School, the new frontier.

Baba and Brodie at the Golden Flake Tour

We met with the principal, vice-principal and counselor today at McAdory Elementary. It was a great meeting and we both felt great relief at the answers they gave us. Tomorrow we are going to take him to his new classroom after school so he can get acclimated to the classroom and the teacher. Mrs. Logan will be his teacher and she is super nice. We met with her today and spoke with her about our concerns and his special needs. We are planning on starting school with him Monday morning. Lorrie will set with him for the first few days. He will only go from 8:05-10:05 for the first few weeks until he gets more comfortable. We have some anxieties about this, but our trust is in the Lord. He has brought us this far and he will continue to calm the heart of our son. Every week we stretch him a little bit more with his comfort level and so far he has done well. We know school will be no exception. Our visit to the family therapist has given us so much confidence in what he can accomplish. We both feel that his best chance to learn, grow and develop is in a classroom setting with other children his age. He is getting bored staying at home every day, plus Lorrie is going back to work in two weeks.
We continue to work on our bonding, adjustment and trust each day. One thing the therapist said that was helpful to us was how much orphan children want to be held when they first get home with their new family. These little children have gone their whole life without being held lovingly by anyone. Now that they have a family, they can't get enough time in our arms. Some people have said to us "Why do you guys hold him all the time, you are going to spoil him." We asked the therapist about this and her response was, "you need to hold him as much as he wants. It is part of the bonding and he wanting you to hold him is one of the main ways that bonding occurs. He will press his face against yours and that is a great thing. So hold him as much as you can initially, it is vital to his adjustment." So if you see us holding him, it is not a kid being spoiled, it is a little boy enjoying his forever family. BTW, what is so wrong with spoiling him with attention and love anyway. He was abandoned by his parents and has been without a family for most of his life, we think he deserves a little spoiling and attention. Continue to pray for him as adjusts to his new school and his new American friends.