Meant to Be

Keri recently spoke about our adoption at a church Bible study and I made this video at her request to show at the event.  Hard to believe it's been 3 years since we stepped off the plane from China with now-not-so-little Eden Hope.  Enjoying every minute of it!

Mother's Day

I rarely post here these days, but I wanted to take the opportunity to thank my wife, Keri, for being such a wonderful mother and wife.  I think back to July 23, 2007 standing in that hot room on the second floor of the social services building in Wuhan.  We saw the back of Eden's head over the shoulder of her caregiver for the first time and all that waiting finally became real. Frankly I was just out of it--excited, but thinking too much to be feeling anything.

Keri, on the other hand, was full of emotion that ran the gamut. She laughed, she cried. Eden cried mostly.  I think any parent has doubts about whether they are up to the task. I certainly did walking out of that room and back to the bus, our adopted daughter in hand for the first time.  I never had any doubt of Keri, though. She has been a wonderful wife, and that day she added "mom" to her title and I have never ceased to be amazed the skill, talent and love she brings to that role.

So to moms on Mother's Day, thank you.  To my wife on Mother's Day, thank you, I love you, and I can't wait for the Uganda side of our family expansion in the coming months.  And I promise to pick my stuff up off the floor more often.

2 New Additions

First of all...sorry it's been so long! We went to Oklahoma for a week for my sweet cousin, Mandy's, wedding, had construction done in our basement, and Eden and I have been passing a nasty cold back and forth. Life has been crazy! We are finally settling down a little.

The big news at the Mason house is our new pet turtles. Yes...turtles. Eden LOVES looking at the water turtles every time we go to the pet store. A couple of weeks ago, Gene got word that a friend had 2 water turtles he was giving away. We talked about it, researched it, and decided to take them. Needless to say, once I got the "habitat" for them including aquarium, filter, UVB light, basking lamp, cleaning supplies, turtle dock, etc., my "free" turtles were not so free. But they are SO fun to watch.

Here's the funny part. When my friend came over to bring them to us, we had a 30-minute conversation about what they like to eat, how much they poop, how to clean up after them, etc. Well, as Sam was leaving he asked Eden what she wanted to name them. She proudly answered, "Eat" for the little one and "Poop" for the big one. How appropriate! So our turtles are named Eat and Poop. Ahhh, the simplicity of the 2-year-old mind.

Hope you all have a great Easter! We are going to attempt to dye eggs today. I'll post photos of how we do. I promise to update more often!! Below are pics of Eden and her turtles. Enjoy!

The Life of a Two Year Old

I finally got a little free time to play around with the video we've been taking of the family and decided to post a quick clip of Eden playing around the house. Nothing earth-shattering in content, just a happy little two year old being herself. She's just so fun I could watch her all day (but I won't make you do that--it's only like 2 minutes long).

It's Official - I'm A Mommy!

Okay, so a couple of funny things happened to me this week that I feel officially promote me to full "mommy" status.

First of all, we went to Gene's office at the church yesterday to have lunch with him. I was rushing around that morning trying to get some laundry done, feed Eden breakfast, and get both her and I looking somewhat presentable so I wouldn't embarrass Gene at work. I looked in the mirror before I left and thought, "Hey, I look pretty good. My hair is down AND I'm wearing makeup." Well, I should have looked more closely because when I got to the church one of my friends there came up to me and whispered in my ear that my shirt was on inside out. So I ran into one of the empty offices and turned it right-side out. That was the first clue that I am definitely losing it.

Then, Eden and I were riding down the road and she was talking to me from the backseat like she ALWAYS does. She is either wanting me to hand her something, wanting to point at something, or wanting to hand me something. This is not so safe while driving a minivan. Well, she was trying to hand me something this time so I just stuck my hand back there while still watching the road. She put what I thought to be a crumb in my hand and when I pulled it back and looked at it...it was a buggar. Oh yes, you read right, a buggar from my sweet, precious child's nose. So I did what any good mother does and said, "Thank you sweetie for not eating it." I am indeed officially a mommy, aren't I?

