One Year Ago Today....

...Jonathan Kiril became an official member of our family!!! An Ukrainian judge granted us our petition to make Jonathan our 7th child. What an answer to prayer! The Lord has been so faithful to us. Jonathan has been a blessing to our family in so many ways. Each and everyone of us have grown to love him, and dare I say, he has grown to love us. (He's exhibiting a pretty good dose of separation anxiety when his mama leaves, so that's a good thing from an attachment standpoint!) I have learned a lot about feeding and sensory issues over the past year - things we are still working on overcoming. I have also learned not to underestimate this precious boy.

One year ago, he was not sitting on his own yet. He was very "floppy", and still had some head control problems. Well, this child is floppy no more and took 10 steps yesterday! He will be motoring on his own by his 2nd birthday in a couple weeks. I'll get a video posted soon of him walking. I also never posted the photos from the week I spent in Ukraine by myself bringing Jonathan home. (Ya, I got a little busy when I got home.) I do plan to do those as "One Year Ago" posts the beginning of July. Sarah is also working on one year home video. But for now, here are some recent photos of our beloved "Chubbles", a nickname coined by Sarah. :-)

Oh, that tongue...yesterday he fell and hit his chin on my parents' coffee table (we permanently removed our coffee table when Sarah was 9 months old) and bit into his tongue pretty deeply. He seems fine today, but please pray it doesn't get infected. Ouch! It looks so sore.

Tears, auctions and huge successes!

With tears today, I read about a precious little one now in the arms of Jesus.  She died alone. Just think about that for a moment...she died with no one to hold her or comfort her or to kiss her. Imagine one of your own children dying alone...I can't even let me mind go there.  And as Shelley said in this post, "She died alone because Christians make excuses for why they “weren’t called for that” or why only “special people” can parent “those kids”."  I'll tell you what...Pat and I are not "special people". We simply said "YES!" to the opportunity to parent "those kids". What are YOU waiting for?!? Susanna had a great post the other day about fear in adopting. It is definitely worth the read. Church, we need to pray, pray, pray!!!  (I did not post this directed at any one person or family. I just get angry when I hear about kids dying when they don't need to!)

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Well, I sat down to do this post about a very fun and wonderful opportunity to help a family adopting a precious little girl from Pleven, where children are existing in horrible conditions.

I've mentioned the Hidden Treasures Blog Auctions before. They are so much fun! Anna, our 9 yo daughter, made a couple of items to donate to the auction. She is VERY excited to be able to help. Here are the links to her items:

http://treasuresinhiddenplaces.blogspot.com/2012/05/annas-hotpads-1.html
http://treasuresinhiddenplaces.blogspot.com/2012/05/annas-hotpads-2.html

Don't need any hotpads?  Please click HERE to see all 74 items. It is super easy to bid and you don't need a google account to do it. Just follow the instructions on the sidebar. But you'd better hurry as the auction ends Thurs night at midnight EST. Go check it out!

http://treasuresinhiddenplaces.blogspot.com/2012/05/summer-family-journal-kit.html
http://treasuresinhiddenplaces.blogspot.com/2012/05/fun-lunch-packing-bonanza-bundle.html
http://treasuresinhiddenplaces.blogspot.com/2012/05/weighted-lap-blanket-5-pounds.html
http://treasuresinhiddenplaces.blogspot.com/2012/05/art-photo-with-custom-imprint-2.html

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HUGE PT (physical therapy) successes for both Jonathan and Elijah!!!

During PT on Monday, Jonathan took 2 steps unassisted at 3 different times!!! Woohooo!  Last night he took about 3 or 4 steps! This boy, who could not sit up just about a year ago when we met him, has come SO FAR in the past 11 months since he's been home. He continues to amaze me each and every day!  It seems like he may just be walking before his 2nd birthday in mid-July! (Video pending if he cooperates. :-))

Also on Monday, Elijah walked all the way up the stairs without holding on to anything!  Great progress for him too!  I watched his last PT session at school last week and he is doing great developing his core strength. I'm so very, very proud of him too!