Brodie's First Halloween

It didn't take long for Brodie to figure out that he likes Halloween and Fall Festivals. The sisters had to show him how to trick or treat, but after the first door, he was off to the races. He went to the next door, knocked and yelled "Trick or Treat, Thank You." He got his candy and we couldn't keep up with him as he went to the next door. He was Batman which is interesting considering last week, he didn't even know who Batman was. I watched some Batman cartoons with him and then bought an action figure at Target and before long, he was sold on the costume. We had a great time this year. With Halloween being on a Sunday, we were able to trick or treat in Hueytown Saturday night. We rarely get to do that, but with our church functions on Sunday night, we took advantage of a Saturday night candy spree. Tonight was simply amazing at Valley Creek. Our fall festival was a great success and the kids had a blast. Brodie's English continues to improve. Instead of saying "Thank You" he now says, "Thank you so much." He has begun calling me "Daddy" instead of "Baba." He has begun making sentences as well and he is reading words in school and doing great. We have set his surgery for November 11th at Children's. He will have a number of minor things done that day, but it will be a long recovery with some pains to overcome. We are also so proud of Andie. She was selected as one of the Superintendent's fifth grade scholars. We will attend a special ceremony this week in recognition for her achievement. It is hard to believe that November is already here. Brodie has been home with us for over 3 months now and he continues to make amazing progress. He has not had a bad report from school in several weeks. All greens on his daily report. Thank you for your prayers and support. Don't forget that this Sunday is Orphan Sunday. We will celebrate the day at Valley Creek in both of our morning services. Lorrie and I will share our testimonies and I will preach from James 1:27.

It is all about the color...

Brodie and the other k-5 kids are on a color system for behavior. Green means that you had a good day, yellow means that you did some things that were not very nice, and red means that you were a total terror. In Brodie's folder is a calendar and every day has a dot. That dot is filled in by his teacher every afternoon with one of these three colors. Lorrie and I find ourselves anticipating opening that folder every day to see what color he got for the day. When his dot is green, he runs out to our car in the carpool line and just goes crazy showing us his good behavior. He is so proud of himself for that. However, when the color is yellow he slowly walks up with a look of disgust on his face. We are two days in a row now with yellow dots. In the past two weeks he has hit, kicked, spit, pinched and bit another child in class. The bright side for us is that he seemingly has run the list and we cannot imagine what else he can do. We figure tomorrow he will push someone or pull their hair. Yesterday, he got in trouble for singing in the hallway. However, he was singing Jesus Loves Me. That made us feel a little better. He has lost privileges and has had to sit out of play time. It is so frustrating because he knows better. He understands what he has done and that it is not good. Yet, he chooses to keep making bad decisions. Lorrie and I are at our wits end. Tonight at church, he scratched another kid. Our son may be a bully, we don't know. One thing is for sure, he will learn right from wrong if we have to do this for an entire year, he will learn. He continues to do well with his language. He is actually reading several words now. He is struggling with his colors and his shapes. We are also finding that having a 7th grader is not easy. As I write, it is 10:11PM and Maggie is still doing homework. It has been a tough week around here!! Good news with our new room addition. Some wonderful guys have been helping us build a new room and we start sheetrocking on Saturday. It is framed, insulated, and ready for rock on the walls.
Lorrie and I are finding less time to do the things we want these days. Our days are totally filled with church, schoolwork, household chores, children's activities, and working on the new room. It seems like we are constantly cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and homework. So it really is about the color these days for us. What will Brodie bring home tomorrow. Who will his latest victim be and what will be the weapon of choice. It is like a game of clue.

Life is Wonderful...and weary

It has been a while since we have posted. Our brand new camera is broken and we can't post any pictures right now. Add that to my list of things to do this week. Brodie is up to a little over 100 English words now. Tonight, he actually read in English. It was only five words, but it is a start. He has successfully overcome his first bout with strep throat last week. He starts school and that afternoon we are at the doctor getting a big ole' shot in the leg. That didn't go well as you can imagine. He began his second week of K5 at McAdory today. Overall, things are going well. He has his moments, but that is to be expected. Lorrie is taking him to school and staying with him for a while in the morning. She started by taking him to school for two hours. He is now staying all day and Lorrie left him today for 3 hours without a call from the teacher. We think he is getting the hang of it. Language is obviously still a huge obstacle to him being totally comfortable at school. He really hasn't made any friends in his class, because the kids don't know how to communicate with him. I know that school is a lonely place for him. He is surrounded by hundreds of kids, but he lives in the shell of being incapable to generate friendships due to a lack of communication. We feel sorry for him, but in due time he will make friends. Today, we got a note home from his teacher. She said that he would not sit still during story time and he kept putting his feet on the other kids in front of him. He is still having major problems distinguishing his colors. He just can't seem to remember his blues from his reds and greens. He loves to jump on the trampoline. Today we jumped together and sang, "Jesus loves Me." We substitute his name in the chorus and we sing, "Yes, Jesus loves Brodie, Yes, Jesus loves Brodie, Yes, Jesus loves Brodie, for the Bible tells me so." He loves that song, I pray that one day he will understand the astounding meaning of those lyrics. Lorrie starts back to work next week and we are so bummed out about that. It has been so nice having her at home. Tonight, we are simply exhausted. Maggie and Andie have cheer leading from 4:00-5:00. Averie has gymnastics from 5:30-7:00 and we still had to get home, get everyone baths, cook supper and homework for four. By the time we get pajamas on, teeth brushed and everybody ready for bed, it is getting late. Lorrie and I just collapse on the couch when our last child goes upstairs for bed. Four children is pretty difficult because each child has so many needs and those needs and so dramatically complex. Brodie has picked up the habit of sticking his tongue out at us when things don't go his way. He went to bed crying tonight because he got in trouble for that. We are finding life to be exciting, amusing, exhausting and challenging all at the same time.

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.

A Very Successful Day

We had a lot of anxiety about our visit to the International Adoption Clinic today. After the dentist appointment we just didn't know what to expect. Our appointment was at 10AM and we were there for 3 1/2 hours. We first sat down with a social worker/family therapist who specializes in internationally adopted children. She asked us several questions and just observed Brodie's interaction with us. The feedback we got back from her was outstanding. She stated that Brodie was in the top 1% of all the children she sees in relation to his adjustment and bonding with his new family. She never recommends that newly adopted children enter school the first semester. However, Brodie is doing so well that she feels he will do fine in Kindergarten. She was simply amazed at how well we were all doing. It is all an answer to prayer, it is such a God thing. We then saw Dr. Chambers and she also asked us many questions. She did a general exam and was pleased at what she saw. We then went for an ultrasound to look at his kidneys and then it was off to the lab for six vials of blood. We had a few rough moments, but for the most part he did great. It all must be so overwhelming for his little mind. The Doctor agreed that he is most likely just about to turn six. We go back in three weeks to get the results from his blood work and ultrasound. We felt so affirmed as a result of this visit. We felt as though things were going well, but to have a professional put us in the top 1% of well adjusted and bonded families was a real confirmation. As I said, this is not due to us it is all because of Jesus Christ.
What a great afternoon we had together. We played football together, did homework, ate cookies and finished our night catching fireflies. Brodie was fascinated by these little bugs whose bottoms light up in the dusk of evening. Every day we learn to love him more and each day we learn more about our son. He is an amazing little guy. He is not an orphan, not a strange kid from another country, not an adopted boy, his is simply a 6 year old normal boy. He likes to play, run, catch, throw, play with bugs, and kiss and hug his new family. He is constantly loving on us and we are loving that. We are more optimistic about our future than ever before.