Very Overdue Post!

I have been very negligent in posting about Joshua and his fun times over the past 3 months! We have been caught up in basketball. Chase and William both played on our homeschool basketball team this year and it really takes a lot of time. So, now that basketball is over . . .

Joshua is doing great! Since Thanksgiving he has been to Shriner's Hospital to get his braces for his feet and lower legs. He doesn't mind having them at all. He can actually get around better without them, but has improved walking with them quite a bit. We go back to Shriner's next Monday to see the Neurologist and the Urologist. We are hoping to get some answers about some issues he is having.

He loved Christmas!! He wanted a police car. He got 3! A big one - cozy coupe type you actually sit in, medium size and a little bigger than hot wheel size. He was extremely happy. His brothers got him a police uniform to go with it. He had a great day!

His language skills are really coming along. He is asking questions a lot!! "Mommy, where are oooo?" "Yogurt, where are oooo? (as he is looking in the fridge). "What dis?"(about everything) and then he repeats everything you say over and over and over!! The other morning he came and got in bed with Lawrence & I and he had the biggest smile on his face (which is actually every morning:)) and he said, "What ooo doin mommy?" He is the most loving and sweet child!

My parents sent him $5 for Valentines Day and he was so excited he said he wanted to buy cowboy boots. So, he got cowboy boots last week end and he has slept in them several nights and wants to wear them all the time. He loves to go with Baba (dad) to feed the "moos."

Joshua has a birthday this month. He will be 4 years old on March 24th. He made his birthday list the other day of who he wants to invite to his birthday and at the top of the list is one of the elders at our church - Paul Cook. He loves people and has certain people he loves to see when he goes to church. Paul is one of those. Most of these people are adults that he loves to see. He makes his rounds every time we go to church. If he doesn't see one of these people there he asks about them several times on the way home.

Joshua is already learning letters of the alphabet. We have officially taught him 3 letters and he looks for them everywhere he goes and in books he reads and on peoples shirts or just anywhere. He loves to learn and is very curious. He is also beginning to put puzzles together. He can count to about 8 and soon will be up to 10. He is learning his colors as well.

We are having so much fun with him! He has been a great blessing to our lives!

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!

Thanksgiving

It was one year ago this week that I found Joshua's beautiful photo on the website of All God's Children. He was one of the children that had been waiting for a home since he was found in August 2004. We adopted him almost 3 years to the day he was found abandoned. This time last year we were frantically praying, reading about his medical condition and checking out our financial situation. Since then we have been home about 3 months and we are so thankful that God has put Joshua in our lives. He has been a tremendous blessing to our entire family. He is a loving and sweet child.

The last couple of weeks he has asked me at two different times (many times each occurrance) if I was his mommy. I would tell him yes and he would ask me again and again each time I would answer him in the affirmative. It sometimes breaks my heart when he asks things like that, but I know he is wondering if this is the real thing or not. I sometimes think he must be wondering how long he will stay with us until the next place. I can tell by his actions though he is so thankful and happy to have a family and a place to call home.

So,this year at the Thanksgiving table we will have an additional child at the table for which we are so thankful to God. Thanksgiving is not just about feasting, but thanking God for all the many blessings big or small that he has given us. This week take time to thank God for the wonderful things he has done in your life.

Update on Joshua

For the last month there have been many new things for Joshua. He met both sets of grandparents, caught his first fish, went to his first birthday party, went to bible class by himself 3 times now, attempted to get his teeth cleaned, trick or treating as spiderman, rode a horse, carved a pumpkin and he has grown 1 inch since September 4th!

His teeth cleaning experience did not go as well as I had hoped, but we did find out that his teeth looked good! No cavities! I think she cleaned about 4 teeth and polished one! Maybe next time he will do better!

He loved trick or treating!! He went as spiderman and had a great time! He woke up the next day and wanted to go again!! He loved to wear his costume.

We measured him on November 1st and he has grown from 35 1/2 inches to 36 inches. He is also beginning to look a little more muscular in his legs and seems to be getting stronger every day. He can now peddle his tricycle.

He loves to go to bible class. He says "my God so big" all the time! He wants to go all the time. He was upset today because he and I stayed home from church. I have been sick and Lawrence was preaching both times so I thought he should stay home with me.

He has also begun to see the first glimpses of the Christmas holidays! He is loving looking in all the stores at the displays. He is not sure what it is all about, but he loves the trees, lights and decorations!