Eden decided she wanted to brush her teeth for the first time this morning with actual toddler's toothpaste so I put a few photos up for you to see. She LOVES her stool that Mrs. Sandra gave her. The funny thing she is doing this week is that she asks for a bow to be put in her hair every time she is near a mirror. Then, she stands up, looks at herself, grins from ear to ear in admiration, and then kisses the mirror. If only we could hold on to that contentment with how God made us! She is so proud of how pretty she looks with a bow in her hair.

What a sweet angel.

We're Doing Great!

Hey everyone! Sorry these posts aren't coming frequently enough for some of you but there isn't as much to "report" these days. Eden is doing so well! We went back for our follow-up visit with the International Adoption Clinic today and found out some great news from a medical standpoint. Eden has most of the vaccines she should have and no parasites were found, which is so great! She had gained 2 pounds which inches her closer to "normal" for her height. She did still have some fluid in her ears even after 10 days of antibiotics and the pediatrician said she feels like Eden will need tubes. We will know more once we have our appointment with the Cleft Clinic at Children's Hospital. We go there on Sept. 6th to get the "down low" on how to proceed with treatment for Eden's mouth issues.

She is learning words and speaking well. The bonding is a slow and steady process. We were encouraged after meeting with the behavioral specialist at the Adoption Clinic today because she assured us that Eden is right where she needs to be and we want her to be bonding wise. The fact that she is "waiting" (as the specialist called it) to give her trust and love to us fully shows us that she had a strong, healthy bond with her caregiver in China. This is a good thing for Eden. We are seeing so much progress in her each day.

She has really opened up to me emotionally. Daddy is still more of a playmate, but Eden absolutely ADORES him and lights up when he comes home each day. The progress I see is her coming to me consistently any time she has a true need. From feeling unsure around new people, to being tired, to being hungry or thirsty, she comes to me every time for these needs to be met. She also is beginning to want to be held by me A LOT. She is allowing me to shower her with affection, and is beginning to offer affection to me. If I ask for a kiss, I almost always get one. Every now and then she initiates affection. The one in the house getting most of Eden's love is our chocolate lab Maggie. Eden sits on her, lays on her, shares toys and food with her, and most of all kisses her probably 25 times each day. Every day Eden's personality emerges a little more.

The latest thing I have learned is that she is somewhat of a girly-girl. Her newest word is "bow" and she points to her hair anytime I put her on the changing table. We put the bow in her hair, then she stands up to admire herself in the mirror as she grins from ear to ear. Then she gets down, pulls the bow out of her hair and runs off to play. She really enjoyed the pink fairy skirt and wand that my mom gave her. She also likes to carry her "purse" around the house loaded with "loot."

We took our first visit to Anniston, where my parents live, this past weekend and Eden did great. We visited my mom's 2nd grade class and they had made a huge banner for Eden and drawn pictures of her on it. Several of mom's students from last year and the 2nd grade teachers showered us with love and gifts. Eden LOVED being with all the children. She even sang "Itsy Bitsy Spider" with them. Then on Saturday we introduced her to my 2 brothers' families. She enjoyed playing with her cousins, who were so good with her. They were so excited to meet her. Then on Sunday we took her to meet the precious people in my parent's Sunday school class who had so faithfully prayed for us while we were in China. We only stayed for a few minutes but it was so important for me to let them see what their prayers had helped accomplish and to say "thank you." They loved meeting sweet Eden.

We will definitely be laying low this week since we had such a big weekend. Eden did great, though. Several times a day I would just take her away from everyone for a few minutes to snuggle and "re-connect." And we continue to enforce the "no holding" and "no giving her food" rule. We did allow my parents to pick her up for photos or for a quick kiss. She loves her Ja Ja (my mom) and Peepaw (my step-dad). She also loved my mom's 2 dogs and kissed them all weekend. I am still not ready to leave her with anyone, but I hope to begin letting my sister watch her for an hour each Sunday so I can attend one of the church services in another month or so. I miss attending the worship services so much but these precious moments of forming this bond with my daughter will never come again.

