"Home" for one year now :-)

We've passed the one year mark since Joshua first came "home".... on 12/19/09. And in that one year:

He has grown 3 full inches
He has gained 1.5 pounds
He has learned to print his name!
He can count to 10
He has gone from scribbling to coloring in the lines
He is adoring school (part-time K)
He seems securely attached to mom and dad
His English vocabulary has exploded
He is healthy and happy and loving life
He adores Sunday School and weekly church
He has added LOTS of life and laughter to our home :-).

We often are amazed that out of some 140 million orphans in the world, God chose our family for this "one". We wonder what his future will bring.... :-).

Happy Adoption Day, December 8

Today I finally update about Joshua's Adoption 1 year ago on December 8th in China (when he was legally declared our forever son in both countries).... and it's our oldest child's Adoption Day TODAY! Happy Adoption Day, Ryan!!!! :-) Nineteen years ago, we finalized your adoption... our first child. Wow.

December is a crazy busy time for most families, and ours is no exception. Between schools (3 kids in 3 schools this year), doctor and therapy appts, running a small farm, Phil's intensive harvest and planting season finally wrapped up for 2010, and Christmas coming.... it's hard to stop and take a deep breath! And yet we did on December 8th :-) as we celebrated Joshua with a Chinese meal, party cupcakes with a "1" candle, and a toy gift.

One year ago. Wow. After 14 long months of working towards Joshua's adoption, and wondering if it would EVER happen, we met Joshua for the very first time on 12/7 in Guangzhou, China. We were total strangers to each other, and yet we knew each other. We already loved the small boy we had prayed over for so very long. And he recognized US as the people in his photo book! He was telling perfect strangers in China "This is my new mama and baba and they're taking me to live in a foreign country!!". :-) Precocious, vocal, stubborn, opinionated, what were we getting into! ;-D We hadn't even known if he was verbal or not until we met him!!

China has one meet the child one day, and then sign all of the adoption paperwork the very next day in front of a Chinese Notary. He asks each parent "Are you happy with your choice?" My heart broke for those (hopefully extremely few!) whose potential adoptive parents have said no and returned the child! Phil and I both said "Yes, we are very happy" and I leaned over and kissed Joshua on his birthmark in case there was any doubt in the translation. :-) With a tear in his eye, the Notary mumbled "thank you for doing this" and signed the papers.

The Chinese love and adore children. Joshua was treated very well by many of the locals, and he chattered away with many of them. He was shunned by some of the local professionals we encountered, at which point he'd freeze and stare at the ground and refuse to move or look up until such person left the area. :-( Why is it that a people that seems to adore ALL of the kids, still refuse (for the most part) to parent special needs children, those with ANY blemish, or throw a label of "bad luck" on them?? I don't understand the culture enough to answer that. I do know that many that were happy Josh was going to the US were under the false assumption that we were going to "remove" all of his birthmarks, and give him a fresh start in life. Um no...that is not physically possible, currently. We love and adore our very colorful son just as God made him!! :-) I know that even in the US, there are too many people who fail to look beyond a person's surface looks, and see the REAL person inside. I thank God often that Phil and I HAVE that ability... and I pray it develops even more within me.

God looks at each of us, and doesn't see a "perfect" outer body, NOR a "perfect" inner soul. If HE can still love and adore us despite our many, many imperfections and sins... how can we not strive to learn to do the same for others?

THANK YOU Ryan, Toshia, Robert and Joshua... for the many life lessons you have been teaching us. :-) We love and adore all of you... even if we don't always show it like we should...

First Thanksgiving

It hadn't really occurred to me until just now that Joshua just celebrated his FIRST American Thanksgiving! We didn't celebrate at Auntie Mona's house as we had first planned :-(. The severe cold artic air combined with lots of snow and wind changed our plans. Instead, we celebrated with friends and family at a big church meal at 1:30pm. And then we celebrated at home with the 6 of us and 2 friends.

You know what we were thankful for :-). Soooo many things including a new son!

Joshua has now been home 11 months and has grown 3 FULL INCHES in height!! But he has only gained 1#, LOL... it's getting harder all the time keeping those jeans up :-). He has gone from scribbling when coloring to doing beautiful inside-the-lines coloring. His use of a scissors and glue is improving, as is his vocabulary. Letter recognition seems slow... but he now has J-O-S from his name.

Joshua's #1 request for a Christmas gift this year? A toy kitchen! The kid LOVES to eat!!

Joshua's oldest brother, Ryan, moved into an apartment with friends 4 weeks ago... "CHANGE" is the one constant in our family and in life! Joshua sure misses seeing him daily... as do we all! But we are also thankful Ryan has this opportunity to grow. :-)

Starting Kindergarten at Long Last!

