Let the Games Begin!

It seems like just yesterday that I wrote this post about the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.  If someone would have told me then that I would have a 3 and 8 year old from Ethiopia at the next Olympic Games, I think I would have laughed at them. . .

And here we are just two years later. . . the Summer Games are here. . . and we have not one but TWO Ethiopians living in our house! This certainly makes watching the Olympics much more fun. 

In true Olympic fashion, during the opening ceremonies we hosted a party where our guests dressed representing their favorite country or sport.  (Read more on the fun details of the party on my cousin Amy's blog.)  Solomon decided to dress as Kenenisa Bekele, the Ethiopian runner who won Gold and set world records in the 5000m and 10000m races in Beijing. 

Here are a few fun Ethiopian Olympic facts for ya:

• There are 35 Ethiopian Olympians participating in this year's games.
• While Ethiopians have obvious, natural abilities in the track and field category, this year Ethiopia will have TWO swimmers enter the games.
• Yanet Seyoum, the countries first female swimmer to enter the games, did most of her training at a public pool where her mom timed her on her cell phone.  Read her story here.

And here is our sweet Joseph.  He dressed up as a US Men's Soccer player.  (Don't tell him that the US Men's team didn't even make the Olympics.)  :)

Soccer, Swimming, Spiderman and Silliness

As you can see - we are having fun around here!!  We've still got a long way to go, but things are looking up as far as our adjustment as a family.  We know that all of your prayers have had so much to do with the improvement that we have seen over the last week.  Thank you!

Here's a little of what we have been up to!!

Joseph at Soccer Camp - have you ever seen anything so cute?

Solomon did VERY well in his first organized sport ever!

Aggressively attacking the ball is his strength.

Oh yes - loving the new Spiderman pajamas.

Nightly silliness after Daddy gets home from work.

This is why I am now reading the book "Bringing up Boys." 
(We three girls did not do things like this.)

Swimming will never get old.

This is the face we fell in love with on the Waiting Child list one year ago.
Oh - how we love you sweet Solomon!

Keepin it Real

Today I am going to share a little of what we have been going through as a family for the last week or so.  I share this not only to keep this blog real, but also for my fellow adoptive families who may go through similar situations in the future. 

Imagine for a moment an 8 year old child that you know well - maybe your son, nephew, or good friend's child.  Imagine moving that child from their nice, comfortable life here in the US to the middle of Africa.  All familiarity is now gone.  They are now placed into an environment where they have new parents, a new language, new food, new home, new neighborhood, new friends, new school, and completely different culture.  Oh - and imagine throwing on top of this experiencing the death of a birthparent in the past.

Anger. Confusion. Depression. Terror.

This is what our sweet son is enduring right now.  Grieving. He has lost so much in his short life and been through so much recent change that we really shouldn't be surprised.  His grieving comes in various forms including anger, defiance, and most frequently long episodes of crying. No - actually sobbing. Believe me - seeing your child hurt like this is heart wrenching. 

So, yes, our honeymoon period has ended and the reality of what this adoption means has started to set in.  We are parenting a traumatized child and it is hard.  We have talked to many other adoptive families, spoken with our adoption agency, and have read many books about this topic.  We knew it was coming.  We knew when we decided to adopt an older child that there would be many challenges that would come along with it.  But when you are in the thick of it, it is still hard. 

The silver lining you may be wondering?  We follow a God who heals and mends broken hearts!  And He knew all of this would happen.  Our reliance on Him is what has gotten us this far and what will give us the strength to endure.  It is also what we KNOW will heal our son's heart in time.  Would you pray that God would bind up Solomon's wounds?

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.  Psalm 147:3

So - I share this story to keep it real for those of you who have been considering adoption, not to be a Debbie Downer. :) Adoption is wonderful, but it is also very hard.  My previous posts have shown the "happy airport" pictures, but I think it is only fair to share this side of the story too.  (You may also want to read another After the Airport post by a well known author and adoptive mom Jen Hatmaker.)

Now, with all that being said, I should also say that most of the time life is WONDERFUL at our house.  Solomon is a sweet, sweet boy and we love that God has given him to our family.  We are having some great times as a family and could not imagine things any differently.  Here are a few shots of some of our fun times the last few weeks.

Trying out his bike.

Brotherly love.

Quality time on the Wii.

First Cardinals game!