Dillon Baby

We visited the Dillon office on Friday afternoon to see Jynger and the rest of the staff. He was a little shy at first, but then he starting running around the office smiling and and visiting with everyone. I asked him who we saw and he said "gin...ger". Of course, I had a great picture of Ian and Jynger together...but it was fuzzy. There will be other opportunities.

Birthday Pics

Just a few pictures from Ian's Birthday party at daycare on Friday afternoon and then on Saturday at our house. Somehow I changed the setting on my camera and I took some really bad pictures on Saturday :( Charlie fixed it and now things should be fine. But, I missed some really good shots. Other people were taking pictures at his party, so hopefully they got some good shots. He's such a little stinker now. Instead of posing or smiling for the picture, most of the time he wants to TAKE the picture himself. Oh well...this too shall pass.

Ian Turns Two

Happy Birthday Ian!!!!

Today Ian turned 2 years old. He's such a big boy. We had a small party at our house this evening. Nicky, Tag, Ryan and Reanna joined us. Ian loved playing with his friends. We had pizza, birthday cake and juice...well at least that's what the kids had. Ian was fascinated with his cake. It was Winnie The Pooh in the forrest...or something like that. There were several trees on the cake. Ian decided that he wanted all of the trees on his piece of cake. OK. He opened presents after that and got very excited with all of the cars he received. He's getting much better at opening the presents. We had paper and bags all over our living room. Ian definitely knew that everyone was there to see him. Every time someone came in, he started jumping up and down (he recently learned how to jump). He LOVES our friend Nancy. I thought for a moment he and Nicky might fight over her. Nicky was hugging Nancy and Ian thought it was his turn. Cute, cute, cute.

I loved having our house full of kids and laughter. It just brings such life to a home.

It was a beautiful day shared with our wonderful friends. Thanks to Lari, Jason, Tag, Leslie, Nicky, Donna, Mike, Ryan, Amy, Dewayne, Reanna, Brad and Nancy for making Ian's day even more special.

Note to Ian: Momma and Daddy love you very, very much. You bring more joy to our lives than we could have ever imagined. Happy Birthday little man.

Remembering Ian's Birthmother

My thoughts have turned to India the past couple of days. I keep thinking about Ian's birth mother. I'm sure it's because of his birthday. While we'll never meet her, we will always be grateful that she made an adoption plan for Ian. When I look at him, I know she must have been a beautiful and kind woman. I bet she has a great smile and that's where Ian's fabulous smile comes from. Whatever her circumstances were that led her to give Ian up, I know that in her heart it had to be painful. I wonder if she's thinking about him today?

Today we'll light a candle in her honor as we celebrate Ian's birthday. I'm Ian's momma now, but someday we'll share the story of his brave birth mother.

Another Dillon family posted the lyrics to this song by Michael McLean, "From God's Arms, To My Arms, To Yours. I find it extremely poignant as we prepare to celebrate Ian's birthday and remember that I am not the only mother who loves this amazing child.

From God's Arms, To My Arms, To Yours

So many wrong decisions in my past,
I'm not quite sureIf I can ever hope to trust my judgement anymore.
But lately I've been thinking,
Cause it's all I've had to do.
And in my heart I feel that I Should give this child to you.
And maybe, you could tell your baby,
When you love him so, that he's been loved before,
By someone, who delivered your one,
From God's arms, to my arms, to yours.

If you choose to tell him,
If he wants to know,
How the one who gave her life
Could bear to let him go.
Just tell him there were sleepless nights,I prayed and paced the floors,
And knew the only peace I'd find,
Was if this child was yours.
And maybe, you could tell your baby,
When you love him so, that he's been loved before,
By someone, who delivered your one,From God's arms, to my arms, to yours.

This may not be the answer,
For another girl like me.
But I'm not on a soapbox,
Saying how we all should be.
I'm just trusting in my feelings,
And I'm trusting God above,
And I'm trusting you can give this baby
Both his mothers' love.
And maybe, you could tell your baby,
When you love him so, that he's been loved before,
By someone, who delivered your one,From God's arms, to my arms, to yours.

Ian = God Is Gracious

Ian's name says it all....GOD IS GRACIOUS. He chose us to be the parents of this amazing little guy. We are so, so blessed.

These are Ian's Easter and 2nd Birthday pictures. Ian will turn 2 on March 24th. Where is the time going. He's looking much too grown up in these pictures.

Love him, love him, love him!!!!

