For Such A Time As This: Journey to Jeremiah

It has now been about 10 weeks since our little man was placed in our arms. We have been home for over 8 of those weeks. Since I last wrote about attachment, Jeremiah has continued to thrive. He has meshed right in with our family and is doing exceptionally well. Patrick is struggling a bit. His world has been rocked to the core and I admit to being a bit disappointed in his jealousy. I knew he would have his moments but he has struggled much more than I anticipated. I think he is also disappointed in himself, which breaks my heart. He loves Jeremiah and talks about him constantly when he is not with him. But, when we are all together at home (he does extremely well out and away from the house) but at home, he is so jealous every time Jeremiah comes near me. It has reveled some issues in Patrick that we have frankly ignored over the past couple of years and should have addressed before now. Patrick is adopted from birth and I foolishly assumed that we would avoid many of the trauma behaviors that children who are adopted often have. I did not take into consideration that Patrick's in utero experience was rough (understatement of the year). He had to fight to survive and he is still fighting. So now we are addressing Patrick's needs as well as Jeremiah's and Mama is T-I-R-E-D.

Trauma is exhausting.

Attachment is exhausting.

Doctor's appointments are exhausting.

Parenting is just plain exhausting.

Tell us something we don't know, said all the moms.

Well, adoption is absolutely amazing. Every morning when I look at their faces, I see the very heart of God in my home. MY home. And I do not deserve it. Jeremiah said "I love you" unprompted for the first time on Saturday. We spent the day in a little town a short drive from our home and we were walking around the town square, playing, having their faces painted, running in the grass, laughing. All of a sudden, he threw his arms around my neck and said "I love you Mama."

Melt.My.Heart.

When I look at his huge smile, hear his belly laugh, and watch him play and explore the world around him every day I am just in awe of the God who redeems. He reaches down into our most broken places and picks us up. He gives us things we don't even realize we need. Jeremiah had no idea he needed a family - and we had no clue how much we needed him.

Both of my little boys show me every day the Father's heart towards us. "For He predestined us for adoption as sons, through Jesus Christ." And now we have the right to be called Children of God, the very same as natural born children. (my paraphrase) God uses all of our children in various ways to reveal Himself to us - to grow us, stretch us beyond anything we thought we were capable of. We fight for this life. We fight for their lives and their health and their emotional stability.

If not us, then who???

Now for a more practical update of our lives for those interested. We have started the process of addressing Jeremiah's physical needs. Mentally and developmentally he appears right on track, if not advanced. Physically he is very healthy apart from his "special need" which is hypospadias and undescended testicles. We received all of his blood work back (after much drama trying to get a blood draw). Jeremiah is now termed a "difficult draw" and can only have blood drawn under sedation - per the instructions of the best pediatric IV team that our children's hospital has. Yikes!! That's tough. But, they have been amazing and we got what we needed for his diagnostic tests and his basic bloodwork. So, all of his bloodwork looks perfect as far as "health" is concerned. He has clearly been well cared for.

His special need is, in and of itself, not a big deal. The big deal is that these needs are usually addressed and repaired under a year old, so they become a bit more involved and traumatic in an almost four year old. After about three weeks now of almost constant doctor's appointments and attempted blood draws, we are good to go. We will see the doctor next week to put a date on the calendar for the surgery to repair both issues and then hopefully put the medical part of this process well in the rearview mirror. (I will save my post about the current state of our "sick care" system for another day).

In the past few weeks we have also had Jeremiah's first dentist appointment, regular chiropractor visits (which he adores, as we all do - our chiro is THE most amazing person), countless baseball games for Graham, multiple trips to the zoo, the science museum, the children's museum, all the parks in the vicinity, and a visit from our NC family - which was amazing!

Jeremiah seems to know his colors and how to count in Chinese and he is diligent about learning to do the same in English. His favorite things right now are the dog, splashing in the pool (but not going under), taking a million showers a day (but not wetting his hair), eating toast and seaweed, peeing on the potty (but not consistently enough to call it potty trained), watching Paw Patrol, and reading Brown Bear Brown Bear. He loves outings and he loves playing at the park. He babbles literally all the time. He is still mostly attached to me, but when I leave him home for short periods with the other kids he "gets over it" pretty quickly. Stan and I have even been on two dates, which was amazing! He sleeps all night, only sitting up for water once or twice soon after falling asleep.

In other news our life is nuts right now. In the midst of our crazy, Bryce graduated from college last week and we celebrated her with brunch at a local resort. We leave in a couple of weeks for Florida, where Lyndsey will graduate from high school and then stay in Florida for a few more weeks. The rest of us will return to Arizona, take care of Jeremiah's surgeries and finish the wedding plans. Bryce and Jacob get married mid-August and she moves to Texas. By then school will be starting again and I will be tutoring Patrick and Jeremiah's Classical Conversations class, Lyndsey will be taking college courses, Graham will be in High School (still at home), and there is a very real possibility we will be adopting another son who is Patrick's age.

Anyone want to join me for a nap?

I do love my crazy life! Enjoy a few pictures of our growing tribe!