Ok finally an update and a prayer request

Well where to even begin!



The plane ride home was HELL!  I have never heard another adoptive family own up to it so I am regardless.  Perhaps I should not scare those of you who have not returned but...It was GOD awful!

17 hours on a plane with really bad food, over booked bassinets, and three small seats.  It was really challenging but my attitude was good on the plane.  I was soooo thankful (and still am) but man that plane ride is not something I will do again anytime soon.  :-)

We have been home for just two weeks and it feels like Joshua has been here forever....amazing.  We are still adjusting...do not get me wrong.  It has been wonderful.  I am not working and am at home with the girls and Joshua.  He has learned to like the car seat and the stroller.  He no longer sits in them all rigid, wondering what the scary contraption is now.  He has truly attached beautifully (as far as I can tell).  I am far from an expert.  The girls adore him.  He is beginning to sleep thru the night.  He cannot sleep in the co-sleeper anymore as he is crawling and climbing on everything.

Now for the busy and scary parts.  We have been to the doctor twice already.  There was quite the scare that we were looking at Hepatitis B or C.  Turns out to be A which is the least of the enemies.  We took him to have blood work done not once but twice!  It was awful and I cried more than he did if that is possible.  They got a few drops out of his heel.  Oh goody we get to do that again in June!  He has something odd going on with his liver enzymes.  After reading the Toukoul Yahoo Group, I realized that he is not the only one and they stabilize after 6 or so months.  His ears are healing and no longer infected the Zithromax that we brought with worked great!  Now we pray that the eardrums heal from the perforations.  He has something going on with his right calf.  It is severely scarred and has a depression of some sort in it.  After x-rays....it was determined that nothing was ever broken and all appears to be superficial.  We are enjoying and are sooo thankful for our healthy and happy little boy!

I have contacted Early Intervention for a full evaluation.  My pediatrician suggested it, but he was behind me as I already had that ball rolling.  I am so thankful for a dear friend, Michele, has set me up with a team of amazing professionals that are evaluating Joshua's medical, developmental, speech and language, oral motor, fine motor, gross motor and hearing.  It is honestly hard to hear what is going well and not so well with your kiddo.. UGH!  Thankfully I have a friend in Michele who will literally hold my hand and butter me up with Subway before she evaluates him.  Love that woman!  The results will be in at a big old meeting the first week of June.  We will know more then.

In the meantime, we are feeling very blessed.  We have amazing friends in the community and in our church that have been delivering meals to us since we arrived home.  Can I cook...sure.  But by 5pm, I am done.  I cannot believe what a blessing these meals have been to our family.  The next time I am asked to provide one, I will not look at it the same way.  Many errands have been run on our behalf by the busy moms in the area.  Shannon has been a huge crutch for me driving Sarah here, there, and everywhere.  I am getting back in the saddle one day at a time.  Everyday I realize how truly blessed we are to be in such a wonderful community with amazing friends and family.

I am hoping to have a blog update this weekend with lots of new pics.  I am in the middle of wrapping up the year with the Girl Scouts, ending on May 31, phew!  Len is wrapping up school as our the girls are wrapping up their dance seasons and gymnastics seasons.  It is a busy time of year...but we are happy.  So happy to be complete and so happy to be able to enjoy our precious gift.  When people ask...are you really as happy as you seem...the answer...YES!

On that note....

A few good friends that I have made thru the adoption process are struggling.  While many of us celebrate having our children home, they sit and stare at the phone and email waiting for some kind of good news.  Please pray for their children who are waiting on the other side of the world.  Pray for their paperwork that seems to be one mountain after another, and please, pray for their hearts.  They must be so heavy.  I was just about numb and so done with the process when we were given the email that changed our lives.  I hurt remembering those days.  Please pray for Emelie and Amos and their precious Kepler.  Please also pray for Soko and Kerry and their beautiful children.  Lets pray these families complete!

Until I get a boatload of pics sorted through....ciao!

Michelle

On our way home….to our cocoon

First, a bushel of thanks for our friends and family who have walked with us throughout this whole roller coaster ride and prayed, cried, and celebrated with us. You are all so special and we love you!

We know that you're all so excited to meet Joshua Rebira and we are excited for that too. For the first few days home, we are not open to visitors other than immediate family and those delivering those highly welcomed meals. We need some time to recover from jet lag and to let our little one feel a little more comfy before we add new people into it. Trust me the four of us are enough to make the kiddo feel overwhelmed!

Once the first few days have passed, we respectfully ask that you would call or email us before dropping by. We are just thrilled to introduce you to our blessed gift from above!

When you all do get to meet out little man please be aware that we are "cocooning" which is adoption speak for” controlling his environment and working on attachment and bonding.” Please remember that he came from a place he knows as home. Toukoul Orphanage is very different from our world..his new forever home. I know that this is so hard to read because you're aching to get your hands on him but we really feel this is what's best for him. Please do talk to him, play with him while he's on the floor, are great ways to engage him. We will be taking care of all of the holding and childcare needs at this time. This will slowly evolve as Joshua comes to know us as mom and dad.

Joshua Rebira will be slowly be eased into public environments. We can’t wait to bring him to St. Paul United Church of Christ, Hannah’s softball games and of course MEGA (Sarah’s second home), but will start slow with that over the next couple weeks. All of this is in the best interest of our son, which we know you all understand because you want the best for him too. He has been through so much loss and difficulty in his first year. Everything he knows is gone and we are trying to help him adjust to a new and sometimes scary world. We are hoping to build the foundation that he missed out on at the start of his life. All this hard work and different approach to parenting will pay off though and soon enough he’ll be out and about just like any other little boy his age! Watch out world!

Thank you for understanding and for loving us, our son and our family so much – we can’t wait to see you all and slowly get back in the swing of things! We are really thankful for those of you that are supporting us thru the Helping Hands calendar. If you need more information on that, please contact Shannon at tim_shan@hotmail.com. There will be a Welcome Home Joshua Open House towards the end of June at St. Paul UCC in Palatine. We hope to see you there.

With much love and thankfulness to all of you,

Michelle and Len