Ryan's Weekend

This past weekend we celebrated with our good friends Mike and Donna. Their son, Ryan, turned 2 last Thursday. His birthday party was Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning was his baptism. So, we headed to Owasso two days in a row to share in Ryan's special weekend. These are a few pictures from the weekend activities.

Happy Birthday Ryan and God Bless you on your Baptism. We love you!!!

Circus, Circus

Sunday, we went to the Akdar Shrine Circus. Ian's first circus. He's still a little young for the whole thing, but he did GREAT. Aside from being passed between Charlie and I the entire time, he was wonderful. He didn't care for the aerial acts and such, but was interested in the animals and the little Shriner cars. Our friend Marcia organized the event for us. Overall....a good day. The pictures are from the event. You'll notice that he didn't quite know what to think at first and by the end (or about 15 minutes before the end) he crashed. He was sound asleep. But, the show lasted 3 hours. That's a long time for an almost 2 year old. Later in the evening (maybe I should say later the next morning...around 4am) we discovered that part of his drooling, fussing and sleeping was due to teething. He's cutting another tooth. I'll be so happy for him when they're all in. Bless his little heart.

Friday night, I had the opportunity to go to the airport to welcome home another Dillon family that was returning from India. Grace, Shane and baby Jadyn made it in to Tulsa around 11:10pm Friday night. There were tons of people at the airport to welcome them and I was honored to be part of that celebration. Jadyn is precious. She has the cutest little smile. Grace and I have chatted alot via email through her process and we met in August at India Camp. They are a sweet couple that waited a LONG, LONG time to bring this precious little angel home. God is so good!!!

Ian is sleeping now and hopefully he has a better night than last. He has to be tired. His birthday is coming up in just under a month. I can't believe that he'll soon be two. Where does the time go?

This tired momma is going to bed. More about our adorable Ian soon.

Saturday Pics

Happy Conner Family....a Forever Family for one year

Ian and Molly Mei. Molly is the special little girl God placed in our lives to teach us that we needed to build our family through adoption. Special, specialy child who is now 4...going on 14.

Ian crashes on the sofa after a day of excitement and too much CAKE.

Gotcha Day 2007

Today was an extra special day. We played around the house, napped, ran out to pick up a cake, watched the video from last year when we picked Ian up and then went to India Palace for dinner. After dinner, Brad came over and the Gilmartin's joined us. Steph, Paul and Molly were coming from a Lunar New Year Celebration. It's hard to believe that it's been a year since we were in India.

I keep trying to upload pictures from this evening, but I'm not having much luck. Hopefully I'll be able to do that tomorrow. Ian did great today and loved eating "cake". It's almost 11:30 and fell asleep around 11:00pm....WAY, WAY past his bedtime.

It was a great "Gotcha Day"......our first of many.

One Amazing Year Ago

Scenes from February 17, 2006....the day our precious babies were placed in our arms. We were blessed to share this day with Michele and Todd Borski (from Wisconsin). When Ian and Ahylana became part of our families forever, our lives changed....for the better. Both kids are simply amazing.

It was rather hot and humid in Kolkata the day we met our precious son. Our driver was scheduled for 11:00am. The orphanage was about 30 minutes from our hotel. We were going to be early for our noon appointment, but with traffic in Kolkata you just never know...so we wanted to be sure. First time parents...can't be late. :) As we drove through the streets of Kolkata, we tried to soak in as much of the culture as we could. We have the entire drive from the hotel to the orphanage on video and when we look back at it...wow...it's still overwhelming. We pulled up to the orphanage and were quickly whisked inside (with our trash bags of orphanage donations). We were greeted warmly by the staff and escorted upstairs to Ms. Roy's office. We could hear the babies crying in the other room. My stomach fell to my feet. I would like to say that's when I started crying, but those of you who know me well know that I was crying the entire ride from the hotel. I did compose myself so I wouldn't be a crazy red faced woman when we met Ian. Ms. Roy went over all of our paperwork and then went over the paperwork with Michele and Todd. She talked to us about their food and what they were eating. Gave us their schedule and then asked the Ayah's to bring them in. They were supposed to bring Ian in first, but the first baby coming in had a cute little dress on...so oooops...we had to scramble to switch cameras and start taking pictures of the Borski Family. As I remember it, Todd couldn't move too fast because he was simply awestruck by seeing Ahlyana. It was a beautiful and tender moment. Shortly after Ahlyana was brought in, our moment arrived. This beautiful baby boy that we had prayed for and loved was finally coming through the door. I remember swallowing hard and reaching for my baby. Charlie was behind me as the Ayah gently transferred him to my arms. We couldn't talk. All we could do was hug and kiss this sweet boy. Then I handed him to Charlie. To watch Charlie with him at that moment made me fall in love with Charlie all over again. You could see the love for his son shining through.

