Wow - Two days in a row...

Now that I figured out how to compress the video and the best way to load it for blogspot, I've got Henry's second talk all ready for you.

Again, the video quality isn't the best.  I was trying to watch him, video, take a picture, and follow along all at the same time.  The video drifted a few times.  Also, sound quality is bad again.  If you want to follow along, it was 1 Chronicles 11:1-14.

From my completely biased perspective, he did AWESOME!  I must say I was very nervous, though. 

It started with a breakdown on the way home from school with exclamations of being scared.  I reassured him that it was totally NORMAL to feel scared.

Then, dinner and the stomach ache.  Nerves in all their glory.  He had the fidgets horribly as we tried to get ready.

When we arrived at the hall, he was a ball of energy.  He kept telling me that he was too scared, that he was going to pee his pants, that his tummy ached.  I kept reassuring him, at the same time questioning if I had pushed him too hard. 

Then I reflected that I had not pushed him at all.  I had told him it was his choice and to only join if he was ready.  I explained that this was a long-term commitment, not just a one-time action.  I questioned him and challenged him if he was really ready.  And to make sure, I made him approach the school overseer on his own versus doing it for him.

For all his nerves, they seemed to disappear the minute his foot hit the stage.  All of my coaching about waiting until the podium was adjusted and the microphone put in place had been applied.  My encouragement to pace himself and not rush through the reading was taken.  And at the end, the radiant smile of someone quite proud with himself.  At the seat, a huge sigh of relief and a "whew, I'm glad that is over".  After the meeting, there were exclamations of "that wasn't so bad, I can't wait to do it again".  And me, beaming with maternal pride.  It couldn't have gone any better.

Hello, Remember Me?

Hi.  Yep, Henry and I are still alive.  Life has been hectic.

We had a very active summer, and fall has been pretty busy, too.

I thought that since Henry has his SECOND bible reading tonight, I should go ahead and post the video of his first one.  The sound quality of this is BAD.  If you want to follow along, he was reading 2 Samuel  22:1-20.  He practiced for weeks and weeks and did an awesome job.

Tonight, he'll be in the front school...on the stage...with a microphone.  I'm hoping he doesn't look up and chicken out.  (Note to self:  Talk to school coordinator and make sure he has a plan in case Henry chickens out.)

Wordless Wednesday

CA Recap from Last Weekend

Below is a photo recap of our CA program last weekend. It was a wonderful weekend and we had fun visiting with our friends. The program was very upbuilding with excellent reminders. The speakers all did a fabulous job. Our DO announced that they had been called away from their assignment and would be receiving a new assignment in the Education arena. He will be missed.

Here is Henry and Nana posing before the program on Saturday.


And here is Henry posing with Papa.


I snapped this because they both seemed to be enjoying themselves so much. Turns out Henry had talked Nana into telling him the story "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"


I take this picture every year as a point of comparison.


Here is the same picture taken during his first CA. It was March 2005.


Me and my baby!


Henry and Papa looking up scriptures. (The DO is in the background.)


Henry had a friend sit with him for the first time. Then he sat with another friend for the afternoon session.


Henry and his friends feeding the fish in the pond on the assembly hall grounds.

Henry enjoyed volunteering to help with our cleaning assignment during this assembly as well. Both days, we were assigned to help clean the dining room after lunch. Henry loved being in charge of the squirt bottle and several of the friends had him spraying the tables. He was also most excellent at putting the right number of chairs back at each of the tables after the vacuuming was complete. At the end of the program on Sunday, we were assigned to clean the water fountains. Henry really enjoyed this assignment, as well, as it also involved being in charge of the squirt bottle.

We also remembered to bring his wallet on Sunday and he extracted a sum of his choosing to place in the contribution box. I was quite proud of his willingness and generosity.

And each night after the program, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner with our friends. It was a perfect weekend, all the way around.

Friday Flashback

Today is November 20, a day that is etched in my memory. It was a day of comfort of finally being at home and being a mommy. I felt like my new life could finally begin.

We had along journey from Vladivostok back to Russia and I don't have a lot of pictures to document it. Here are a few, though.

Here we are with the wonderful Irina at the airport in Vlad, before checking in for the first of 3 flights that would take us home.


Here is Henry and Nana peeking out the window before we took off on our first flight.


