November Ramblings

Here are some pictures of the Limmers from Halloween and the last few weeks. We did finally see some lovely fall weather and the kids had a blast jumping in leaves. Halloween brought the collection of massive loads of candy and a fun party at the church. Two of our friends came as hippies, and Moses stole his fro wig. Hilarious! We were also invited to speak at my mom's church on Orphan Sunday about adoption. Justin preached a message called "Room for the Lonely" (you can hear it on our church website, www.wyrchurch.com. He preached it here in Casper the week before so it got uploaded to our website). Moses was the charming celebrity, as always and won everyone's hearts.

I have been duly reprimanded by my mother for not posting anything whatsoever in the month of November on my blog. I must admit that the entire world of blogging still seems strange to me, mostly because it's hard to imagine anybody being all that interested in my life. And then there's the dilema of what to say; should I write about all the funny things that happen with my three kids or stick strictly to adoption stuff since the majority of my "followers" are fellow adoptive families (although I don't know about all you "blog lurkers" who are sitting off in the shadows of the internet)? What I have noticed about blogging is that there is a certain sense of surrealness to it. People can present life in whatever way they want and no one would know any better. For all you know, I have an absolutely idyllic life, complete with "happily ever after" endings every day. 'Tis not always so. Even with adoption, I often get the feeling that others look at us and expect everything to have magically fallen into place now that we have Mr. Moses here with us. What they don't see is disaster moments when Moses throws up at dinner (a fairly regular occurence. He has the fastest gag reflex in the West!), Trina throws a huge wad of toilet paper in a full bathtub and effectively plugs the drain, Asia has a bloody nose, and Moses pees on the floor, all in the span of 1/2 an hour (yes, that really was our night on Monday. Oh, I forgot the part about the blow-out diaper. That was in there too. I'm not sure I've ever seen so many bodily fluids in such a short span of time). Life is not always a fairytale. My son bites people, my daughter screams and throws fits when I tell her she can't have candy for the fifteenth time today, and I sometimes get frustrated and want to turn in my resignation and sign myself up for mommy rehab. So much for blogs being idealistic and one-sided! :) Now you know all my secrets!

The other side to all of this is that I have a really swell husband (who knows all my quirks and loves me in spite, and maybe even because of them) and three terrific, heart-stoppingly beautiful children that I would not trade the world for. How can you compare any trauma of parenthood to those moments when my 17 month old son, who I have only known for two months, grabs my face and kisses me over and over? Or when my 2 year tells me every time I give her any kind of meal, "Thank you for this dinner, Mom" without ever being prompted? Or when my almost 5 year old tells me that she "loves me in the whole wide world?" I am overwhelmed with emotion even as I write this. I am such a lucky gal! Who'd a thunk I'd ever be so privileged?

The other day we were driving in our van, listening to the radio and the Newsboys song "Wherever we go, that's where the party's at" came on. Keep in mind that the Newsboys are from Australia. From the back seat, I hear Asia say, "Why are they singing about a potty, Mom? That's gross!" and she proceeded to laugh hysterically and say "Gross!" every time they sang the chorus. What a treasure! Yesterday, Trina wanted to go outside after lunch but couldn't find her sock. She discards them in very random places throughout the house, and I thought I'd try the Love and Logic approach. I said, "Trina, you need to find your sock to go outside, or if you don't want to find it, you can just go take a nap." She half-heartedly looked for it for a few minutes and then looked at me in all seriousness and said, "Swiper took my sock, Mom. He's playing with it at Dora's house." Since the offensive Swiper would not return her sock, Miss Trina took a nap (Asia later found it stuffed between the couch cushions. Big sister to the rescue!). What a nut! Moses is not to be outdone by his sisters. He is rapidly learning the art of comic relief. He recently figured out how to blow "raspberries" and will rush to do so on anyone who is laying down and will hold still long enough for him to get his lips on their tummy. So funny!

Thanks for listening to my ramblings and sharing all my "treasures" with me. I plan to write my next post on readoption, so all you adoption people stay tuned. Best wishes from this slightly off-kilter home to yours!

Adopted for Life by Russell Moore

I had to take a moment and let you all know about this wonderful book! It is probably the best book I have read concerning adoption (and I've read a lot!). It is applicable to those who are mildly interested in adoption, to those who have been adopted or completed an adoption. Russell Moore is a Baptist theologian and he and his wife adopted two boys from Russia 5-6 years ago. They later had two boys biologically. He makes some incredible spiritual comparisons about adoption, as well as some very, very practical advice. I think I paid about $11 on Amazon for it, and it was well worth every penny.

Three Kids...and Adjusting

This past week, Justin was out of town for the whole week on a hunting trip, and it was my first experience as a "single" mom of three children (Just for the record, I am all for my husband taking time to do "manly" things with his guy friends. I think it's very healthy and good for him to have that time away every year, and usually there's the payoff of a full freezer! Not the case this year, but still...). Many of my friends and family called to see how I was doing throughout the week.

Do you need anything? Overwhelmed? Stressed?