Thankfully, I can listen to the sermons online, the the church has come to us as people have cared for and loved on us so much. Thank you all for the continued support and prayers. I love you all. Eden is calling for me to get up from her nap so I have to go. Hope to post again soon!

I Found the Peace and Quiet!

It's 12:42 AM on Saturday night and I'm updating our church's website. While I'm waiting for a 120MB video file to upload I switched over to another computer to read Keri's blog entries--so full have the days been I haven't even had the opportunity to soak in my wife's prayerful and loving thoughts on the whole adoption experience to date. I scrolled through them and nodded in agreement.

Eden is sleeping in the next room. She's just amazing. This afternoon while Keri went shopping Eden and I spent an hour or so after her nap playing in the living room. Sometimes I just stare at her little face and think, "Wow. God made that and I'm responsible for it." I keep wanting to go up to every dad I know and say, "I had no idea! I had no idea!"

More than anything I long to really be "daddy" and not just "guy who makes silly faces" to her... and that will just take lots of time. I'm praying about all her little doctor visits to come, and at the same time thankful that we just happen to be exactly where she'll get the very best medical care for her cleft palette and upper row of teeth that is available anywhere (coincidence? yeah, right. Thank you Lord for planning ahead!).

We took some pictures of her today that we wanted to be sorta "studio quality." The shots themselves are okay but I kept looking at them going, "Not good enough." I mean, I really wanted them to capture the heart of this little girl, you know? Heck, I'm a communications guy--I should be able to do this. I think the problem is that my subject matter moves too fast. I wish she had a slow-mo button.

By the way, the girl can poop. Thankfully Keri is a pro in the poop-handling department and has taken most of that task on daily. On the other hand, I am totally grossed out by the whole thing. I think she poops like 4-5 times a day, and by body weight she's got to be generating like 40% of her weight in poop every 24 hours. At first I was so out of touch with children I could not even tell she had pooped. Now I am acutely in tune with the poop. I can close my eyes right now and sense whether or not poop is present in the house...

I think I am going to pen a letter to the people who make the Diaper Genie and tell them they may have saved our home from permanent poopiness. We got all these boxes of diapers from folks and I thought at the time, "Geez, we're totally over-supplied." Not so. Again, more thank you notes to those who have given diapers. We're going through them at breakneck speed. I want to stock up--let's make sure we have extra boxes. What if we ever ran out? I don't even want to think about what would happen.

I've discovered I also like Eden's toy car keychain because it has cool sound effects. I'm seriously thinking of getting one for myself. I'm concerned that she is having all the fun. Certainly if I can make silly faces at her, I can also walk around with a Fisher Price keychain that makes a "moo" cow sound when I press it. I mean, who doesn't like that?

Oh, thank heavens the upload just finished. I'm headed to bed now--1:00 a.m. I used to stay up this late because it's where the peace and quiet is. I'll be snoring momentarily. You can likely hear me if you live in my area of Meadowbrook--Keri says I'm quite loud. Thank you for your continued prayers for Eden and our family. I'm so grateful for our friends and family and the many expressions of support for Eden and the adoption process we've received as we continue to navigate this new and interesting road of parenthood.

Give Us This Day...

Okay, here's what we're learning at the Mason home...how to take life one day at a time. Most of us are familiar with that line in the Lord's Prayer that says, "Give us this day our daily bread." Well, we are living that prayer with our precious new daughter. Every day is a little different and better than the day before. Each day, I'm so focused on TODAY. Each small step with her is such a joy. Take for instance right now as I'm typing this, she is in the hall playing peek-a-boo around the door with me, grinning from ear to ear.

