Orphanage visit - and 7 days to go!

Scott went to visit dear little Zephaniah (Wallace) today at the orphanage. As I had forgotten to bring them yesterday - Scott brought some snacks and fruit juice boxes (we found in the baby food section of the grocery store here) for Zeph and his groupa. They let Scott feed him his snacks and give him his juice. He fed himself the snacks but he is used to being spoon-fed all liquids. So instead of giving him the juice in the box with the straw (which Scott tried but Zeph obviously had no clue what he was supposed to do with it) they poured the juice into a cup with a spoon and Scott gave him juice with a spoon. Scott also tried to see if he was able to sip from the cup but it was all new to him. We are just trying to think what to do on the train and plane rides home since sipping from a spoon may be a difficult task on bumpy rides. We will probably see if he can get used to a sippy cup before then.

They also had him sit in a baby walker today during Scott's visit. On the bright side at least he was just a bit more contained in that small area and though he could still open and close the cabinets he couldn't get into them like yesterday. We will not be getting him a walker for home but I think for this particular situation and time it brought less frustration to both parent and child. The walker had toys he liked and it played songs and played phrases. Zeph loves music! That's why the toy phone we bring EVERY time seems to be one of his favorites - he likes it to play the song and he moves his head from side to side and sings, "Na, na, na." He, like all our children, seems to very much like, "My God is so BIG, so strong and so mighty there's nothing that He cannot do" - complete with hand-motions!

It Is Well (With My Soul)

The day we left:

Rainy day

It's a cloudy, rainy sort of day here in our region and apparently through most of the country. Though Scott LOVES the rain and I appreciate God's blessing and purpose with it - I'm just not a fan of rainy cold wet "blah" days. I was so thankful to have a ride to the orphanage today, my tired legs resting while my eyes watched the path I usually walk on pass by quickly. I will never take having a car for granted again! My visit with Zeph ("Wallace") was short today. I hope before we leave I can catch on camera mine or Scott's arrival to the nursery and Zeph's reaction to seeing his mama or papa. It is enough to make any mama or papa melt! In fact this morning was particularly special to me because the workers had seen me arrive and had begun to tell Zeph, "Mama! Mama!" and I saw him look but when he didn't see me he continued regular interaction with them from his crib. Suddenly he caught sight of me and pulled himself up and YELLED with GLEE and giant smile on his face, "MAMAAAAA!!" Then he began to chant, "Mama, Mama, Mama!" and he shook the bars of his crib. He knew his routine: caretaker picks him up, bundles him up and then he's given to Mama.

Today they gave him another ride-on toy to play with and that was it, besides what things I brought in my bag for him. I couldn't take many pictures - you'll see why. Most of our visit together is mama telling poor little Zeph, "No" or "let's go here instead" or "we can't touch this - here's something else to play with" or "ah! You can't eat that - bleh!". It's what I'd expect from a little child, wanting to explore. But containing a child in this space and entertaining him without things getting messy, broken or someone getting hurt is a challenge (at least compared to our baby-proofed home).

In this shot: Zeph (Wallace) crawling beyond the invisible border, past that black 1/2 wall thing on the right. And he's off at super baby-crawling speed! And Mama puts the camera down and fetches him!

Though the winter hat I packed for him was too small I had also brought a beige cap, which I tried on him today and whatta know, it fits! Only problem - same with every single hat: he takes it right off.

Here's a few pictures of him riding on the little ride/push toy they let him use today:

Videos below: Notice the "theme" here today? He's doing something cute/fun, I get out the camera, he gets into something. In the first one he opened his own cabinet to which I tried to play our usual game of "open, close" but it was too late - he was INTO it. Close it, what for, mom? This is fun stuff!

In the second video you'll see he was happily playing with his phone (which we've come to realize is one of his favorites). Then impulsively he grabs the curtains. "No" simply doesn't work when he's this curious and having such fun with something new. The camera went off and mommy had to re-direct. I'm trying to "choose my battles" because I don't want our visits to be un-fun but I also can't allow him to pull curtains down on himself (or rip them), re-arrange all the neatly organized children's cabinets, etc... So to minimize his frustration with mommy saying "no" and not letting him do such "fun" stuff in that tiny space (there's tons more it would just take forever to type EVERYTHING he tries to get into in that room) - my visits are just not all that long as I wish them to be. I'm trying to balance bonding with mommy (and daddy) but we also want to keep his cortisol (stress hormone) level low.