And I could honestly answer all those questions no...most of the time. However, as my beloved friend Becca found out on Wednesday, I answered YES to all of them! I really was doing great with my kiddos, until I went to the grocery store. Keep in mind, this is not the first time I've hazarded a trip there with all three Limmer kids. We have been successful on two other occasions. But it seems that there has to be at least one horrendous shopping trip every time we add a child to our family.

I should back up. When we had our second child, Trinity, our oldest, Asia was 2 1/2 years old. I could not fathom going to the store with both of them. How in the world did my mom ever do it with four? Eventually, we had to eat, so off we went. The trip went great at first. Asia decided she was now a big girl and didn't need to ride in the cart. Fabulous! I needed to fill it up with food anyway! I'm thinking, "Wow, maybe this isn't so bad! This is no problem!" We got down to the final three aisles of shopping, and my big girl adamantly insists that she needs to get back in the cart. She's tired, she's hungry, and there is no way she is going to walk anymore. Small problem - there's no where for her to sit. Her space in the cart is occupied with cans of vegetables and jugs of milk. While she is rather loudly voicing her desires (if you've ever heard Asia cry then you know what I mean), my darling sweet baby who has been so contendedly sleeping this entire time decides Mommy's allotted grocery shopping time has expired and it is now time to nurse. Immediately. In response to my baby's urgent demands, my milk let down and my face instantly turned the color of a tomato. At that moment, I had two thoughts. I could either abandon my overflowing cart and run for my car with screaming kids in tow, or I could sit down on the floor in the frozen food section and have a good cry right along with them. I actually did neither of those things and somehow managed to get through the checkout and back home (I can't really remember how, though). Eventually we got our system down and never quite had a mishap like that again.

Fast forward to last Wednesday. Foolishly thinking that I'd already figured out grocery shopping with THREE kids, I am sure that we are capable of handling a rather long shopping list that day. Moses sits in the front of the cart, Asia walks, and Trina sits in the big basket until either I bury her with groceries or she can no longer stand being "little" and wants to walk like her sister. Again, we have successfully navigated the entire store and only have the frozen food section and produce to get through. Everyone is tired and hungry and ready to be done. Trina decided she needed to walk directly in front of the cart. Only problem is that I cannot see her when she walks there and promptly ran her over. Screaming child number 1. While I'm trying to console Trina, Asia tries to stuff herself on the bottom rack of the cart, right where Moses is sitting. Never mind that I had repeatedly told her not to do this because her brother has dangerous feet. In a matter of seconds, Moses had kicked her in the eye. Screaming child number 2 (and yes, she still screams really, really loud). Just for good measure, Moses decides he's frustrated being in the cart and lets his opinion be heard. Screaming child number 3. Again, we somehow made it through the checkout, out to the car, and back to our house. Now everyone is REALLY tired and hungry! So being the wonderful mother that I am, I sat them all at the table, gave each one a big pile of Cheetos and put away the ice cream, juice, and milk. After making them eat their real lunch (I had to make them of course, because they were no longer hungry after Cheetos), and getting them all to their beds for a nap, I laid on the couch thankful that we had all survived.

So here's to all you mothers out there! You're amazing people and don't ever forget it!

From the Equator to Snow!

We had our first big snowstorm this past Friday! Wow! It felt a lot like Christmas... except all the green leaves are still on the trees :). The girls couldn't wait to go outside and play in our winter wonderland, and thankfully, I had gone shopping for any snow clothes we needed just the day before. So, three Limmer children bundled up and headed outside. This, of course, was Moses' first experience with snow. He was so funny! Besides looking like the Michelin tire man in all his snow paraphanelia, he didn't quite know what to make of his mittens. He stared at them for a long time and then tried to shake them off his hands for several minutes. He didn't seem to mind the snow too much, although he made some interesting faces when I put some in his mouth. So cold! He also did several face plants (as you can see in the picture), but didn't get upset until he realized he couldn't get himself back up! I felt a little bit mean for laughing so much at him, but he was just too cute! Hope he gets used to the cold because it looks like winter came a little early this year. I'm wondering if he'll even get to experience all the fun fall activities, like jumping in leaves?

We went back to the doctor for a check-up today, and he was very impressed. Moses has gained almost two pounds in two weeks. I knew he was feeling heavier! His giardia is cleared up (yeah! No more diapers that require a gas mask to change!), and he started getting the vaccinations that he didn't get in Rwanda (we had his bloodwork checked to see which vaccines were good from Rwanda). We are actually starting to see Moses be a little more naughty than before. He is definitely starting to test boundaries, and that's a good thing! I think he's feeling comfortable enough to do that. He already knows how to get a good rise out of his sisters and pushes their buttons whenever the occasion presents itself :). He's also starting to display more affection with them as well, like spontaneously giving hugs and wanting to dance with them when music is playing.

