Merry Christmas and our 3-month-old

We've had a wonderful Christmas (that started last weekend with Jon's family, continued this weekend with my (Shelly's) family and will end next week after we're back home with our immediate family Christmas.  It's been fun for Jian to experience all of this family time - it's been a little rough at time, learning how to be a part of a family, but, he's been adjusting so well and enjoying gifts, games, food and fun. 

We have many reasons to celebrate today, three months ago today we added a new son to our family.   We talked about it with Jian and how he was nervous and he was surprised to hear that we were nervous too! We also celebrate the birth of another son, Jesus, who was born so that he could die to save us and allow us all to be adopted into His family.  What a special and memorable day.

Merry Christmas!  

A Delightful December

Well, my goal was to get these pictures on before Christmas, and it looks like I will succeed in doing that!  We’ve had a good and busy December.  Here are some fun pictures of Jian’s first December in America.

Jian has continued to do amazingly well.  Some days though, are rough.  He is not used to boundaries or rules, of course, 14 years in an orphanage, why would we think he would?  He wants to learn and wants to please.  He’s a true joy.  Some days, it’s really frustrating and feels like it’s all about reminders, corrections, apologies and re-teaching. Thankfully, he’s not purposefully mean or deceitful most of the time, it’s just lack of knowledge!  We’re also so happy with how honest he can be about what he’s feeling and why he’s upset.  What a true blessing that is, and helps to try to resolve some problems.  He still requires a lot of supervision as he’s learning what he can and can’t do, and how to behave appropriately. Most days, I’m so tired at the end of the day, but, it’s a good feeling going to bed knowing our two sons are right where they’re supposed to be.  Most days, it’s hard to remember that he hasn’t always been a part of our family.  The great thing about that is that,he always has, it was always in God’s plan, he just didn’t join our family until this year!

We are all looking forward to some time in Michigan this Christmas and are excited to experience Jian’s first Christmas in America.  It’s been a real joy showing him the real reason we celebrate Christmas and having evening Advent readings together and seeing him learn more and more every day, what an honor to be chosen to teach him these things. 

Still working on writing about Jian’s adoption…..someday it will be finished!  So, here are our December pictures!

Tanner’s tree preference,        Here’s the tree we chose                Our 2010 Christmas tree 

 

Both boys enjoyed participating in the annual Christmas program for the Brazos Valley Regional Day School for the Deaf

 

       Our annual skating with Santa!  Jian LOVED his first time ice skating, and was quite a natural!

We wish you a blessed and wonderful Christmas!

Thankful and Thanksgiving

I’m a little behind, but, still thankful!  Unfortunately I took no pictures of our Thanksgiving dinner!  We had a great traditional Thanksgiving with our friends, the Boysen family.  Jian thought the food was ok – the rest of us loved it.  We then left Thursday evening to go camping with Jon’s family and to celebrate one of Jon’s cousins marriage. 

Here are some pictures of Jian’s first camping trip.  We were thankful for electricity and heaters since it was around 30 degrees a couple of nights!

 

 

Jian and his Great-Grandpa Olson

We’re so thankful to have a new son to teach about Thanksgiving.  We’re thankful he’s adjusting so well and a joy to have around.  We’re thankful that Jian is asking a lot of questions about His Savior and often tells Jesus thank you for his new parents that brought him to America!  We’re thankful for 2 sons who have a lot of fun no matter what they’re doing and that they love each other. 

We also cut down and set up our Christmas tree….I’ll try to get to that post before Christmas actually happens!

Precious!!

Today I was explaining adoption to a teenager (who made the comment that I was not Jian's "real mom" :)). I explained how I am his real mom, regardless of whether or not I gave birth to him. Then, Jian asked me what we were saying (he was behind me and saw half of my conversation).  So, I did, and his response was this: "In China I didn't have a mom or dad, now I have a mom and dad, God helped me to get a mom and dad.  Thank you God for giving me a mom and dad!"

WOW - can you get any more precious than that?  I had a bit of a hard time finding my way to the car through my tears!

A Party and a Plan

Wow, time sure does slip away quickly!  I can't believe it's the middle of November already.  We'll have been home for 4 weeks already tomorrow, and we've been a family of 4 for 7 weeks!  In many ways it seems as though we've always been a family and seems strange to have done many things without Jian! 

My parents came from Michigan to meet Jian - and we all had a great time together.  I can't believe I never got a picture of them all together, but, maybe that's because Jian rarely stands still.  We enjoyed several days together, and I appreciated them spending time with Jian giving me a little break to clean, do laundry, and rest, as well as them taking us out to eat for several meals.

Grandpa and Jian playing footall

Grandpa and Tanner enjoying watching football

 Grandma and the boys baking cookies.

Last week some generous and wonderful friends had a special welcome home party for Jian.  It made him feel so special and loved.  We feel tremendously blessed and overwhelmed by everyone's generosity and kindness.  Such wonderful memories!  Check out this picture, thanks Kathy Johnson for these great shirts - the boys LOVED them!

Below is a slideshow of pictures from that fun day.

So, things are really still going amazingly well.  We praise God for his amazing provisions for us.  Our communication is continuing to improve and Jian is settling in so well.  He's doing great at school in the mornings and really motivated to learn both at home and at school.  We're doing a lot of teaching, re-directing, correcting, modeling, etc. to show him appropriate behavior, proper ways to respond, etc.  He responds so well to these things and we're very thankful for that.  He hasn't said much about missing anyone until yesterday.  He mentioned several times that he missed his chinese parents (the people who would take him home from the orphanage on weekends).  He wrote them a letter and brought up several times about missing them, it's sad for him to miss them, yet good that he had bonded with them and so good that he is missing them. 

Overall we're doing well, some days are more exhausting than others, and some days are much easier.  One day this week I was thinking how much easier an infant would be.  Later, I reminded myself that at least I don't have to get up in the middle of the night with Jian :) and, that it may seem easier to me at the moment, but, that has not been God's plan for our life (and easier is definitely a relative term.) 

I love seeing him really begin to understand and comprehend things, it's so exciting.  Today Jian asked me what he would do for work when he grows up.  After explaining that he could do whatever he wanted to do, he replied that he couldn't get a job in China because he was deaf or that he would clean streets.  He's correct.  He could hardly believe that he could do any job.  What a blessing that we can live in this country where we truly can do almost anything we want, and that God brought him to us.  It's so exciting to think about the possibilities that God has planned for his future. 

OK, well, I still want to get to writing Jian's story before the adoption, and we've even recently learned more about others praying for him before we ever knew about him - how phenomenal is that?!  What a generous, gracious heavenly Father who loves this boy so much more than we ever could. 

" "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11