More Birthday!

Here are some pictures from Kerwin's other birthday party. We brought the kids home with us from school, played games at the house, and then went out for pizza and cake. One of Kerwin's little friends was sick and didn't get to come so we only had three kids in all. At times I felt like I was herding cats. I would get one paying attention and engaged and the other would be wandering off. One little guy kept getting up and sitting down with other people at the restaurant. Luckily we had a pretty good adult-to-child ration at all times. We had a good time but I was exhausted. Luckily, we only have to do this kind of thing once a year. I can't believe Kerwin is seven already. When we started the process of adopting him he was only five. Five still seemed young. Seven feels like he is growing up too fast. (And I'm starting to think of myself as old too!)

Kerwin's sing language is coming along very well. He is able to communicate a really wide range of things now. He is also becoming a really good little artist. He can draw objects and people that are recognizable and have a lot of detail. Tomorrow he goes for a private speech-language evaluation. I am interested to see what they say at this place. The do not do sign language at this facility but are all oral. While Kerwin's first language will always be ASL, I would love for him to be able to communicate orally and with sign. However, this will not be easy for him to pick up. It will take a lot of work. Now, I still want him to continue to learn ASL as quickly as possible so that he can get caught up with his peers in the area of language.

It's getting late and the week is still not even half over yet so I've got to get to bed. I hate getting out of rest at the beginning of the week. Soon I want to post some video of Kerwin reading. He is learning quite a few sight words and is able to read some simple books from school. Check back soon!

Just some cute pictures...





Birthday party pictures...

Kerwin's First Birthday at Home

We had our family over today to celebrate Kerwin's birthday. He enjoyed the party and got some fun new toys: the new Snow Buddies movie, a golf set, a fishing pole, a guitar, some trucks, and a big chest to put all of his sports equipment in. Tuesday we will have another party with some friends from school.

You Must Be An Adoptive Parent If...

1. The fact that there are 143 million children
without a parent to kiss them goodnight has made you lose sleep.
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2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love & family.
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3. You can't watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.
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4. The fact that, if 7% of Christians adopted 1 child
there would be no orphans in the world, is convicting to you.
`
5. You spend free time surfing blogs about families
who've experienced the blessing of adoption.
`
6. It drives you crazy when people ask you
about adopted child's "real" parents.
`
7. You've been "pregnant" with your adoptive child longer
than it takes an elephant to give birth.(2 years!)
`
8. You'd no idea how you'd afford to adopt,
but stepped out in faith anyway, knowing He'd provide. (& He does!)
`
9. You've taken an airplane half-way around the world
with a child you just met.
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10. You believe God's heart's for adoption.
`
11. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart & family
is one of the most important legacies you could ever leave on this earth.
`
12. You know what the word "Dossier" means
& you can actually pronounce it correctly!
`
13. You've welcomed a social worker into
the most private parts of your life.
`
14. You shudder when people say your child's so lucky that you adopted them,
knowing full well you're the blessed one to have him or her in your life.


I saw this on a friends blog and had to steal it. So very, very true.

Haiti Reunion Weekend

This weekend we (Mike, Kerwin, my sister Rachel, and I) went to Lafayette, IN for a reunion with other family connected to Haiti through adoption. Many of the kids, like Kerwin, were adopted through Barbara Walker and Reach Out to Haiti (see the picture above). Other kids were adopted thought other orphanages and some families are still in the process of adoption. We spent the night Friday and then got up Saturday morning and spent the day at the indoor water park. Kerwin had a great time. He was so excited to see his friend David as well as Barbara and Lawanna. He enjoyed the water park for the most part. However, it was a little bit cold so he was shivering most of the day. He loved the hot tub but I kept making him get out of it because I was afraid his little organs were going to get cooked. That evening we went out as a group to eat dinner. Kerwin had a great time sitting with some of the boys after dinner. Then we headed for home and got in late Saturday night.

On a medical note, Kerwin had his first eye exam and passed with flying colors. It's so nice to have a medical evaluation that does not require a follow-up (at least not for 3-5 years). As far as his legs are concerned, we are waiting for him to have a Botox procedure but the earliest we can get in is May 7th. So for now, we are continuing with exercises and wearing his braces.

