Settling In

We're coming up on 5 months that Arouna has been home in the states and it's starting to feel like we're settling in.  Some days I can't remember life before Arouna and other days, it seems as if the adjustment period will last forever.  But more and more, it seems that life is becoming more normal.  We're beginning to learn how much time it takes to get ready in the mornings, how much food to take with us every time we go out, how to change a diaper of a growing, squirmy 3 year old in some of the most unlikely places and how to deal with the stares from those who can't understand his disability or how Arouna fits in with 2 white parents and white siblings.

Arouna has been doing very well in the adjustment process.  He seems to happily go along for the ride wherever we may take him with very little complaints or problems.  He likes riding in the car, going in the stroller(for the most part), and just being out and about.  I think, like us, he begins to get a bit of cabin fever when he has to be in the house too many days in a row because of cold or bad weather.

Unfortunately, he still has not received citizenship, which we were supposed to have received soon after arriving in the states.  Why?  We're not sure, but we have filled out another form that the government said needed to be done and we've sent in more money.  So hopefully, that will appease the citizenship gurus of our government and they will grant him citizenship.  If not, I don't know where we'll go from here.  But we're not worrying about it and just trusting that it will be granted before we need to head back to the great white north.

Good news:  Arouna has been accepted into First Step in Hot Springs.  First Step is a school for children with special needs.  They provide speech, physical and occupational therapy.  For the last 2 weeks, Arouna has been going to therapies twice a week, but starting March 2nd, he will go Monday thru Friday, 8am-3pm.  He will be in a very specialized classroom where they will work with him on all kinds of skills and he'll be with children his age.  He will ride a bus to and from school each day. This will be a big adjustment to him and to Mommy, as I've been with him every minute almost since September.  But we are very grateful that this is covered for us and we are able to have this service before going back to Quebec.  The therapists and teachers there are excellent and he already gets excited when we drive up in the parking lot.

We're also excited that Arouna has been accepted into a program called Snowdrop.  It's based in England but the billiant neuroscientist that created Snowdrop, has written a program that we have started doing with Arouna at home.  It's a 20 minute series of activities that stimulates the brain and has had tremendous success with children around the world with brain injuries.  It consists of simple activities that parents can do and has more success the more the repetition of it. Thank you Andrew and Snowdrop for this wonderful opportunity.

We feel very blessed with all the opportunities that Arouna has offered to him.  When we adopted him, we didn't know what might or might not be covered by insurance, government funding, etc.  It really was a step of faith and we knew that even if he didn't have anything available to him, at least he would have a family and enough to eat.  But God has done so much more than we expected and hoped for.  We know that when we move again in a few months that we'll have to reestablish things in Quebec, but we also know that God is faithful and He has a plan for there too.

Thanks to everyone who reads this and have had an interest in our family and adoption story.  We've appreciated your support and encouragement through some extremely stressful times.  I'll continue to write occasionally as things come up.