A Girl?

It has been a while. Life has been busy.  I (Sarah) finished my first semester teaching as an assistant professor at Corban just a few months ago.  What a fun and busy semester!  Now that I am on Christmas break, there is a little more free time.  However, I am also prepping for next semester's classes, so there is not much down time.  If you know me, you know I like to be busy, so I'm happy.

Now to answer the second question, why adopt a little girl?

I have several answers...  One, who doesn't want pretty pink bows, tootoos and all the frilliness that comes with parenting a little girl?  Some of you may be saying, "me, me!!"  You would rather be blessed with slugs and snails and puppy-dog tails any day over having to deal with sugar and spice and everything nice.  A few years ago I would have said the same thing, but now I have been blessed with my very own little boy and today I think I am ready for a little sugar and spice.  So, my first answer, not necessarily in order of priority, importance or answer-ability is "why not?"  If we are going to adopt again, wouldn't it be fun to have a girl too?

I could not ask for a better child or one who is more suited to our family.  Droiy was born about 4 months before Ben and I met back on 12/31/07, but I know that God was preparing us to be his parents even before we knew him.  He was meant for us and we were meant for him.  Even tonight, when he was being a little pill and getting mad at Ben because he had not seen him most of the day, I know that little boy is just who God had in mind for us to parent.  So, I have faith that, as we are getting ready for this next child, we will be just right for each other again.

So...two, because a little sister is what Droiy has been asking for...  He prays for his "new baby sister" as he calls her, he talks about saving his old toys for his "new baby sister," and he talks about all the things he is going to teach his "new baby sister."  No, we would not make the enourmous, life-altering decision to adopt a girl just because our 5 year old asks for one, but it helps.  Actually, he has changed his request a little bit.  He figured out that right now there are 2 boys in the family (Ben and Droiy) and 2 girls in the family (me and our dog Molly).  So he asked for two new siblings - a brother and a sister.  He was concerned that the girls would out-number the boys, so he wants one of both, just to make it even.  Likewise, Ben and I have both discussed it and we would be open to having siblings if they became available.  We have been approved by our adoption agency, the social worker that performed our home study and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for two children of either gender.  So, Droiy just might get his wish.

Reason number three, if you have ever watched their videos or have  visited The Girl Effect website, you would understand why changing the life of just one girl can have such a tremendous impact.  An educated girl reinvests 90% of her future income in her family versus 35% for a boy.  Changing the life of just one girl can have far-reaching effects.  You may ask, "if you adopt the girl out of Ghana, is she really going to have an impact there?"  She may not, but as a family we have decided to reinvest in the countries that we adopt our children from.  We are currently supporting several ministries in Haiti and I am helping to lead a group of college students from Corban on a mission trip to Haiti this summer.  It is our goal to keep that connection and to continue to work in Haiti, so that one day Droiy would have the opportunity to return and do the same.  We hope to have a similar impact in Ghana by adopting a girl from there and allowing her to have the opportunity to return to work with the people from that country.

Finally, it is a little scary to start working on a second child.   I worry, just like every young parent probably does, whether they are planning to adopt or have a biological child.  I worry that Droiy may think that we love him less if he has to share us with a sibling or two.  I know there will be jealousy; it is probably inevitable.  We have asked, if we get siblings, that the older of the two would be a girl.  This may help with some of the competition that may naturally occur between siblings.  However, I don't think we can always safeguard against every problem that may come our way.  Just as God was preparing Droiy, Ben and I for each other, I believe he is preparing us for this new child or children.  We are approved to adopt up to two children who are at least a year younger than Droiy.  So, when the time comes, we will find out who they are and we will know that we were meant for each other.

Keep us in your prayers.  We still have about $20,000 more to pay for this adoption. So far, God has provided the funds.  Which, praise God! I just added things up today and, since May, we have put nearly $13,000 toward this adoption!  I didn't know we had that type of extra money.  Somehow (through the Lord's faithfulness, of course) the money has been provided.  We will be applying for an adoption grant through Show Hope in the next couple of weeks.  Pray that God will continue to provide and help with the funds that we need.  Or, if you are interested in helping, click on this link: Ghana Adoption Fund.

Keep checking back.  A little more about Ghana will be coming next with and answer to my third question....Why should she be from Ghana?

Our little kindergardener...

I'll post later about our decision to adopt again and follow up on the questions I asked myself. 

However, I have been meaning to post this since Droiy started kindergarden at the beginning of September.  He has grown up so much! 

Below, on the left you see him on his first day of pre-school; on the right, his first day of kindergarden. 

What a big man!

Why adopt a little girl from Ghana?

We have to answer that question for the Ghanaian government. 
However, to us, it seems like three questions in one:
     1. Why adopt?
     2. Why adopt a little girl?
     3. Why should she be from Ghana?