I've been trying to think of just the right things to say in this post. It's not happening. Today is such a special day...it's GOTCHA DAY!!! The day we became a forever family. It's hard to express what I'm feeling today. The memories of a mere year ago keep coming back and I get so emotional. The day we finally looked at his smiling face, the tears we shed, the frustrations we felt and the agony of waiting disappeared. Those feelings have been replaced with joy, wonder and amazement.

We're going out to dinner this evening to our favorite Indian restaurant to celebrate. Then we're coming home for dessert. I'll post some pictures from today a little later.

We celebrate today....and thank God for the miracle of adoption.

Random Photos

From the top: 1) SUPER STAR; 2) Bath time is always fun (Charlie double dog dared me to caption this picture in a different way....but no); 3) Yeah..I like this flower....OK?; 4) Momma's #1 (of course Daddy wasn't in the room at the time); 5) If you're happy and you know it shout Hooray...HOORAY!!!!; 6) Daddy's so silly; 7) Zonked out on the sofa after our first Valentine's Day together...Momma's special little valentine :)

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!!!! Ian and Daddy were so sneaky and cute. They gave Momma chocolates and not 1...not 2...not 3...but 4 DOZEN beautiful white roses this morning. Charlie had put everything together last night and wouldn't let me go back in the kitchen to get a drink. I should have known he was up to something. It's the first time in 20 years I've had roses and chocolates on Valentine's day.

One year ago today we left for India to pick up Ian. I've been so weepy the past few days just thinking about how God has truly blessed our lives. One short year ago all of our worlds were turned upside down, but God in His infinite wisdom knew exactly what we needed to do to make it through the rough patches. I'll post a bunch more on Saturday...our Gotcha Day.

There are several Dillon families traveling today to pick up their children. Grace and Shane (who live here in Oklahoma) and Anila and Lenin will all get their babies exactly one year after we did. Another family will pick their daughter on Monday. One family should be in India now and they will get their daughter tomorrow. What an exciting time for all of these families. But, it wouldn't be India adoption without a few hiccups. These families are traveling without their child's passport being in the hands of the orphanage director, Anju. Remember our struggle last year? This year it's worse.....there was a fire in the passport office. They are telling Anju that they should be able to get the passports to her this week. However, if they don't the families will be delayed in Kolkata. Please pray that the passports are in Anju's hands before the families arrive.

What's the cliche? Love is in the air....wow that's really appropriate for the families that are traveling today....as it was for us and the Borski's as we headed to India just one short year ago to finally hold our amazing children.

Hug someone today....it's Valentine's Day!!!

Growing Up

Today, Ian officially moved up to the next class at daycare. He's in a big boy room now. Wow. It's hard to believe. Charlie and I visited there over lunch today. He was sleeping soundly on his little cot. They have a lot more room in there, plus they do lots of activities during the day. He has adjusted beautifully. He visited the class on Tuesday, spent a little more time there yesterday and then today...he's there full time. He's also saying more words now. The latest in his vocabulary are teacher, school, apple, and church. He tries to say just about anything we ask him to. We often times can't understand it, but he's trying. We also noticed tonight that he picked up an ink pen from the table and tried to write on the paper. Where has my baby boy gone?

We're having a much colder winter than normal in Tulsa. We've had over 15 inches of snow this winter and more is expected. Yuck.

I looked back at some of the posts from last year on this blog. One year ago, there were 8 families waiting for passports so they could travel to pick up their children. 6 families passports were issued and they received that notice one year ago today. The 2 families that did not get passports were the Borski's and us. We ended up traveling with the Borski's and it worked out beautifully, but I remember how devastated I was last year when we didn't have his passport. There are several Dillon families in similar situations this year. One family just returned from India last week. They were able to get updated photos of the children. I know the families are just thrilled to get the pictures, but...it's hard at the same time. You are longing to be with your child and while you want to see the pictures it makes the wait that much more difficult. Especially when you see how much they have grown. Two of the families are waiting on passports. One of those is an Oklahoma family. If everything goes as planned, they will leave on Valentine's day and they will get their daughter, Jadyn on February 17th. Exactly the same date we became a forever family last year. They will return back to Oklahoma on February 23rd. We're planning on being at the airport to welcome them home. It's been a long, long journey for them...and it's not over.

