Continued Amazement

Every day Ian does something that surprises us. It seems like he just doing more and more "stuff" every single day. He really had a great weekend. He woke up very early yesterday morning and by 5:30am we were all up and in the kitchen eating Cheerios.

We finally took a short nap around 8:30am and slept until about 10:00am yesterday. Then we got ready to go the the Dillon Adoption Workshop. We are one of the only India families in Tulsa and there's a time during the workshop where families come in with their children. We're always glad to share our story and talk to anyone about adoption. While it was a challenging process, it was all God's plan and HIS perfect timing. There's no doubt in our minds that Ian is the child that God has chosen for us.

We ran into 2 couples that we knew at the workshop. We are very excited to hear that they are pursuing international adoption through Dillon.

After the workshop we went to this great little barbecue place in Broken Arrow (Stone Mill Barbecue). It was really good and Ian ate like a little piglet. After lunch, we met Donna, Mike & Ryan at the Asian American Festival. What a difference a year makes. Last year during this festival, Donna & Mike had just received Ryan's referral. We, on the other hand, hand just been told that it would be at least the end of July before any referrals started happening. This year was different. Both of us had our boys home and enjoying the fun and festivities. We met several people from the India Association of Tulsa. We enjoyed visiting with them. We were only there about an hour and then we headed home. Ian was getting really sleepy (I wonder why...could it be because he got up at 4:15am...hmmmmm?).

After a nap Ian woke up in a great and playful mood. He's crawling more and more. But...now he's standing more and more. If he can pull up on it...he does. He started cruising around the hearth yesterday, and a little on around the couch. He's not still much anymore.

The big thing this weekend was eating. He's never really been interested in picking up food with his hands. That changed this weekend. If we put bite sized pieces of things in front of him, he picks them up and eats them. It's the cutest thing. Today after church we came home because we thought he was sleeping in the car and ready for a nap. Wrong. He was wide awake by the time we got in the house. So, we decided to go out to eat lunch. We ended up at Lonestar. I ordered him a grilled cheese sandwich and fries. Before our lunch arrived, they brought us some bread. I tore off a few small pieces and put them on the table. Ian picked them up and ate them. When his food arrived I just broke off fries and sandwich pieces and put them on the table. He ate his lunch all by himself....just like a big boy. The same thing happened with dinner this evening.

Our Sooner Start case worker will be here tomorrow morning. She's going to be very proud of Ian. We had to set some short term goals when we did his plan. The two goals that we set were pulling up to stand and feeding himself by 15 months. He's met both of those goals now and he's not 15 months old yet.

A couple of new words creeped into his vocabulary this weekend. "outs"...as he's pointing to go outside, and "bock" (block). He jabbered a lot more this weekend. I think he's feeling better. I didn't notice a single tug on the ears today. Hopefully they're doing better.

Oh....one more thing...how could I forget this? We received the report from the neurosurgeon yesterday. Ian's CT scans and x-rays were normal. He did say that most children have their shunts replaced around the time they are 5 or 6 years old. At that time, they put in the "adult version. It's an outpatient procedure. That surprised me....but in a good way. We will continue to pray that his shunt functions properly and that we only have to have that one revision when he's 5 or 6.

Today in church we sang the chorus "Thank You Lord, I just want to Thank You Lord"....Charlie and I have so, so much to be thankful for. As we sang this morning, I was filled with emotion and gratitude. God gave us our son, but not only that...He gave us His son so that we could have eternal life. Thank You Lord....I just want to Thank You Lord.