New Words/phrases (this is not an all inclusive list): spider, bath, one, two, three, Paul Cook, pumpkin, cat, truck, drink, cup, basketball, napkin, I love you, coffee, french fries, apple juice, thank you, Spiderman, gum, chips, brush, teeth, shampoo, shower, happy birthday, trick or treat, go to church, Leslie, Stacey, Merr (for Merritt), Merr's mom (Julia), see ya later

Answers two questions: What is your name & How old are you?

I am constantly amazed at the providential hand of God. I don't know why, but I am. I am continually blessed by the love and affection of this young child! It seems as if he has always been a part of our family. I can't believe the amount of love you can have in your heart automatically for a person you have never seen before! Not only that you have never seen them, but they can't even speak your language! God has richly blessed our lives with this little bundle of energy! Every tiem I hear his sweet voice say Mommy, I love you, my heart melts!

Joshua's First Visit to Texas

We had a great time in Texas. We spent the week at my mom and dad's. The kids always love to go there. They have many animals, dogs, goats, cats and cows. The kids get to fish there and ride on the lawn tractor. They spend most of their time outside with the animals. This time they fished a lot and caught 19 fish. They had a great time & so did I! Poor Lawrence had to work all week in Greenville! Joshua got to meet both sets of Grandparents and all of my sisters and a few of his cousins! What a great week! I will have to add more photos later. For some reason there is an error when I try to upload some more photos. I will update again in a few days!

Joshua has learned many things since our last update. He has finally learned to peddle all the way around. Before he would only go about half way round and then peddle backwards. He has also learned to say so many more words such as: Mamaw, Papaw, Donna, Freckles ( my mom and dad's dog), goat, tractor, fish, pow (for shooting a gun), juice, sprite, Kelsey, NO, Thank you, go to work, car, eat, gum, candy, french fries, chicken, poo-poo, Gigs go Nao-nao(meaning Gigs go teetee), and bible.

He has also learned in the last week how to really throw a tantrum! Several times this past week has has kicked and screamed and cried really hard when he did not get his way! Wow! It is something to view - even after having had three other children!! I mostly ignore the fit or make him sit down beside me until he is done with the fit. He is getting better I think. We are trying to teach him that the fit still will not get him what he wants.

We are also making him go to sleep without me laying down with him every nap and bedtime. He is doing great with that. The first night he started to cry a little bit and I said, " Well, Joshua, let's say another prayer. " We prayed for God to help him to be a big boy and to help him to go to sleep by himself. And . . . He did! I usually stay in the room and pick up and clean up for a little while or read and he knows I am not leaving and he relaxes and goes right to sleep. It was taking about 45 minutes for him to go to sleep with me laying down with him and then I would get sleepy!! So, it is getting better around here.

We also bought him some really good shoes. They are Stride Rite shoes and they seem to be really helping his walking, running and clumsiness. It seems like I can already tell a difference in the strength of his legs. He is improving in so many ways.

Today, I tried to play the memory game with him. He got more matches than me! We did not play the whole game. His attention won't last that long, but we played for about 5 minutes. When we first got him his attention span was only about 10 seconds at the most!!

We are also still trying to potty train. It is frustrating, but we are not going to give up! He is staying dryer for longer periods of time it seems. I know that the transition must be hard for him and there is so much emotional trauma involved in this transition, we are really trying to be very patient with him.

I know I have forgotten to post so many of the cute things he has done, but I will try to think of them and write them down as they come to my mind! He has truly kept us in stitches!!

3rd/4th Week home

Well, I had planned to update every week after returning home, but we have been incredibly busy last week and this week. Last week we had a meeting at church every night and that took a lot of time. We have also had many other things going on! That happens when you have 3 older children and they all are involved in something!

So, on to Joshua! He did great in church during the meeting. He was really tired during the week, but is learning about how to behave during services. At times it is a challenge to try to keep him busy and quiet in the pew, especially since he doesn't really understand what is going on. He has gotten the concept of bowing your head and putting your hands together to pray. He doesn't stay that way long, but understands what to do.

Last week, we started him on a medication for a parasite he has. I would name it, but it is so long and no one has ever heard of it anyway. He is taking an antibiotic for 20 days to get rid of it. Apparently it comes from drinking contaminated water. This would explain why he was anemic when we had the blood tests run. We also got his hearing and vision tested last week. They were both normal. We also started his immunizations on last Thursday. He got two shots. He will go back in 2 months for 3 more shots. He will have to repeat them all:(. So, this past week was full of appointments and running around.