As you're reading this, I would just ask that you pause for one quick moment and pray for the families who are waiting to travel to get their children. Only God can control the situation and only God can comfort them.

I was a mess last year on February 1st. Today...I was a mess again. Not because we were waiting....but because my baby is growing up. :)

22 Months Old

Today Ian turned 22 months old. I can't believe that my baby is nearly 2 years old. Wow...it just doesn't seem real. The last 11 months have been a blur but they have been filled with so much excitement and love. I can't imagine life without this sweet boy. Charlie and I look at each other sometimes and try to figure out what we did before we had Ian. He is such a perfect fit for our family and he brings such joy to our lives.

He does, however, have quite the temper. He's in a hitting phase. Partly because I think he's bored at daycare. He seems to hit more when he's bored or really tired. It's a rough phase, but I know we'll get through it.

Ian and Charlie have had this yucky virus that's going around. I'm hoping and praying that they don't pass it on to momma.

I guess I need to start planning Ian's 2nd birthday party....yikes! In between we have Valentine's Day (we left for India last year on Valentine's Day) and then February 17th is our Forever Family Day (or Gotcha Day). So the next couple of months will be full of celebrations.

Happy Adoption Day Ian

FINALLY....It's Official

At 2:30pm today, Ian's adoption became final!!! Woo, Hoo!!!!

Charlie and I picked Ian up from daycare around 1:15pm and headed to the courthouse. I cried the almost the entire way. I was just so emotional. Finally it was our turn. We went in the courtroom...and of course the ceiling fans were on...so Ian was fascinated by them and quite vocal about both the fans and the lights. As we were taking our oath, the tears started flowing again. So, the judge passed a box of tissue to me. I took two out, so I gave one to Ian. Then, the precious little one that he is....reached up with his tissue to dry Momma's tears. How sweet was that? Even the judge was a bit choked up with that one. Needless to say, I needed another tissue. They asked us a couple of questions and the judge said a few words to us and then....poof...adoption granted.

Donna and Ryan joined us at the hearing. It was so special having Donna there. The Haverty's and The Conner's started the adoption journey about the same time. We both attended the Dillon Adoption Workshop on the same day and then kept bumping in to one another at other Dillon functions. They received their referral of Ryan in May 2005 and brought him home from Korea in August. We received Ian's referral just one week after that. Ryan is 3 weeks older than Ian. They are a wonderful family and we're so happy to call them friends.

Of course, Brad was there as well. Brad and I have been friends for about 16 years now. We've been through a lot and he seems more like my brother than just my friend. He's such an important part of our family. Ian loves his Uncle Brad...or "Bad" as Ian says.

This evening we had some people over for a celebration. Lots of wonderful friends were here to share in our happiness. We had a wonderful time.

It was a fabulous day!!!! Ian is now officially "Ian Everett Kushal Conner"...and an AMERICAN CITIZEN. Yippee!!!

I'll post some pictures from today in a separate post.

Thanks to all of you who celebrated with us and those who also prayed for us as we went through this part of our journey.

Ice, Ice Baby

The frozen tundra....that's Tulsa. I've never seen so much ice. Actually, I haven't even been outside since Friday afternoon. We have about 2 inches of ice and it's supposed to get down to 8 degress tonight with a high tomorrow of 20. I've got just a wee bit of cabin fever. I'm going to work tomorrow and Charlie is staying home with Ian (his daycare is closed). Since my office was closed today, I was home with Ian and Charlie worked. I'm so thankful that we have understanding employers.

Ian is going a bit stir crazy too. This afternoon, he'd had enough. He walked to the front door and began pounding on it and crying. He really wanted to go outside, but it's way too cold. Especially since he's just getting over a cold. He's not used to being couped up in the house for 4 straight days. Maybe we can take him out sometime tomorrow. Hopefully his daycare will be open on Wednesday.

One Dillon family left today (from Ohio) to get their little boy, Micah. They are the first family to travel since last June. Isn't that crazy? Several families are now waiting on passports and about 9 families are still waiting for their guardianship papers to be signed by the crazy judge. My heart truly goes out to these families. We didn't have the problem with guardianship that these families have had. Of course, our problem was with his passport. All of the families that are still waiting on guardianship are supposed to have their cases heard this week. So, please say a quick little prayer for them. These children need to come home and be with their families.

