any other lustful needs that we may yearn for.” With fasting and increased prayer, “the idea is not to suffer, but to come closer to God, to realize one’s excesses, and to engage in almsgiving.”

Well, the idea here for us adopting parents is to humbly deny ones self of our excesses, in order that we might glorify God, and draw closer to Him in prayer. During this time, we are praying: for our children in Haiti – and all children in Haiti; for the birth parents, the difficult lives they live, and the difficult decisions that they have to make; for the orphanages and all those individuals that care for the children; for the adoption administrators, facilitators, and lawyers; for the government officials that work to approve adoptions; for the families waiting for their children to come home.

Isaiah 58 is about true fasting - doing it humbly, loosens the chains of injustice, unties the chords of the yoke, frees the oppressed, feeds the hungry, provides for the poor, and clothes the naked. "The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." (Isaiah 58:11).

It’s not easy to get started. I didn’t really know “how” to fast, but once I’d heard that there really are so many different things you can fast and different ways to do it, I prayed about what I should do to join the others. I started fasting on Mondays a few weeks ago, and have usually been doing a partial fast of breakfast and lunch. By partial fast, I mean that I am consuming only water and juices until late afternoon or early evening. I use my normal lunch break for prayer. I also say prayers frequently throughout the day, as I have moments to spare, and as my hunger and stomach-growling reminds me.

I really believe in God’s great power to see us through our struggles, and to provide for the people of Haiti, and to bring our children home. I have also drawn closer to God through this fasting, and am finding that I am becoming more reliant on His power and guidance. For, “with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26b).

Please pray about how you can be fasting and praying. Maybe you have something in your own life that you need to pray about, or maybe you can help out the cause of the orphans in Haiti. Even if you can’t fast, please keep us in your prayers. That is such a comfort to us.

More pictures yet!

I got a couple more pictures of Elijah from Kathy, and a couple more pictures of Josephine from Jennifer. Thanks Kathy & Jennifer!!! Also, Kathy thanks for the tidbit about Elijah's personality - she said he's very content to be held and just look around - doesn't have to be entertained all the time. These pictures of Josephine must have been taken shortly after her August update photo that I posted last week. She's so drooly too - must have been from when she was smiling earlier. :)






By the way... I was so excited to learn today that Jennifer and her husband Bryan live very close to us! They are adopting Rose-Angel Oreus and Abraham Kadensky from the same orphanage. We're planning to get together some weekend in September to get to know each other. We are at nearly the same point in the adoption process - they should be entering IBESR soon, and we're waiting for that step as well - and our children are fairly close in ages as well. Anyway...

That's all for now - must get to sleep. I think I've either caught a cold or my allergies are really wack-o this week. I think it's the former, because when I told Jock that today I've had a sinus headache/pressure most of the day, he said, "Oh no! You caught what I had!" I didn't know he really "had" anything, but I do vaguely recall him being stuffed up a bit on Sunday. Oh well. Sudafed is my friend, and it'll be better soon, let's hope!

Happy Birthday Jock!!!

Wanted to take some time out to wish my wonderful husband a Happy Birthday. I'm so thankful for him. He's the best partner I could ever hope for. He's such a great dad to Kaylen, and I know he'll be an awesome dad to Elijah & Josephine as well.

Thanks Jock for all that you do. You make me a better mom and a better person. I don't know where I'd be without you! I love you!!!

xoxo,
Lisa

More pictures

We got some more pictures of our babies - Thank you Kathy, Rick & family!!! Well, we have seen the blank stares and the half-smiles. Now the crying. Notice Josephine's crocodile tear. I just wanna go right down there and scoop them up and hold them forever!