Walking

Today we realized that we are tired. We are still not really on this schedule that the sun and people are on here. Our bodies still want to sleep when everyone at home is sleeping! We've also been walking and walking and walking - more than we are used to, at least. I think it's actually been very good for us to be out walking but we also need rest. So instead of two visits today (one for each of us) we just walked half-way and I let the kids play at the park while Scott went on and got to visit our little Zeph. We got some grocery items on the way back and spilled pickle juice on everything (ewe!). Dill is hugely popular around here so I guess now we fit right in! I was able to get some pictures from our walks to and from our apartment, at the playground that is just down the way from the orphanage, and Scott took pictures with his phone camera with Zeph. I long for the day all of our children can play together! It will probably be too late in the evening if we are able to have "gotcha day" on October 7th, as planned and we probably will go straight to the train and Zeph will probably be so tired and it will be cold. How I wish so badly he could have played on this playground today! I know he would have loved it. How excited I am to introduce him to some of our lovely parks at home!

One of the paths we walk on to get to the orphanage - it goes right by two little parks.

Evie had just woken up from a nap in the stroller when I put her on the little go-round - she loved it!

Here are some pictures from our walk the way we go to the orphanage each day:

Here is a picture that Nathanael took of Arielle in the apartment:

During Scott's visit with Zephaniah (Wallace, RR name) at the orphnage they brought out a little child's walker for him. He puts his shortened leg up on a bar and then uses his other leg and foot to push the walker forward. Papa Scott took pictures with his phone and a short video too. He used it for a few minutes but was ready to move on to the next fun thing by the time Scott had the camera out. Scott also blew up a balloon for him and showed him our photo book again.

I have a blister on my foot from all the walking and I've just kept on walking on it for days and days but it's not healing with all the continued walking, getting worse. So I'm going to go ahead and ride to the orphanage tomorrow. I love the walking but I think a day or two of rest now and then is also a good thing. Our stroller that was broken during our airplane trip - is on it's last leg. We are trying to find a small (umbrella-type) stroller but thus far have not found one in this area. From what we've seen they are rare. Most people cart their babies all around in nice big baby buggies with huge wheels (sort of old-fashioned looking) and I've seen nobody carry or wear a baby here. I think I was looked at so funny today as we walked because I was carrying Arielle, who was too tired to walk any further so close to her nap time. It also gave me the realization that when we get home I think a triple stroller is just going to be a must. I thought maybe with Arielle turning 3 soon that she can just walk most of the time but she's proving me wrong.

Papa's visit - and the count-down begins to "gotcha day"

Why am I calling this "Papa's visit"? Because during my visit with Zeph (Wallace) I pulled out the camera only to have it tell me the memory card was missing! Dah! My visit went well this afternoon. My jeans are hardly staying on me - I look absolutely rediculous because they are so baggy now from all the walking I've lost weight plus they don't shrink because they've been line-dried only lately. All the ladies around are wearing tight skinny jeans. Not me - I'm "Mrs. Baggy pants" - and my coat is rather cumbersome compared to their tight leather and/or fur jackets too! And let's not forget that my cute flats are apparently not made for me to walk so very much in because they gave me one big blister and I have to wear my big clunky white tennis shoes. He, he! All-well. I've never been the most stylish person - but this is just silly! I'm waddling, pulling up my pants every few steps - which were not completely dry by the time I had to leave today. Lovely... DAMP baggy jeans for two miles. Really is too bad I don't have footage of myself walking there today - ha, ha!

Yesterday we had been informed through our facilitator that a doctor at the orphanage has ordered that our little boy (and I think the babies too) will not be permitted to play outside - OR downstairs in the play area - since the doctor feels it is now too cold. It was breezy the other day. But today the sun was out and walking over here I had to take off my coat so it was a beautiful nice warm day. Nevertheless I don't want to cause a stir and after all we are taking him to "sunny California" so I just sat again in the entry way with him. He begged, pointing to the window to go out. He even tried to say "outside"! But I had to tell him sorry and that I promise he has a LOT of sunny outdoor days ahead of him! Instead he played "open, close" with the locker doors (there are little cabinets - each child/baby has their change of clothes, diapers, etc.. in it). At first I had been telling him "no" but I ended up telling him "no" for just about everything in that non-child-proofed room so I let that one slide and we even turned it into a fun vocabulary lesson! I really enjoyed my first visit with him on my own. Today he said, "Zeph", "sock", and tried to say "out".

