John is finished with 3 weeks of school, 4 hours of the dental Hygienist, his first Jr. High lock-in, first gym jam and I continue to say that I really can't imagine it going much better.
The hygienist asked Teresa if he is always this good natured and she said, "He is always like this". People say, "It seems like he is really fitting in well with the family" and that is so true. He is always trying to play some trick on Teresa and he loves to laugh. His favorite subject in school is immediately "PE" even though he is ridiculously good at math.
Each day, and I mean everyday, he seems to speak better English- though there is a long way to go here. We had a staff meeting scheduled for last Tuesday night and Teresa was trying to explain that there would be people coming over so he would have to go up with the kids or hang out in his room. He told her very matter-of-factly- "Yes- 6:30- people coming over". He had listened to the announcements and understood what was happening.
He is becoming a Weinberg both practically and positionally.
Garrett and Grant both took their college algebra CLEP- a way to challenge the course so it is not necessary to take it in college, and they both passed. What awesome boys God has given us.
3/21/10
3/16/10
One GIGANTIC doctor's appointment
I will try to make this quick and to the point.
A full day of Dr. appointments leads to a group consultation in about a month. The direction they are currently thinking is that some time- sooner rather than later- John will have hi lip repaired and at the same time have a couple of teeth extracted. The "easy" way to have dental work.
Then some time following that there will be a surgery to open up the bilateral clefts on his gum line, followed, sometime later, by a bone graph surgery, taking marrow from his hip and planting it in the open clefts, to enable his gum line to be one continuous bone.
After this there will be a couple of sets of braces, possibly a palate extension surgery and maybe a speech surgery as well.
All this is to be determined in the coming months but for now we need to find a speech therapist close to us that will work with John and take our insurance- so that's first on the docket.
It is amazing that they can do all these kids of things and they are excited about what they can do for John. The doc asked if the lip repair was something that he wanted to have done and he said "yes", so we are going the right direction. He is a real trooper.
Children's was great to work with-again- and it will be fun to see what God does through all these visits and new relationships that are forming. He is good, we muxt praise Him for His excellent works.
A full day of Dr. appointments leads to a group consultation in about a month. The direction they are currently thinking is that some time- sooner rather than later- John will have hi lip repaired and at the same time have a couple of teeth extracted. The "easy" way to have dental work.
Then some time following that there will be a surgery to open up the bilateral clefts on his gum line, followed, sometime later, by a bone graph surgery, taking marrow from his hip and planting it in the open clefts, to enable his gum line to be one continuous bone.
After this there will be a couple of sets of braces, possibly a palate extension surgery and maybe a speech surgery as well.
All this is to be determined in the coming months but for now we need to find a speech therapist close to us that will work with John and take our insurance- so that's first on the docket.
It is amazing that they can do all these kids of things and they are excited about what they can do for John. The doc asked if the lip repair was something that he wanted to have done and he said "yes", so we are going the right direction. He is a real trooper.
Children's was great to work with-again- and it will be fun to see what God does through all these visits and new relationships that are forming. He is good, we muxt praise Him for His excellent works.
3/14/10
2 weeks of school
John has finished his 2nd week of school and seems to be gaining ground on verbal English each day. I talked to the math teacher and he said that John has some very amazing math skill-naturally. Teresa said that watching him do his math is actually fun because his pencil doesn't really stop.
He seems to be happy here. The social worker came for the post placement visit- number 1 of 3 and I think he was pleased with what he saw. I old him that I really can't imagine this whole thing going too much easier since we have been home. BTW- we really were not expecting to get a $350 bill for that visit and the next 2 are then reduced to $300 each. Keeps on giving, but it's God's money we are spending so oh well.
We have an all day appointment at Children's tomorrow with about 6 different doctors and hopefully we will know where we are supposed to go from here, with regard to his surgeries and the rest. John is really a trooper when it comes to stuff like this- maybe he is just happy to be getting worked on.
I'll post more when I have info- but life is starting to get really normal and it doesn't seem like I should be relaying this kind of everyday stuff- but here it is.
It is really fun- through all of this- to see God's hand in each and every step of the way and even as He brings people into our life that we would never have met with John's adoption. What will He do through all of this? Only He knows.
He seems to be happy here. The social worker came for the post placement visit- number 1 of 3 and I think he was pleased with what he saw. I old him that I really can't imagine this whole thing going too much easier since we have been home. BTW- we really were not expecting to get a $350 bill for that visit and the next 2 are then reduced to $300 each. Keeps on giving, but it's God's money we are spending so oh well.
We have an all day appointment at Children's tomorrow with about 6 different doctors and hopefully we will know where we are supposed to go from here, with regard to his surgeries and the rest. John is really a trooper when it comes to stuff like this- maybe he is just happy to be getting worked on.
