Day #23 I am grateful for adoption.
♥️ I chose national adoption day to express my gratitude for adoption. Three of our five children have come into our family by adoption. While there is no difference in the way Mark & I love any of our children, I do recognize and honor the unique way we were blessed with them. The heartache and loss that had to occur for these children to join our family will never be lost on me. I respect and honor their first mothers and acknowledge the loss that is inherent with the adoption process. It is difficult for me to put into words the gratitude I have for the blessing that these children are in our lives and I love them so very much. 💓
I am including photos from the first moments that we met Noah, Eleanor Abigaëlle & Evelyn Abigaïlle.
The first time we saw Noah he was six days old and he was placed into my arms wearing a little yellow outfit and was wrapped in a yellow blanket. Noah was such a calm baby and after making it through a fairly tumultuous preteen stage 🤪 he is turning out to be a pretty chill teenager also! He is very artistic and enjoys theater, playing the guitar, directing short films, singing, and producing stop motion. He loves to talk and is very open in sharing things about his life with me. He’s one of very few people that I can actually enjoy shopping with and we can talk about life, politics, movies and he enjoys eating a variety of interesting foods! He is bright, witty, and a lot of fun to be around. I love Noah so very much.
Eleanor Abigaëlle is such a happy little girl. She seems a bit quicker to adapt (to new foods, people, circumstances, etc) than her sister... but she does not like nap/bedtime. She spent less time with me (more with Mark or a gma) on most of our visits to Haiti, until the last visit when she insisted on dominating the amount of time being held by me and showered me with so much affection. She even bypassed the normal warmup period that happens upon our arrival and ran to me with open arms shouting “Manman!” (Mama) when she first saw me. I have noticed Eleanor showing an interest in soccer when other kids are playing it outside as she will sometimes dribble around a soccer ball. I have also seen her carrying around a football under her arm while supporting a pretty dress… I love that!
Evelyn Abigaïlle is such a sweetheart. She and I formed a very quick connection with one another. She is often a bit more cautious than her sister. She can be slower to warm up to new things (people, new foods, etc) but she is every bit as fun and spunky and silly as her sister if she feels comfortable. She goes down to sleep a lot better than her sister and seems to either enjoy or need a bit more sleep too. When given the choice she often chooses things that are blue/turquoise/purple in color as opposed to Eleanor’s draw to pink.
Both twins are very girlie and LOVE putting on pretty clothes. In fact they are usually more interested in what clothes or headbands we bring than what toys or books we have. Both twins adore baby dolls and dancing and think it is hilarious to tease. They really love when I introduce sign language with English words. They are very quick to learn and especially enjoy songs like many three-year-olds do. Our whole family already adores these two sweet girls and we can’t wait to have them here with us. 💕
As I expressed earlier, we admire and respect our children’s first mothers, who gave them life and loved them before we knew them. We are also so very grateful for those who are currently caring for our girls and the team of people who have diligently worked on our behalf and are doing all they can to finish processing the girls’ paperwork so they can come home. We are so grateful for each of you!
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| March 3, 2006 |
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| November 19, 2018 |
