Cohen's Prom Date is Here!!!

I am so excited you would think sweet little Jenna was my own daughter! Let me explain: While Robby and I were in the paperchase phase of Cohen's adoption we met Jackie at the court house one day. She was just as frazzled as we were and I probably didn't even smile at her when we first met because we just found out that the clerk signed all of our documents incorrectly and we were going to have to redo them all and have them all notarized again. A big hassle!

But as we were waiting in the court house we started talking to Jackie and found out that we were using the same agency and both adopting from Guatemala. We swapped names and numbers and I put the post-it on my bulletin board at home with the dozen other names I had collected (seems like everyone knows someone with a child from Guatemala in our town) and didn't think much about it.

We called each other when we received those first precious pictures from our agency and it turns out that our children are only days apart. (I jokingly refer to baby Jenna as Cohen's prom date because they would be so cute stinkin' cute together!)Jackie has been such a great support for me on those days when I just needed to vent. She totally understood because she was in the same situation at the exact same time. We've oohed and aahed at baby pictures together, complained about the process on the phone, and prayed for our babies every step of the way.

Well, today baby Jenna is finally coming home! I just checked their flight status and they have arrived at their point of entry in the U.S. They have a three-hour layover and will finally be home at 11:00 tonight. When I asked Jackie if she wanted visitors at the airport she of course said for us not to worry about getting Cohen out that late. But I just can't wait! A friend of ours came to the airport and took so many pictures of that special time and I want to do the same for Jackie. So we are heading to the airport tonight and I am just ecstatic!

And on a completely different subject, I just found this cartoon on another blog I check and just couldn't resist posting it. Crack me up!

A Family for Joey

A friend of mine passed this message to me and I just had to post it in hopes that someone reading this might feel that they could be Joey's family. You can also visit Love Without Boundaries for more information.

"There is a beautiful seven year old boy in Guangdong province who is in need of his own mom and dad to love him. His medical need is that he was burned as a child, but he has not let that stop him from going to kindergarten, making lots of friends, and charming the socks off of everyone who meets him. Right in his adoption file it says that he can make a friend out of anyone in 30 minutes flat. This little boy only has a few days left before his file is due to go back to China.....unchosen. Isn't that a horrible word? Unchosen. It is hard to believe that any child would have to carry that label.

This particular little boy weighs heavy on my heart tonight for a reason I want to explain. You see....his orphanage first contacted us to see if we could help him medically with his burns. But as soon as we heard about how smart he was and how personable, we convinced the orphanage that his real hope was in being adopted. The orphanage wasn't sure. They didn't think anyone would want to adopt an older boy, and one with burns on his body. But we assured them that somewhere there was a family waiting for a little boy just like him. And so the orphanage agreed. But then the province was also unsure, and so we once again said, "we know there will be a family". Finally his file was sent up to Beijing and then on to a US adoption agency. And no family has yet been found.

I think it is important for me to interject a story here, and my apologies to my friend Lisa for not getting her permission first to tell it. I hope she will forgive me. When I was first getting started with my work in China, one of the orphanages we helped did not do many special needs adoptions. They didn't think that the kids would be chosen, and so many of the children were getting older and watching only the healthy babies leave for their new homes. They would hear the aunties say to the babies, "oh today is a lucky day....you will have a family to love you." And the preschoolers and older kids would think to themselves....'it must be wonderful to have a family pick you.'

Well, we were going to do a heart surgery for one little girl in this orphanage, and so I asked for a photo of her so that we could raise funds. This orphanage didn't have a lot of nice clothing, so for this special photograph they wanted the little girl to look nice. Another little girl in the orphanage, named Yan, who was just three years old, had been given a beautiful red coat by a volunteer, and she loved that red coat and wore it all the time. The aunties went and took off her red coat to put on the child with heart disease for her photo, and Yan burst into tears crying. The aunties scolded her and said, "Yan, you must share your red coat...don't be selfish", but Yan kept crying and crying and kept trying to climb over the gate to get out in the hallway where the photo was being taken. Finally one aunty had heard enough, and so she walked over to Yan to take her back into the room. As she got closer, she realized that Yan was NOT crying because the other little girl was wearing her coat. No, not at all. Yan was crying while saying over and over, "take MY picture...please take MY picture. I want a family....take my picture so I can have a family, too. "

You see, at the ripe old age of three, Yan had already learned that the only way a baby got a family was by having her picture taken first. And she wanted a family of her own so badly, that she was crying to her aunties to please take her photo, too.

I wanted to share this story because the reason I am so sad that Joey hasn't found a home yet doesn't have anything to do with the fact that we told his orphanage a family would be found, or that we told provincial that certainly there was a family for him. I am sad thinking about Joey because I know exactly what happened when they prepared his adoption file earlier this year. I have been in orphanages when they do the files, and each and every time the aunties try to make the kids look at cute as possible. They say things like, 'smile pretty so a family will pick you." I am sad when I think about Joey's file, because I know he had probably gotten used to the idea that there would not be a family coming for him because of his burns....and then we went and placed hope back into his heart. I am sure he knew exactly why the orphanage was taking his photos that day, and I am sure the staff told him to look as handsome and clever as possible so that a family would choose him. Tonight I am thinking about this handsome little boy who is probably wondering each day now if his photo was good enough for a family to choose him.

So far.....no one has.

If you know anyone who might be open to adding a little boy to their family, please let them know about Joey. More information about him can be found here: http://www.swa.net/children.php

I still want to believe that there is someone out there who is wanting a little boy to love and read stories to. Surely there is someone out there who would want to teach him to fish, show him how to hit a baseball, and who would let him ride on their shoulders feeling like he was the king of the world. Surely somewhere there is a family who can give Joey the unbelievable gift of knowing he is CHOSEN, so that he can finally be home where he belongs."