And here is Henry sleeping on the seat between me and Nana on the longest leg of our journey, the segment between Seoul and San Francisco.

Overall, Henry was a trooper on the flights. For the first segment (about 2 hours long), he fell asleep and they had a little bassinet that hooked to the wall in the bulkhead seat. However, being untrained as I was, I accidentally bumped his head while putting him in there (already asleep). This woke him up and that was the end of him being in the bassinet or sleeping for the rest of that segment.

For some reason, we had very little time between our connection in Seoul. We had to go through Security again, and we were concerned that we would miss our next flight. So we were pretty much running from the time we got off the first airplane until we finally sat down on the next. Henry was starving and I remember him gnawing on his Robeez shoes while he rode along in his stroller.

As soon as we got settled on the flight between Seoul and San Francisco, I asked the flight attendant to fill his bottle with warm water so he could eat. He gobbled that bottle down as if he hadn't eaten for days. I think he ate it so quickly, that a few minutes later, he vomited it all up...all over him and all over me! Fortunately, I was prepared with a few changes of outfits for him...not so much for me. However, I was wearing layers, so I removed my top layer and was in pretty good shape.

He slept off an on during that long flight. I don't remember exactly how long that flight lasted, but it was an overnight flight. However, we passed over the international date line coming home, so we arrived on the same evening that we left...even though the trip exceeded 24 hours.

As we landed in San Francisco and went through customs, Henry officially became a US Citizen. Unfortunately, the US Government doesn't allow cameras/picture-taking in that part of the airport, so I have nothing to share with you. San Francisco is where we parted paths with Nana. After customs, she went one direction for her flight to Chicago, and we went another for our flight to Houston. Henry and I freshened up a bit, ate a bagel and waited for that final leg that would take us HOME.

I don't remember much about that last flight. I don't think Henry slept, but he was quiet and content on my lap playing with the few toys and books that I had packed for him. When we arrived at the airport in Houston, Leslie was there waiting for us. Again, the details are a bit fuzzy, but it seems like it was late on a Saturday night. By this time, Henry was DONE. I buckled him into the car seat, which was a whole new experience for him and he was cranky the whole way home. The only thing that seemed to sooth him was for me to hum the theme to Batman. If I stopped, he started crying. So all of the way home, I hummed "na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na BATMAN" over and over and over. Whatever it took.

Based on the recommendation of my pediatrician, and with the help of my wonderful best friend, Leslie, we had an open house the following day. Now, you may ask why it was recommended by my pediatrician. In fact, I had decided that we would "nest" when we arrived home to allow us both to bond to each other and to allow ourselves to begin settling into a routine of becoming a family. I wanted to limit external stimulation and allow Henry and I to merely focus on each other. However, I had a bunch of close friends that were just so excited to meet my new son that I couldn't put them off. So we decided to go with the "big bang approach" and let them all meet immediately. Then, we could settle down and focus on bonding and attaching.

Again, I don't have a lot of pictures from that evening as we were all just enjoying each others' company. And I can't say enough how nice and comforting it was just to be home. Here are a few:

And Henry seemed to instantly bond with Hailey!

That rest of November continued to be a steady stream of firsts, documented below with some of the pictures I have:

Wearing a "hand-me-down" outfit from his cousin, playing with some of his new toys.

Taking his first bath at home...he wasn't a fan of baths when he first arrived home, now I can't get him out of the shower!


His first piano recital!


Hanging out in his high chair while I prepared the next meal.


Attending his first book-study, back when we met in people's homes.


Being sized for his first pair of "good shoes".


Attending his first meeting at the Kingdom Hall.


Playing in his first box...favorite toy. Having a kid around 24/7 was new for Dolly, too. She's not quite sure what to think.


Having his first doctor's appointment with the wonderful Dr. Singhal (adoptive mother herself and featured on Discovery's Adoption Stories)


And all tuckered out after that doctor's visit, that involved drawing several vials of blood for all kinds of testing.

Reviewing these pictures to put together this blog post brought back all kinds of memories and reminded me of things I had totally forgotten about.

What I haven't forgotten is how grateful I feel to get to be Henry's parent! Prospective Adoptive Parents go into the journey called adoption, not knowing what they are going to come out with on the other side. For me, I can honestly say I have no regrets. My journey to Henry is THE best thing I've done in my life. He has become my heart and soul. And as we celebrate 5 years of being HOME, I wouldn't change a thing. That boy is my life!