And a couple more pictures - Elijah with Rick & Kathy's daughter Jasmine, Rick holding Josephine up next to Elijah, and I'm guessing one of the nannies holding Elijah:

Hurricane Dean

We've been watching the new these last few days and praying for safety for those in the path of Hurricane Dean. It initially appeared haiti was right in the projected path. The orphanage where Elijah & Josephine are is in Port au Prince, which is in the central portion of the country, on the Eastern coast, between the two peninsulas. Tonight we have heard that they had some rain and it was cloudy and breezy but they specified that it was not really even windy. I'm so thankful that everything's OK. But continuing to pray for those that remain in the path of this dangerous hurricane, and those suffering from it's effects.

Pictures of Elijah

Here are a few new pictures of Elijah. Thanks Courtney & Cate!!! I'm so glad to see him with a bit of a smile in one of the pictures - that a first for us. Josephine smiled for us a bit on the last picture I posted of her as well. I haven't seen any pictures of her from the missionaries (unless I missed here - there were so many pictures to sift through tonight), although one of them did mention that the many of the babies were sleeping when they were there doing the pictures and videos. Just a fact of life for little ones - they sure sleep a lot!

Video of Elijah

We got a new video and a few new pictures over the weekend, from missionaries who recently returned from the orphanage. I think the groups were mostly made up of other adopting parents. We hope to go with one of these groups in the future, even before our adoption is complete and we are ready to bring Elijah & Josephine home. I'm so thankful to them for sharing these with us, and hope to be as much of a blessing to other adoptive parents as they've been to us.

Click this link to view the video. Thanks Courtney!!!

Cool story - we first watched this video at my sister's house Saturday evening. Jock asked what that toy was that he was playing with. Amy held up one of Kenny's toys that she'd just picked up off the floor - it was different colors, but the same toy - his also had rings attached to it. :)

August Photos!!!

We've been waiting anxiously for them, and now they're here. Here are the August update photos of Elijah & Josephine!

Kaylen's Joke

Apparently at daycare today, all the kids were sharing jokes back and forth. Kaylen told me the one she told:

"Why did the pig climb the tree? ... Because the baby yelled at the horse."

What? Doesn't make sense? Me neither. Oh well - that's what you get with preschoolers telling jokes. I'm sure the teachers were just as confused as me. And they probably had to hear lots of them! :)

Discrimination

Interesting. Jock had a diversity training today, and he showed me the video they watched as part of the training. Actually he's on his company's diversity council, so he had seen it before when the council did training for their small group last year. He told me about it then, and I'd heard of it, having grown up fairly close to where it occurred.

A third grade teacher in Riceville, Iowa did an experiment with her class, dividing them into two groups - blue-eyed vs brown-eyed, and one group discriminated against the other, then switched it around the next day. Then years later a similar experiment was done with adults. It was scary how easily even the adults discriminated against their peers. I'd like to say that I wouldn't behave the same way if put in the same situation - where discrimination was rampant and even encouraged/taught - but I don't know. I think having seen this program now I'll be more aware at least!

Check it out here - you can see the whole program, which was featured on PBS Frontline back in the 80's, but it's apparently still widely viewed.

New Photos

I'm anxiously awaiting new pictures of Elijah & Josephine. The orphanage & facilitator staff sends out updates and pictures of the children to their adoptive families each month. This will be our first official monthly update.

While we're waiting, here are some other recent pictures we took...

The three of us with Elijah's birthday cake.

And Kaylen enjoying licking the beater from the same cake.

Caden (in high chair), Amy, Shauna, Grace, Kallie, Kelsey, Jock & Kaylen.

Caden: "Hmmmm... I wonder how long it would take a 2-year-old cowboy to mow this huge lawn with Grandpa's lawn tractor?! Sure wish Aunt Lisa would stop taking my picture so I can turn that key without anybody seeing me!" (Grandpa took the key away soon after this picture was taken, though.)

Kenny likes to listen to Grandpa sing. Puts him right to sleep!

Kaylen loves to run through the sprinkler on a hot summer day!

How Long? Are we "Approved"? Is this "for sure"?

