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I’M NOT!!!    I feel like a broken record when I keep saying, “We’ve been blessed with more pictures!”  But I will take every single one of them that I can get.  This last couple of weeks has been incredible as we really feel like we’ve had confirmation of what Elijah’s personality is like.  I say “confirmation” because we already sensed that this was his personality from what we’d seen when peering into his eyes in previous pictures.  For a young boy that had such complicated physical heart problems, he has an incredibly huge loving and compassionate heart.  Wow!  God is good!

I’ve had the privilege of being in email contact with one of the ladies that just traveled to PHF.  The connections that we have outside of PHF is amazing.  For one, we both live in Missouri!  I’ll quote a couple of things that she said about Elijah, and share the pictures that she generously sent to us.  Thanks Wendy!

“Your Elijah is just an angel.  He truly has the most sweet spirit.  Countless number of times I seen him hold one of the little ones hands, even carry a little one in the rain.  He always seem to jump in and help where a lot of the older boys with disabilities cannot.  He is very special!  And his smile is just amazing as you know!”

A PHF staffer sent us the link to this blog of five women that were just at PHF last week on a short term mission trip.  I found three pictures with Elijah and one that is especially precious.

Of the above photo, one of the ladies wrote:  This morning, we got to have some fun with the pre-school and school age kids…singing songs, blowing bubbles and even having some sticker fun! While we were singing, one of the smaller little boys began to fuss and before any of the nannies even had a chance to respond, one of the older boys swooped him up and began rocking him. It was most precious!

That’s my boy!!!!  That’s my Elijah caring for and cradling another little friend!  It is so special to have this glimpse into who Elijah is and the heart of compassion that he has.  How precious is this?  He is going to be a wonderful big brother to Johanna and Ami.  Thank you ladies (if you get to read this!) for the time and resources that you spent loving on these wonderful kids at PHF.  We appreciate your being there in our absence while we wait to bring Elijah home.  God bless you!

I am part of a yahoo group for parents that have adopted or are in the process of adopting a child that resides at PHF.  One of the wonderful things about PHF is that they have recently added a therapy program to help their children with speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, etc.  The American in charge of the therapy team is on our yahoo group and has been gracious enough to give reports about some of the children in her care.  If you’ve been in the adoption process, you know how precious each bit of information is that you receive about your child.  For Ami we missed the first eight months of her life and we know very, very little about that time period.  For Elijah we have missed the first 9 years of his life, so we are extremely grateful for any bits and pieces that help us in getting to know him better.

We received a very kind email from the therapy team leader this morning.  We had already heard that he was doing very well developmentally, physically and in school, but I often wonder about his emotional well-being.  The main thing to report is that Elijah is not receiving any special therapy at all!    He appears to be very well-adjusted and does not seem to exhibit any of the typical behaviors that an institutionalized child often does, especially of his age (hoarding, aggression, and other behavior problems).  We were given several examples of his adjustment and are so proud of him.  He has a difficult history, but we are continually astounded at his resilience.  We may deal with issues in the near future, or many years down the road, but we confident that no matter what the challenge, God will guide us through.  He loves Elijah more than we do and only wants the best for him.  We covet your prayers, that God would sustain Elijah and guide him through yet another big change in his young life, and that God would give us wisdom and understanding.

Another card and stickers that we sent this month

Can we just pack up and go hug him now??!?!!?

PHF updated their website today with a bunch of new pictures.  So many cute faces living at PHF!  If you are not involved in orphan care in any way (James 1:27!), then I highly encourage you to check out this organization and get involved.  They always have children in need of sponsors as well as many other ways that you can help out.  There were several more pictures of Elijah’s trip to the Olympics posted.  I’ll just post a couple more of our cute son #2.