Celebration Cards

G enjoyed the cards!

 

He cuddled in my lap.  Each card was opened & examined & listened to & commented on & enjoyed.

 

It was a great way for helping him to feel celebrated.  Thank you to everyone who sent a note!

Most

Like any mom, I celebrate the wonderful uniqueness of G’s personality.  And I work to help him grow in all types of health.  I remind myself that, although it feels like G has always been with us, he spent the first 3 ½ years of his life in Haiti.  Most of his life was spent there.

 

Until now.

 

This weekend we’ll be celebrating the turning point.  Half of G’s life has now been spent home with our family.  From this point on, we can claim that most of his life has been with us!

 

Many of our favorite people live out of state so we won’t be having a big party, but I am inviting friends to mail a card to G.  The plan is for us to open cards and lavish G with celebration of him being home most.  And forever.  I think he’ll like it.

 

As for me, I lovelovelove to be passing this turning point.

 

My son is home.

 

Thank you, Lord.

Mother's Day

Had a nice day with my handsome sons

A Healthy Weekend

We've finally replaced sickness with FUN.  Hooray!

Time with friends

Time with family

I even made a big Easter Dinner.  Ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, corn, and cranberry.

Took me all of 15 minutes.  It takes long than you might think to open all of those containers and get everything in & out of the microwave.

It's good to be back.

Sweetness Award 2012

Many of our days include distinct highs and lows.

Let's focus on a high, shall we?

The other day I was blow drying my hair.

And blow drying.

And blow drying.

Mercy - it takes forever!

Finally I turned off the hair dryer and moved to brush my teeth.

Ever present, G asked, "You done dat job, Mama?"

"Not really, G.  My hair is still a little wet, but I'm out of time.  That will have to be good enough."

"What about I can blow on it?"

... and he did... puffing up his little cheeks and gently blowing on the ends of my hair.

Two Years

(And - yes - I know the cake says 2 year_.  That was after I made the bakery re-do it for misspelling G's name.  His name where I walked them slowly multiple times through the whole "G like Goat" etc.  And where they spelled his name with a J.  You know - "J like Joat.")
Happy 2 Year, J!

Christmas Day Highlights

So what was in all those packages?

Well, there was lotion!

Joseph.  Yours is not lotion; it's soap.

One of the most exciting presents came from Mr. Jim (and Mrs. Pat)!

Didn't matter what was inside.  It was from Mr. Jim!

But the inside racetrack was great fun.

A toolbox.  Can you feel the joy?

Joseph had picked out some shoes for me to give him.  He was all sarcastic-y surprised to open the box. 

...and find that I'd wrapped something else in it.  Surprise.

Some books that were re-gifted from Joseph's youth

... still captivating. 

In fact, G sat happily and played with each gift he opened.  It makes me wonder about exchanging the "Christmas morning flood" next year for some kind of "Advent (Hanukah?) one-gift-each-night celebration."  Has anyone done that?  Thoughts?

After gifting, we were off.  My family was all out of state, but we got to celebrate with Joseph's relatives.  So fun!

And it involved G wearing a tie... You know he was thrilled to look so handsome.

And then the day was over.  A blur.  A fun blur.

Hope you had a fun blur too.

Merry Christmas

More Vacation FUN

Flying & swimming were great fun, but seeing the cousins was GREAT FUN.

Dancing with Avery

Kicking with Mallory

Slowing Emily down every chance he got

Everyone who has asked G about his vacation has been treated to his stories about "my Emily."

And, of course, Joseph got into the act - everything from beading to drawing.

Good times.

One moment on a Saturday afternoon

I've heard there are 500,000 orphans in Haiti.

Today I watch my beautiful son eating a snack.

He drops a slice of orange.  "Das ok Mom."

He picks up another slice.  "My hands is juicy Mom."

And I think... If I hadn't adopted him, there would be one more little boy alone in Haiti this afternoon.

Lost in a crowd of children.
No narrated afternoon snack. 
Without a mama who adores him.

Just one more.
Compared to 500,000, that's hardly significant.

But it's huge for him.

And huge for me.

If I hadn't adopted him, there would be one more woman just wasting away a Saturday afternoon.  No narrated afternoon snack.

I watch my son and am aware of how blessed we both are.

An interesting result of our family weekend

Apparently, G was paying attention last weekend.


His cousins have a dad.


My sister & I have a dad.


This led to some interesting conversations this week for Mr. Jim, including:

"You my daddy?"

and

"You my daddy."

Mr. Jim has felt a bit uncomfortable.


I like the conversations.  Love seeing how G's mind works - observing what's around him and trying to apply it to himself.  And - our family is unusual.  When G brings it up, we have good conversations about what our family does look like.

"Our family does not have a daddy.
Our family has a mama and a brother and a brother."

Good opportunities to talk about God as our Father too.

This ties in with how G has been trying to figure out who loves him. 

Enter: The Project.

We cut up a bunch of photos of our family & friends... talked about how they're related... what the families look like... how they're all different... who we love...etc.

G liked The Project.  We went back to it a few times this weekend.

Whether or not he now accepts that Mr. Jim is not his daddy - well, that remains to be seen.

