Uganda

My friend & her family are possibly going to become missionaries in Uganda. Her husband is currently in Uganda for a month to help out with the orphanage where they continue to feel that God calling them. The orphanage currently has 115 children of all ages whose parents have all died from malaria or AIDS. There are currently only 2 missionaries there taking care of all these children. My friends, Casey & Michael, are praying about whether or not that is where God is leading them. If they go, Michael will farm the 120 or so acres that they have and sell the cotton to Bono/U2's wife who has an organization that will buy it and in turn supply the orphanage with a medical doctor. (I'm pretty sure I'm remembering everything correctly.) Anyways, while her husband is gone, Casey wanted to do something too, so she collected money to buy a few dresses for the kids at the orphanage. Amazingly, not knowing exact number and sizes, she happened to buy the perfect number of dresses and a size that fit every girl. Her story is quite touching because before they sent the trunk to this orphanage she felt like she needed to buy one more dress which is the dress you can see on the far right (the girl doing the curtsy). Anyways, had she not gotten that one extra dress she would have been one short. Isn't God amazing! You can see her note below as well. It is truly inspiring for me to see these photos and hear how a few people have made a difference to these children. Her husband actually took these pictures since he is currently in Uganda. It's rare that you actually get to see the outcome of the difference a donation can make, but aren't the smiles of those girls just amazing!!!

Dear Friends,
Two weeks ago, almost to the day, I emailed you with an invitation to financially support a project to buy dresses for an orphanage in Uganda, Africa. Within 2 hours after the email was sent, I received an overwhelming response through phone calls and emails. Your kind and generous contributions are still coming in because word is spreading outside my email directory; you have shared this story with neighbors, family members, and your church community. With the
additional money I received, I bought brand new shirts, underwear, socks, and shoes for the girls at Good Shepherd’s Fold Orphanage (GSF).
On behalf of GSF, Bob and Carolyn Jacobsen, and my family, I want to thank you for your amazing response and your call to action. Words cannot describe my appreciation to you all, so let me just share this photo with you. It speaks volumes, and you know the story about how the dresses were bought and then delivered. You made it happen!
In His Name, Casey

Proverbs 31:20 “She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.”

Playing Outside - just some pics

A learning machine...

Joshua is a learning machine lately. He is really picking up a TON of the baby signs and understands a lot of words and is saying a few. Today he said, Riley for the first time. He has also said... bye, hi, mama, dada, doggy, kitty. That is all we understand so far.

Today, Joshua's girlfriend, Holden came over to play for a bit and I got some cute pictures of them together. Unfortunately, Holden and her family will be moving in a few weeks out of state. We are very sad! As you can see, Joshua is quite the cuddlier lately. So sweet!

We also have been working in the yard quite a bit the last few days. I'm really excited that the weather has finally gotten warm again and how pretty I think everything will look. I've been splitting some of my plants and getting some splits from some friends and moving stuff around a bit. So far it's been VERY affordable (since it's all free) and I think it will look great.

My little genius...

So, there really is no need to tell you that Joshua is a genius as it should really be a given at this point...BUT...yesterday as I was feeding him, he kept fussing and whining. I just couldn't figure out what he wanted. And he seemed unusually frustrated, like, "Lady, do you really not know what I'm trying to tell you?!?" because he kept doing this little movement with his hand over and over. When FINALLY it dawned on me...that it looked like the sign for banana. But then I was like, no, he couldn't know that sign...so I figure...I'll give him a banana and just see. He instantly got quiet and reached for the banana. So lo and behold, he WAS doing the banana sign. I was really, really shocked and honestly just about fell on the floor because I do occasionally do the banana sign but it's not a sign that I have really worked on with him. So I really never thought it possible that he was paying attention!! Furthermore, the banana sign is one of the trickier baby signs, another reason I really haven't pushed it. He doesn't do it exactly right but certainly enough for me to understand. So when John got home I just wanted to verify that Joshua did in fact know the sign and, of course, show him off to John. So I went through a couple of words that he signs, like 'baby', 'doggy', etc...and then slipped in 'banana' and sure enough, he did the banana sign. So it's settled - Joshua is in fact a pure genius! (or at least in his mommy's eyes).

In other news, it seems Joshua has become our adoption agency's little spokesboy. I got an email yesterday asking for some pictures of him because they want to include him on their annual calendar. I was soooo excited!!! They also asked us a few weeks ago if we would be available to be a part of their PR campaign and then last weekend we went and gave a speech to hopeful adoptive parents for the IAC on our adoption story. So anywho, I'm so proud that even if Regis & Kelly didn't pick him for the cutest baby contest (which I'm sure was an oversight) that at least he is a star!!

Weight update....

First, I scanned my other posts and don't remember if I mentioned that Joshua is now pointing. Whew! Silly I know...but a relief.

Second, we went to the Nutrionist today which went well. Basically, Joshua is eating a little TOO healthy. I know, hard to believe, but we need to be getting more fat in his diet. So I have to start adding Olive oil to his vegetables, brown sugar to his fruit, and actually get him to eat stuff like FRIED fish sticks and chicken nuggets. They also suggested putting things like ranch dressing on veggies and such. I was baking and steaming everything before and he wasn't getting enough calories for the amount he burns. Actually, they said he was 200-400 calories short which is like 1/3 of the amount he needs. We also have to start him on some protein powder that I just mix in his food. So far, he won't eat the egg or the fish sticks I made today, but I'm not giving up on them yet. He did eat broccoli today w/ olive oil - and didn't seem to notice...so we will just keep plugging along and hope to beef the kid up a little. We go to the doctor in 4 weeks for a weight/status check to determine whether or not it's working and next steps.