Coming soon...birthday parties (plural)!!! Stay tuned.

Superbowl Party!

We had a great time Super Night. Besides the exciting and delighting end to the game itself, we had a great time with friends and family. I have been promising the interns that were in Haiti with us this summer that I would have a chicken tortilla soup night. So I made good and we had a great night. Kerwin was so funny. He went to bed at half time but the next morning he asked us right away if New York won. His teacher said he came into school signing "New York won! New York won!" It was so funny to see him get so excited about the game. In case you didn't see it there was a Pepsi commercial that was totally in ASL. I missed it because it was before the game. So I added the address here in case anyone wants to see it. It's based on a common joke in the Deaf community.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffrq6cUoE5A

Snow Pictures

Here are pictures from the last time it snowed. We have a little on the ground now and they are calling for more tonight.

It's been a while

We've kind of had a slow news months since Christmas. Kerwin is back in school and Mike and I are back to work. Kerwin transitioned back to school really well. He has been to see the audiologist for a check up and everything is going fine. He is making good progress with his legs. He has been wearing his braces every night and several hours during the day. You can really tell a difference in the tone of his legs. He goes to the eye doctor this week to get the mandatory Kindergarten screening. We don't have any concerns about his vision so I have been pushing this appointment back to allow for some of the other more pressing ones. Kerwin had an MRI of the brain last Friday. We have not heard from the doctor yet to get the results. I honestly keep forgetting to call and bug her about it. But the MRI was mainly precautionary just to make sure that there isn't anything going on that we don't know about. Also, the neurologist thought that she may be able to tell us the cause of Kerwin's CP based on what she sees with the MRI. We went to Cincinnati Children's Hospital for the MRI. They really are wonderful. We had a nice experience. Kerwin's nurse was a friend of my mother-in-law who was along with us. And then, we got to see Gail, a friend who goes to Northwest Haiti Christian Mission often and works at Cincinnati Children's. She knew Kerwin from when he was still in the orphanage and sometimes Gail and I will transport gifts into Haiti for each other.

Some highlight from the last few weeks:
-Kerwin's first sledding experience
-Mike's first skiing trip this winter
-I have a new (additional) job coming up in February. I will be working 4-5 days a week now but all while Kerwin is in school. I still get to put him on the bus in the morning and pick him up every afternoon.
-Kerwin went to an LCA basketball game with his Daddy
-Kerwin got his first professional haircut (it's very cute)
-Kerwin is being much more interactive in Sunday School now; he is raising his hand to answer questions and loves playing with the other kids. His teachers say is he doing better in school as well.
-Kerwin can say pretty many sounds with lots of help and cues. Some of his best words are bye-bye, up, mama, dada, and Bobo (character in a book)
-We had an ARC meeting at school and Kerwin is getting PT, OT, Speech, and one-on-one reading help
-Mike and I start ASL classes again on January 28th
-We are going to have a deaf tutor come to our house to help us with reading to Kerwin using ASL
-I am very happy with my job working as a preschool speech therapist. The job has been a huge blessing
-Mike spoke in LCA's chapel about our adoption experience. Kerwin went up on stage with him and stole the show
-Our friends the Swenzels finally have their son Jamesy home with them. They had been in the process of adopting from Haiti for about 3 years.
-Mike's grandmother turned 85 yesterday and we had a party for her at my in-law's house
-Kerwin's Grandma Sweigard had a birthday and she can now order cheap meals at Bob Evans (congrats mom!)
-Kerwin went to see two movies at the theater: Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium and The Game Plan. The Game Plan went over much better than the first. Lots more football and physical comedy.
-I went to see Wicked in Cincinnati. Loved it!
-Kerwin's Uncle Tyler moved to LA to finish his college career with a semester of film school. It's sad for him to be so far away but we are looking forward to him becoming a famous film director and we like checking him out on his blog: www.tylerinla.blogspot.com (shameless plug)

I'm sure there's more but we'll wrap it up for now. More coming in February: Kerwin's birthday party, Haiti Reunion with Barb and other adoptive families, the next treatment step for his legs...

Until next time