Day 9: I'm Your Mama

I'm writing the post tonight. Sara is tired and I have a lot to say! The Lord answered our prayers today. It was the first day that we were allowed to spend the entire visit with Jacob without having a chaperone. We have been struggling under the constant supervision, and had begun praying that God would allow us time alone with out son.

This morning, we were ushered into our room, but on the way in we were given a surprise as two of Jacob's caregivers came with Jacob between them walking to meet us. He was doing so well. Not sure if Sara has shared this with you all or not, but Jacob walks completely up on his toes. He will more than likely need AFO's to help him flatten and stretch his feet before he can walk on his own without help.

The second surprise came when they gave him to us, smiled, and all left and closed the door behind them. For the first 15-20 minutes we cringed every time someone came near the door. We were so afraid that our chaperone would come to join us! We took the time to be quiet with Jacob and introduce ourselves to him as his Daddy and Mama. He seemed very interested in this. You may recall that the nannies here have told us that he doesn't speak (just babbles sometimes). Other families who knew Jacob while he was still in the baby house have told us that he did talk, and even called other children by name. Well, not 5 minutes after introducing ourselves, Jacob was playing on the floor, misplaced Sara, and turned and looked and yelled, 'Mama! Mama!' It was as clear as day. Sara went to him and he wanted her to pick him up and hold him! Our little boy is working so hard to come back out of the shell he has gone into.

This is seconds after Jacob called for Mama.


We played with him, and allowed him to explore and get to know us. . . We showed him pictures of his new family and told him who they were. . . We told him that we loved him. . . And we sang to him.

He is still exhibiting a lot of self-soothing behaviors, and is very easily overstimulated. But, our presence seems to be nice to him, and he made a lot more eye contact with us today.

Finally, it was time to go, and we tried to get the one nanny who speaks a little English to tell him that we would be back tomorrow. But, she doesn't think he understands her, so she got embarrassed and wouldn't do it. She couldn't fathom that a child with physical disabilities could comprehend anything, so his basic needs are taken care of but he is never spoken to as a person. We will learn how to say this in Russian tonight, so we can tell him ourselves tomorrow.

The door to the clerk of the court.

We spent a lot of time on this bench outside the clerks door while our facilitator worked her magic inside.



Oh, and we petitioned the court today for an adoption hearing. We should be assigned a judge tomorrow, and then are just waiting for the process in the capital city to be completed so that they can then mail everything to where we are and we can go to court. We are struggling with the unknowns of everything (especially not knowing when I can purchase a ticket to go back home and be with our other kids), but God reminded us this afternoon that man makes his plans, but God directs our paths. We are trusting in the Lord to direct our paths. Please keep praying for Jacob and us. Thanks. -Brad