The Staege Family: Orphanage Trip

Jeff says he will happily give up the roll of family blogger, but I think maybe I should just let him take over! We apologize for not updating before now, but somehow the days are incredibly full and I fall in bed exhausted every night.

Yesterday was the official adoption day, as well as Jeff's birthday! Jeff and I took Isaac back to the office we received him at the day before to turn in our official documents saying that YES, we want Isaac to be our son, and were given the adoption certificate that makes him legally ours. Then we went and dropped off some papers at the notary's office and were home by lunch. It was nice to get some time with just Isaac since we left the other three at the hotel with ayi. After nap we headed to the swimming pool for what we think was Isaac's first time swimming. The "pool" was actually the whirlpool, but it is very large for a whirlpool and the whole pool is only about a foot and a half deep. All four kids had great fun splashing and playing together.

For dinner, we went out with two of the other families from our travel group and enjoyed getting to know some of them better. Isaac seemed to slowly continue to relax as the day went on. On the way to dinner, he actually wrapped his arms and legs around me as I held him instead of just hanging there limply. We've seen him be very generous and helpful, sharing his food and helping to pick things up or find something for one of his siblings. We've also seen him fight hard against not getting his way and he can be pretty dismissive and impatient with anyone he doesn't want to interact with at the moment. I'd say so far the biggest part of his heart I'm praying for is his ability to have empathy and grace for others. It's totally understandable why he doesn't respond that way right now, but I can see a kind and loving heart inside my boy, and I'm excited to see it come out more and more in his interactions with others.

Today we took a LONG trip to Isaac and David's hometown to register for Isaac's passport and also visit the orphanage and foster family that cared for both Isaac & David. Up until today, Isaac has seemed to be under the impression that we are a fairly fun group of people that he has enjoyed spending time with, but he will be soon returning to his "real" family. In light of that, we were expecting him to have a really hard time when we went back to his orphanage and saw his foster family. On the way there, we pulled out a photo album the orphanage officer had given us on Monday and as we looked at the pictures we talked about how we were going to go to the orphanage so Isaac could introduce us to all his friends and caretakers, and that afterwards we would say goodbye and he would come with us back to the hotel. He didn't really say much but didn't seem upset by it particularly.

At the orphanage, we went to a small room with about a half-dozen kids playing there and met the nanny who had cared for both David and Isaac when they were infants. It was a little strange that all day long everyone claimed that David hadn't really been very sick at all as a baby, even though all the paperwork we received said he had been very ill. I didn't get the impression they were trying to cover it over, but it makes me wonder how he got into the special needs program at all in that case.

About a half hour after we arrived, the foster mother and grandmother arrived. They were VERY excited to see David especially since they hadn't seen him in over 8 months. David, however, was not very excited to see them and refused to allow them to hold him or really interact with him at all. I felt really sorry for them about that. Isaac seemed more enthusiastic about his foster mom than grandmother, and would let his mom hold him and play with him. But after a short time of interacting with them, he would come back to one of us and ask to be held. When it was time to leave, Isaac refused to let them hold him and gave them a half-hearted wave goodbye as he demanded that we all hurry up and get in the van to leave. I was really happy that once David was sure this was "goodbye" and not that we were leaving him there, he gave mom and grandma big hugs and a warm farewell.

We didn't get home until around 4:30 (about a 2 hour drive each way and we left at 8am) and while Miriam and Isaac slept most of the way, Elijah and David bounced around like little rabbits and about drove Jeff and I crazy. Jeff went out and brought dinner home and it was a relatively peaceful chaos until bedtime :)

Tomorrow is a free day for us, so we are thinking about hitting up the local zoo if we think we can brave the humid heat. It will be nice to have a whole morning together without having to spend it traveling or in offices. I am so DONE trying to do life with 4 small kids in a hotel. I can not wait to get back to our home!

Please continue to pray for our family as we are just beginning the process of getting to know each other and becoming a family. Jeff and I are both burdened for Isaac's heart to continue to soften and as he grows to experience more love and security that he would grow in his ability to love and care for others, especially his family. We are also very aware of our total inability to meet all the needs of these four precious and diverse little kiddos, and we know we need to continue to grow in our faith that God knew our limitations and He has a plan for all of this that isn't dependent on our abilities. It's easy to say and REALLY hard to fully embrace.

Ok, now that most of you have probably skipped over all my ramblings, here is the part you have scrolled down to find, the pictures!