Summer Coming to an End & God Is Busy At Work!

Well, it's hard to believe that end of summer is here!  It's been quick but very enjoyable and productive.  Sterling finished up his reading class, VBS has come to end and the kids are beginning to get into gear for school.  We're almost done with shopping for school supplies and clothing.

Summer came to an end for me, last week. I'm starting a new position within a new school district and so, new employee orientation was all last week.  Tomorrow, all teachers return and I'm anxious to meet all the teachers at my school.  I am a Deaf Education Teacher and will be teaching PPCD (pre-k) to 3, 4 and 5 year olds who are children with cochlear implants.  I will be oral/aural teacher within the Deaf Ed Program.  I am THRILLED to have this new position!!!  God has been gracious to grant me this blessing!  Last year was a challenge and I'm very thankful for this new opportunity and look forward to a great year.

Our family has been busy continuing to gather documents for our home study.  We had hopes of submitting our immigration paperwork by end of August but now have readjusted our expectations and have our sights on September for submitting all the information.  Please be in prayer with us as we race against time to gather all the necessary documents to allow this to happen. 

God is very busy working in our lives and in particular, the past 3 weeks.  Tonight marks 3 weeks that we have been in prayer and "addicted/stalking our computer" for information on something very special.  Unfortunately, we can't (just yet) share the exact details but they are big...REALLY BIG!

Just know that God's grace continues to be at work and we've learned so much about faith these past several weeks.  We've also seen first-hand how mighty God works through others by bringing people into our lives who have been angels and prayer warriors.....people we've never met, yet individuals that have become our true angels!  We've seen our faith tested by the enemy and times our faith tested through trials but thus far, with each trial and tribulation our God has stood strong on His word! 

One dear prayer warrior is standing strong on the word of God and praying these words over our family:

Isaiah 45:2-3

I will go before you
    and will level the mountains^[a];
I will break down gates of bronze
    and cut through bars of iron.

³ 

I will give you hidden treasures,

    riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the Lord,
    the God of Israel, who summons you by name.

Will you please stand with us in prayer?!?! 

We are hopeful that soon, God will reveal His plan, so that we may share the joy with others and all celebrate in His name!!!

Elijah at 20 Months Old!

Elijah was 20 months old in July!  We learned that he weighed 19 lbs and measured 2 feet 2 inches, enjoys the outdoors and when his foster mom takes him to the local park, he especially loves playing with the "big boys!"  He's going to fit in well with our family having 2 big brothers and a big sis!  He also enjoys playing with trucks and is learning how to share his toys.  Had to laugh, can you say the terrific two's have already started. His big brother Justin hit the terrific two's around 18 months as well.  Sounds like Elijah is a typical toddler!   We are anxious to bring this little guy home and love all over him.  Sterling can't wait to share his bedroom with, "little brother!"

            Be still my heart.......look at those big beautiful eyes and chubby cheeks!

Another Step Toward Eli--More Documents!

We are another step closer to Eli!  This past week, I managed to get another document and schedule a needed pediatric appointment for the letter stating that Arabella and Sterling are healthy and free of any communicable diseases!  All of this was managed in the same day--whew--it was a great day.  Upon returning home from downtown Houston, my cell phone rang and it was pediatricians office to say that Sterling must be seen prior to receiving the letter.  So, his appointment was scheduled at the next available time, which is on Monday! 

Let's see, now we have:
Birth Certificates on both of us
Marriage Certificate
Police Clearance on both of us
My Letter of Employment
Divorce Decree
Submitted Eli's information required in home study

What's left to gather?  Well, let's just say, we're not even half-way there but, good news is that we are 8 steps closer to Eli and that my friend, is a great feeling! 

The required documents are for 3 different categories--home study, immigration & the dossier!  The home study is a document compiled by a social worker and it's about 15 pages that details our family, individual history, the child we want to adopt, and much more information.  The immigration paperwork is for the US Government to approve our adoption and allow our child to become a US Citizen, the moment the plane touches down on US soil.  Last but not least, the dossier is a gigantic amount of paperwork that is sent to China, requesting the adoption of Eli and showing that we meet China's requirements (and proof that we meet those requirements) and proof the US Government has approved our adoption. 

Our goal is to have the home study complete and in hand by end of August to first of September, so that we can turn around and submit the required immigration paperwork to the US Government.  The current wait times for immigration is 10-12 weeks.  Once this approval is returned, we can submit our dossier to the adoption agency for their review and about 1 week later, it's submitted to China.  Providing we meet all the (personal) deadlines we have set for ourselves, we pray that our dossier will be at our agency's office no later than mid December with China logging it into their system,  in January with hopes that we travel in June 2014. 

Dragons From The Past

When children come from hard places (history of neglect, abuse, lack of nourishment) it is said they can carry these fears for years to come and at any given time, the "dragons" can rear their ugly heads and show themselves in many forms. 

