Thanksgiving

Joshua's first Thanksgiving was full of food & fun!

We had a wonderful day and are extremely thankful for all the blessings that we have received from God's hands this past year.

To the right you can see the shirt Olivia just had to buy for Joshua. It says "I don't need mistletoe". If you know Joshua, you know it is true. He is extremely loving and sweet. He loves to hug and kiss people. It is very rare for him to have a bad day!

He is beginning to say many more new things. This week in particular he has become very inquisitive. He will say "what this?" and point to several things. He can count to three. He has learned the color yellow and red this week. He is able to distinguish between them when he is not joking around!! He loves to tease people and he loves to be teased! He has a great personality!! He has also decided that he likes coke and gum! He wants coke to drink all the time (that doesn't mean he gets it) and he sneaks gum out of my purse when he knows he can get away with it!

We have begun to work on pronunciation of the words he does know. We know what he is saying, but no one else does! He has a hard time with s, sh, ch, r, l. He mainly says the beginnings of words and the endings are either left off or are nonsensical. I have been amazed at how well he understands what we are saying. Now, we just need to work on the obeying part without a fit or tears. You have to love a 3 year old!

He has started to pretend. He has gotten all my pots and pans out and pretended to cook and serve dinner. He has pretended to die with the other kids several times. He thinks it is really funny when he comes back to life! He has also pretended to be a baby a lot lately! He needs to be held like a baby and drink out of a sippy cup like it is a bottle. He loves to pretend to cry and try to fool you into thinking he is really sad and then he just dies laughing!

He has lost my keys yet again. The first time we found them in the trash. This time we have searched the house over and over and I still have not found them. They have been lost since Saturday. No telling where or when they will turn up!

He has learned to jump this week. This was a task he has not been able to do until just this week. He is so excited to know how to jump!! He is jumping all the time. He wants everyone's attention so we can all watch him jump and clap for him. He has learned that you can climb on top of things and jump off and that is even more exciting!! He knows it shouldn't be too tall though. He will jump off the hearth and it is only about 6 inches high!

Please pray for Joshua. We will be going to Shriner's next week where he will be evaluated for his medical condition. He will need corrective measures for his legs and we are still uncertain about continence. We would greatly appreciate your prayers on his behalf. We know that with God all things are possible and complete healing is our prayer. If total healing is not in the plan, then we pray for Joshua to be able to lead as full and normal life as possible and to be an example of Christ for others.

Thanks to all of you who are reading this blog! I have kept updating because I have so many friends that have kept reading and sharing my blog with others. I pray that through our experiences it may spur someone else on to the wonderful journey of adoption, especially the waiting children of China with special needs. I can tell how much our family has meant to Joshua already. He is so happy to be here and we are so happy to have him as part of our family! Adoption is a blessing to both parties!