Recently there has been some excitement about products that can be purchased through CafePress.com. This is a website that I think is a fundraiser website, where people can create products for themselves or their organization, send the links out to their friends & family, and can get a part of the proceeds when items are purchased. There are things like t-shirts (all sizes), tote & messenger bags, coffee cups, coasters, greeting cards, posters, and more. Our facilitator has had some of these items posted or linked on their website for a long time, but there are more items than just those. There are t-shirts that read “Yes, I am his/her REAL mommy/daddy”, “Expecting from Haiti”, or “Don’t tell my mommy/daddy, but I don’t look a thing like her/him”. These items brought up some interesting issues that I thought I’d share for those of you that are not as familiar with adoption.

The t-shirts that say, “Yes, I am his/hear REAL mommy/daddy” really brought up a strong point that is mentioned in several adoption language articles. I’m sure I’ve probably even said this in the past not thinking about it, but it’s not very politically correct to say that an adoptive parent is not a real or natural parent. The more appropriate word to use is biological parent. Also, another common language that I know I’ve used even recently is “gave up a child for adoption”, where the more appropriate language is “chose adoption for a child”. I’m sure there are probably others, but they’re not as common, and I can’t think of any more right now. Just things you don’t think about too much that I thought I’d share. Interesting though – it’s a different world!

The other issue is the wait times, and I’m hoping to get some advice from some other adoptive moms or dad’s out there. How did you approach the subject of how long it would be until your children would be home. I’ve just been explaining that our orphanage and facilitator are still saying it’s taking 8-15 months, which would put us somewhere between February and September of 2008. With a huge caveat that with international adoption you just don’t know. It’s a third-world country, the government is unstable, so things could change or even stall out at any point throughout the process. Then I usually say that we’re hoping for next summer, but again that we just don’t know.

And, while I’m talking about talking about the adoption process, another question we get asked a lot is if we’ve been “approved”, and if it’s “for sure” yet that we’ll be able to adopt Elijah & Josephine. Boy – that’s another can of worms, isn’t it? We have been approved by our home study, and have initial approval as adoptive parents from USCIS (immigration), and have been approved by the facilitator/orphanage, and have First Legalization in Haiti. Next, we’ll be going through Haitian Social Services, then a slew of Haitian Courts, then Haitian Passports, then USCIS again for the children’s approval, and then they’ll need a visa before they can come home. So, here again, there’s not really a clear answer. Most people just smile and nod when I try to explain this to them. They’ll legally be our children when the adoption decree is issued by the post-IBESR courts. Is it for sure then? Well, although it looks like it's clearing up a bit now, lots of people have been stuck for several months waiting for their children’s Haitian passports, so would it be more accurate to say that it’s not really for sure until we’ve landed and have them on the ground here in the US?

We just got our First Legalization, and we’re not in IBESR yet, so does anyone have any other ideas? Anyone who’s further along than us have any advice? Anyone who’s in the same step as us trying to figure out how to explain this to people?

I’m not really sure I’m ready to start wearing one of those “Expecting from Haiti” t-shirts quite yet. Maybe when we’re further along in the process, and things are becoming more clear. But when will that be?! It’s anyone’s guess at this point.

Transracial Training

Since we are maintaining our state license as foster/adoptive parents, we also have benefits through the state’s Foster and Adoptive Parents Association. One of the benefits is that they provide courses that can count towards the training requirements for annual license renewal. Their September through January schedule just came out, and I’m very interested in two of them, as they will relate to the children we’re adopting from Haiti. The first class is called “Advance Topics in Transracial Adoption and Foster Care”. The second is “People of Color: Skin and Hair Care with a Familiar Twist”.

The first class “explores the hard hitting realities, both positive and challenging, of being a transracial, multicultural family living in a race conscious society. We will discuss how to address the hard questions, how to prepare families, how to be a prepared family and what a successful transracial adoption looks like. Suggestions for creating healthy road maps for children and families will be presented.” Sounds like it will be very helpful for our children and us.

