Family Age

As we continue to wait for our LOA I am diving into a book called Parenting Your Internationally Adopted Child. It is very practical and informative. I am realizing that we will parent this child very differently. A lot of the parenting concepts in the book are counter-intuitive. One thing the book continues to emphasize is "family age". Instead of setting your expectations of the child by their chronological age you consider their "family age" or the amount of time that she has been in your family. When we first bring her home we will consider her to be as needy as an infant who needs to eat every two hours, interrupts family meal time, needs to be held often, and needs attention during the night. Another main emphasis of the book is to be very open about the child's past and adoption and communicate about it on a daily basis. I am sure all those close to us will find the way we parent Mei peculiar! What an adventure raising this little one will be.

False Alarm

Sorry all. We are now rethinking the name. Next time we make an announcement we will make sure it is the one.

Gratitude Thursdays

So I missed a Thursday already. My excuse is that two little ones around here hog my computer! I wrote too much on my first gratitude blog. Now I really have to think=)

We are grateful for:

1. Answered prayer:

We had prayed that Mei Mei would have interaction with other children. She certainly will when she comes home. Our prayers were answered as her last report stated that she plays with her friends and brother!

2. Strength:

We continue to be strengthened by God's Word. His strength is perfect when our strength is gone! Apart from Him we can do nothing but through Him we can do all things through Him who gives us strength! Man cannot live by bread alone! Pardon my paraphrasing. Here is a verse we are grateful for. Hope, joy, peace, trust. We need it all!

Romans 15:13May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.