I love that our Ethiopian kids have been with us seven months now. I love it for many reasons.
First of all, the transition is hard - and we have transitioned.
Secondly, half a year has passed and that means half of a years events have been successfully processed.
And third, the kids have begun to share more with us about their past. This is a great sign of attaching and bonding that we adoptive parents wait for.
Joseph had a birthday this month. He was ecstatic about his special day as he has been in our family long enough to see four siblings celebrate birthdays. This event prompted a conversation about age that we have waited a long time to have.
It appears our suspicions were accurate. It was clear to us in Ethiopia that Joseph was not eight. We actually aged him a full year at our readoption. That put him at nine. He has just shared with us that he was ten when he entered the orphanage. That was a year ago. Well, he just had his first American birthday and he is now ten - again.
We love our son - no matter his age. We are just happy to see that he is trusting us as his parents. It is good.
In honor of our Ten-Again son, here are 10 things I love about Joseph...
1. Joseph is an excellent eater.
2. And he freely shows his gratitude for good cooking!
3. He is a very hard worker around the house. His specialties are cleaning the garage and van.
4. He adores his Uncle Charlie and wants to be with him a l l t h e t i m e !
5. Joseph is a great soccer player.
6. He is very diligent with his school work.
7. He loves babies and really wants one around here!
8. He loves church and memorizing verses for AWANA.
9. Joseph has a beautiful singing voice.
10. Joseph is a happy, happy boy!
First of all, the transition is hard - and we have transitioned.
Secondly, half a year has passed and that means half of a years events have been successfully processed.
And third, the kids have begun to share more with us about their past. This is a great sign of attaching and bonding that we adoptive parents wait for.
Joseph had a birthday this month. He was ecstatic about his special day as he has been in our family long enough to see four siblings celebrate birthdays. This event prompted a conversation about age that we have waited a long time to have.
It appears our suspicions were accurate. It was clear to us in Ethiopia that Joseph was not eight. We actually aged him a full year at our readoption. That put him at nine. He has just shared with us that he was ten when he entered the orphanage. That was a year ago. Well, he just had his first American birthday and he is now ten - again.
We love our son - no matter his age. We are just happy to see that he is trusting us as his parents. It is good.
In honor of our Ten-Again son, here are 10 things I love about Joseph...
1. Joseph is an excellent eater.
2. And he freely shows his gratitude for good cooking!
3. He is a very hard worker around the house. His specialties are cleaning the garage and van.
4. He adores his Uncle Charlie and wants to be with him a l l t h e t i m e !
5. Joseph is a great soccer player.
6. He is very diligent with his school work.
7. He loves babies and really wants one around here!
8. He loves church and memorizing verses for AWANA.
9. Joseph has a beautiful singing voice.
10. Joseph is a happy, happy boy!
2 comments:
Nice post!
Hi, I came across your blog by accident, but loved reading about your family! I just wanted to throw two cents in on this post. I have worked at many orphanages in Addis, and generally learned to go by the 'rule of three'- meaning that older kids tend to be on average about 3 years older than the adoption paperwork puts them (for many reasons, not usually the agencies fault). In the case of your son, though, I wondered if you knew that in Ethiopia, people add a year to age, because they count the year in the womb as a year of life. So if your son says he entered the orphanage at 10, he might well mean that he was 10 in "ethiopian years", which puts him at 9 in "amernican years". So his birthday might just be spot-on after all! Anyways I know this is a long comment- but I'll just finish up by saying that you have a gorgeous family and sound like a really fantastic parent. I wish you all the best!
Post a Comment