The second class is “a fun and lively opportunity to learn the care of hair and skin for children of color, along with health issues that are of importance to specific cultures. This class will provide a hands-on learning opportunity, including demonstrations. Internet resources are provided to learn more about specific cultural practices. (The trainer) will have skin care and hair care products on-hand.” This one sounds like lots of fun. Do you think I can get Jock to join me? He probably wouldn’t want or need to do much with the hair, but he needs to learn the skin care, right?!

We’ve already met our training requirements for CY2007, so I think I’m going to sign us up for one of these for January, and hope they offer the other one on their February through June schedule. They’re both 6 credit hours, so if we took both of them, we’d have double the requirements for license renewal. However, there’s been some speculation that they’re going to increase the training requirements to 12 hours per year next year, so we’d still be covered. Hopefully we’d be able to get them both scheduled before Elijah & Josephine are home, so we’ll not be totally clueless! :)

This Past Week's Fun

Thought I’d share a bit about our past week, since I haven’t posted. I took Wednesday through Friday off work. Jock worked Wednesday, and Kaylen went to daycare, so I had some time to relax and get some things done around the house before going out of town. Wednesday evening we went to a parade Jock had to work at, before heading to my dad’s for a few days.

My brother and his family were back visiting for the week (they live about a 16 hour drive away). Jock and I hadn’t seen them for about two years, and Kaylen had never met her aunt and uncle and two cousins. We all had a great time, and now Kaylen knows who we’re talking about when I talk about my brother or her cousins Kelsey and Kallie. Boy was that confusing a few times though – we had Kelsey, Kallie, Kaylen, Caden, and Kenny! It was great to have all of my family together again for a brief time. My older sister lives next-door to my dad, and my younger sister came up for the weekend as well.

We drove back home Sunday morning, as we wanted to make it to church to get signed up for fall programming. Then we went to the state fair. What a hot and miserable day that was! They were even announcing over the loud speakers that with the heat, the importance of staying hydrated, and taking breaks in the shade and/or air conditioning! We didn’t stay too long, but we got to check out the free concert while enjoying ice cream sandwiches (both provided by Jock’s work), then we walked around and got some of the usual foods we enjoy at the fair: chocolate chip cookies, turkey drumstick, taffy, fried cheese curds, a hot dog for Kaylen. We also stopped at the Optimist Club’s booth and chatted with a couple ladies in another club (Jock and I are in our local one), and stopped and chatted with a friend of ours we got to know a few years ago when Jock worked another booth at the fair that was next to theirs.

There were some other things we might have liked to see, but they’re usually the same or at least very similar every year (the animals, butter sculptures, arts & craft exhibits, etc). It was just too hot! We weren’t alone. The crowds were looking pretty lethargic, and the sidewalks didn’t seem as crowded as usual. With several days of this heat (90-95) & humidity (60-95%) these last several days, I wonder what the attendance numbers will look like this year. Although, it looks like the temps should be going down about 10 degrees (and hopefully the humidity too), starting on Thursday, so that’s good news!

Jock and I went back to work yesterday, and Kaylen went back to daycare. Last night I fixed supper, but was so exhausted that I couldn't/didn't do much else! I think I’m back on track today now though!

Names again...

Another adoptive mom (Thanks Natalie!) helped me out with how the naming works with adopting children from Haiti. Here's how I understand it - please anyone correct me if I still have this confused. When we are through the post-IBESR courts, they will legally be our children. They will have our last name, but will retain their current first and last names as their first and middle names.

If they come into the US on an IR-3 visa (which we are anticipating), they will be US citizens when they get off the plane in the US. We wouldn't need to do anything else, but on the advice of our home study worker and many others, we will re-adopt them, so that we can give them the names we've chosen for them. This will also provide them with US birth certificates, and life will be much easier for them if they need to get extra certified copies of their birth certificates later on in life. Jock and I had to get extra copies of each of ours just to go through this process to adopt them, and I can't imagine what that would have been like if we'd had to order them from a third-world country. Who knows how long that would have taken, if it had even been possible!

