Monday, September 24, 2012

we love it here and more

It is time to catch up.  

We have been in our new (actually over 100 year old) home for 2 weeks now.  We love it.  The house needed a few things, needed shelves and rods in closets so unpacking has been slower than expected.  I have kinda come to a halt with the "junk" that is remaining.  It feels overwhelming at times but I know we will settle soon.

Benjamin (the child I was most concerned about) is doing fantastic!

Aubrey had a hard first day/night with the change, surprised me completely.

Hope ended up sleeping in our room the first night but she has been in her bed every night since.  She has never slept in a room alone until now!  She had a hard time with the move the first week.

Carter loves not sharing a room with his brothers (but they do have to walk through his room to get to theirs, the downside to him).

Andrew is loving the space and freedom.  He will go into the woods for hours at a time.  

We drove past our old neighborhood and Hope started crying to "go that way, please go that way"... nearly broke my heart, so sad.  We went to our old house a week later to get some mail and Benjamin did not want to go, he likes our new place, Hope did fine that time.

Last week was our first week of school.  It all went better than expected but I am not organized yet!

We spent all day Saturday clearing out some land, we let the unpacked boxes sit.  It was therapeutic in many ways.

*The thing that I want to talk about right now is the EMPOWERED TO CONNECT  CONFERENCE.  We went last weekend, 2 full days of learning.  We left feeling like we had been drinking from a fire hydrant, we were drowning in information.  I can't even begin to tell you what we learned but what I can tell you is that every person that has adopted, who fosters or has an interest in orphans needs to attend this conference.  We went 2 years ago and realized that Andrew (yes, our bio kid) had a problem with self-regulating and when we used techniques given, it corrected the behavior.  We felt certain that Hope has been having small atypical (I think they are called) seizures, we are more certain now that she does have them although less frequent than last year.  Benjamin's stress levels are very high at times (he has a spike in cortisol) and he suffers from a tactile deficit from early in life and sensory issues.  We feel like we can better approach these issues now.  We did not go to this conference last year because we were not leaving Hope and Ben yet but we kinda wish we would have... it would have been so beneficial to all of us!  We were certainly glad we went 2 years ago because we have used many things we learned but we did not realize how much we forgot.  BUT, now we are on track, more sensory rich, more empowered.  We have a lot to still study up on, a lot.  But we are taking one step at a time here.  I would have told you that we are doing "good" here and we are, but after participating in this conference, we know now that some of Hope and Ben's behaviors are truly because they are from hard places, being in an orphanage for 1 year and almost 4 years.  Remember me writing about my frustration with Benjamin and him not knowing his colors???  Well, he was still in survival mode and therefore using the brain stem to think (instead of the whole brain) and was not capable of stuff like learning colors, doing puzzles and so forth.  So many things I wish I knew last year!!  But like I said, today is here and it is the first day of the rest of my parenting all of my kids.  So if you are interested in ADOPTION-FOSTER CARE-ORPHANS than GO, it will be well worth your time, it will be life changing!

Speaking of ADOPTION-FOSTER CARE-ORPHANS...

Did you know that NOVEMBER 4th 
     is 
ORPHAN SUNDAY?

We have been planning for our church, several of us.  We are having a luncheon, we are informing people about DCS, adoption through Bethany Christian Services, we are engaging the youth via ShowHope and THE RED BUS  TOUR and giving people a tangible way to help through Operation Christmas Child.  

Pray that the orphan crisis will be revealed and embraced all over the world that day!  Go to orphansunday.org and see how you and your church can get involved, how you can make a difference!

Defend the cause of the fatherless. Isaiah 1:17

I rarely have a post with no pictures so here you go... 
these were sent in to be a part of a publication for our promotion of Orphan Sunday...

-these handsome boys got to go to the Titians game yesterday with my parents, what a game to attend!


my beautiful girls:)


Will try and post some pictures of our house soon, and our new pets (20ish tadpoles and some salamanders)... still looking for a turtle and lizard and whatever else the woods may hold.

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