I feel this crazy need to back-track a bit... How has it been one year since we came home with our daughter and how has this blog avoided me for almost as long?!
The Reader's Digest version follows (that's actually an impossibility for those of you who know me!):
We returned to the USA with Josie two days before Halloween 2008. Our dear friends, the Bouchers, hosted us for Thanksgiving. Ned left on December 7th for a 6-month tour in Iraq. My mom and Bill spent a great Christmas with us while Ned joined via Skype from Iraq.
The New Year (2009) came and went with Josie battling giardia and only what I can call the "snots." Every day was filled with several bouts of diarrhea (seriously 5-8 times per day, in her crib, in the car, at the park, in her pj's) and four-inch long green snots shooting from the depths of her lungs.
SIDE NOTE: There's a certain level of fantasy that comes along with pre-adoption. Imagining a child instantly bonding with you, needing you and loving you is common. Most of us know that most internationally adopted children will have health issues. My husband and I are realists; we knew that this adoption would come with some hard knocks. Let me just say that the reality of having an adopted child in your home from Africa hits like more than the ton of bricks we were expecting. Snug down your hard hats, tighten up your flak jacket and pull up your boot-straps kids! The ride is 150% worth it, but it's downright crazy!
I ran my own little physical therapy camp with Josie. She had never learned to even crawl at 10 months of age. With the boys, we practiced crawling, we did strength exercises, we mastered standing and we read as many books as we could to reinforce her language skills (English wasn't spoken in her room other than by the occasional missionary passing through). She began walking at 13 months and she started talking by 18 months in full-blown English. Josie continues to be a chatterbox and talks in almost full sentences...she won't be two until January 2nd, 2010! We're constantly blown away by how smart this little lady is.
Fortunately Josie finally beat the giardia in May and that was the first month I recall having a "normal," healthy little girl. Her improved health changed her demeanor and she really started to come out of her shy shell at that point. Now we were seeing a smiling, funny, much more adventurous Josie!
Also in May, a wonderful new friend I met through her failed first-adoption attempt in Rwanda received the incredible news that she was in fact going to be the mother of a Rwandan boy from Mother Teresa's orphanage. She brought him home in June!
Ned came home from Iraq on June 11th (the kids' last day of school) - Thank Goodness!
We spent a few weeks getting everyone reaquainted and then traveled to OH, IN and NC to visit family and friends for three weeks. It was fantastic for Ned (and for the bonding process) to be able to come home to a cute, sweet, funny and chatty little girl.
Summer was filled with days at the pool, the beach, Legoland and with friends.
Did I mention that throughout this entire time my dad was battling a strange form of cancer called follicular lymphoma? I'm thrilled to say that after a year of chemotherapy, radiation and emotional turmoil, he's CANCER FREE! Awesome battle, Daddio!
September 2009 found us up against a time-line we weren't even aware existed. The US Marine Corps will help reimburse families for some of the cost of an adoption as long as the request is submitted within one year of the final adoption AND if the family has re-adopted the child in their state of residence in the US. Our adoption was final on Oct 17th, 2008 - egad. Ned was due to leave for six weeks of desert training on September 28th, the kids were starting school Sept 2nd and our post-adoption placement study and update to our home-study weren't complete.
Talk about crazy - somehow we pulled everything off in time! The re-adoption allowed us to officially change Josie's name from Alliette Henriette Ntakirutiman to Josie Alliette Biehl and most importantly, it provides Josie with a California birth certificate. Amazing!
This Halloween was a repeat of last year with a majority of us as Star Wars characters and a couple deserters who went with Transformers :)
A barrage of somewhat chronilogical pics will follow all of this. So much for the Reader's Digest version, eh?! Now we find ourselves in November and looking forward to spending the holidays with Ned this year.
I hope to do a better job of keeping up with this blog - and with all of you who have so kindly taken the ride with us...
1 comment:
Dear Meg and Ned,
I found your blog when our daughter Jaya was about to hear if she and her family would be successful with a Rwandan adoption the second time- I read all of your entries, every one. And then I reread them. Somewhere along the line I left a comment on this blog- and then as J's journey progressed, the amazing similarities struck me. I believe, not until little Pacifique was in the van on the way 'home' for the first time, did I mention Ned and Meg- and S told me that you had been helping all along! Bless you both! The shivers came again when I read this post- your Reader's Digest condensation about little Josie and your 1st year together is full of such promise and beauty and joy and love. This is a bit belated, but a very Happy New Year to you, one and all. And thank you from the bottom of my heart. Diana - Bubby to Ariah and Pacifique
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