Anyway, after we re-adopt them, they will have the names Elijah Ralph, and Josephine Celena. We decided we want to keep their first names as their middle names, to have a name that their birth parents gave them. Kaylen got to keep her first name, because she was already used to it and knew how to spell and even write it before we thought about naming her. We have started calling them Elijah and Josephine, although sometimes we will probably use them a bit interchangeably, because we got a little used to using Ralph and Celena before we decided for sure on the names. Like Amy said, we're getting old and forgetful! :)

Another friend of mine asked me if the people at the orphanage would start calling them Elijah & Josephine so they'd get used to their names. It's something I hadn't really thought about before, and a good question. I'll have to find out. Although, I know I've seen pictures of the baby rooms, and they post the children's names on their cribs, so I can imagine it might get pretty confusing for the nannies to have to keep track of so many children and all their names. We do know that being so young, they'll pick up English very quickly when immersed in it, and will probably also start answering to their new names fairly quickly as well.

First Legalization!

We received word Saturday that our dossier has received First Legalization from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Haiti. I understand this is similar to the notarization, state authentication, and legalization by the Haitian Consulate here in the US (Chicago) that we had to do before sending our dossier to Haiti. It’s just one more step to them wanting to be sure that our dossier is legal.

The orphanage staff in Haiti have already begun to gather Elijah & Josephine’s paperwork to be combined with our dossier. This includes birth certificates (with no date or spelling errors) – apparently vital records like this are often not correct because most children are not born in hospitals. They also will have a social worker write up a social history for the children (as we had to do in our home study), get psych evaluations and medical certificates for the children, and get official photo IDs for the birth parents, which could apparently take some time if they do not already have one.

Somewhere in there our dossier also has to get first and second consentment in the courts, but I’m not sure when exactly. And, once all this information is gathered in a combined dossier, it gets submitted to IBESR (Haitian Social Services) for four signatures of approval.

All in HIS Perfect Timing

I say this phrase a lot - I think for my own benefit mostly. It's to remind myself that I need to seek God's will, not necessarily my own, and that I know that God knows what's best for me and my family, whether I can see it at the time or not. I just need to trust in him. After closing out my post last night with this phrase, I did a search in the Bible. By they way, I added a link at right, for BibleGateway.com. It's just awesome when I don't have my Bible handy. You can look up verses using a keyword or by the book chapter and verse numbers, etc. Then when you find a verse you can also click one of the icons at the top to expand out to the whole chapter to see the context. It's very handy!

Anyway, I did a search on the work "wait" last night, and a lot of them weren't really relevant, but then I found Psalm 27:

1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When evil men advance against me
to devour my flesh, [a]
when my enemies and my foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.

3 Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then will I be confident.

4 One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.

5 For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.

6 Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the LORD.

7 Hear my voice when I call, O LORD;
be merciful to me and answer me.

8 My heart says of you, "Seek his [b] face!"
Your face, LORD, I will seek.

9 Do not hide your face from me,
do not turn your servant away in anger;
you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
O God my Savior.

10 Though my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will receive me.

11 Teach me your way, O LORD;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.

12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
breathing out violence.

13 I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.

14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.

Isn't that great? No matter what comes towards me, I can have strength in Him, knowing he will see me through.

Happy Birthday Elijah! (part 2)

Well, it was a great day for us. We enjoyed spending time celebrating in honor of Elijah. This morning, we got up and had a treat for breakfast - donuts & starbucks/juice/yogurt smoothie at the local grocery. While there we also picked out a cake and frosting that we thought a one-year-old boy might like - chocolate with chocolate fudge frosting with red/blue/yellow/green sprinkles. Of course Kaylen gravitated towards the pink frosting (the same as she picked out for her birthday cake), so we had to remind her that it was for her brother's birthday, not hers, and she did pretty well after that.

Then we went shopping, and got some fabric to make Elijah a birthday gift - a fleece blanket and pillow cover to match. Kaylen gravitated towards the fuzzy purple fabric and the princess fabrics, but she knew we were looking for "something her brother would like, 'cause he's a boy". We all decided on blue fleece with a truck pattern. I'll have fun making that, and then we'll keep it here for him to cuddle when he comes home.

