Busy, Busy

Wow! Another month has gone by and we have all been adjusting to the changes that have come with Tatiana joining our family. Tatiana is doing well. She is learning about family life and learning english. She has energy that is amazing! She is busy, busy from the minute she wakes up until the minute she closes her eyes to go to sleep at night.

Tatiana is a bright girl. I think I have written that before. As a result of her life in an institution she is developmentally behind her peers. So, with the combination of her intelligence and her developmental delays we are very busy while she is working on getting caught up. Sometimes I feel like I am parenting a two year old in a four year old body. Imagine, she is climbing in the dryer, cutting her hair, learning new words, seeing new things in the world...and that is all in one day!

We celebrated Tatiana's fourth birthday on October 1! It was a wonderful day and my heart was with Tatiana's birth mother and other family who were most likely thinking of her on that day. I am praying that they all feel peace in their hearts and that somehow they know that she is in a safe, happy place.

Since Tatiana has been home we have discovered some very good news about her health. Tatiana was a waiting child and part of the reason for that is that she had been diagnosed with Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C. She had been treated with Interferon, a relatively aggressive medication, in the past. We knew of these diagnoiss and were open to helping her to cope with them. Our pediatrician has run some tests and we now know that Tatiana does not have Hepatitis C ( the test shows that she never had it) and has only antibodies for the B virus. She has no signs or symptoms of Hepatitis!

Tatiana did have a common parasite and was treated for this. She is now clear of the parasite after a week long battle with her to get her to take the medication three times a day! Our last steps in the assessment of her health are a chest x-ray to confirm that she does not have TB and an eye exam to see what needs to be done to correct her crossed eyes.

Jared and Caleb are doing well and are adjusting to having this new person in their lives. They laugh when she tries to imitate their english words and like to get her to say things that six year old boys think are gross! They went to a day camp for children who are grieving the loss of someone they love this past Saturday. It was great to see that they had thought about her while they were away and brought home a teddy bear for her!

Our family has another member but we still miss Anneke who left us almost two years ago now. It is so sad to me each time Tatiana looks at Anneke's photo's and says her name. Tatiana will know of her sister in this life as we will tell her all about her life and her death. And I believe that someday my daughters will recognize each other when they are finally together in Heaven.

Since arriving home I have also had the chance to reflect on my time in Russia. I now can see that it was a difficult period for Tatiana and I. We were so restricted in what we could do, in how we could communicate and we had all of our support system so far away. That month was definately a once in a life time experience in many ways. So I would not have changed it but it was a difficult way to begin our life together.

I have also had the chance to think about adoption from the adoptive parents perspective instead of from the adoptees perspective. It is a wonderful experience to be granted the right to raise a child as your own and to accept that person completely as your own. I continue to try to stretch myself to do what God would have me do ...to be more Christ like in my parenting with all of my children. And parenting Tatiana often helps me remember that we are loved just as we are by God....flaws and all....amazing.

I think that I will post here monthly to keep anyone who is still reading updated. As I titled this post Tatiana is busy, busy....exploring and learning and testing. And we are all adjusting to our newest family member. We are so thankful to have her here with us.

I hope that reading about Tatiana's journey inspires and educates readers about adoption. And of course, I hope that someday Tatiana will have a better understanding of her life her journey.