Mark your calendars...

for the 2nd Annual Dash for Adoption! (Can I just point out that last year's post about the race being a success was the same day that Cohen was born!) Last year Robby and I planned our first 5k race to raise money for Cohen's adoption. We wanted to hold the race at a nearby state park and the park only had one free weekend so we planned the whole thing in just three weeks. We were even on vacation one of those weeks! It seemed like such a crazy thing to do, but it turned out to be a huge success and showed us God's hand in Cohen's adoption.

Several people have asked us if we were going to have the Dash for Adoption this year... I assumed because we are busy enjoying Cohen we might not try to pull it off this fall, but Robby was ready to start planning. We originally said that this year we would put all the proceeds in our church's adoption fund to help another family who is adopting a child, but then we started looking into adopting from El Salvador...

Here's the letter we wrote to friends and family:

Looking back to this time one year ago, Robby and I were finishing the necessary adoption paperwork and planning a 5K race to help with the adoption fees. Little did we know that our son would be born just two days after the race! This past year has been an unforgettable journey that has taught us so many lessons. Most importantly we have learned to trust in God’s perfect plan.

While we would love to adopt another child from Guatemala in the future, adoption is uncertain at this point because of the Hague Convention. Guatemala must make some changes in the way they handle adoptions and this is likely to take a while. Because of this we are looking into adopting a child from El Salvador, another beautiful country in Central America with children in need of loving homes. The children in El Salvador without families live in orphanages and are usually eight months or older when they are adopted. The process to adopt a child from El Salvador is a much longer process averaging from 16-24 months so we plan on beginning soon!

Please join us for the 2nd Annual Dash for Adoption on November 10th at Briar Hill Park. It will once again be a 5k run/walk with prizes for the first three men and women. We also plan on having lots of door prizes as well! We hope you can support us in some way – through prayer, spreading the word about the race, or participating. Email me at lori_beth27@yahoo.com for registration forms and flyers and feel free to pass these on to anyone who might be interested.

Love,
Robby, Lori, & Cohen

Napping!

Yesterday something amazing happened... Cohen took a three hour nap! During a typical day he might take two 45 minute naps and he hardly ever naps longer than one hour. So you can imagine how excited I was when he slept for three hours yesterday! I must admit I did check on him constantly to make sure he was still breathing because that was so unlike him.

He has also been waking up once or twice in the night since we've been home and has trouble going back to sleep. Well, last night he did wake up once but fell back to sleep on his own! I am just thrilled! He has been napping today for almost two hours now, so I am hoping this is going to last.

Welcome Home Party

We had a wonderful day yesterday spending time with my family (and Lynn who is practically family!) at Cohen's Welcome Home Party. Even though Cohen was running a temperature, he still managed to charm everyone there. My sister was in charge of games and had everyone making sculptures of Cohen out of playdough -- it was hilarious!

One month...

One month ago today we brought Cohen home. What better way to celebrate than to meet other families with children from Guatemala at the zoo! We had such a great time meeting new people and seeing all the beautiful children. Kim, Jay, and Alex were there as well as Sarah and Sophie Bug. Hopefully they took some pictures because I think I was so busy talking that I didn't get any pictures of the kids together! I did take a few pictures of Cohen's first trip to the zoo...





Bathtime is one of Cohen's favorite parts of the day. He loves everything about it... except when it is time to get out. Robby came up with a way to keep Cohen happy when bathtime is over -- he wraps him up in a towel and swings him. So much fun!


Cohen has also been proudly sporting his new Virginia Tech jersey -- thank you so much Hunter and Terry! I think he looks adorable in it!



I will end with the many faces of Cohen. This boy cracks me up with his latest trick which we call psycho baby. It is so much fun to see his little personality shine through -- he is quite a little ham!

Mr. Independent

Cohen is a man on the move and is really enjoying his freedom now that he can crawl. Yesterday I followed him around with the camera just to document a few of his new favorite places...

Hiding behind the rocking chair


Playing with the door stop


Patting the rocking chair and making it move


Hanging out with Bailey


Speaking of Boo and Bailey, we have two dogs for sale as of today... After several days of short naps (because of a little cold) Cohen finally settled down for a good nap this morning. What should have been half-way through his nap, Boo (our lovely Maltese) spots something interesting outside and starts barking. Bailey joins in and of course Cohen wakes up and is no longer interested in napping. What am I going to do with those dogs?

Lazy Day at Home

Cohen and I had a much-needed lazy day at home today. We stayed in our pajamas until after lunch and enjoyed a nice, quiet day together.





I am getting back in the habit of taking pictures since I slacked off after getting home. Here are a few cute ones from the past couple days...




I love this one. I was so proud of myself for making homemade baby food and look at the response I got. He gagged, made faces, and literally pushed my hand away from him when I tried to feed him more. Turns out he likes "real" food. He can eat the green beans off of my plate for days!

Look Who's Crawling...

It is amazing to think that a little over two months ago this child was not quite sitting alone. Now look at him! For those of you who don't know, I am a developmental interventionist, which means that I work with children from birth to age three who need a little extra help meeting their developmental milestones. Last night I told Robby I was going to formally assess Cohen just out of curiousity. I knew he was making great progress, I was just curious how he would score... I was happy to report to Robby that Cohen does not qualify for services at this time. :)

We are still busy with doctor's appointments. Today we visited a pediatric infectious disease doctor (which went well) and heard from our pediatrician that all of Cohen's bloodwork from the titers and other tests came back just fine. That is great news because it means that Cohen's immunizations he received in Guatemala "worked" and he will not have to be immunized again.

Better run for now -- Cohen is showing me what parts of our house are not child-proof!