some pics

Climbing everything and anything is also a favourite past time, which is fine except for the no fear of running off the edge when he wants to get down.

JJ loves his baths and says bath at any given opportunity. The orphanage washed the children by pouring cups of cold water over them, so for Jeremiah's first bath I sat with him in 2cm of cold water and slowly filled and warmed the bath. He was so amazed that his foot kept floating and has since discovered just how wet you can make mummy with splashing!

Apparently, this toy highchair is not for dolls to sit in. JJ ditched the doll, knocked the highchair over and found it's true purpose....to make really loud sounds whilst dragging it on tiles!

This phone was the first toy we bought in the Philippines, because he constantly wanted ours. JJ didn't play with it over there, he just wanted something to hold. Now he loves to "talk" on the phone and has just figured out that my phone takes pictures, so this is JJ taking a picture of himself with his toy phone.

This is my beautiful sister Samantha, she was the first person I hugged when we arrived at the airport. Sam has travelled this long road with us very closely, so you can imagine how emotional she was to meet her new nephew.

JJ will pick up any bag, no matter how big or heavy, put the straps on his shoulder and wave bye-bye. This bag proved too heavy, so with many failed attempts, he decided to drag it to the front door and dump it there as if to say, "this ones a dud, get rid of it!"

Jordan made this welcome home cake, it was so special that all of the kids had their own way of welcoming their little brother (thanks to Phoebe).

I've said before how I'm not allowed to show any distinguishing photos of Jeremiah on the web until our court day in a years time, but I can still e-mail a photo, so if you've been tracking my blog and want to see a photo of Jeremiah, I'd be proud to e-mail you a piccy. I don't know how you do that, if you leave an e-mail address in comments or some other way, so if anyone knows how, please let me know.

Life in the day of JJ

Jeremiah is 16 1/2 months old now, he is 73cm tall and weighs 8.3kg (he's slowly gaining weight).
He has the smallest little bottom, it's so little that we have him in infant nappies and the tabs still cross over....so cute!
He's a smart little guy, the carers ( called Aunties and Uncles ) in the orphanage spoke to him in Cebuano, but he is picking up English really quickly and knows what I'm on about most of the time. I just repeat the English and then the Cebuano word for those I know to help him out. Still there are times he keeps repeating a word over and over and I have no idea what he's saying, and I can't find it in my translation book ( it is 16month old Cebuano after all ).

Food wise, he loves any mushy fruit, over cooked mushy rice, and sultanas. We are still working on finger foods and vegetables. I carry sultanas around all the time so he knows that food is always available to him but he still gets into the bin now and then and stuffs food into his nappy for later, Sometimes it's not even eatable, a banana skin or a tea bag.
I need to clarify that JJ's orphanage was one of the best I have seen or heard of, they really loved and cared for him and we will forever be thankful to God and the workers for doing their very best for JJ. They all have an enormous faith in God and treat the children wonderfully. In fact, the day we left, JJ was so distraught to leave, I even wondered if we were doing what was best for him. They loved him, he loved them and this was his home since he was 6hours old. He seemed very settled in his life there and had all his friends around him.
Now I can see that no matter how well an orphanage is run, how much the children are loved, it never replaces a family that can provide that individual attention when they need it, with 75-100 children at any given time, it is impossible to comfort every hurt, cater to hunger outside of set meal times, and so much more that instills security, love and peace into a child that enables them to grow to their full potential. So although JJ is doing fantastically because of how well he was treated, there are still so many hurdles to overcome.

Sleeping is probably one of our toughest issues, but we are making progress. He was sleeping with his eyes wide open, poor little guy, so much insecurity and learnt protection skills shouldn't be there in anyone, especially a 16month old. He closes his eyes now but still wants to sleep on me, koala bear style (which is not the most comfortable position for a side sleeper). He can sometimes take hours to go to sleep and when I can safely put him down without waking, he sleeps for 15mins and then that's it for the day. He wakes restlessly through the night, his little arms and legs don't stop moving, searching for comfort and he needs to tuck his hand up my sleeves. What amazes me is that although he gets so little sleep, he doesn't sit still, he's always on the go, to the point where I have to massage his legs and hold him because he doesn't seem to know what to do with himself, he seems a bit lost and can't get himself to stop.
During the day, he is much more settled, is fine to visit new people and places and is happy to explore and walk off from me as long as I am sitting down. So he can walk away from me but not me walk away from him, which means housework is on a definite back burner at the moment.

