6 Weeks With Jordan

It's hard to believe it, but we have been with Jordan for 6 weeks now!  Just like many major life events, it feels like no time at all and, oddly, forever at the same time.  We've started going out on little outings now and then to test the waters and feel like Jordan is ready to take on more and more every day.  Our social worker came out for our first post-placement visit and was amazed at how at ease Jordan is and how well he is adjusting.  She knows what the typical adjustment looks like, first hand, because she adopted a girl the same age as Jordan just 7 months ago.  She credits Jordan's foster care environment for how well he has done.  He really was so blessed to have been so well cared for by both of his foster care organizations.

We also had our first pediatrician visit and went over our very looong list of items to address.  We came home with referrals for 5 different specialists, radiology imaging orders, and two prescriptions.  It was a lengthy appointment, but I am so happy to get the ball rolling so we can get Jordan's medical needs taken care of and feel so lucky to already have so many great doctors lined up to work with.  When we were at this point with Mason, everything felt so incredibly overwhelming and scary.  Having made it though hard times with Mason has given us perspective and experience that makes it so much easier to take things in stride. 

Ryan and I recently had a conversation that I keep thinking about.  We've had quite a few people tell us that adopting Jordan was such a wonderful, benevolent, amazing thing for us to do and that, in turn, makes us incredible people.  When people say these kinds of things, first of all, it's uncomfortable, second, it's hard to know how to respond.  We are, in fact, very ordinary people with our fair share of shortcomings that didn't magically disappear by adopting a child.  In the midst of my thinking of how to respond to these kinds of comments, I was overwhelmed by the feeling that it's truly our Heavenly Father that is wonderful, benevolent, and amazing.  It's incredible that he knows us better than we know ourselves and will provide experiences that will benefit us in ways we never would have guessed.  God is the amazing one, for bringing Jordan into our lives.  We just did what we felt led to do.  So really, "willing" is the best that can said of us.  But even that is not extraordinary because we are surrounded by people doing the same thing every day, just in their own ways.

With that, here are a few pictures:

 Our first big outing was a hike to the "Y" on Labor Day.

 The kids were all troupers, especially Mason, who had to give up his spot in the "Maddie Pack" (hiking backpack) and hiked the whole way on his own for the first time.

 Jordan loves to be outside and handled being contained pretty well... the Fruit By The Foot that Grandma and Grandpa brought for him did help quite a bit.

 Taking a break and enjoying the scenery.

 Sitting on top of the "Y".

His eating has gone from what we thought was pretty good, to bad, and then worse.  So the fact that Jordan ate half a piece of pizza the other day was pretty impressive.  I just wish we could get ANY fruits and veggies into him!

All five kids playing in their blanket forts together.  I should have taken a picture earlier, this is after half of their fort village came down.  But either way, it makes my heart happy to see the ALL play together.

  Our charming little mess maker.