As I posted a few days ago, Friday is our big day. That's the day we finalize Ian's adoption. Woo, hoo!!! We're very excited that this day is finally here. As vocal as Ian is, I can only imagine how the court appearance is going to go. I'll be sure to post pictures of the momentus occasion.

My boys are sleeping soundly, so I'm going to go to bed now and get some rest before I tackle the roads tomorrow morning.

Brrrrr....cold

There's no doubt about it...winter is here. We have about 2 inches of ice everywhere. We're expecting more tomorrow. The temps are in the low 20's are are expected to dip into the single digits on Monday night. Brrrrrrrrrrrr. We've been confined to the house. The roads are too bad to go out. It's been a pretty fun day of playing. Tomorrow promises to be more of the same.

Just a couple of new things in the past day or so. Ian put his first words together last night...or at least the first that we understood. He said to our dog Molly "go pee" (which is what we say to here when she goes outside to potty). We'd probably better watch what we're saying, hmmm? Charlie reminds me of that on a pretty regular basis :)

In one of the crazy, non sleeping moments last night I realized that he was attempting to climb out of his crib. He was mad and sleepy. That's the first time I've noticed it though. We'll see how much longer we can keep him in the crib.

He's still the greatest kid ever and we look at him each day and know just how truly blessed we are. Our adoption finalization is set for Friday (January 19th). Woo, hoo!!! We'll be glad when this is over. We will celebrate "Gotcha Day" (the day we actually picked him up) in just about a month (February 17th). Looking forward to celebrating that milestone. It's hard to believe that it's been almost a year. My, my time flies.

Maybe more tomorrow if I'm still confined to the house with my two wonderful boys.

Bad Day Forgotten

Today was a miserable day for me at work. Just lots of stuff going on. I was stressed and tired and in a pretty lousy mood. I talked to Charlie on the way home and prepared him for my rotten mood. When I walked into the garage, the door opened and there were my boys...Charlie and Ian. Charlie said he thought it would make me feel better. He gave me a quick kiss and then said..."now you can really feel better....go get Momma Ian." Ian promptly ran to me and held his little arms up for me to pick him up. The moment I held him, my lousy day was forgotten. Amazing. The innocence and unconditional love of a child can make all of the stuff that I stress about at work seem to disappear (maybe he just needs to come to work with me). Plus...what a sweet and thoughtful thing for Charlie to meet me at the door with a kiss and an amazingly adorable baby. My boys are awesome!!!!

Happy New Year

Happy 2007!!!

2006 was an AMAZING year for us. For those of you who have followed this blog, you know all of the details and how many ups and downs we have had. At the close of 2006, we have so much to be thankful for...but the best of all is our sweet Ian.

The year began with us waiting, not so patiently for Ian's passport to be issued in Kolkata. There was a snag, of course and we were the last ones in our group to get travel clearance. It was grueling for us. Then, finally on Valentine's Day we left for India to meet this incredible baby we had only seen in pictures and video. The trip was long and tiring. When we arrived in India it was beyond description. Kolkata was simply overwhelming. On Friday, February 17th we met the child we had prayed for...our amazing Ian. It was the most incredible day. After 10 days in India we returned to the USA. It was so good to be home.

Of course, being home brought all new challenges for us first time parents. We struggled at the beginning, but all in all...it was better than we expected it to be. Through the year we battled ear infections, colds and the like with Ian. Charlie battled two staph infections. Except for colds and such, I've been pretty healthy. Thank goodness. Ian has adjusted to day care beautifully. Ian has grown from around 18 pounds when we first got home to 25 pounds now. He's developing beautifully and his hydrocephalus is not an issue at all. Ian's buddy, Mia arrived in Oklahoma City just 15 minutes before her first birthday in May. What a wonderful experience to be a part of their homecoming. We have been able to get the two of them together a couple of times since then. We're hoping to see the Tuckers later this month.

The most frustrating thing for us this year was the inability to finalize Ian's adoption in 2006. It's a long, long story and we're extremely irritated. Hopefully we'll be able to finalize sometime soon.

As we head into a new year, we pause to give thanks for a remarkable 2006. We pray that 2007 will be filled with love, laughter, fun and health for all of us. We pray that the families that are still waiting to get guardianship and passports to pick up their children in Kolkata will hear good news this week. And, we pray for all of you...May God continue to bless you and hold you in his loving arms. Happy New Year!!!!