He's learning to respond more to pain now. He use to knock his head really hard, slam his finger in the drawer and not bat an eyelid. JJ is still a tough little guy but he'll come to us and cry a little now. We don't want him to become a sook when he has the slightest bump but he needs to know that we are always there to comfort him. He has never had any tears since birth so it's also important for him to audibly cry or to indicate when he has been hurt, especially when he goes to kindy or is with someone else.

Have to go, I have been typing one handed with him asleep on my chest an he is just waking up, i will try to get some pictures up tonight.

Hello again, I'm back!

Ok, here we go... I have made a few attempts to blog but never got to complete them.
There has been sooo much happening since I last blogged that it's hard to get everything down, so I will have to just pick up from here.
The trip to bring home our little boy was one we will never forget and a piece of our hearts will forever be with the orphanage. The children there were just beautiful, we had lots of play time with them all and the only one that didn't want anything to do with us was our son, Jeremiah.
It was so hard when we first saw him not to just hold him and kiss him, but we sat back and took it as slow as he needed. He was very attached to a few of his carers and clung to them as much as he could, whilst watching us, trying to work us out.
The day we finally took him from the orphanage was heart breaking. The other children and carers sung us a farewell song, said a prayer and gave us hugs goodbye. The whole time this was going on, JJ was screaming, the carers were all crying.... it was so emotional. JJ was so upset that I had to keep telling myself that this was a good sign. If he has attached to someone then he can attach again. Some children have never learnt to bond with anyone and have a hard time ever fully bonding.
What's changed since then?
He is adjusting really well. Absolutely loves his brothers and sister, and gives us huge giggles, hugs and kisses. He calls us Mummy and Daddy and is always on the go discovering this new world. He is just beautiful.
Although we were not there for his first tooth, word, and steps, we have been able to share so many firsts with him. We take for granted the things around us, and it was so special watching JJ see a whole new world...his first bath, carpet (which he licked), cupboards, drawers, television..and so much more.
We are still having to work on a few areas, but he is doing far better than we thought he would, and we will tackle things one day at a time. One thing is certain though....I would've waited 20years for this little blessing that is asleep beside me and I again am amazed at God's awesome love and blessings.

The Eleventh Hour

Hi there, Phoebe here on behalf of Brandi.

I'm sitting here while she and Adrian finish their packing. With less than 12 hours before they fly out to the Philippines the reality that they are days away from meeting their son is sinking in.

Procedures and policy's with no flexibility have made for a tense week here with the final necessary documents only arriving today! The frustration during the hiccups has been great as has the peace that God has been in the drivers seat during this entire journey and a knowledge that things will all happen in His timing.

On Monday they will meet Jeremiah and spend three days with him at the orphanage before leaving with him Thursday. The kids and I will be following their itinerary closely. We have a few surprises planned for their parents and new brother for when they return home, which will hopefully give us all an outlet during the times when the kids miss their parents the most.

Brandi and Adrian have tried to contact as many people as possible to join them at the airport on the 28th. Feel free to email me for details (via my blog). They've been a little scattered and if you've not been contacted it wasn't intentional.

Feel free to pop on over to my blog for any other little updates. I may find that I don't have the time or am too exhausted looking after 4 kids all day to post. But I hope to be able to share snippets from our part of this journey as we wait at home for the safe return of the newest member of this amazing family.

Having a P.L.O.M moment

Sorry it's been so long. To be honest, I haven't been feeling one hundred percent positive lately.
By the way, just incase it's just our family's quirky saying, P.L.O.M stands for "Poor Little Old Me".
Don't get me wrong, on one hand I am so excited to be so close to holding my little boy, but on the other hand, this has taken nearly five years and we are so close and yet we STILL have to go through so much red tape, so much waiting and relying on someone sitting in a government office to send us a piece of paper to let us travel.
Without it, we are not aloud to travel, and this not knowing is driving me crazy.

This is our son, he's been allocated to us, he's passed all the medical standards, and he's growing older by the minute! I don't want to spend one more day without him, or him spend one more day without us!

Sometimes I feel surreal about it, sometimes I feel like I'm going to burst with excitement, and sometimes I want to be a two year old, lay down on the ground and kick and scream and have a full on tantrum whilst screaming "it's not fair!"
Sorry this blog isn't on a lighter note but I started this blog so friends, family, and anyone that connects with it, could see an insight into what goes on in my life, that makes me me. I guess that means the good and the bad.

The other night I kept dreaming of the whole process of driving into the orphanage gates, seeing our greeting on the blackboard, driving closer and seeing Jeremiah in the distance and every time I got close to him, the dream would click to the beginning and start over again..it was torture.

I have to keep my focus on God big time at the moment, and I really do want it all to happen in HIS timing not mine, I just need God to help me in the waiting area.