He is really beginning to pick up words quickly and trying to use them without being prompted. He says diaper, bath, babba at work, babba's car/truck, Dobby (from Harry Potter), (Curious )George, pray, Amen, and definitely tries to repeat anything you say! He is a lot of fun to have around. He keeps us all laughing and extremely busy!

I will try to post again over the weekend! I will also try to put some new photos on here! So many of you have been so good to read about our journey and are curious about how he is doing! I will try to answer some commonly asked questions in our next post!

Have a great end of the week!
Janice

Our Second Week Home

Joshua is learning rapidly! Everyday I am impressed with what he is trying to say and learn. He has begun to venture out of the room away from us a little bit. He doesn't have to sit in someone's lap or be right beside them all the time, but is beginning to feel comfortable to run about the house a little more freely! He has slept in his bed every night since Sunday night. He doesn't always stay in it all night, but comes pretty close. This morning he slept in his bed until 5:00 a.m. which seems to be becoming pretty normal and then he stays in our bed until about 6:00.

He has had fun this week meeting two new friends - Clint and Mason. Clint goes to church with us and lives in our neighborhood and Mason lives across the street. He loves being with other children and seems to play well with them. Communication does not seem to be a barrier for him with other children. Yesterday, he got on Mason's electric Harley and about took out their tree in their front yard. He had no idea how to work the thing!! It was sooo funny!! Those things go really fast!!

He has been to bible class now 3 times. He really likes going. He loves to do every thing everyone else does. He likes to put his sticker on his chart, pick out a song to sing and say the prayer. He gets a little nervous during the lesson and the singing part of class and asks to go to the bathroom. He doesn't really need to go, but just wants out of the situation that he feels uncomfortable in. I can certainly understand how he feels.

Today, he played outside for a long while and he actually peddled his trike for about 3 turns!! He gives up rather quickly because it is hard, but he is really beginning to catch on! He is also going up and down the stairs better. We are trying to make him start up with his right leg since it seems to be the one he has the most difficulty with. This is just an attempt at making his leg stronger. He has to hold our hand going up if he walks instead of crawls. His legs are just not strong enough to go up by himself - yet! He is getting more comfortable going up and down on his own. He seems to understand that he knows he can't do it by himself. He is very careful about it.

New Words this week:
Good Morning, See ya, Clint, Mason, Baba at work, More clearly- Chase, Sissy & William, milk, eggs, America, cheese, ball, Gigs (our dog's name), teeth, shoes, brush teeth, bath, cold, hot, pray, grow, big, God, popcorn, shewwe(for when something stinks - which is quite frequent with 3 boys, a man and a dog in the same house!) - !

New Songs: Jesus loves me, My God is so Big, Read your Bible & Pray every Day

Joshua is all about playing and having fun! He loves to play! He is very loving and sweet. He has gotten so much better about sitting for longer. Today I was able to sit with him and read and entire book to him - Dr. Suess's "The Hair Book". I could not believe it! We haven't even had him a month and he is already able to sit for that long. When we first got him, it was about 5 seconds at the most. Open book/shut book!

Wednesday Joshua managed to confiscate and throw away my keys! I started looking for them when it was time to go to church and had to use the hide-a-key to get there. When we got home we checked the trash can and sure enough they were there!! I am going to have to watch that! He loves to throw things away!

I don't know why I am so amazed at how well he has done. I would suppose it is from my lack of faith. We have prayed about this and so have so many others on our behalf so there is no reason to expect anything but good. He has done so well and we feel so fortunate to have had such a smooth transition.

We got papers in the mail today from Shriners Hospital. He will go there on December 6th for his intial evaluation. We are anxious for that day to get here! We will begin to count down the days! We just want to get him the care he needs as soon as possible and see what we need to do to help him. We are so thankful to Dr. Burch for referring us to them!

So many people have done so many wonderful things to help us! We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family of God's people that help us in so many different ways!! I will continue to update the blog about once a week just to keep everyone updated on his progress! I still can't believe how many people have read this thing!!

Since I was a child I can remember always wanting to do something big & grand for God. However, I have come to realize as I have grown up , that being a mother is the biggest and best thing I could do for God. Done right, mothering is the most important job that God has given anyone. Everyone needs a mother and it is the most vital part of shaping a child's life and personality. If mothering is done with the purpose of teaching their children how to glorify and praise God and to be a living sacrifice for Him then what else on earth could be either more important or more grand than that? I cannot think of anything!

Have a great week! Live for Him!
Love,
Janice