I'll post more when I have info- but life is starting to get really normal and it doesn't seem like I should be relaying this kind of everyday stuff- but here it is.
It is really fun- through all of this- to see God's hand in each and every step of the way and even as He brings people into our life that we would never have met with John's adoption. What will He do through all of this? Only He knows.
3/5/10
Scaredy Cat
John likes Steve- our cat. Yes, our cat's name is Steve. That is another story for another day.
Steve is a large cat- more than 15 pounds. He might be where they coined the term "scaredy cat". He is afraid of lots of things- in fact right now he doesn't even want to go outside, even when it is nice out.
Apparently John was chasing Steve around the house yesterday after school and Steve ran up the stairs on the bonus room side of the house. They had been playing for quite some time and Steve was tired- it's hard running around when you're fat and out of shape(a little biographical comment there).
So Steve is recovering from all this running around and John sneaks up on him and yells really loud. Steve jumps up and poops all over the floor. John scared the c--- out of Steve. Teresa thought that was hilarious but told John that if he was going to scare the cat from now on that he would have to clean up after him.
Just another day in the life of our crazy family- John is fitting right in.
Steve is a large cat- more than 15 pounds. He might be where they coined the term "scaredy cat". He is afraid of lots of things- in fact right now he doesn't even want to go outside, even when it is nice out.
Apparently John was chasing Steve around the house yesterday after school and Steve ran up the stairs on the bonus room side of the house. They had been playing for quite some time and Steve was tired- it's hard running around when you're fat and out of shape(a little biographical comment there).
So Steve is recovering from all this running around and John sneaks up on him and yells really loud. Steve jumps up and poops all over the floor. John scared the c--- out of Steve. Teresa thought that was hilarious but told John that if he was going to scare the cat from now on that he would have to clean up after him.
Just another day in the life of our crazy family- John is fitting right in.
1 School week almost complete
John finishes his first week of school today. He has had lots of testing and he seems to be alright with pretty much everything.
The math teacher caught T and informed her that he had given John an Algebra test on Monday and that he did "amazing"- in fact he used that word multiple times in their conversation. He is not easy to impress so John must be pretty good at math for his age. We asked him if he likes math and he said "no". Even though he is good at it he said it is hard and that is why he doesn't like it. He'll get over that someday.
Many of the other courses he does pretty well in, but his challenge will be- for a while- verbal comprehension. I am not too concerned with this because as he integrates into student/friend life he will have to speak English more and they will be speaking back to him and he will be a good English comp. person in no time. In fact he already speaks considerably more than he did 4 days ago.
It seems like most of the kids are taking a liking to him- he is fun to be around and has a mischievous sense of humor. T walked into the PE class to see how he was doing and she couldn't find him in the game they were playing. She said she looked around for a bit and then noticed he was standing off to the side- kind of hiding- to see how long it would take for her to notice where he was. Those kinds of things make him laugh.
The math teacher caught T and informed her that he had given John an Algebra test on Monday and that he did "amazing"- in fact he used that word multiple times in their conversation. He is not easy to impress so John must be pretty good at math for his age. We asked him if he likes math and he said "no". Even though he is good at it he said it is hard and that is why he doesn't like it. He'll get over that someday.
Many of the other courses he does pretty well in, but his challenge will be- for a while- verbal comprehension. I am not too concerned with this because as he integrates into student/friend life he will have to speak English more and they will be speaking back to him and he will be a good English comp. person in no time. In fact he already speaks considerably more than he did 4 days ago.
It seems like most of the kids are taking a liking to him- he is fun to be around and has a mischievous sense of humor. T walked into the PE class to see how he was doing and she couldn't find him in the game they were playing. She said she looked around for a bit and then noticed he was standing off to the side- kind of hiding- to see how long it would take for her to notice where he was. Those kinds of things make him laugh.
3/1/10
School
John starts school today- he is in the 7th, 8th and 9th grade. He did very well in all his testing except for verbal comprehension, even in English and grammar when it was written down he did well. He is more than a grade ahead in math, so he can relax a bit on that one and work hard on English Comp.
It seems he is excited to go and I am pretty sure it won't be long in this environment that he will be speaking English pretty quickly.
He is adjusting well to living here and being part of our family. Teresa told me that he came up and gave her a hug the other day- so we are making progress. It still is a little weird having someone that is so different from us being part of our family, but I think in a few months it will seem like he has always been here.
I'll let you know how school goes.
It seems he is excited to go and I am pretty sure it won't be long in this environment that he will be speaking English pretty quickly.
He is adjusting well to living here and being part of our family. Teresa told me that he came up and gave her a hug the other day- so we are making progress. It still is a little weird having someone that is so different from us being part of our family, but I think in a few months it will seem like he has always been here.
I'll let you know how school goes.
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