So, we'll start by answering this first one.  As James writes in the New Testament, "religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is to look after orphans and widows in their distress..." (James 1:27)  While this does not mean that everyone should adopt; we do believe that God has specifically called us to adopt our children.  Droiy was born in August of 2007, before we (Ben and Sarah) had even met each other.  Yet, it is as though he was meant for us and we were meant for him. 

So why adopt again?  Why not support an orphan?  We do support orphans; we sponsor several orphans in Haiti.  Yet, we knew we wanted to have more children.  Droiy wanted a sibling and we want more children.  Our first adoption made us realize that we could not love a child more than we love Droiy.  Whether the child is biological or adopted, they are our "own." Some people just do not feel that they are capable of loving an adopted child as much as they love their biological children; I know this because I have had that conversation with many friends.  So adoption is not for them.  You are not a bad person or less giving of a person if you are not called to adopt.  God has other plans for you.

God has called us to expand our family through adoption.  If you know our son, you know why.  He is a loving, caring boy.  He does have his attachment issues, like every adopted child has.  He went through a difficult adjustment period.  He is happy, but will always have some attachment concerns.  God gave us the grace to be able to handle the adjustments and the attachment issues.  Therefore we know that God will give us the strength to support another adopted child's needs.

Does that answer question number 1?  Probably not completely!  What we know is that we are trying to be sensitive to the Lord's leading and He seems to be pointing in this direction.

This adoption is projected to cost about $30,000 and we are trying to raise some of the money.  If you are interested in helping, click on this link: Contribute to our adoption fund.

We are adopting again...

It's been over a year since Droiy's adoption was finalized and almost two and a half years since Droiy arrived in the United States.  A lot has happen since that time.  We moved to Sublimity about a year ago so that Droiy could be near his sister and Ben could be near his job at Sublimity Elementary.  Sarah finished her PhD in March of 2012 and is starting a new job as an assistant professor at Corban University.  Droiy graduated from pre-school and will be starting kindergarden at Sublimity Elementary in the fall.  Also, we have made the decision to adopt a little girl from Ghana.

The Ghana adoption process has just started.  Our application was accepted by Faith International Adoption agency and now we are starting the homestudy and dossier process.  No specific child has been identified this time.  We will be going through the traditional international referral process this time. We will keep you informed as everything progresses.  Your prayers and encouragement are appreciated.

IT IS FINISHED!!

We finally adopted Droiy. June 9th, 2011 was the day we were officially declared to be Droiy's legal parents. The adoption certificate was signed in court in at 9 the morning by the Judge in front of our family. Our (new) lawyer, Robin Pope, was awesome! She made everythin happen so smoothly. If you ever need an international adoption attorney, we would gladyl recommend her.

Droiy wanted to wear a tie for the adoption. He was really excited to look just like his Papa. He was a little nervous, as you can see. But as soon as he got to the court house the police officer gave him a sticker badge and he got excited all over again!!

We received his birth certificate in the mail a few days later which lists Sarah as his legal mother and Ben as his legal father. Thanks to you all for your prayers and support. We really felt loved and help up through this whole adventure. We have another member of the family to pass on the legacy!

It is all done! Or should we say, it is just beginning...?

Our Rockstar

Just to give you a new update, we found a new lawyer. Our other lawyer did not seem to have the time to work on our case so we started looking for someone new about a month ago. Ben and Sarah have an appointment to draw up all the paperwork with her next week. She has successfully completed the adoption process of a Haitian parolee here in the State of Oregon, so we believe she is the lawyer for us. Keep our family in your prayers as we try to get the adoption completed stateside over the next few months. Also we have yet to hear back from Dr Bernard in Haiti, so it does not look like we will be doing an international adoption as originally planned. Hopefully this State of Oregon will be the last step in the adoption process until we get to make Droiy a legal US citizen 2 years from now.

On a lighter note, our son is becoming a Rock Star! He asked for a guitar for Christmas and his sister picked one out that fits him perfectly! We had to re-string it since he is left handed, but he is turning into a very talented musician. Here is proof:

No autographs please.

Droiy's Christmas Video

Merry Chirstmas to you all! We hope you are having a wonderful holiday season. Droiy did a bit of a Christmas show for church - he sang three songs with the other preschoolers. This of course made us and both sets of grandparents, who were in attendance, very proud. Here is a bit of it so you can see how well he did.

For those of you asking about the grant situation: We have sent out our first grant application to the adoption aid organization called Show Hope. You can find out more info about it at showhope.org

We have also been asked to open an account for donations. We have been to the bank and are working on that. We'll let you know when it's all done. Thanks for all your prayers and love.

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord!" Luke 2:11

Growing up.

I know its very nerdy. But if you know me (Sarah), I am a nerdy. And graphing things is the epitome of nerdiness. Yet, I graph everything, so here goes...

Our little tiny, growth resticted orphan is growing up! When we first took him to the doctor after he arrived in the US, he was in the 5th percentile for weight and 10th percentile for height. Since then he has been steadily growing. I graphed his weight and height last night and he is in the 40th and 15th percentile respectively.