Joshua has GREATLY been looking forward to attending "big" school! Two weeks ago when I had him help me pack his school supplies into his brand new backpack, he said "Thank You, Mommy, Thank You!". :-) Then he said it dozens MORE times for the following 3 hours! Why?

We recently learned that orphans are considered bad luck in many of the schools in China. Children with facial disfigurements are also considered bad luck. :-( Parents there don't really want their child sitting next to a bad luck child in school! Somehow Joshua seems to know that?

I had toyed with the idea of homeschooling him this first year, both to keep working on attachment, and to get to know his learning style better. But nooo.... this is a child who wants too much to be able to attend a real school! ;-D How humbled we are that WE have the opportunity to do this small thing for him.

Joshua did successfully have minor surgery on 8/26. And outside of 2 scrapes that tried to go into skin breakdown in his Port Wine Stain area, he has been VERY healthy the 8 months he has been in the US so far :-). We're waiting to hear on a second opinion on his Port Wine Stain complications later this month, but are VERY thankful that he is doing so very well right now :-). He is delayed in fine and gross motor skills, but then most orphanage kids seem to be.

And so hubby and I wind down for a much needed 3 day weekend after a longggg 5 days of getting 2-3 kids up and off to school on time, and 1 up and off to work a couple of those days. This year, we have a child graduated from HS 3 months ago, one just starting HS, one in 5th grade, and Joshua in K. We're never bored here! ;-D

Six months already!

We brought Joshua home just six months ago. Wow. The time has flown! He has grown 1.5 inches in height, but still weighs the same... he's a VERY active young man. He speaks lots of English now, and still asks for more words and names of things. He keeps us laughing lots with his sense of humor and mischief too!

We just got back from a second trip to Seattle Children's to have him seen by the other specialists he has been referred to. Lo and behold, although several thought Joshua had Sturge-Weber Syndrome, he does NOT at this point in time. Alleluia!! Yes he has many vascular malformations inside the skull, in the neck, and down one arm and hand, but there's no evidence any have penetrated into the brain, and that's very, VERY good news :-).

We have to wait until the full team meets in Seattle to help us come up with a plan for Joshua.

As we neared the end of our appointments in Seattle, Joshua started begging "I want to go HOME, Mommy, please Mommy?" :-). He was quite excited to see our home as we pulled into the driveway! And that's wonderful to see in him.... that he does feel like this is "home".

Hard News? God has answers/support

Last week, after being told repeatedly that noone can understand Joshua's Chinese, Cantonese or English (he can understand!), we had his speech evaluated. He scored moderately severe :-(. BUT his prognosis is great. :-) And so he had his very first Speech appt today with Robert's old ST! She said Joshua is not only quite imitative, but she thinks he's extremely bright! When she tried to get him to say "port" and showed him a boat going into a port, he pointed to his cheek with the Port Wine Stain and said "port". Hmmm... he's been listening in on our conversations!

I sure pray his future is as bright as his promise is now :-).

Because... this kiddo does not just have "mild" Sturge-Weber like I was hoping and expecting :-(. The doc has yet to finish his report rating it and sending all the info to us in "English" but the radiologist noted quite a few abnormalities in the brain and neck. One of the freakiest to me at the moment is that Joshua has no left jugular vein?! God is His Perfect Timing connected me with a Sturge-Weber support group and delayed our receiving this MRI report til today. Guess what the group has been talking about the last 2 days?? Yep... missing jugular veins. Wow.

Was the adoption expensive?

Since we hope to promote adoptions of other special needs kiddos from the US or abroad, I sure don't mind talking costs or logistics. Paperwork-wise, this one adoption had a LOT more paperwork and hurdles involved than all 3 of our domestic adoptions combined! But between our state agency, Lutheran SS, and wonderful guidance of our international agency, Holt, and the prayers and encouragement of many, we completed the course and brought this special one home :-).

The adoption process isn't totally over until the 1 yr post adoption reports are done and turned in. But hopefully most of the expenses (and paperwork!) are in. This adoption cost over $30,000 since we had the extra expense of having to go backwards and clear our 18 yr old child at one point. That figure does not include taking our 18 yr old on our trip to China with us.

But between a Holt grant, wonderful donations (THANK YOU!!), and a future expected adoption tax credit, our remaining cost will be under $5000. And then between a fundraiser we held here, the selling of a couple of items, lots of skimping by the family, and an extra productive market garden summer of 2009, God provided ALL we needed to bring this young man into a family of his own :-), plus enough to let Ryan travel to.

Was it worth it? It was to Joshua GuanYan :-). THANKS again to all who participated in bringing Joshua "home" whether by prayer or donation of time or money. God used a lot of people to open the door for this little one... and we can't wait to see what God's Plan for his life is :-), and how the ripples will spread from here.