Joshua is a VERY frequent hugger now - which I LOVE!! In fact, I just picked him up a minute ago and as I carried him, he randomly hugged me 3 times. SO sweet! He is also pointing at the dog every few minutes and say da-hee (aka. doggie). Oh and the other adorable thing he does is pick up his play phone and hold it to his ear and VERY clearly will say 'Hi Dada' - which he learned since he talks to his dad when he (John not Joshua..ha ha) is at work. He also has two push cars (you know the bigger ones that you walk behind) that he pushes around all day at the same time. One hand on one handle and one hand on the other handle. He also LOVES to store things in the seat of his cars and SLAM the little door shut. He especially thinks it's hilarious to chase Riley with the cars cause Riley acts like he is scared to death of them. Oh and Joshua is quite the dancer lately too...if he hears any music at all he starts bopping his butt up and down or swaying side to side. I threatened to sign him up for dancing classes and was surprised when John was ok with that as long it was when he was still young. ha ha. Ok, well that is the update for now.

A fun day...

Our agency asked us to come and do a talk on our adoption for hopeful adoptive parents so we had to go to Raleigh today to do the talk. We decided before we went to our agency to stop by the Duke Gardens & the Life Science Museum. (Joshua's hair was doing it's own funky thing but his new hair cut really is precious despite the crazy do' today.) Unfortunately, we were short on time and didn't get to hang out too long at either place...but it did give me enough flavor to know that I definitely want to go back to both. They were both free too since we have a membership to our Science Museum here in town. That picture of Joshua at the door is a picture of the bathroom which is just a little building out in the middle of all the gardens. Pretty fancy! I hope I can talk John into making the journey again some time soon because we only got to explore a tiny bit. There are more pictures on our shutterfly account - which if you want access to...just send me an email. Anyways, afterwards we went to our agency for our talk which was fun. Joshua LOVED the attention and did GREAT on the trip. It was an hour and 1/2 both ways - he slept the way home, but on the way there between feeding him, playing with him and watching a movie he did okay. Slowly but surely he is getting there with the car rides.

The First Haircut

We finally broke down and got Joshua his very first haircut. We went to a place that was recommended by some other moms and they did a great job making him feel very special. He sat in daddy's lap while I tried to entertain him. He wiggled quite a bit but overall was very good. I didn't even need to ask the hairstylist to save a lock of hair, cause she had already set one aside and got me an envelope to put it in. I thought that was very sweet. I was surprised just how much hair came off that boy but it looks really good especially after he got a bath and his hair washed.

Some pics...

Here are a few pictures from the Nature Science Center where Joshua got a membership for his birthday. You can kind of see his semi-

black eye in the bug picture - where he fell in his toy box and cut his eye. Joshua could easily have ridden on one of those turtles cause they were HUGE.

Another bloggers WONDERFUL post...

I keep up with several other adoptive families through our agency and who continue to be a great support to us. So I just checked in on one of their blogs and read the most beautiful post...it really brought me to tears...so please stop and read it....

http://www.schrockfamily.com/2007/04/love-like-no-other.html

Go figure...

We went out to eat Mexican tonight and figured we would try to give Joshua some of our food. We always try to give him new foods and most of the time he won't even try the food and just throws it directly on the floor. Well, considering Joshua is part Hispanic, we found it extremely humorous tonight when Joshua decided that he L-O-V-E-S Mexican food!! Yes, it's true, he was not just eating some tortillas, chicken, and Spanish rice but actually scarfing it down. So, maybe there is something in his genes that makes him crave fajitas and it's taken us this long to figure it out. I was SOOO excited to see him eating something different that I got extra tortillas and brought all the rest of our leftover rice and chicken home...so now in addition to green beans and fruit Joshua will be eating Mexican food...go figure. Now if he would just show some interest in taking some siesta's we would be in business!

12 Month Check-Up

We just got back from Joshua's 12 month check-up. Overall he is doing well. He isn't pointing yet - which he hopefully will pick up very soon but I'm going to try to NOT worry about it. Other than that his motor development and social skills are fabulous. Our ongoing weight concern is now unfortunately an even bigger problem because in 3 months he has only gained 5 oz. Soooo...we have to start seeing a nutritionist and get his weight checked every 6 weeks. I don't remember if the doctor said after 6 weeks or 12 weeks if there wasn't a significant improvement then they are going to start doing blood test. I'm pretty bummed because after the doctor made a big deal out of it 3 months ago I've been working EXTRA hard to get him to eat more and gain weight and feel a little bit like a failure. Hopefully the nutritionist will be able to shed some light on something...I have to start writing down every bite that he eats - as if I didn't have enough to do. Anyways, we will see. Hopefully there isn't anything more serious wrong with him and we will see improvement before doing all sorts of blood tests. On the plus size he did grow almost 2 inches. Here is the stat breakdown...I'll keep you posted on how things go w/ the nutritionist and when he starts pointing....

Weight: 20 lbs 3 oz - 10 %
Height: 28 3/4 inches - 10%