Scott stayed behind in the apartment with our other children. Then once I returned he went to visit on his own for the evening visit... and this time he came back with pictures and this adorable video! Thus - the title. Wanna see?

Who's that handsome boy in the mirror? Scott tried on his coat - and it fits! We thought for sure it would be too big!

10 days - 10 days until "gotcha day"! Count down with us!

Favorable Court Resolution!

I won't keep you all in suspense any longer! In short: we went to court and they ruled in favor of letting us adopt "Wallace" and to be named as his parents on his birth certificate and to change his name to Zephaniah!

Now for the longer version, the "juicy" details:

We quickly woke this morning rushing to get ready and dressed. Our facilitator thought we'd leave here at 10 but good thing we rushed because actually his morning visiting time is from 9 until 10am so we left at 9am to the orphanage and took him, with a caretaker, to get his picture taken for his passport and also for a picture of us with him to leave as a gift to several parties/entities. I tried to snap a picture of the picture (we only got 3 copies and need all three to give-away) - but it is so glossy so reflections and all - it does not turn out so great but here is my best shot:

We were supposed to exchange some currency and then go back to our apartment for a short time but it took a long, long time to find a bank that would exchange money with us because apparently a new law just recently went into affect on Friday or something which made it difficult to find a bank willing to change money with us because we didn't have a visa (which shows legal permission to be here. We are not required by law to have one because the duration of our time here is short).

After that we stopped for lunch where our facilitator lead us to. It was a beautiful building and the food was quite good. I will have to add pictures of it later. I'm glad it was somewhat of a relaxing atmosphere for my heart was anticipating the day's events. After lunch our driver took us to pick up two women who were representing the "inspector" (for social services) and orphanage lawyer, basically. It is a common practice courteousness to give these people a ride to court. When we got there we walked up several flights of stairs and waited for a few minutes in the hallway while papers were being gathered and other people were arriving. Our facilitator was telling us what possible questions we might need to be prepared to answer, in addition to other things we went over this morning. Then we were shown into a small room, smaller than our living-room at home (which is not very big). The judge sat at her desk in the corner of the room and invited everyone else to sit. She read some court proceedings, our rights, and part of our home-study that says our motivation for adoption. We were asked to state our names, dates of birth and address. Then the two ladies introduced themselves. There was also in the court-room two jury members, a court clerk, and a court reporter. The only two men in the room was Scott and one of the jurors. The inspector and lawyer both stated (in a nutshell) that the minor child was abandoned at birth/in hospital, had special needs, was available for adoption and that no persons in this country have adopted him or shown interest in adopting him thus far and so they both agreed that adoption by us was in the best interest of the child. Then we were asked to stand and speak (make our petition). Scott was a little thrown off because things had gone very fast and he thought we were at a different part so he deferred to me and I was not prepared to speak! After a couple "ur", "ums" and a silent prayer, "Please God, speak for me!" - I stated that we have met this child and already we love him as our own son. I stated that we have a faith-based belief that adoption can be a wonderful way to build a family and that Scott's little sister, whom we love, was adopted. Our facilitator sort of stopped me there so she could translate all I said before I said more. She translated and then, before we could add to our statement, the judge asked us all to sit down. Then we took a short recess and said good-bye to the very nice two ladies who had recommended adoption for "Wallace". A short time later we were invited back into the court room. The court reporter was unable to hide her smiles. My heart was beating as the judge began to read the ruling or, rather, resolution, which was to grant our petition to adopt "Wallace", have our names placed as his parents on his birth certificate, and to change his name to Zephaniah. Then they congratulated us and we thanked them and walked out to the hall again. Our facilitator congratulated us and then we waited for a short time so she could get a draft of the resolution. We cannot pick up the final court (decree) resolution until the mandatory 10 day waiting period is over, on October 7th. So it is not quite official yet - but today we do indeed have much to celebrate and thank God for: a favorable court resolution! We are so thankful that it all went well. This was the judge's first adoption presiding over! The usual "inspector" was also unable to come so a different lady had come in her stead. I'm breathing such a sigh of relief! Here is a picture of us in front of the court house doors:

Tonight we ask you to pray for our friend Maryanne, who had stayed with us in region this duration so that our children would be cared for while we had orphanage visits, ran errands and have court today. Tonight she and our facilitator will be on the train so we ask for prayer for her safe return home. We are so grateful that she was able and willing to help us last-minute and be so patient and kind with our children. God bless and keep you, Maryanne!

Court is tomorrow! Visits today:

Pictures are coming - just scroll down if you want to see them first!

We went for our first morning visit today from 9 to 10am here. It was crisp and cool and Zeph (Wallace) did not want to keep his hat on but the caregiver with us suggested (we don't want to break any rules so we let them lead) to just put his sweat-shirt hood on, which he could not remove. We mostly just walked him around and let him look at leaves on trees, touch them, throw them, blow "wind" on them. We're trying to work on showing him he can't throw everything - but it's a work in progress and we don't want to ruin our visits with rules and frustration - there will be plenty of learning the ropes at home. For now we just want him to know we are here and love him and we want him to trust us as much as is possible in this short time we have with him.

During the second visit (another 2 mile walk to and from the orphanage and our apartment - we are getting fit here!) - for some reason we were not told of - a doctor there (a very nice lady, from what we have seen) did not want him to go outside or in the "play/therapy" room - instead they put two chairs in the entry room to his groupa's play area/room, gave us two toys for him, and closed the door. I do not think ours was an isolated case as someone else seemed to have been visiting a child the same way just as we were arriving. Routine is already a bit off - we came that morning. Routine is off because, well, we are a new thing for him. Now even that NEW routine is "off" - he is expecting us to take him out for "adventure" and "play" time - "discovery" time. And here we sit - he got no further than the entry-way/room - the one he sees all day long. Bo-ring! (to him). Further - we didn't know what they would think if we let him play on the floor there so we just kept him on our laps - back and fourth. It was quite the challenge. He kept looking at the window, pointing at the door and begging us to take him away. We couldn't. And we didn't know how to tell him why or that we wanted to but were sorry to have to stay put. It was difficult to distract him, occupy him, it was not the best way to bond with our child. But we were happy to have him with us and to be "practicing" as I know it will be difficult to have him on the plane and train home! We also figured out today that the cute jeans we brought for him and one of the long-sleeve t-shirts will fit him for "gotcha day" - but, alas, the hat will not. He's a big boy! So we either have to let him borrow his big brother's hat or find him a new one.

We have court tomorrow so please be praying it all goes smoothly and that God will give us favor in the sight of the people who will make these important decisions in our adoption case. Time to iron our clothes, set things out, pray, make sure we pack the photo album to show the judge! I hope to have the most happy update for you all tomorrow!!!

Stacking cups - boy did we figure out lots of ways to have fun with these!

A "Joot-joot" train :)

No pictures today :(

Today I have no pictures to share :( No video either. Today the staff was different because it's Saturday and the "usual" caretakers seem to be off today. Yesterday they pretty much just left us alone in the room with Zeph (Wallace) and then let us walk him around outside during our second visit. But today a lady came with us to the play/therapy room. She was very nice and I think she was trying to facilitate our visit with him. We studied as best we could what things she did to calm him, re-assure and engage or deter him. It was a great comfort to see that, if he understands what's being said, he does indeed respond (and typically would stop a negative behavior like throwing a toy). It seemed today he was simply confused about what is okay to throw - like a ball - versus what is not okay to throw - like certain other toys. It really made it clear that we are going to have to work hard on language with him to help him with the frustration of not being able to express his needs and wants to us at first. We are trying to learn what words and phrases we can here but I know we'll still fall very short of what he's used to hearing day in and day out. I need to find the "Baby's first 100 words" picture book I packed - it's around here somewhere! I also need to remember to bring his "gotcha day" outfit tomorrow so we can make sure it will fit him (grin!). Tomorrow will be our last visit before court. Our last visit to a little orphan boy. We are so excited to have him be officially (of course he already is in our hearts) and legally ours. Then more waiting - 10 days of waiting for the court decree that says he's ours! Then errands, birth certificate, passport on the 11th day, a Friday, a short (everything closes early) day. We hope to get it all done Friday the 7th of October but no telling yet if it will go that smoothly. If everything goes fast and smooth we hope to have gotcha day Friday (7th) or Saturday (8th) but could be a Monday (9th) or Tuesday (10th) if documents are still needing to be finished.

