We're still here....getting adjusted!

Just wanted to write a quick post that we are still alive here :).... just getting adjusted!

Lily is adjusting well so far. She is very cautious but sweet and enjoys attention...the girls (and Jonah too) like to carry her around. I taught her how to kiss on our first trip so whenever she is face to face and being held she says "ma" and gives a kiss....so sweet. She is doing much better with eating...she seems to like to eat anything now! Lily is a peanut so hopefully she will gain weight now that she is eating better. Drinking is another thing...she does not like to drink. She was given drink from a spoon after lots of soup in the orphanage so maybe she just isn't used to it. Sippies didn't work and cups end up getting all over here so I started using a baby bottle and she's done a little better with that. Please pray that she will get enough liquids in her and learn to drink more...and enjoy it. She does like to put plastic and paper in her mouth for some reason. She is learning not to pinch but to touch gently.

Joshua has been doing better at nighttime....if he wakes crying he will usually go back to sleep if we turn him back over onto his back. Sometimes it is hard to tell if he is crying or happy unless he is really crying hard. His feeding takes a long time --that has been the hardest thing as we currently have 3 that need to be fed (since Lily was fed everything at the orphanage...but she is learning to self feed finger foods.) WE've started feeding him part of his meal with a spoon--which he doesn't like (he cries ) but he is taking some in that way. The rest he gets by a bottle. I know it will take time for him to get used to it and using his tongue and mouth a different way. I found a great article that gave some feeding tips until we are able to get him therapy. Even at the orphanage he prefered certain foods they said so he can be a stinker about it but I have seen some improvement.
Joshua needs his position to be changed or he gets sore (he had several pressure sores at the orphanage that have healed up) and he seems to like attention as well (what child wouldn't?). It has been neat to see the children giving him attention or telling Mommy when he needs something. They are learning to help take care of him. He really likes being outside in the sunshine and seems to like the carrides too.

We read on Reeces Rainbow email group how a girl, Olga, just passed away after being transferred to an institution. It is so very sad and we know that that would have been Joshua. He was due to be transferred as soon as there was room (we even heard they wait for someone to die to be able to transfer others) and he was eating from a spoon, which they'd already started doing. He would never have survived there.

Yesterday we went to the beach and while Joshua couldn't swim or make sandcastles like the others, he enjoyed being there...just the different sounds, the fresh air, the warm sunshine, and the beauty (we don't know how much he can see yet)....
I was reminded while we were there how all he saw before was his bare crib and the window and how great it was that he could just be here.


Please pray for us as we get adjusted and pack for our upcoming move in October.
I'll try to post pictures very soon!