J: It is
with great joy that we can report to you that Ryan is home! He is a son, brother, grandson, great
grandchild, nephew, and cousin! He is an
“orphan no more!” He has many friends,
neighbors, and hundreds of pray warriors.
To have him here, in our house, in our arms, in our family is amazingly
wonderful. Lord, we praise you for this
blessing and privilege. We thank you for the support that you have given
us, however God has moved you. We love
watching God weave all kinds of people into Ryan’s story and are happy to share
it with you! There is MUCH to write, and
being a sort of perfectionist, it is hard to know where to start, how far back
to go, what to leave out, and how to end, so I’ll just get the ball rolling. Later I hope to blog more about the adoption
process itself, our trips, and the other children that we had to leave behind
at the orphanage. As of this posting, he
has been on US soil for 4 weeks and 1 day.
We arrived home from UKRAINE (there
you have it! That is where we were if you didn’t know, that is where Ryan was
born and has lived until now.) on Saturday night, August 18, 2012. Many of Ryan’s prayer warriors were there to
meet him and welcome him home- it was very sweet! I hope to do a post just on that later as
well.
Backing up, we had a wonderful first day all together as a family of six
on that first Sunday; getting reunited with the girls after our travels,
watching them love Ryan, and being with both sets of our parents. Monday Ryan had his first pediatrician
appointment in the United States. It was
very encouraging. Then, later that evening
Ryan’s doctor called to tell us about Re-feeding Syndrome. She had spoken with many of experts at Children’s
Hospital and told us that they wanted to admit him the next morning to watch
for that.
There are so many tangents I can go
on, so many things that happened, but in a nut shell, after 6 days in the
hospital, he didn’t have Re-feeding Syndrome and was way healthier than any of
us anticipated. And the best part was
that, while he was admitted, all of the specialists that I would have needed to
take Ryan to see (Pediatrician, Cardiologist, Endocrinologist, Geneticist,
Psychiatrist, Psychologist, Urologist, Audiologist, Neurologist, Nutritionist, Dentist,
Radiologist, Anesthesiologist, Speech Pathologist, and Occupational Therapist)
were able to come and see him. I can
just imagine how much time and energy all that driving around would have taken,
and so it was a huge blessing to have a one-stop-shop! And we also got appointments for a later date
with the Ophthalmologist and Physical Therapist and our referrals for our
follow up appointments with the others mentioned. Wow, how neat is that! Test after test came back with good results,
negative for pathologies and with numbers in the healthy range. MRI, EEG, EKG, blood tests, X-rays,
ultrasounds…all looked good. HIV:
negative! Scabies, lice, parasites, even cavities- NONE! Miracle upon miracle, blessing upon blessing. Praise the Lord! He was discharged on the evening of Sunday
the 23rd. Whew, so good to be
all home together! Chris went to work
the next day. Things are going well
because God is providing everything we need.
Much through the help of our support team and dear friends who stocked
our fridge, cleaned our house, and continue to bring us meals, send encouraging
messages, help babysit, and pray for us!
How is Ryan? Ryan seems to be adjusting well. Very well.
He is content, has a very active little body…is eating well and is now
up to 19 pounds! That means he has
gained about 12% of his body weight since he has been fed (and loved) by us. His crawl is even and symmetrical and fast!
He can pull up to standing and cruise around furniture. There have been a couple of times that he has
tried standing on his own and taken a few steps- not at all the “immobile’
child we were told about. He seems to
enjoy his new freedom, out of his crib and wheelchair, in which he has spent
the majority of his life. He is
non-verbal, and out of all the sounds that he makes his giggle is what makes it
out about 70% of the time. It is
adorable! That is followed by 20%
beat-boxing (a Faulkner family favorite past time), a random 5% assortment of
noises and breathing rhythms, and slowly some crying is coming out. Even this is a blessing. After years of being ignored, he “knows” that
someone is listening to him again, that he will be heard and responded to if he
cries, and so he does. It is the saddest
cry I have ever heard. It breaks my
heart and God has designed it to do just that.
Lord, teach me how to comfort my son.
Our girls can probably answer the
question, “How is the transition going?” best.
Over the last two weeks we have heard similar comments to the ones below
on multiple occasions.
Our oldest, Honey B, who is 6,
said, “I think that we should have another Reece’s Rainbow kid in our
family. I like adopting!” This is the same girl who diligently prayed
for another sister after our Sweet T was born, and the day after our J bird was
born said, “Well God answered my prayer for a sister and now I am going to keep
praying for my brother!” God has answered
both her prayers. This week she told me
that she has prayed that our next adoption will be with triplets. I am praying that will be one of her adoptions as she grows her
family!
Our Sweet T, 4, said within the
first week of Ryan’s arrival, “I think that every family needs a person with
special needs.” I know that her comment
will prove to be true as the weeks turn into years. She has insight beyond her years, our culture,
and that of the world.
J Bird, our baby, just 2, wakes up
most mornings asking, “Where’s Ryan?” and before going to bed, “Can I give Ryan
a huggie?” Her focus is on someone other
than herself. I am hoping for more of
that for myself.
On a scale of 1 to 10 adjusting to
this change in our family has been a…maybe a better way to look at it would
be…out of all of the fears that we had, that our minds came up with, that
people told us would happen, as to why we shouldn’t adopt internationally or Ryan,
and all the lies that Satan fed to us- none of them have come true- not one. (You can imagine, but some of the things we
had to battle were: This will ruin your family, be bad for your other children,
send us into bankruptcy, etc.) We have
had the extreme privilege of seeing God work in amazing and wonderful
ways. Often I have felt like I am
watching him put on a grand finale of a firework display of His glory and power
as he hold true to His promise in Psalm 68:6, “ God sets the lonely in
families.” It has been intense and
incredible.
One challenge has been the lack of
sleep. Much like a newborn, Ryan has
sporadic sleep cycles; not surprising considering the time change from the
other side of the world and everything in his life changing in an instant. If he wakes up at 1 or 4am, he has a hard
time getting back to sleep and usually doesn’t.
The girls have been needing more nighttime confirmation and resettling
so we get to juggle those shifts too. But even in these last few days we have seen
major improvements as Ryan becomes more comfortable in his new family and
surroundings and the girls get back into a familiar routine. We are so thankful!
More later…