This evening, we had plans to meet some friends for grilling out and a game night at their house, so we brought the dessert. They were all awesome about celebrating the birthday of someone they'd never met - and not all of them had seen his picture or even heard the latest about our adoption process. We got some pictures of his cake, and our friends took a picture of us holding it out for him. We'll save these for him as well. I've said it before, but will say it again - we're so fortunate that we have friends and family that are excited for us with our adoption plans, and praying for us and our children and the process we are going through. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!

But, most importantly, we prayed for Elijah, that he had a great day today, that he's healthy and happy, and that this will be the only birthday he'll have away from us and his home. However, may God's will be done, all in His perfect timing.

Happy Birthday, Elijah!

Today is Elijah's first birthday. I'm sad that he won't be able to have those pictures to cherish of him sitting in a high chair eating a piece of his cake, and then the subsequent picture of him with frosting everwhere! We're praying for him and this adoption process, and that hopefully this will be the only birthday he'll have to spend away from home, and we can spoil him next year.

In his honor, we're going to have birthday cake, and will take pictures to save for him. We'll also hoping to go shopping for some fabric that I can make a blanket and pillow for him and keep it here for him until he comes home. Thanks to the other adoptive moms for the ideas for how to honor Elijah's first birthday even though he's not home with us for us to celebrate with him directly!

This picture was taken when he was just over 11 months old. I think it's hilarious! It looks like he's having so much fun!


Keeping you in our prayers, Elijah. We love you!

The pictures above...

I'm still customizing my blog, so check back often. Here's the info on the pictures above that I added yesterday:

The first is of Jock and me on Easter Sunday this spring. My sisters were helping us do family pictures, and this was towards the end - Jock was being goofy, but I love the picture - it's just us.

The middle one, taken in May, is Kaylen and me on my 30th birthday. My co-workers had gotten me an awesome cake, and the left-over pieces had tons of frosting-balloons. The piece Kaylen ate had a blue balloon, and it's kind of hard to see, but her mouth turned blue. Also notice she's in her PJs - it's never much a good idea to give her that much sugar - especially so close to bedtime, but we survived.

The third picture, taken in January, is Jock and Kaylen the day before her 4th birthday, at the wedding dance of my step-mom's niece. Does that make her my step-cousin? It was very nice to meet lots of Terry's family that day!

Hair, Beautiful Hair!

Well, I've been trying to learn a little bit about hair and skin care for when our children come home. It's apparently quite a different story from the ease with which we take care of ourselves. Think of your skin, and how dry and flakey it might get during the coldest of winter. Even worse than that might be something that we'd expect Elijah & Josephine to experience, possibly even in the summer. And instead of flakey, theirs will look more like ash. We'll really have to keep on top of things.

Also, there has been some discussion recently on hair care, even for boys. We will probably try to keep Elijah's hair very short to not cause problems - at least until he's older. But Josephine's will be an altoghter different story. Even washing it seems to be quite the technique, not to mention removing the prior styling, and re-styling. One adoptive mom has started writing a monthly column called "Hair Matters" on RainbowKids.com, and I'm going to read those articles closely and save the articles for future use. They're very helpful, including the items you'll need, step-by-step instructions, and pictures to go with. (By the way, she also has an awesome article from a while back, titled "More than Just Hair", that you can search for on RainbowKids.com.)

Another adoptive mom whose blog I follow has talked this summer about the days she re-does her girls' hair - she has three girls she adopted from Haiti, ages 3, 4, and 5. She says she re-does their hair-do's about every 4 weeks, or more often in the summer when they camp and swim a lot. She usually refers to these days with, "It's hair day tomorrow, so we'll be busy!"

I certainly hope I can live up to the challenge - no more showering and then straight to bed like we often do with Kaylen! Karen, you're learning this stuff so you can help me out a bit, right?! :)