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!!