1014

 

1014

One thousand and fourteen.

That's the number of days that Silas spent without a family.

 

 

 

Get down? But the view is so great!

He climbed up the stairs, crawled across the bridge and went down the slide - all on his own!

Hi Mommy!


On February 16th, 2017 Silas will officially have been in a family longer
 than he'd been in an orphanage. 
Should we still be here on earth and not in heaven, it's going to be
a day to throw a big party I think!

I've got less than two years to come up with a name more succinct than the
Silas-has-been-in-a-family-longer-than-he-hasn't Party! haha

In other Silas news, we see the pediatrician tomorrow to try and get a referral to an ENT
so we can figure out what to do about his hearing. I hope it goes well!

 

God will look after your boots.

In Canada we wear boots for about half the year.  A good pair of boots is important to have. When I was shopping for boots for Silas I looked for the ones that were rated for the coldest temp I could find. (-32C)  Because of his immature circulation, which may be part of down syndrome, Silas gets very cold feet very quickly.  So good boots are a must. I also wanted a pair that were easy to put on but hard for him to take off.  I did a few hours of research and settled on these.

They cost me $50.....which is a lot for a pair of size 5 kids boots, but they were exactly what I wanted.

This past weekend Silas and I travelled down south to the adoption agency to meet with the social worker for our second of four post placement reports that are required by Bulgaria.  It's cheaper for us to go down there than for them to come to us. Plus this way we get to see family.

We were about 3 hrs down the road when Silas got tired and started fussing. We'd already stopped to eat so I knew he wasn't hungry. He just needed to settle down and go to sleep but he was having some trouble getting relaxed.

So I pulled the van over on the side of the highway in a little town with a population of about 50.  When I opened the sliding door on the van one of Silas' boots fell out. (He loves to undress as much as he can when we drive. lol)  I picked it up and threw it back in the van. I didn't see anything else fall out but the interior light on the van has stopped coming on automatically so there wasn't much light. I glanced around at the ground as cars went by shining their lights and didn't see anything else down there.

I got Silas settled a bit and we took off down the road again.

A couple hours later we got to my brother's house in the city. When he helped me unload the van I realized one of Silas' boots was missing! We looked all over the van and it just wasn't there. Ugh! I was pretty upset and mad at myself for being so careless.

I looked again the next morning in the daylight and I still couldn't find it. So I knew it must have fallen out in the little town when we stopped.

I thought to call the little general store in that town. The lady at the store didn't know what she could do to help. I didn't know whose house had stopped in front of to tell her where to look. But she took my number down in case someone turned it in.

And then she said those dreaded words......"Oh you know it snowed a bit last night and the plow just went past about five minutes ago."   My heart sank.  The chances of the boot showing up seemed to be getting slimmer and slimmer.

My sister in law was kind enough to find an old pair of my nephews boots for us to borrow. I looked at a few big stores in the city for a new pair but everyone was sold out and had the rubber boots on display already.

I tried not to think about it too much and we enjoyed our weekend. Silas had a blast playing with his cousins and I got the post placement visit done. On Sunday we went to church and Silas got to attend Sunday school for the first time!

We left for home on Sunday afternoon. I left in time so that we would still have daylight when we went through the little town. I was hanging on to a bit of hope that we would find that boot!

I prayed off and on the whole way there. As I drove further north the snow in the ditches got deeper. How much snow had the little town gotten, I wondered. How far into the ditch would the snow plow have pushed the boot?

I had a plan that I would drive up to where I thought I had stopped and get out and look. When we got to the town I drove slowly and scanned the other side of the road. Looking and hoping!

And sure enough! In the middle of someone's driveway, half buried in the snow from the plow, sat one left boot! I laughed that surprised laugh you do when something unexpectedly exciting happens. Then I pulled the van over and rescued the boot.  The people who lived in that house must have been away because there were no tracks through the snow in their driveway.

Then I teared up a bit and texted my sister in law with the news. Mommy emotions snuck up on me for sure. I was so happy and thankful.


Boot in the snow (re-enactment for blogging purposes)

And then I thanked God again for looking after us and our missing boot. The pair is now reunited, left(behind) and right. Once again everything is alright in my world.

I'm telling you this story to remind you that God cares about you. I don't believe it was luck that found the boot. It was God answering a prayer plain and simple. It was a reminder to me to trust God with the little things as well as the big things.

Commit your way unto the Lord; trust in Him, and he will act. Psalm 37:5

His Fourth Christmas

This post is about Christmas. Yes I know it's February. 

Silas had three Christmases in Bulgaria. It seemed like Christmas was a pretty big deal there. When I was on trip one they were decorating the orphanage already in the first few days of December.

I have a couple pictures of Silas from past Christmases.  I am soooo thankful for these pictures! It is such a blessing to have baby pictures in an adoption and they will be treasured forever.

Baby Silas at six months old!

Already staring at his hands for entertainment. :(

There was no picture from his second Christmas but this is from his third Christmas. It must have been taken during or right after trip one.  I think he was wearing those same pants the day I met him.

 

So Christmas 2014 was Silas' fourth Christmas. I wanted to start some Christmas traditions with him. He opened up his Hungry Caterpillar pj on Christmas Eve and wore them to bed that night.  Then after breakfast on Christmas morning he opened up his gifts! He wasn't quite sure what to make of it all but he seemed to be having fun.  

 

 

 He really loves this noisy barn toy that some friends gave him! Noisy toys are what he loves most!
Later that day grandma and grandpa came over for Christmas diner and we had fun playing and hanging out.