It's funny, one of the things I asked God for before we even started the adoption process was patience, and boy did he answer my wish. Now I just tell him that I've learnt to be patient so I'd like things to hurry up NOW....please!!! Like my 5yr old says though, "if we had been allocated sooner,(which was our timing) then we wouldn't have Jeremiah as a brother, and he's perfect!" It always amazes me how much my children teach me. As a christian, you "know" this to be true, but sometimes it takes a 5yr old little girl to remind you.

There, I feel better already! Thanks for letting me vent!

some favourite pressies

Last night Adrian and I decided to write a list of all the things to organize before going away.
It was a very scary, long list, that actually had lists within the list.
Besides this weekend, which is already half over, we only have two more weekends to prepare...like I said...scary.


So, what did we do today, seen as we have so little time?....we went to the public swimming pool with the kids. It was great to get out with the family and friends and just relax and enjoy. I think the children and us really needed it, so in my way of thinking, it was one of the things we needed to do on our list.


Life seems to always have something that you just have to do, so I think you need to put family time in that same category, otherwise it can tend to get overshadowed.
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Here are some of our children's favourite Christmas presents...


Kahlan loves his miniature copy of the brand name " Vans"volleys. He was very impressed that they have the same tread as the "real" ones and even the little logo on the heel and inner sole.





One of Jordan's favourite would be his Torpedo Battleship game ( I quite enjoy it too! ). It's a lot like the original but after you locate all the other person's ship, you place a big version on the grid and get to fire torpedoes at it. When you hit it, it gets blown off the grid.



Emily's is definitely her CD player. It is so cute, it's a little castle with turrets that light up and change colours as you play music. Emily spends a lot of time dancing and singing to her new worship music Cd. At night, she listens to her lullaby music to sleep.





We are trying to get Emily to close her door over when she goes to sleep, as her room is in the main noisy area, so she spends most of her time watching and listening to us instead of sleeping. She is still too scared to close it completely, but with the lights and music of her Cd player we have progressed to the door being half closed.



We sent Jeremiah a toy camera but I forgot to take a photo of it.
For too many Christmas's, we have had a ball ball on the tree that said " little one", my sister made it for us, it was a beautiful gift. Every Christmas that went by, we prayed we would not have another one without our "little one".

Well, another Christmas has gone by without our "little one", but this time we have a son, a name, a beautiful little boy that we will hold very soon. So my sister had a ball ball made up with Jeremiah on it, this was one of my favourite presents.




Unfortunately, straight after taking these photos, I went to put his ball ball in a different area and it shattered. My thumb went straight through it. We have had the other one for years, but this one was very thin. Jordan was in tears and kept telling me I could glue it. It was in too many little pieces though.
We will get another one for him, but I'm so pleased I took a photo for the blog, it probably would have shattered in storage anyway so at least I have a photo.

Merry Christmas

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, or if your like our family we are kind of still in Christmas mode. We still have a few pressies to deliver. Also apologies to all our family and friends that didn't receive cards from us. We even had labels made up with of all our faces on them but never got around to sending them (just another well meaning intention that I couldn't get my head around to organize).

Christmas day was beautiful and sad at the same time for me. It's funny how and when things decide to hit you. I never expected or wanted to feel upset on Christmas day but as I watched three of our children unwrap their presents and be full of smiles and cuddles, I felt an incredible ache that not all of my children were with us.

What was Jeremiah's Christmas like? Did he like the excitement or was it too much for him? Did he fall asleep in someones arms or was he put to bed at normal time? Did he like our present?

What comforts him? What scares him? What makes him smile?

These are a few of the never ending questions I had and have. They are simple every day things that a mother should know and it hurts that I don't, that I'm not with him to hold him when he cries, to make him laugh, to see his face when he unwraps his presents, and just to instill in him that he is so incredibly loved.

I'm so thankful that the orphanage love God and with our prayers also, I'm sure Jeremiah knows or feels Gods love around him.

We spent Christmas at my Mums with lots of extended family and it was really lovely. Mum arranged "father Christmas" to arrive for the children. They all sat on his lap to get their pressies ( I sat on his lap with Jeremiah's photo for his pressies ).

The children had a ball, stayed up very late, then crashed into bed and actually slept in!!

On Wednesday we went into the city to get those dreaded injections to travel, the kids watched in delight and wanted to see if Dad fainted, as he's a bit squeamish with needles. Unfortunately for the kids entertainment, he was a brave boy!

Before we left for the appointment a package arrived from our new found friends that have adopted from the same orphanage, they took video footage of Jeremiah when they went there earlier this month, we were already running late for our injections so we had to leave straight away. It was sooo hard to not look at it until we got home.

