Better Late Than Never!

Oh my goodness!!!!!  It has been several months since I updated anything on our lives, Eli or rapidly moving 2nd adoption!  So much has been going on and the adoption process the second time around is a lot different when you have a 3 year old running around.  Literally. Running. Around.  We have been focused on family time, adoption paperwork and more importantly helping Eli with some of the challenges he is experiencing due to the trauma he experienced as an orphan. I hate typing those words by the way, but it's a fact we need to acknowledge and embrace and know it's not a label but something to work through and overcome!  This post will nothing less than an update over the past couple months and then I will give a more detailed update on our adoption status soon!

In April, we blinked and Eli turned 3. I just could not believe my little peanut of a man was no longer a baby, but a big boy. He went from being failure to thrive when we brought him home to being 97th percentile in hieght and 75th percentile for weight.  WOW!!  Praise Jesus , He restores and knits us back to normal!!!  AJ and I took him to his annual zoo visit on his actual birthday.  He had a blast!  We had a Llama Llama Red Pajama Party with just a few friends and family.  Last year we hada huge welcome home/first birthday home with us and had 70 people there!  NOT THIS YEAR, I was too exhausted, I wanted a simple party!  He had a blast with his friends!  Easter was also celebrated a few weeks before his 3rd birthday and we actually had winter coats on for the town Easter Egg hunt!

In May we held a fundraiser for adoption with all the hard work being done by my brother and his fiance!  They ran a superhero half mararthon and had people donate toward the race. They also ran this race 1 day after getting engaged!!!! We were so blessed by those who donated and by family who was willing to get dressed up and run in icky, hot, humid NJ weather!  We also celebrated AJ's, my brother's and my mother's birthday in may, as well as Mother's day!  It's such busy month. We started OT for Eli as well and will update more on that later.  We also visited Nana and Nono in Rochester over Memorial Day weekend and had a blast!

June brought SUMMER!!!!  I was never a huge fan of summer (more of a fall/winter gal) until I had a very active child!  We are now excited for summer! We re-adopted Eli to ensure that when he applies for college, his lisence and such all his documents will be USA issued.  It will make his life easier in the long run! We joined our pool, celebrated Father's day and signed Eli up at our church's preschool for September.  We have been visiting his class every week to get him used to seeing the place, feeling safe there and associating it with positive experiences.  My dear boy LOVES his mama and is working VERY VERY VERY hard on feeling safe and secure without her around everywhere he goes (NOT AN EASY FEAT but we are getting there!). He has become such a boisterous, joyful, more confident boy compared to last year!

July brought the 4th (one of my favorite holidays) and our first family vacations with our best friends from college.  They have a daughter 6 months older than Eli and a little guy who will most likely be the same age as our next little one!  God's planning is so perfect!  We ended up going to an amazing little beach in Long Island  for a long weekend and had a great time!!!!  Another awesome tradition was started!  Eli did amazing too, which brought me to tears on numerous occasions! Eli and I were treated by Mim for our annual Thomas the Tank train ride and he had a blast!

So here we are now toward the end of July already and heading into August.  I can't believe it, this year is flying by and I can't believe the blessings the Lord has bestowed on our family.  We see so much progress in Eli in his ability to overcome fear, interact with other children without feeling like he'll be replaced and separating from me when it has been impossible before! to God be Glory, He binds up our wounds and restores life to us!  

Our current adoption is going much faster than the last one and it just seems so much easier this time around in terms of paperwork.  I am a bit frustrated right now with government agencies (who's not!?) and how slow they are moving, but I have to just let the Lord lead.  If there's anything I learned from the last time, is that God has THE PERFECT timing for us and to not try to hurry up anything.  We waited almost a month on New Jersey to approve ONE PIECE OF PAPER, yes, 1 piece of paper before we could send all our paperwork to the Chinese Consulate in NYC.  So our paperwork went out to the Consulate last Wednesday and is supposed to be back to our agency today, but has not yet left the consulate.  We were hoping to be Dossier To China tomorrow, but now we won't be and will have to wait until next Friday.  I am a little sad, but I know there is a reason and we trust the Lord for His perfect will!  So by next week we will be sending our paperwork to China, have our paperwork logged in by their government and then  be matched (hopefully very quickly).  We are thinking that we just might be back in China around the same time we were there when we went to get Eli!  I just pray we will be back before Christmas Day, but if it's that way again I'll take it in a heartbeat!

So that's where we are at and what we have been up to in a very short and condensed version!  We are still fundraising and would appreciate ANY help!  Adoption costs are astronomical and it doesn't stop once they are home.  All these kiddos need specialized medical intervention, as well as, other developmental therapies.  So we ask, if you can, help, we would appreciate and are humbled by your willingness to do so!  You can click on the Paypal Donate Button on the upper right hand side of this blog or you can mail us your donation!  WE love you all so much and we appreciate your prayers the most!!! 

God is Good and We are BLESSED!!!!

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

Psalm 107:1