Memorial '09 - Better Late Than Never

This year, we were honored to have Henry's teacher join us in attending the Memorial. She seemed to enjoy it. She brought her own bible and took notes.

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy:

Mama, blah, blah, blah Jack

This is what was discernible as Henry was practically yelling on about the 4th row of the Kingdom Hall. You see, he had fallen asleep during the meeting. Since it was freezing in the KH, I had moved him to my lap because he was using my shawl as a blanket. At one point, he stirred and called out Mama, some jibberish, and then Jack. Guess he was dreaming of playing with his buddy Jack.

A few minutes later, he did the same thing, except this time he was talking about how hungry he was. So I finally picked him up and moved to the back school for the rest of the meeting. After the meeting, he woke up and looked around. "Why are we back here?" he wanted to know....uh, because you kept yelling in the front hall.

So in the car, he again insists that he is starving and wants to know if he can have a snack when we get home. I ask him what he wants and he begs for carrots and dip. Every mother's dream.

Ready for the Meeting

While I was getting myself ready for the meeting, Henry was hibernating in his room working on a project. Soon, he emerged from his room with a "picture" that he had made for me. He then decided he needed to find the perfect place to hang it up so that I would be able to see it. So he wedged it into the cracks of my headboard.

Here is him with the picture:

If you will look, you will see all the letters that are used to spell his name. He doesn't quite have the concept of writing them in a single line yet. And, he's been working on the letter "R", and that is why there is an extra one. The other highlights of the drawing is the heart he drew especially for me; and the flower...a new item in his drawing repertoire.

And here is a shot of him styling with more of his new "wardrobe". He loved the race car (as I knew he would and why I made the shopkeeper dig in the back room to find it).

The main event - Dwight gets married

Next on the agenda for our KC trip was the main event...the wedding of Dwight and Belkis.

When we arrived at the hotel, it was pouring rain. Our thoughts were with the bride and groom as we knew they'd have various tasks that they would now have to do in the rain. However, when we re-emerged from the hotel, we found the rain had stopped, the sun was shining and it was a beautiful Friday afternoon.

We headed to Kingdom Hall where the wedding would occur. As we arrived, we spotted Dwight striding across the parking lot. Henry took off at a trot and gave him a HUGE hug. We followed shortly behind and got/gave our own big hugs. (Good thing, too, as this was the only quality-time we had with the groom.)

We spotted Brian, Maria and Joaquin and shared hugs and kisses with them, too. Soon, the ceremony began. This was a small crowd (by design) and it had a nice, informal feel to it. Belkis' children, Luis and Natalia served as groomsman and bridesmaid. Luis escorted Belkis' mother (his grandmother) to her seat, then Dwight escorted his mother. Next Natalia came down the aisle. Finally, Belkis appeared. Dwight looked on with a huge grin. Belkis seemed a bit nervous. After taking their seats on the stage, the ceremony began. It was short and sweet, punctuated with some funny stories, and funny moments (Dwight and Belkis' attempt at reciting their vows). In the end, they were pronounced husband and wife:

After the ceremony, we hung out in the parking lot for a while. It really was a beautiful day and the landscaping at the hall was wonderful. Here are some pictures to showcase the new outfit (I blogged about last week) Henry wore to the wedding:

At the reception, everything was lovely. The head table and the cake table were both outfitted with lights connected to the table under the tablecloths. The effect was really cool. We also met up with Brad, and his wife and daughter. We had met Brad many, many moons ago (actually, I met Brad the same weekend I met Brian and Dwight). It was interesting catching up with him. It's amazing how much can happen in 12 years. While their daughter was only 21 months, Henry took a shine to her. And when the music started, the two could often be found together on the dance floor. It was hard to tell which was leading.

At some point in the evening, we were able to get a group picture taken with the Bride and Groom, always a must when the gang gets together.

The only thing missing in the photo was Joaquin. And because he is just the most adorable baby in the universe, here is a shot of him dolled up for the event:

And a shot of the two best looking boys at the wedding:

And the final shot of the day was when we returned to the hotel. Henry wore his snuggly (can't see my feet) jammies. Leslie was also outfitted in her warm flannels. Together, they make a great pair.