It was the best Christmas present we could have asked for. In one video, Jeremiah is in a high chair with everyone unsuccessfully trying to get him to smile, he looks totally bewildered and totally cute.

The next footage is of him walking, he's wearing a big bum nappy (material nappy), with girly puffy shorts and a white singlet top. He looks a bit wobbly when he walks, it's so precious.

It was so special to be able to see him in action, not just a photo. Even though he didn't smile, every little lip movement or eye expression was adorable. We constantly watch it over and over.

The other children are hanging onto anything more of their little brother, they can't get enough of the footage either.

We also received an e-mail from this same beautiful person who found an old newsletter from the orphanage with a photo of Jeremiah when he was 1 week old, he was the 700th child to enter the orphanage when he was just 6hours old. We are so blessed to have a new born photo and yes even as a new born, he was gorgeous.

Since I can't put any distinguishing photos of him on here, I've decided to put just a portion of his photo up, purely because I cannot contain myself, I want to show you my beautiful little boy.

I have studied his photos over and over, but one of the things I focus on the most are his beautiful eyes, they are so innocent, so pure. We have never seen him smile so we are looking forward to the day we can see laughter in those little eyes.

Thankyou Phoebe

My beautiful friend, Phoebe will be looking after our other children when we travel to pick up Jeremiah (I can't help smiling whenever I write or say his name).
I'm so grateful to have such an wonderful friend.
My family is so supportive and are on cloud no.9 along with us but I'm so blessed to also have a friend who can be just as emotionally attached as family.
Some friendships are started in school and grow because you see each other every day so you get to know each other, but others can form through a simple crossing of paths and feeling a mutual connection.
Either way, friendships are created over time, over shared conversations, and shared experiences, and Phoebe is someone that I'm so glad is there to share in this blessed experience.
Thankyou Phoebe!

We have a date!!

WE HAVE A TRAVEL DATE!!!!!

All things going well, we will travel out on the magical 20Th January. We spent quite a bit of time with our travel agent trying to see what flights were available. You can only fly in and out of the Philippines on a Saturday, so we were limited.
All the flights that fly direct were fully booked with many people waiting, so we checked the round the world in 80 days approach.
When she got back to us and said that she found three seats left on the 20Th, it sent tingles all through me....that date that I kept getting looks like it's the one!!Thank you God!!
Of course, all of Jeremiah's documents need to be sent to us before we travel, so we still wont have a definite yes until sometimes the day before your due to leave. But at the moment, we have been given a rough approval that date. So that's what we are believing for!

The kids are hilarious, especially Jordan. He just keeps jumping, twisting, shouting, laughing and making inaudible sounds out of the blue.....I guess you could say, he's very excited. All our children are but because Jordan is what we call our MORE child ( he can be more happy, more sad, more loving, more angry)...he has been the most outwardly passionate with the adoption from the very beginning!

Since we started the process 41/2 years ago I could count on the one hand the days that he hasn't prayed about the adoption. Just thinking about the many incidents with him makes my heart swell with love and pride. It's funny how you love your children all so much, and no matter how many you have, they are all so unique that you find new things to love about them every day.

I think my days can get so hectic sometimes that I can forget to reflect on all those little things. So part of my routine before going to sleep is recalling the day and finding those little moments, those little words that my children say during the day that encourage me that it's not all sibling quarrels, dirty clothes, and repeating the same request over and over.




Emily 5, Jordan 10, and Kahlan 14.
I would so love to show everyone our son Jeremiah, but I'm not allowed to show his photo or reveal too much detailed information about him. So you will have to take my word for it when I say he is gorgeous, just like all of our children!

Jump for joy!!

OK! You ready for some good news?
well....we received an e-mail today to say that they found Jeremiah's medical clearance form and HE PASSED!!! Yeh,yahoo...then when we rang our case worker, she said we could start to book tentative flights for the end of Jan beginning of Feb!!

It has always seemed ridiculous that since we were allocated, the 20th of Jan kept coming up in my heart to travel, which is to the day 4months since we were allocated. The earliest anyone travels is between 4 to 6months but the 4month being more like 41/2 closer to 5months. We also have Christmas break to factor in, but we are still going to make our first booking for that day, I will soon find out if God was giving me that date or I was just letting my imagination run away. I frankly prefer the first option so I've made sure I let God know that too.

I can't believe we could be traveling in 5 WEEKS!!

In the mean time, thankyou for all your prayers and please keep them coming! We still have lots to sort through, Cebu is still listed as do not travel, and I still have to remember to keep breathing!!