Front Row Seats

Hi All!

Time for a few updates after the hustle and bustle of December and Christmas preparations. We truly had a blessed Christmas. One of the many side bennies of bringing Nate into our family is the "front row seats" we have to all of his new experiences. The anticipation in our house built throughout December...

One thing we've learned about Nate is that if you're not sure you want the "real" answer, don't ask. We're gluttons for punishment anyway. Nate was asked many times in the weeks leading up to the 25th - "Are you excited about Christmas?" This was often met with a shrug of the shoulders and a lackadaisical "I don't know." Sigh...

As he began to let his guard down a little bit, he confided in Susanne that he had never been given a present before. While we know this to not be technically true, we smiled inwardly, knowing that he was in for something special.

Despite his cautious answers, it was a joy to watch Nate get swept up in the preparations for our Savior's birth. Buying presents for Mom and Dad at the school holiday store, singing Christmas Carols with his AWANA buddies at the local retirement community, and decorating the family tree (despite Dad almost dropping him from 7 feet up as I tried to get him to put the angel at the top).

I will always remember taking Nate and Kit on an errand to Wal Mart a few days before Christmas. They were both wowed by the shiny new bikes hanging from the ceiling. With zero prompting (I promise!), they went on to gush about how much they wanted a new bike to replace the banged up, balding tires, rusty hand me downs they currently zoomed around the neighborhood on. Nate told me, "Daddy, those bikes are cool. I really want one." I played that game that we all get to play - "Oh, Nate. That's the first time you've said that. We'll see what we can do. You're birthday is in February, you know." On the inside, I couldn't wait to get home and tell Susanne!

I can only imagine what was running through his mind as our four arrows all gathered on Mom and Dad's bed on Christmas morning to read Luke 2 together. We had a great day together, first at our house, then at Mimi and Dada's, and the next day at Mama and Pop's. His face lit up many times with genuine thanks, but if you ask Nate what he got for Christmas, he will give you a smile - "a bike."

Thank you, Jesus, for these front row seats!

*We are especially thankful to the ladies at the Bowley's Quarters Curves where Susanne works out. Their very generous gift allowed us to buy Nate's bike!

First Field Trip

Nothing says appropriate Fall Field Trip like a 9:30 AM visit to Pizza Hut! Susanne and I are still scratching our heads on that one, but Nate's first field trip was a great day. In addition to the Pizza Hut stop, the loyal troops of Ms. Masemore's Perry Hall Christian School 1st Grade Class also visited the local playground on steroids and Lohr's Farm.

Nate has since shared with many people the insights he gained on the art of making a pizza pie that day. "First you take the circle..." It is amazing how well he is able to communicate in the tangible world, and yet how hard it is for him to give his emotions any verbalization.

We were very curious to see how Nate was doing socially in his class. Susanne reports that we have ourselves a ladies' man of sorts. The girls in his class are very kind to him.

Susanne and Nate were joined by Jessica and Ella for their pizza brunch. Nate insisted that Ellla sit next to him on the bus, only to be joined by three other lady friends on the 5 seat bench in the back row.

What can I say? Nurture 1, Nature 0.

-Chris

Apple Pickin'

Hi Everybody! We haven't posted in a while, but boy have we been busy. We had a great day a few weeks ago at Larriland Orchard. Who knew apples off the tree were that juicy? Nate had a great time picking - had to slow him down more than once. As it was, we came home with about 20 pounds of apples. Forrest Gump comes to mind...."Apple sauce, apple pie, apple crisp, apple surprise, apple jelly, apple dumplings, ....." You get the point. Happy to report not a single one went to waste...

The boys had a great time in the straw maze, too. It was a big competition to see who could bring me back little markers I had left at random points.

-Chris

To Each His Own

Last night was my Mom's birthday, so we all ate dinner together. My dad had gotten a rotisserie chicken for the main course. A few minutes into the meal, Nate looks at my brother with a bewildered expression and asks, "where's the chicken's head", which prompted the response, "we don't eat that in America." Ugh!

----Susanne

AWANA

Nate earned the Sparks clubber of the month award last night. He has learned 3 Bible verses. I thought that I would use the special needs labels for him to cut down the verses to a more manageable size for him, but we haven't had to do that.

He has studied John 3:16, 1 John 4:14, Psalm 147:11.

John 3:16 is really put into God's perspective when you hear someone saying it in broken English and you realize how Nate has come from a totally different side of the world and was exposed to very pagan beliefs and activities. WOW!

Kit made us proud when he proclaimed privately to us that he had worked hard on his verses too (he has earned 2 jewels already), but that he knew Nate had really worked hard to learn his Bible verses in English. Yeah! He got the principle of rejoicing for/with others.

Here is a picture of Nate and his proud moment.....

Susanne

Big Trucks

I took the boys to the Big Trucks Day at the Public Works Musuem on Saturday. If ever an event was made for boys, it was this one, girls were a rarity in the crowd. Here are a few pictures.

----Susanne

Baby Cakes

Our family always likes to get together on Sundays for the Ravens football games. This year we have 2 new additions to our football group. Nate and Caleb. Caleb is our nephew and he was born in June, actually he was born on the same day that Nate was adopted.

Yesterday Nate and I were sitting on the sofa with Caleb. I was holding Caleb in my lap and Nate was astounded at how small Caleb's feet were. I was trying to tell him that he used to be that small and his hands and feet were tiny like that when he was a baby. Nate was adamant that he was never that small. It dawned on us that he has probably no concept of himself as a baby. I doubt he had pictures of himself as a baby. He may have never really seen a picture of himself at any age. He loves to look at pictures and is always excited when I get a picture of him to hang up around the house.

It never ceases to fascinate me when you get to talking to him. We are so blessed here in America and we are so blessed by our families. Imagine what that is like to not ever have considered yourself to be a baby, to have no photo history of your life.

Thank you for your prayers for his reading. It is getting soooooo much easier to do his homework. He got half of his words right on his first spelling test. That is a victory to us. Spelling is all about sounding out your words and he was able to get some of it right.

Our next new step for Nate is that the Children's choir is singing on Sunday in church. He likes music and art so I am excited to see what he does up there in front of everyone with the other children. He was singing his song in the shower last night, it was so cute, singing in a singsong voice, you know that one you use when you know the melody but not the words. It was a hoot! He was trying to sing "I Will Worship". Kit and I sang along with him before bed to help him learn the words. We will have to keep you updated after church next Sunday.

----Susanne