It's more cloudy and overcast today and it's causing sinus pressure to me - but our Zeph seemed to be okay, despite the weather change. We are so glad he's feeling okay, since we had been told last time there was a weather change it seemed to have caused him pain like a sinus headache or something.

2 visits today!

Thought I'd share a few pictures of our other three children (lately almost all pictures on our blog have been of our little Zeph - mainly so those at home can get to see a glimpse of this sweet little boy we are in love with!). They've been a little restless in the apartment and enjoyed playing at the park the other day - literally on the other side of the fence of the orphanage. The orphanage is totally surrounded by apartment buildings.

I also thought it might be interesting for everyone to see the place we are at:

Entry room:

This is what you see when you walk through the front door of the apartment:

We leave the strollers and shoes outside the door, which is an enclosed area inside of another locked door.

Stairs...

More stairs...

Apartment below us...

More stairs... did I mention we are on the third floor?

The door to enter the apartment building:

All around us are these apartment buildings - we are in one of them.

Right outside of the apartments: a little flower garden. There are little old ladies walking everywhere with scarfs on their heads, a bag or two in their hands - or a grandchild in a stroller - or tending a garden. We've seen a group of older men stand on a corner and play chess - like it's a sport. Ladies push babies in the most beautiful and fancy looking carriages with large wheels and matching bags.

There's a desk here (I think the lady we are renting from has grand-children) that Nathanael has been doing school work on - he is homeschooled through a public charter school so we have to keep up - I wrote out six weeks of lesson plans and turned them into his school just days before we left!

Picture of the kids getting ready in the morning to walk with us on our way to the orphanage.

And here are some pictures of our visit today:

Recognize that picture he's looking at? It's us!

He had fun flipping through pages.

Today we wanted to try this little ride on toy in the play room:

2 miles to walk there and back. Then we went one more time today - another brisk 2 mile walk. We arrived (this is the first time we've visited him in the evening) to see him happily playing in a crib in the middle of the large room, two babies in walkers, two in an extra large play pen, one climbing on top of the other to take a toy, one tiny baby in another crib, care-givers preparing medicines or maybe supplements - unsure of what exactly. When Zephaniah saw us he was so excited and smiley, and as he does he began to chant, "Mama! Papa!" Then the care-giver whisks him away into another room we can't see where they bundle him up into the outfits you see in our pictures. We knew it would be a short visit so we just took him for a ride in the stroller.

The orphanage grounds are beautiful with large trees and the art here is quite different as they have made "flowers" and cute little creatures and other decor out of bottles and old painted tires. Very interesting. Here is a view of one path we took him on:

While we were out today there was another little "groupa" out playing - we've seen a few here and there - this one made us pretty happy, though, because there was one special girl there whom we'd seen previously on Reece's Rainbow. She's since been taken off the "waiting children" list because her special need does not qualify her for adoption at this time - she is not yet 5 and in this country presently the law is that children under 5 cannot be adopted internationally UNLESS they have a special need on the current list of special needs. There are very few special needs listed. "Wallace" (our Zeph)'s special need is that he is missing a limb - that qualifies him to be available for adoption right now. But this precious little one - she must wait until either the list is amended to include her special need or until she turns 5. She looks to be around 3, we guess. She's one of the children we saw in the play the day we arrived. She recited a verse, sang songs, did hand motions, dance steps, she played with other children and she seems so very sweet. She was SO curious about us and Zeph. She wanted to come with but her care-givers, of course, were trying to keep her with her group and we didn't want to cause a stir - but I would have loved to play with her! We hear that possibly October 10th there may be a new list coming but we'll have to see what special needs get placed on it. I'm praying to God hers will be so she can go home soon!