Every experience is a new one for our big boy. This is his Halloween costume. He was a teenage mutant ninja turtle. For those of you who were not into the TMNTs, he was Leonardo.

Still adorable as usual. This is Droiy after his second hair cut.

He loves to make us laugh.



As he grows up he is becoming bossier too!
He always has an opinion about EVERYTHING!!



He asked us to dress him up like a cat.



He loves helping out in the kitchen.
He makes waffles for us every Saturday morning.

Please keep our family in your prayers: We decided to apply for some adoption grants in order to afford the second half of the adoption expenses for Droiy.

Summer Update #2

The Comstock Families (Ben, Sarah, Droiy, Grandad, Nana and Jenny) went to the beach this Summer for an overnight trip. This was Droiy's first trip to the Oregon Coast.

Of course, in order to be prepared, Jenny and Droiy got snorkling gear.

They played in the frigid water with their Papas...

...and Droiy got sand everywhere!

Droiy and Grandad had a great time!
So did the rest of the family.

Summer update #1 - Camping

Droiy's first camping experience with his sister and grandparents.

Droiy, Ben and Grandad on the boat, fishing.

Droiy and Jenny hanging out.

Droiy and Jenny looking cool in their sunglasses.

Droiy helping Nana cook breakfast.

Droiy and Jenny trying out their sleeping bags...

...and hanging out in the tent.

Droiy and Ben fishing.

It was a fun weekend!

Potty Training

I was going to start out talking about bed time, but I am in the middle of a couple of books. So I will wait on that and talk about potty training first. I wish I (Mama or Sarah) could take any of the credit for it, but really it is all his doing.

Week 2, day 1: After we brought him home, Kurtis and Jessica gave us a baby toilet. So we sat him on it and showed him what is was for. We said “Mama and Papa go pee-pee in the big toilette (as he says it in Creole) and Droiy goes pee-pee here.”

Week 2, day 2: “Mama, Droiy pee-pee la!” Meaning he wanted to go pee in his new toilet.

Week 2, day 3: “Mama, Droiy toilette la!” Meaning he wanted to do #2! After a few rounds of cleaning out the little toilet, we got him a more convenient toilet seat for the big toilet and pull-ups. From then on there was no stopping him. He had no more #2 accidents and just went pee-pee in the pull-ups

Week 6: Mama is home with Droiy and he had successfully mastered the pull-ups - on to big boy underwear! He thought that was the coolest thing ever. We had about 3 accidents a day for the first 3 weeks (all #1), mostly because he could not be convinced that it was worth stopping playing to go pee.

The biggest challenge right now is trying to make the pee-ing exciting. I don’t want to fight with him about it since he is so ahead of schedule on the potty training. Also, his big thing is CONTROL. He needs to have control or else he doesn't want to do something. And since this is not a requirement yet, he can have control here. He is down to 1 accident a day at the most, sometimes none. I reward him at the end of the day with a sticker or a sucker if he has gone the whole day without pee-ing his pants. Besides that, he is not very food motivated and we are trying to keep it that way. The big thing I have learned in my research is to not give children food or sugar rewards – this is partially what is leading to the Obesity Epidemic of today.

He loves showing off! So if he can show Papa, Nana, Grandad, or Grandma how he can pee standing up, he gets really excited. If he can do it outside on a tree, he thinks that I so much fun! Or if he knows we get to go somewhere and I tell him all he has to do it go pee-pee then we can Foi-ley (baby Creole for leave) then he is happy to comply.

I have to say he is very impressive. He naps without wetting himself and wakes up most mornings with a dry diaper. He tries to convince me every night that he should go to bed with his underwear on instead of the pull-up, but I think we will wait on that until he has the daytime mastered. If any of you experienced Mamas or Papas out there have any suggestions, I would really appreciate your comments.

Hooray for my almost potty trained SUPER HERO!!

Droiy and His Sister!

Droiy gets so excited when he gets to go see his sister.

Every night and every meal time he prays and thanks God for Jenny.

As you can see, they love each other very much.

Wrestling with Papa!

Laughing

Pinching

More laughing

Rolling on Papa

More Laughing

Kissing


More Kissing

Nose Picking

More Laughing!

Third day as a stay at home mama...

Today (Wednesday) was my third day as a stay at home mommy.
Monday and Tuesday there were a few temper tantrums and limit pushing sessions, but today seemed like things were more under control.

We went to go visit Grandma in the morning.
Came home and took a nap.

Then took a run out to the park and played there until papa came and met us.

Here are few pictures of Droiy in the park.

If you've ever been to Wilsonville Memorial Park, you've seen the huge slide. This is how Droiy slides down the slide.

Droiy and Papa played around some more when we got home...

...then it was time for a bath.

After that the nightly ritual of lotion with Mama...

...while watching Sesame Street...

...and dancing with papa.

Good Night!

Pictures

Here are some new pictures of Droiy. He has been very busy lately.