"Untold numbers of professing Christians waste their lives trying to escape the cost of love. They do not see that it is always worth it."--- John Piper








Our Beautiful Joseph!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Long Overdue Updates

I owe an apology to all of my sweet bloggy friends. My blog time has been replaced with collapsing at night. I don't think I realized how much "nervous energy" I was fueled with during the waiting time for Joseph OR... I am five years older than I was the last time I was chasing a VERY BUSY baby around all day. It has not been unusual for my husband and me to go to bed before it is fully dark outside this summer!!! I was going through the trip to India chronologically, but I think I will now just "hit the highlights" because so much has happened since then that I want to post and who knows when I will be able to blog again (at this rate!)

Our flight to Delhi was uneventful and Joseph was a complete dream on the flight. The Dr's appointment was traumatic. They required 6 shots and examined our Rupees much longer than they examined him. The only decent, caring thing the Doctor said was that he needed, "fresh air and a lot of love" and that he should grow and do fine. Then, they proceeded to jab him 6 times while we had to hold him down screaming and holding his breath. We were all crying by the end. BARBARIC is the word for that. INHUMANE also comes to mind... but we survived.

Embassy day was actually pleasant except for the fact that we brought electronics that had to be checked. DON'T BRING ELECTRONICS that you have to check. You will have to wait in a long line in the heat to check them and to pick them up when you are done. It was also funny that we brought a little "star teether" that runs with batteries. This both entertained and confused the security officers. They asked me to take out the battery. YOU CAN'T TAKE OUT THE BATTERY, so we offered to let them keep it. They declined, but wanted to see how it worked, so I had to gnaw the teether in front of them! So funny! We had to pick up his Visa the next day after 3:00. Here is a great picture of Bill with our documents. He was totally our legals man on the trip.


The trip home was LONG, but thanks to an amazing baby and these super cool bassinets, our little guy missed most of it:


We finally arrived home to the United States feeling a new patriotism and contemplating the idea of "citizenship" in a new way. I plan to write a post about that-- hoping this week in honor of July 4th. We just wanted to be on American soil. We sat on the runway in Paris praying that our plane could just leave and land ANYWHERE in the US. We did get to leave that evening 3 hours late to land in Atlanta. We missed our connection and stayed in a hotel, but there were no complaints from these thankful passengers!! Here is a picture of us holding our last tickets that would bring us home:


NOW-- here are some newer pictures. Joseph has absolutely flourished since he came home!! Finding fresh air in Missouri is not difficult to do at all. Here are a few pictures I would love to show that Doctor in New Delhi! How are we doing on the "fresh air and love" thing?
I am pleased to show everyone "fresh air"










And lest we forget "Love":




Finally, I want to add that we have had some rather unpleasant "firsts". Upon arriving home, Joseph was terrified of all things wet. Baths were particularly traumatic. What do you do as a mom? I tried everything. Finally, I decided to use the sink instead of the tub. The first attempt produced back-arching screams mixed with new curiosity. By the 9th or 10th attempt, we had success:



Another "first" was the haircut! Very emotional for all involved. We went from this picture taken that morning before getting dressed for the "Cookie Cutter's Kid's Salon":



To this:

He was not impressed with the DVD's or Bubbles as distractions. I guess those are for kids who aren't as smart as my boy. He wasn't buying it and had his eye on that lady with the scissors! We have no photos of the actual process. We will just say that it was not a fun "first". The finished product was darling and we no longer have to answer the question, "How old is she?"

We are all doing great and enjoying our summer. God is good and our family is blessed. We now have 3 beautiful children. There is nothing like a house full of rowdy boys..."Sons are a heritage from the Lord...Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them"... Psalm 127

8 comments:

  1. Yay! A new post! He looks so relaxed and happy....I guess it is all the fresh air and love :)

    Glad to hear that everything is going well AND that you are busy keeping up with the boys!

    Julie

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  2. So happy to see an update! You all look wonderful. Joseph looks great and I love his new hair cut. Thanks for sharing these great pics. We are tired too at the end of the day. I think pushing 40 years old has a lot to do with this for me anyway :-)

    April :-)

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  3. Joseph looks like he is doing so well! What fun it seems all your boys are having with each other. I am glad to hear the highlights and updates from you.

    Heather

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  4. Enjoyed seeing pics of you all together as a family, God is good :)

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  5. I just now checked your blog. A wonderful post and pics! It was so nice to see you this week!

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  6. He looks so grown-up with his haircut! What a handsome trio you have -- I love the photos where the big brothers are helping their little brother. :o)

    Anya Rashi was terrified of baths and water too -- I don't know if Ms. Roy told you this, but they only have sponge baths at ISRC. We just let her watch her brothers having fun in the tub, and after a while she didn't want to miss out! I love the sink idea -- we might have to try that if #4 isn't fond of water.

    Thanks for updating us!
    Nancy

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  7. So glad that things are going to so well for you and your family! Love the pictures! Happy 4th!
    Jenny

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  8. tHANKS FOR A BEAUTIFUL UPDATE!Good to know what is to come over in India and the process there! You're posts have been wonderful to follow along with! As for baths, we are having issues with our 16 month old starting to hate them as well..not sure when she used to love them..but she adores me holding her in the shower. (you don't get a lot accomplished yourself but it gets the job done!) ;) cute haircut!

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