Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Happy Birthday AJ






Happy Birthday AJ!

We celebrated your 4th birthday today.

I wished you were home with us, and I pray this is your last birthday without a family.

We baked a cake and sang Happy Birthday to you.

Next year we will teach you blow out your candles.




Birthdays are very special to us (some of us even celebrate for a week).

A little mail came today for you.  It's a letter stating your I-800 application had been received.  It's not a lot of news, but it's one tiny step closer to having you here. 

Love,
Mom, Dad, and Brody

 

Friday, May 10, 2013

A Name

Brody's Great Grandfather and Grandmother
 From our ancestors come our names, but from our virtues our honors.  ~Proverb


We have decided on a name for our second son.  I must say it's a lot easier naming a child as a baby than a soon to be four year old.  We looked at his face over and over as we tried to decide.  Then a video came and we got to see a tiny bit of his personality.  As I watched him, I knew we could not give up his first name.  It's the only thing he has that is his.  We also want him to have that heritage from India. So A________ is a keeper (still keeping that part confidential).

For his middle name we are giving him a Brice heritage.   Brody's middle name is after his great grandfather.  And A's middle name will be after his great grandmother- JAMES.  They are both wonderful people to be named after, and we are proud to carry on those names.

Since "A" is very long and difficult to pronounce, we are combining the first letter of each name to make up what we will call him.  Our son's name is AJ Brice.

I smile every time I say AJ.  This Mother's Day is the sweetest one yet!  I'm a proud mother of two precious boys.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Smiling With A Little Crying


We have been smiling for two weeks now.  I have had the best time showing off "A"'s picture to my friends when I see them.  Sorry, no pictures on the internet of our precious A. That's means some of you just need to come visit me.  It's awesome to finally have another child!  I'm sure I will be excited for a long time!

Today has been filled with smiles and tears.  It's bittersweet to get all of his information and new pictures in the mail.  The first thing I see in the package are those beautiful eyes.  I can't get over that sweet face!  Along with his medical records which I will keep private for now, was a very detail description of how and why his mother gave him up.  Neither Ryan nor I could hardly get through reading it.  It's heartbreaking.  I cried at what his mother went through.  She is a brave woman.  A woman who deserves so much better in life. She was counseled with a social worker who shared horrifying details with his orphanage.  I understand why she had to give him up, and I pray there will be peace in her heart.  We will never know her name, but I love this woman for bringing such joy into our lives.

I don't want to get anyone else crying so let me tell you something AMAZING.  We got a video of A!!!  This is completely unheard of in the adoption world.  Most people get a paragraph and a picture.  We have pages of information, pictures, and a video. WHAT!!!  I love this orphanage for taking the time to put it together.  It's several different clips of him on different days.  Amazing, just amazing!  Seeing my little man running around is hard to put into words.  I got teary eyed again.  Of course these were tears of joy because that's our son.  I was so proud to see him sliding down a slide.  What a gift I will always treasure...he will always treasure! 

We feel very blessed knowing "A" is being taken care of in a wonderful environment.  The nicest bloggy friend EVER figured out from my last post when I mentioned the state and how organized the orphanage seemed to be that it had to be where her daughter was adopted from.  It's very neat how her daughter and our son were there at the same time.  She has shared pictures with me of the orphanage, and she has also shared great details of how nice of a place it is.  It was very comforting reading her emails.  So thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

It is so good to smile, and we have much to smile about!  And now I have a video of cutest little boy smiling back at me!!!