These small things are such a gift! The smiles and giggles, hugs and kisses (I am getting some kisses now), the sound of her voice in the baby monitor calling "Mama" when she wakes up, the way she loves to squeal, watching her dance (it is so FUNNY), tickling her, and the way she snuggles up against me when I rock her at night. She is such a precious little girl. We chose her name, Eden, because it means "delight" in the Hebrew language. I chose the name before I knew her - and it fits her. She is such a delight. Her grieving has gotten a lot better. She hasn't tantrumed all week and she is no longer preferring Gene over me or pushing me away. She wants us both. We had our first appointment at the International Adoption Clinic this past Monday and they encouraged us to go ahead and start showing her the pictures we took with her foster mom in China.

This may bring about more grieving, but it will be healthy for her. They encouraged us to make a book that begins with the photo of her with her foster family, then the photo of us with her foster mom and Eden, then a picture of an airplane, and then pictures of her with us at home here. This will help her to see how all of this fits together as part of her life's story. They also said not to let her have free access to the book but to give it to her when she asks for it and always look at it with her. I am so glad we have the resource of the Adoption Clinic because Gene and I had put these photos away thinking it would be best not to let her see them until she was securely bonded to us. But it makes sense to let her see them in the context of her new family.

I'm so glad we were able to meet her foster mom and get those photos!! We were hit with some surprising news at our clinic visit from a medical standpoint. Eden's palate is open, but it appears to be a very small opening right behind her front teeth. We will visit the Cleft Clinic soon to find out about surgery to close it. Eden also has a significant cleft on both sides of her top jaw (I don't know the clinical name for it) that will have to be surgically repaired, but the doctor at the clinic said she thought the Cleft Clinic would wait to do that after all of her permanent teeth come in. I will have more info after we visit the Cleft Clinic and will post what I find out.

Eden also had fluid behind one of her eardrums that appeared to have been there for a long time. She is on an antibiotic to clear it up and we're going for a hearing test in early September. I learned that when babies suck it clears the fluid that collects in their ears. Since cleft palate babies can't suck they tend to have fluid in their ears so you really have to keep a watch on them due to the risk of hearing loss and/or language developmental delays. We also have an appointment to get her vision checked but that's just routine for adopted kids. She had 4 vials of blood drawn from her arm and it was so traumatic - for her and for me. And, I will spend the week digging through her dirty diapers collecting 9 stool samples to be tested for parasites - yuck!

Boy, do I love this girl or what? This is something they also do with all internationally adopted children because of unclean water. We also got GREAT news at our clinic visit from a developmental standpoint. Eden is right on target for her age range and the OT was blown away by how curious she was and how she is repeating words. She told us to start having her learn to drink from a small cup to develop the muscles in her mouth since she can't suck and to start working on stacking blocks for fine motor skill development. We didn't get to see the behavioral specialist but we will see her at our next appointment in 2 weeks. We are just so thrilled with Eden's progress in how she is transitioning and bonding. She is growing more loving towards me every day and still adores her Ba Ba (daddy). She is on a great schedule and is sleeping through the night (about 10 hours a night) and taking a 1 1/2 - 2 hour nap each afternoon. I even cleaned the house this week. You would have thought I cured cancer by how proud I was of myself. I cleaned the house and took a shower with her here by myself..woo hoo!!!

She loves our dogs and loves bath time now. We have a baby pool in the backyard that she enjoys playing in and we take walks early in the morning in the jogging stroller and she loves to cat nap during those. We're settling in really well. It hasn't been easy at all, but I can honestly say it is becoming so fun. I love being Eden's mommy and Gene's wife. I was a little overwhelmed after our clinic visit on Monday but I am so glad that she is here with us and can receive the medical care she needs. We had no idea her mouth was in as bad of shape as it is but who cares? Not us! She is beautiful and perfect in our eyes and we will sacrifice whatever we have to in order to meet her needs.

Hope this brings everyone up to date. I am posting some photos from the past week. Hope you enjoy them!