We're the lucky ones

I hear it a lot.

"He's so lucky to have been adopted by you folks!"

Yes, I guess you can look at it like that.  He certainly needed to be adopted.  It scares me to think of what his life would have been like if he had grown older...unadopted...and eventually transferred to some place even worse.  Already I see all that Joseph has to struggle with for the lack of interaction and care that he missed out on in his baby orphanage. So many things that would be better for him if he had started out in a family.   He does so well and is working so hard but the gaps are there from lack of a family...he bangs his head a lot these days as he is being challenged to learn and connect with people and things around him.

I am thankful that he is home...and yes, he DID need to be adopted by us..that is for sure.  But WE are the lucky ones, too.  I think people forget that.  People don't look at all that we need to do to care for Joseph and think us lucky.  But we are.  We have been given the chance to love more fully as God loves...to love Joseph unconditionally and to care for him even though he was not born into our own family.  It is awesome to love not because he is my natural born son but because he is beautiful in the eyes of God and so he is beautiful to me.  It's a gift, really...to have your understanding of love be truly enlarged like that.  

He has made me love more fully...and for that I am thankful.

There is nothing sweeter than to accidentally over-hear your six year old daughter explain to some girls at the park that "That is my brother.  He was adopted and he has Down syndrome.  He is THE BEST brother in the whole wide world!!"  She was so serious, too.  Meant it with all her heart.  Pretty high praises considering she has a bunch of pretty awesome other brothers as well ;). I'm sure the other boys won't take offense.

  They think he's pretty great, too :)

Historic settlement and farm

We finally got a chance to visit a historic settlement near home.

A great excuse to get out in the fall weather and learn a little history while we're at it.

Buddies for life...this oldest and youngest have been tight from the very beginning.  He's already concerned about growing up and having to leave her.  I'm sure they are going to be very close even when they're older.

Quick update

It seems like I'm never going to get the time to write a proper update here...even though I very much want to.  I had such grand plans for posts I wanted to write throughout October for Respect Life Month as well as Down Syndrome Awareness Month...it's so fitting that the two are focused on in the same month.  But instead God has called me to the trenches this past month.  I've been filled to the brim with life's work, which happens to be quite challenging right now.  There just seems to be so much to do and just not enough of me to do it all.  It's a season...and I'm looking forward to Advent and a new Advent book by Ann Voskcamp to help put things back in proper order.

Joseph has been home 4 months now...

And I can't even describe how very much we all love him....he's a Perry...and that's pretty much all there is to it.  The kids tell me daily how much they love "the babies" (Joseph and Emmeline are known as the babies....the boys are "the bigs" and Lilly and Matthias are "the littles."  The kids humble me every day with how they care about him.  He is still banging his head...and the kids take good care to make sure they intervene and protect his little head from getting hurt.  They even take turns doing these compression movements on him that are designed to give him the sensory imput that he is looking for when he bangs his head.  It seems to work...and the kids are so attentive to him and his need for this.  It's beautiful to watch your kids happily care for others.

There is so much to write about Joseph...he's doing PT, OT and speech now.  Learning so much every week.  Feeding is still our biggest issue right now.  We may be re-visiting the idea of a g-tube with our pediatrician if some of our new feeding ideas do not bear any fruit this coming month.  Our pediatrician kept holding us off on the g-tube but our last visit in to see him had even the pediatrician thinking that it might be time to finally take that step.  Praying we make some improvements in eating this month.  Pray with us?

Emmeline is 9 months....can you believe it?

Pure joy.  Seriously....this kid just oozes happy all over the place.  She makes our family so much better;). I just wish she'd slow down for awhile and stay little for me.

That's all I have time for right now.  Hopefully more soon on all the kids...and more specifics about Joseph and how he's doing.

Have a blessed day on this feast of All Saints!

Pumpkins

Wwwww

Went and did our pumpkin picking this weekend...all the kids got to ride the wagon around the farm, pick pumpkins, have strawberry slushies and hang out to play at the farm for awhile.  We've all decided that we'd like to try our hand at growing our own pumpkins...we've never done that before but this farm had some really cool varieties of pumpkin that had overgrown into some pretty neat shapes.  The boys want to grow some like that so they can paint or carve some interesting things with them.  Hopefully next year.

Joseph did great with his first pumpkin picking trip.  He was quiet for the whole wagon ride but then cried A LOT when we got off so he was definitely letting us know that he didn't want it to end!  He really liked playing in the sandbox, too.

Sorry for the lack of posts...I've been barely keeping my head above water with a lot of things going on right now.  Joseph is now doing PT, OT and speech therapy and I hope to post progress about all of that soon.  Especially with it being respect life month and Down syndrome awareness month...hopefully I can squeeze some more time to get on here more often.  I have so much to report and so much to say about the blessing that Joseph is to our family.  

Hopefully more soon!

Apple picking

New eyes!

Joseph's glasses finally came in!

We are so excited to finally have him seeing the world around him! We weren't sure how well he'd keep them on since we has a pretty small head and the band doesn't really tighten to keep them snug to his face.  He can pull them off, but he seems to like having them on.  It's exciting to know he can see things now!

Yesterday was an amazing day.  I don't know how else to describe it other than amazing.

I'm hoping to get some pictures and write more today...we were able to take part in a therapy training clinic that has been incredible for both Joseph and our son Elijah as well.  Joseph actually came home with "all his gear" as I call it, to get our little man stabilized and making progress in getting him standing and walking properly and our son Elijah had some wonderfully caring therapists looking into a joint issue that has been a long standing problem that we haven't been able to find anyone to really address his problems until now.

All I can say is that i feel like a very blessed mama.  There is nothing better than seeing your children being cared for and having the things they need to be healthy.  And to see Joseph receiving what he needs for the first time nearly made me break down in tears ;). 

More to come....

Look what he's doing...

This is a little guy that screamed when we so much as slightly suggested he stand up on his feet!  He could pull up to a stand in his crib, but he didn't do it all that often.  He would NEVER feel comfortable standing without his whole upper body laying on something...usually it's a dining room chair.  The fact that he is so comfortable standing without a lot of upper body support makes this mama so very happy!

I didn't catch it on film, but yesterday he actually let me walk him around by his hands...and if you knew Joseph, you would know that he does NOT let you do this...it's just usually too scary for him.

This same afternoon, he actually scooted over to Matthias and snuggled up to him and put his little head on his shoulder...it just completely melted me.  Yes, he likes us...but I can't explain the difference...you could just tell he knew that was his brother and he wanted to be close to him...this is major for him! Then he slid next to me and linked his little arm around mine...the little things are pretty awesome.

My little man is gaining some confidence ;)

And I just can't wait to see what comes next!