First Haircut

Earlier this week, Moses got his first haircut. Because of laying down in his crib so much, or maybe it's just the way he sleeps, but his hair was very patchy. The top was quite long and I loved it, but the thin spots in the back just drove me crazy. I tried to cut his hair myself but it was unsuccessful (note to self: get sharp clippers!), so we went to a friend of ours who is a hair stylist and the results were much better. :) He looks like such a little man! The same day we also had to clip off the necklace that he had been wearing. It was a medallion of Saint Mary that had been put on him in one of the orphanages, and I had waited as long as possible to cut it off. He played with it when he was scared or nervous, and I didn't want to take away his only "security blanket". Unfortunately, it just got too tight, and needed to come off. It made me emotional to think that it is the only thing that we have from the first 16 months of his life. I have noticed him still finger his neck from time to time, but he seems to be doing ok without it.

All his medical tests came back good, with the exception of his lead levels. They are slightly elevated but not enough to cause anemia, so the doctor will just retest him in three months to make sure they are dropping. It wasn't a big surprise as many developing countries still use lead-based paint and the cribs at the orphanage are all painted heavily.

He is picking up new words every day, like "uh-oh", and big sister Trina taught him to run through the house with his arms up saying "Yeah!" I taught him a couple of signs for things, like "please" and "more" and "all done" so there isn't as much grunting at the dinner table, and he has caught on quickly to that as well. He also loves to dance (the more bass the better!) and play drums. If you can't tell, our little man has stolen our hearts, and we couldn't be happier about it!

Rwanda in Pictures

Thought I'd take a minute to post some pictures from our trip. Due to the technological unsaaviness that plagues me, I have no idea how to do captions for the individual photos! Sigh. So, unfortunately for you, I have listed them all below.
1) "The Blue Gate" - sounds very "Lord of the Rings-ish", doesn't it? This is the gate to the entrance of the orphanage. Actually, there are a lot of blue gates in Kigali, but this one is very special!

2) Sugarcane field outside of Kigali

3) Rwandan boys posing for camera. We had pulled off the road to take some scenery pictures when we heard this group of boys yelling, "Muzungus!", which means white person in Kinyarwandan. They came down to the car and wanted to practice their English with us. They were more than happy to ham it up for a good picture!

4) Cheesy grin!

5)First experience with bubbles

6)More sugarcane on the way to Lake Rwesero

7)This monkey was the full extent of our "wildlife" experience in Rwanda. He was at Lake Rwesero and was quite the character. Molly found that out when she stood just a tiny bit too close to the cage and he pulled her braid!

8) Moses trying out his sea legs on the dock

9)Lake Rwesero

10) All 5 adopted children with Nyanja.

11) Sister Katherine and Moses. Sister Katherine is from France and she is the one who came to Nyanja shortly after Moses was transferred to Home of Hope and asked her to find him a family specifically.

12) Traditional Ethiopian food. This was a really fun experience. You tear off pieces of the bread, called injera, and scoop up the food with it. Everyone uses their hands and sits around the platter. A very nice custom that accompanies this is a handwashing before and after the meal.

Moses Update:
We have been busy this last week. Because there is no guarantee of the conditions in Rwanda and Ethiopia, our pediatrician recommended that we retest Moses for everything (HIV, Hepatitis, syphillis, lead poisoning, rickets, etc.), as well as determine how well he was vaccinated. We also needed to get him tested for parasites (his diapers are horrendously stinky! So much so that the diaper pail is in the garage!). First time we went to get his blood drawn, they stuck him five times with no success. Ugh. We waited a day and went back, crossing our fingers that a very experienced phlebotomist would be there. First time was a charm and we got all the blood needed. Stool sample came back positive for giardia, but negative for any other parasites. The rest of his bloodwork isn't back yet, but we are believing for a good report.

Moses' sleep schedule is finally starting to even out as well. For a while, he was waking up at 4:00, wanting to play a few hours, and then take a leisurely morning nap. Mommy wised up after a couple of days of that, and I kept him up until his regular naptime. What a crabface that morning, but he has slept great ever since!

We're Home!

Thank you all for praying! The U.S. Embassy did give us appointments for the kids' visa interviews at 1:00 on Thursday. The consular told us to come back at 10:00 Friday morning to pick up the visas, but after some fast talking on our guide's part, her staff agreed to process them that afternoon so we could still catch our 10:00 p.m. flight. Yeah! We were all so excited to come home!

Moses again did great through the 30 hours of traveling. He slept quite a bit, but when he wasn't sleeping, he was fairly content to play with toys or the leftover spoons from the airline meals. We got into Casper at 4:15 p.m. yesterday. It was so good to see our girls! Trina finally got to "hold" Moses, and Asia was the ever-conscientious big sister. I was wondering how well Moses would do last night since we had just made a 9 hour time switch. He woke up once for about 1 1/2 hours but sang himself back to sleep and slept until 9:00. What a great kid!

Thank you all so much for all your thoughts, prayers, and support while we were gone. It meant so much to know that we have such amazing family and friends backing us up. You are all welcome to stop by and meet our beautiful son! When things get back to normal, I will try and post some more pics of our trip.