Sterling is currently going through a difficult period with "dragons" from his past.  He has a difficult time at night and dragons are shown in his fears, inability to sleep and bad dreams.  This seems to be lasting a bit longer than past episodes.  He is now sleeping next to our bed at night and we found a new natural sleep aid that does seem to be helping him fall asleep.  He was taking melatonin but the amounts become to large for my comfort level and a side affect of Melatonin can be bad dreams.  A bad combination for a child who is already suffering from nightmares, so we were able to reach out to the adoption community and learn about a new herbal/natural sleep aid to replace the Melatonin. 

When Sterling first arrived home 3 1/2 years ago, bedtime was the worst time of day.  He started out crying 4 hours, every single night for weeks, almost months and gradually, it would decrease by 30  minute increments after several weeks.  It was months before the bedtime crying spells stopped. He experienced panic attacks every single night at bedtime and it was heartbreaking not being able to comfort him and allow him to feel safe.  Personally, the most difficult part of adoption is not having the background knowledge of their experiences to better equip ourselves for comforting children with great fears and the inability to calm our children in those early months of them joining the family.  It's tough as a parent to watch your child suffer, night after night after night. 

While Sterling was 4 years old when he joined our family, he was on the level of a 6 month old baby.  There was no language or speech what so ever, so talking was not an option to help with comforting him. We did have other methods to meet him at the 6 moth level that he was functioning at, such as he slept in a baby bed, we held him as much as possible, played soft music, always spoke to him in a tender, soft voice, etc.  While these didn't stop the challenges and fears he experienced, I do feel that over time it did help him to begin building a trust toward us.

We haven't quite figured out the triggers that will cause his "dragons" to rear their ugly heads at night.  They have no consistency or any pattern, they are random and fortunately, don't happen very often.  We've been praying the following bible verse with Sterling at night, "I go to bed and sleep in peace.  Lord, only you keep me safe.  -Psalm 4:8 and the kids are working to memorize the verse, "When I am afraid, I will trust you. -Psalm 56:3. 

If I was to offer BTDT (been there done that) suggestions to  other first time adoptive parents, it would be the importance of meeting your child, just where they are--what do I mean by this? 

When your child joins your family, don't have preconceived thoughts on how they should act and definitely don't allow their chronological age to trick you--these children are all different and each child's needs are different---to meet them "where they are" is to determine what emotional/developmental/social age your child is at, and meet them at this age/developmental level.

I strongly recommend the book, "The Connected Child" by Karin Purvis to all adoptive parents.  It has proven to be very insightful and helpful with our adoptions.



 

The Birthday Season Begins

July is a time for birthdays and kicks off a solid 6 months of birthday celebrations in our family along with 2 special friends who both have birthdays in July, all within a few days of each other. 

July-daddy
August-Justin
September-mom
October-Arabella
November-Elijah
December-Sterling

Sterling has the hardest time accepting a December birthday and it doesn't help matters that his birthday is 2 days after Christmas, which makes party planning a bit difficult.  The three years that Sterling has been home, his friend-party has been at different times of the year, from a 1/2 birthday celebration in June to a Spring Break birthday party.  It varies from year to year as we try to find the best time to celebrate with friends. 

This past year was Arabella's first birthday home.  We had a skating party and she loved it!!!  She thinks birthday parties are the coolest things around and with each party invite from friends & neighbors, she is filled with excitement.  It's great watching her have experiences that other typical children experience and to see the excitement in her! 

I was blessed to spend time with 2 very special friends on their birthdays!  One friend had a surprise party that her sister organized and the other, I'm blessed each year to have dinner with her family.  This family is very special and who I consider as family.  We've known each other since grade school and lived down the street from one another.

 I'm blessed beyond measure through the friendship that I share with each of these special ladies!

                                                    

 

Happy Birthday, Honey!

Today is Earl's birthday! Arabella and Sterling have been counting the days since July 1st.  Sterling was beside himself with excitement because when it comes to a celebration, he is all over it and especially a birthday celebration!!  Sterling sincerely loves his family and when one of us is celebrating, he's right there with us, heart and soul!  Arabella and Sterling were with me today, decorating and shopping for dad's big day.  Arabella was helping to orchestrate the colors and picking out the right balloons to use.  She's quite the helper!  Once dad arrived home, they greeted him with a big happy birthday and Sterling was all over him to open the presents.   We did things a bit backwards than probably most families, dad opened gifts, we sang happy birthday, blew out candles, ate cake and then, all headed out for dinner at Pei Wei's Restaurant.  Happy Birthday, Honey...I admire all that you are and all that you've done for your family!  You are the greatest!!

 

Sterling is quite the camera hog, this was suppose to be a picture of Daddy as the focal point but look who jumped in front at the last possible moment.

Summer Swim Time

One of the favorite activities that Sterling and Arabella enjoy during the summer months is swimming!  We've been busy this summer and not a lot of time for swimming but we've managed to have a few days of swim time and hoping before school starts to get in a lot more!

This summer is the first time that both Arabella and Sterling have learned (and found the confidence) to plug their nose and go under water and they are loving it!  Their new fun in the pool is taking turns to see how long they can stay under water.  Here are pictures showing some of the first times they went under water.

GET READY....GET SET....HOLD YOUR NOSE!

 

 

UNDER THEY GO!

 

BACK UP FOR AIR!