We got together with all my siblings on the 29th. It was a bit harder of a day for Silas. Too little sleep, too much noise and commotion and he got an owie on his foot. By the end of the day he had cried himself to sleep. Poor boy!

 Hanging with the uncles.
 

  Playing with cousins. He met three of his cousins for the first time on this day.

 

Ending the day on a very sad note. :(

 

We spent the next few days at my brother and sister in laws hanging out with their crew. Silas really likes spending time with his cousins. He has such a great time chasing them around the house. :)

 

So there you have it. A pretty simple, typical Christmas with family for the first time in his life and it's all thanks to the generous people who donated, helped with fundraisers and prayed for us. Thank you for making that possible!

Happy 6 Months in a Family, Silas!

Here's a video to mark the first six months of our little family!

Enjoy!

 

We've made it home safe and sound!

There's so much to blog about now! I'm so far behind, and the more time that passes the further I get behind. Ack! So here we go.

In the weeks following the court date I waited to hear when I would travel. It turned out to be a little more than 6 weeks that I had to wait but my sister and I finally got on an airplane on May 6th and flew to Bulgaria.
Unlike trip one I had no nerves or anxiety before I traveled. I was as cool as a cucumber and excited to go get my boy!
We landed in Sofia on May 7th and left to drive to Plovdiv on May 8th and picked up Silas in that morning.
He was exactly how I remembered him!

We whisked him back to Sofia to get his passport picture taken. Poor little guy fell asleep in the hot car.

Silas was so puffy and swollen looking but I didn't realize it at the time.

So after our visit to the passport office we basically had May 8-19th to do whatever we wanted! We did a lot of touristy type things and shopped for souvenirs. Silas got overwhelmed if we went out and did too much though so we stuck to doing one outing a day.

There were other families that were there on their pick up trips completing their adoptions too so we visited with them a fair bit. That was such a blessing! It was so great to see other kids that had been adopted and their families. It really helped pass the time as well. I'm facebook friends with all of them now and I'm loving seeing the changes in the kids now that they're home.

We also visited with the Shepherd family who live in Bulgaria and went to church with them on both Sundays. Maybe one day I'll post the video I took of the hymns that were sung.

The first Sunday we were there was also Mother's Day! I remember last years Mother's Day wondering how far along in the process I'd be by next year and if I would know who my son would be. Here I was with my son already! It was a fantastic day for sure.

Here are some pictures of old stuff. Sofia is a very old city and there is so much history! It was once part of the Roman empire so a lot of the ruins date back to that time.

 Actual Roman road (down in the subway)!

Silas did really well in the hotel room for two weeks. We really had almost no trouble at all with him and that was a huge relief! We were able to really enjoy our time in Sofia. Before we knew it, it was 4 am May 20th and it was time to leave the hotel and get on an airplane!

I was worried about whether the landings would hurt Silas' ears. He FELL ASLEEP during the first landing! lol So I really had nothing to worry about. He also slept for about 3 hours on the longest flight. Exhaustion hit me after we went through immigration in Montreal but a frozen lemonade and a donut were enough to get me on the last plane.

Then we were finally at the Winnipeg airport! Almost all the family was there to meet us and I was so happy to see them. There were lots of happy tears and I was pretty much delirious with exhaustion.

 

We stayed the night at my brother and sister in laws house and left for home the next day. Silas let me know what he thinks of car seats. He was NOT impressed!

 



But we made it safely back home and Silas has decided car seats aren't so bad. He's been in Canada for over five weeks already! I'm back to work with my daycare kids and he's enjoying having other kids around.

He's also had some driving lessons from grandpa.

And a handsome hair cut!

He's starting to figure out how to feed himself.

 We've gone on lots of bike rides and stroller walks.

 He's fought over toys with his cousin.

 His latest trick is learning how to pull himself up to stand in the playpen!

 And he made friends with PJ the cat as well!

He's also been to the pool and loved it! No pictures of that though. Next time. :)

There have been so many firsts and he's progressed so quickly it's just been amazing to watch. I love him with a fierce momma love and my transition to motherhood has been very natural and smooth. It feels like this is what I was meant to do!

Being at home in our small town has been great. It takes me forever to go get groceries because everyone wants to stop and say hello. lol I don't mind though! I love that our community has been so welcoming. Once I get the cd of pictures from the Welcome Home shower I'll have to blog about that incredible evening. Wow, was it ever good!

And the excitement never ends around here because tomorrow is a very big day for Silas. He turns three!

The judge said Yes!

The judge agreed that Silas should be my boy! I've been told that I should be able to go in about six

weeks to bring him home! I can hardly wait!

 

My ticklish little guy!

 

Court date!!!

There is less than 24 hrs until the court date in B*lgaria! This is where a judge will look over the paperwork closely and decide if I should be Silas' mom. This will happen sometime in the night Canadian time.

If there is even the littlest problem with the paperwork he/she could say "No, Go fix this little thing and come back in a month."  And that would really suck! Not the end of the world, but really, really discouraging.

So please pray with me today and tonight that things would go smoothly in B and that the judge would be kind and understanding.

Once the judge says yes I will go back in about a month to bring Silas home!

I got this message from an online friend, someone who's been there, done that, with adoption.

"I will be praying fervently!! What God sets into motion for a treasure of His - He will bring to pass! Walk in confidence - God is faithful and He who called, will complete it!! Keep me posted!"

Thank you Linny for those wise words!

In other non-adoption related news - here's the pictures of my latest backyard project! This is what we built out of all the ice that was harvested from the river.  An ice slide! The daycare kids love it.  It's also hollow so that they can go inside it like a fort.  Very cool!