Will owns me!

Last night for the first time Will addressed me as "Mom". Remember that thrill you felt when your little one babbled "Momma" for the first time? Well that's pretty much how I felt when Will asked me a question, addressing me as Mom. I didn't even realise he hadn't called me that yet until I heard it.

I think adopting older kids has so much to do with ownership. Their ownership of you the parent, the family in general, and yes even that moment when you as a parent take ownership of them. And when I refer to ownership, I mean ownership of the heart! It certainly isn't anything you can buy or demand or even create, it just happens. Sometimes I think we over analyze things wanting to explain everything down to the base of zero. But maybe somethings are beyond our simple understanding and we just have to accept the gift at face value.

Like the ownership of an 11 year old boy whose heart has been broken more times than he can count. God Bless him for offering up that fragile gift once more. Please God never let me disappoint or betray his love and trust!

Gooble, Gooble!!!!!!!!

Hope everyone had a great Turkey Day. Andy says the food tastes "Weird " on our fancy plates. We are definitly more a paper plate bunch. We are Thankful for all the great progress Will has made this past year. We also celebrate our youngest's birthday this Sunday. Happy Birthday, Andy!

Happy Gotcha Day Will!

I know most people aren't familar with "Gotcha Day", but if you've adopted you have probably heard of it. It's the anniversary date a child enters their new family. One year ago today a young man stepped off a plane and into the arms of his forever family. A lot of things have changed and we get the occasional surprise still, but Will is firmly attached to his family, as we are to him!

A Shanghai visitor

This weekend Will, Keith and the boys traveled to Grand Rapids for a dinner hosted by our adoption agency. The guests were orphanage directors from all across China, Shanghai being one of them. Will got enjoy some yummy noodles (not the crummy ones his Mom makes!) and hook up with some other kids from the same orphanage. As usual he was very shy. It always takes me by surprise because at home he's not shy at home at all. I guess it's a sign he's adjusting to us.

The director is the lady in the scarf, the other lady in the picture was our liaison in China. She took good care of Keith and Will while in China. Making sure they got from point A to point B and signed everything on the dotted line. Will has been home almost a year now. Sweet Gotcha Day is a-coming. More on that at our next post!

Legos

I know it's been forever since I last wrote, but better late than never!

This is a story about Legos, lost children, and the vulgarities of life.

First the Legos. Will loves Legos and builds some pretty complex figures from them. When I bought him a small package today, never did I dream it would take us on a journey halfway around the world and a past I can't imagine.

Oh, it all started innocently enough, Will building his project. Me complementing him on it. He asked if I had Legos when I was little and I told him no they didn't have Legos then, I just played with rocks and sticks (they didn't have fire yet either, LOL!). He told me he had lots of Legos, which surprised me because he said they had no toys at the orphanage. So I asked him about that and he replied this was before the orphanage.

Mind you, he was about 4 years old when he was found on a bench, so memories are probably still there. He said he had a Mama, but no father, no sisters or brothers. He fell asleep on the bench and "Mama run away. I hungry, someone find me. I go in van to place (he didn't know the word orphanage) with many kids." Maybe the saddest part is the resignation the story is told with. Not much feeling involved, just another child abandoned. He must have heard this same story told how many times by other children in the same situation. In China this is the norm. Children left without hope for a future, a society without conscious.

So I don't think I'll ever look at a Lego again without a touch of melancholy and vision of a land far away. A vision of a Mother giving away the toys of a son no longer hers.

Summer Camp 2011

My two youngest boys, Will and Andy, went to Bair Lake Bible Camp. This is Andy's 3rd year and of course Will's first. This camp is Andy's favorite. I like it too because they always accommodate Andy's special needs completely. It's hard to tell how Will liked it. He would tell me every evening he didn't, but later something would set him off and he'd be very animated, telling me about some activity or another.

Picture wise, Will is in the middle of the group camp photo, Andy is in front. The lady with the boys is Miss Lynne, she's been greeting parents and campers for the 6 years we've had kiddos going (Jon and Caitlyn used to go too!). Andy is with their councilor Zach. And I actually got Will to pose with a craft critter they made the second day of camp. Well, that's about it for now. Over and Out!!!!

You've come a long way Baby!!!!!!!

August 3rd is Caitlyn's Gotcha Day~what an incredible trip it's been! Shortly after her 2nd birthday she arrived. Anyone who met her that day remembers it very well. I know I was shocked at the condition she was in. Where was the smiling baby in our photos? Caitlyn's story is a little complicated but one I think worth sharing.

Shortly after our first adoption, we were excited to adopt again. We knew we were meant to adopt another special needs child and talking to our social worker, we had three children we were considering. One boy from Hong Kong that Keith felt strongly about, another boy from Korea I felt strongly about and 1 little girl~sort of "odd man out', if you will.

I had a whole list of follow up questions on the two boys, and had properly drilled our poor social worker about them. We were saying our good-byes, when I did stop to ask about a note on the little girl's notes. It said they were thinking of sending her to Ilsan. I thought it might be an orphanage as she was then in foster care. The social worker said, no it was an institution. Well that was the end of that! Those 2 boys were no longer at the top of the list, it was little Yo Na we wanted. I remember clearly the first thought going through my mind was ,"That's stupid!", which I know isn't very nice but that's what I thought.

We still needed to share her medical info. with a doctor specialising in adoption medical reviews and I had a friend who was a P.T. watch her video tape. Yo Na's diagnosis was mild C.P. The P.T. said she'd be a walker and sure enough a couple weeks later we heard she was indeed taking steps.

So here's the kicker; after talking to the P.T. and doctor, I made the call to the agency,we definitely wanted her. The social worker told me they had been praying for little Yo Na that very day, because when she arrived to work a fax from Korea was waiting. The doctor had signed the papers to have her committed. We managed to stop the process in time and completed probably the world's fastest international adoption. She arrived only 5 months from the time we started the process!

Yo Na (Caitlyn) hasn't been an easy child but when I see these pictures it reminds me of God's Love and his command to us to care for widowed and orphans in this world. When I tell this story people often say Caitlyn is lucky, but I know what happened was a true miracle. I know only God's Hand can reach down and provide an orphan a forever family the very same day a doctor signs a paper to have her committed. It's Caitlyn's Blessing and she is our Blessing. Praise God in all things!

Please note, the dear lady in the pictures with Caitlyn is our wonderful social worker Jan R.