Cousins!

We got to visit our family last weekend!

The cousins

 

G thought they were all pretty fun

He seemed especially drawn to Emily

He was very interested in everything about her.  Liked to watch her being fed.  Helped me change her diaper.  Played with her when she'd slow down enough.

(or when she was trapped in a box)

Good times.

One from Thanksgiving

The men took the carving very seriously.

How cool is it to see G in the mix?

Zoo

Thursday was a gorgeous gorgeous day here.  And we went to the zoo.  AND Joseph joined us.  AAAANNNDDD it was free day.  Does it get any better than that?

G was scared at different points - mostly when going through doors into exhibits.  We had lovely conversations about how Mama always keeps him safe. 

He was totally unimpressed with amazing things like BISON GRAZING JUST A FEW FEET AWAY!  That gave me flashbacks to encountering bison on the snowy Yellowstone mountain roads.  At the zoo, I was pretty sure they were behind ultra-strong metal cables but I was still a little nervous.  They're just big, ya know?     

Back to G.  He had a minor tearfilled experience as we dragged him past the carousel: "I wan dat!  I wan dat!!"  But otherwise smooth sailing.  As we passed the site of previous zoo meltdowns, I was enjoying how far we've come.

For the second zoo visit in a row, G enjoyed the camels.  Really?  Out of all the options... camels?

You'd probably like to see a photo of Joseph holding G - both of them smiling - while a polar bear swam just six inches away (behind glass).  I'd love to see a picture of that too.  I need to solve my broken camera dilemma soon!

Happy Birthday, Bapi

Nothing Better

Somehow both of my sons were in rare form tonight.  There was an extended period of ridiculousness in my house.  In advance, I will apologize.  I know that this story will not come across in type.  But in person - we all laughed for a good 20 minutes straight, so I have to try to share that with you.

And - just so you know - please do not think this is typical for my house.  We're not the Cleavers for sure.  But the first part of tonight was awesome.

G attacked Joseph with a stuffed dog.  The dog was attempting to lick Joseph, not bite him.  So perhaps we're making progress with "Project Dogs-Are-Our-Friends."

We needed a photo of G's new jacket for Grammy, but he would not stand still.  He wanted to dance in his amazing jacket.

We laughed & laughed.

Joseph picked up a soft pencil and tossed it gently at the back of G's head.  I freaked: "Joseph!"  G picked up the pencil, tossed it at his own head, and said: "Ow! Dadesh! Ow! Dadesh!"  So Joseph is laughing harder.  And I'm trying to convey that this is not an acceptable example to be setting (while stifling my own laughter).

So Joseph had to "think it over" in time out.

He was very serious while I talked to him about "making good choices."  I'm sure G believed that those were coughs, not laughs.

Nothing fancy, but one of the best times ever.

More Fends

One nice thing about this weekend was seeing some of our favorite girls.


Happy Birthday, Sweet Meredith!

We'd just seen baby Emily a few weeks ago, but she's grown!

The weather was nice enough for a wagon ride.

And sliding with Aunt Kirsti:

Comparison time.  Six months ago vs. Yesterday.  I think he's gaining on her!

Birthday

We've been celebrating G's 4th.

For G's last birthdays, Joseph & I have "celebrated" like this:

How grateful we were this year to have G home!

First, we celebrated when our fends were visiting.  The kids knew it was a party because there were balloons and Caribbean music and dancing with ribbons.  4 is so easy to please.

And then Grammy & Bapi came over for another party.  Pin the Tail on the Donkey.  Hello P.A.R.T.Y!

Plus cake & ice cream, of course.

Eaten with his hands?  Because I'm good at teaching etiquette like that. 

When you've waited as long as we have, silverware is optional.  Party on.

Movie Night

Last week we had a less-than-stellar week here.  On Friday night I was ready to engage Joseph in a major Teen vs. Mom explosion. 

Instead, I took the boys out for pizza.  Then ice cream.  And then we watched a movie.  Joseph & I both love "The Emperor's New Groove."  It was our first time watching tv with G.  He really liked the opening credit music/dancing.

The night turned out so much better than the brawl would have.  Thank goodness.

Celebrating the Boys

Little by little we're stealing moments to celebrate Joseph's 18 years.

Friday after band camp we gifted him.



Comforter & sheets for college.  Not too exciting when college is still a year away.  But exciting if you realize that he wouldn't otherwise get new sheets for college.

Saturday was dinner in Chinatown with his dad's family.  No one there was very concerned about photos.  Which may explain why all I have is these...

No evidence that the birthday boy was there.  You'll have to trust me.

And then celebrating G....  Can you believe that I can take him out to a long restaurant meal now?  At church now we make it through all of the opening songs before I have to take him out.  He's developing the ability to sit!

Don't ask me why sitting is a problem.  I imagine him at the orphanage for 3+ years doing nothing by lying & sitting.  Yet when he came home, he could/would not sit still for anything.  Maybe it's the "quiet" part that was tripping him up.  Maybe it's just that he knew what fun alternatives to sitting we have.  For whatever reason, it was an issue.  Only it's becoming less of one all the time.  Love it!