The Road To Ren

Our adoption journey to our son Ren William.

Musings by Elaine and other Blitherings. This blog was origonally intended to document our China adoption journey to our son Ren. Now we are home and this blog is about our family. I would love to have you sign my guest book.

Scroll to bottom to see slideshow pictures.

Friday, July 31, 2009

MIA

funny face "the warrior look"
We are still here! I know I have been missing in action for awhile on this blog. It has been nice to just get away from the computer for awhile. After the intensity of going through an adoption, coming home with our new 3 year old, traveling to another state to buy a new house, traveling back again to close on said house, then moving into new house, unpacking, and getting settled. I was ready for some down time LOL! We needed some normalcy to our lives. I think I can say we have found it and are really enjoying it.

The kids have adjusted beautifully. I had my doubts at first and was wondering if they would ever like each other. We had a rough start. I can now say with confidence that they like each other! They are inseparable and play with each other all day. Yes they occasionally have the normal squabbles but then go right back to playing again!


Ren is the sweetest little boy and we are so in love with him! He has the funniest sense of humor and is a little clown. He is talking in sentences and has the cutest Chinese accent. We are at the point where he is learning so many new words and even when he says them wrong it is hard to correct him cause its so cute. "Sleeping" is pronounced "Shleepling" by him. He sleeps through the night, all night, HALLELUJAH! When we adopted Eden she did not sleep through the night for over a year and she talked and screamed in her sleep. Did I mention she slept in our room for the first year??!! Random fact: Sleep deprivation is a common form of torture. Ren is happily shleepling in his own room :-).

I thought adopting a 3 year old was going to be harder than adopting a 23 month old (Eden). This time around has been a breeze. Our time in China with him was hard. Granted we weren't 100% having to fight our illness and jet lag while there. Ren grieved and he grieved hard through temper tantrums. Once home it was like he walked in the house and thought I am here now with my family and its OK. He is one remarkable little boy. He is very affectionate and did I tell you he loves his mommy now :-). Something he wasn't sure about while in China. For all those considering adopting an older child I would like to say yes there are success stories!! He has bonded wonderfully.

We have had many visitors since being back in Ohio. It has been so wonderful to see everyone and spend time with family. Caleb made it for a visit too and was her for 4 wonderful days. I think it was just after we moved and I still wasn't up to speed yet because I didn't get pictures of him!!! ARGH. Caleb we will take pictures at your graduation this December!

My dad

My brother Keith

Christian came for a week and met his new brother


Rachel and kids at airport waiting for her flight to Uganda, read about her trip on her blog HERE
Be sure to read her gorilla tracking post!

10 comments:

Wuxi Mommy said...

It was sooo good to see pictures of Ren and Eden!! SuSu asks about Ren all the time and we all really miss you guys. I'm so glad to hear that everyone's doing well and adjusting to each other. Our two are inseparable, too, and you would never know they just met three months ago! We definately need to find a way to get together before too long!

Rachel C. said...

Thanks for the post. I enjoyed the pictures a lot. Especially the "warrior look." I really miss you guys.
Love you <3

shelley said...

So glad to see an update. Love the new pics. I check in on Racheals blog often.....quite a strong young woman you have there. How I miss you all. I can't believe Eden was just coming out of her shell and then out time together was done. We must plan a reunion next yr. We would certainly love to see that part of the states.

We all knew Ren would love his momma, just on his own time.

Say hello to mark and kiss the children for me.

Bill and Toni said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bill and Toni said...

So glad to hear from you guys!!! LOVED the pictures... everyone looks so settled into life. God is so very good!!!
Blessings,
Toni Benton and crew
dtc 7/31/09!!!

gnanna said...

I am so glad that you all are doing well. The pictures are so great! Ren is an amazing little guy and Lily misses him. Cincinnati is wonderful...not sure if you all have come here yet. The doctors are great! Take care!

Bonnie said...

Love your new pictures. So glad to see all of you are doing so well. We are doing well too. It is amazing how quickly our children are learning English and adjusting to all these changes. Please stay in touch!

Mai said...

Love your pix. It's great to the kids doing so well together. Just want to say HI to Eden. Is she in first grade yet? We started school this week so I just want to wish her a great first day!

ケイリッブ (Caleb) said...

as usual, I am excluded.

Anonymous said...

Love your pix very much. I'm glad to see an update.It's great to the kids doing so well together.thank you for sharing it.