Zeke Turns One!

Ok, I know, I know! We haven't written anything for a long, long time. Well, our excuse is we have a new baby in the house who just turned one! And life is very full. The latest developments with Zeker: he's crawling all over the place - hard to keep up with. He's starting to walk, does about 7-10 steps by himself, from couch to couch, etc. He officially has a first word. Unfortunately, it's not "Mama" or "Dada" but "uh-oh". Oh well! It's still fun to hear him say it. Now for the pictures...







Isn't he just the squishiest! We all fight over him all the time. He's a total ham and chatters all day long: definitely an extrovert!

So from now on, we'll try to do a little better with updates. But just in case it doesn't happen, we'll give you our excuse right now: We're expecting a little sister for Zeke in March!!!!!

Zeke hits 9 months!

Wow, times are crazy. Four kids has taken me to the limit! No more time to blog. But I'll try to give a little update.

God provided some wonderful time away in Utah and we really bonded as a family. We had time to sit around and watch Zeke do tummy time as a family. He got two teeth while we were there. He started sleeping through the night while we were there! Halleluah! :) And just since we got back, he's been getting up on his hands and knees and rocking. Crawling is just around the corner. He's come out of his shell with us. He does goofy little things to make the kids laugh. He's quite a ham.

When we got home, we began letting other people hold him. It's been so fun to share him with those who've prayed for him for so long.

Now for the pics:


Brothers!


Meeting Uncle Wade and Aunt Tracy for the first time


Hat complements of Ellie :)


First time in a snow storm!


Mamma's boys


One of his funny faces


D and Z


Hanging out with cousins Sam and Caleb

I can't believe he's been home 3 months. He's really starting to feel like one of the gang.

How long til Grandma can hold him?

Ok, I was really tired when I posted that last one, so when I said we are only letting our immediate family hold Zeke, I forgot to mention that this is temporary! :) We'll only limit his holding until he bonds with us. Most people say that can take anywhere from 1-6 months depending on how old they are, how long they've been in the orphanage, personality, etc.

The tricky thing with orphanage kids is they've never had a chance to bond with anyone. They have so many different people caring for them, they can develop problems forming attachments with people. When we got Zeke, he came right to us, total strangers, without crying or protesting at all. He'd let anyone hold him. This is not good! But as we've spent time limiting his holding/feeding/changing to just us, we can see that he is beginning to form an attachment to us. Now when others reach for him, rather than leaning toward them, he grabs tighter on to me and tucks his face into my shoulder, which is so encouraging to see!! Adoptive "experts" tell us this is a good sign! Because the attachment is forming with us, it shows he's developing the ability to form attachments in general and will now also be able to bond with others, like grandparents. But if we'd let anyone hold him at any time, he'd be less likely to form attachments with anyone, at least that's the prevailing theory.

This, along with lots of prayer and love, is one of the ways we hope to help Zeke heal from a crazy first 6 months of life. It is such a joy to see him change and blossom just in the first month home with us. We're so thankful that God has chosen Zeke to be a Michaelian!

"Now What?"

We were sitting on the couch in the living room the night we got home with Zeke, after all the visitors had gone home and the excitement had died down, and Ellie, our 7 year old, says, "So.... now what?"

We'd worked long and hard for the last 2 1/2 years to bring a baby home from Africa. Now that he's here, what do we do? We all laughed when she said that, but also marveled at her capturing so perfectly the sentiment in all of our hearts. Now... the real journey has begun! LIFE WITH ZEKE

We've had him home about a month now, and each week we feel more bonded to him. Just this week, it seems he's reached a new level of security with us and he's loosened up. He's giggling more, being goofy, showing us a side of his personality we haven't seen yet. And he's so cuddly! It's been really fun.

We've been doing something that adoptive training classes and other adoptive parents have recommended to us, and that is not letting anyone hold Zeke, but our immediate family, not good friends, not grandparents, not anybody. It's been difficult, as we long to share him with everyone (and my back could use a break from our Chocolate Chunk!), but we're seeing the fruit of it. I think he's really starting to know who his family is!


He absolutely loves the kids. The girls carry him around (I'm amazed they're strong enough!) and he lights up like a christmas tree whenever Jackson is around. He laughs and laughs at their antics. It's been so fun to see them bonding. Dave and I often hear, "Can I hold him? Can I hold him?" Dave has to stand firm to get some time with him when he gets home from work. :)


Addie said recently, "I can't imagine life without Zeke." It's so true. Everytime God sends us another one of his little Blessings to join our family, we say that. We can't remember what it was like without him because he's already growing into our hearts and lives and becoming one of us.

A Bunch of Firsts!

First time in McDonalds for breakfast with the Family!

First time strolling in the park with Mom.

First time in a swing, and loving it!

First time being prayed for with laying on of hands! (At his first baby shower.)


First time at church.

First Mat Time (Bible time with mom and kids)!

First time wearing a tricorn hat!

First time in the snow!


First time (of many to come) at a Campus Crusade retreat and first time meeting Asher, another little adopted guy from Ethiopia!

And First Official picture in his Zeke onesie!

Settling in

It's been such a fun week. We've waited so long to have Zeke in our family, the transition has been pretty smooth. It's been so fun introducing him to friends and family. And we're beginning to think he's a little extrovert! Smiling and leaning in with nearly everyone he meets. He definitely enjoys being the center of attention.

Ok, the hard part: JETLAGGED NEWBORN? Ok, we forgot how intensive newborn care can be but throw in the jetlag and it's even more interesting (read: no sleep). Our experienced adoptive parent friend warned us: give him 1 day for each hour of time change. So hopefully we'll be more normal in 10 days. The first night, he woke up at midnight and thought it was morning! I actually got a lot done from midnight to 7 am with him hanging out in the sling! God kept reminding me that he will provide what I need. So that helped me to chose to believe that the 2 hours I got that night was enough, and it was. I wasn't miserable the next day. I think i was still running on adrenalin. Since then, he's gradually shifted, waking up at 2am, 3:30am, 4am, and today 5am!!! It was glorious. This morning at 5, Dave and I sat and talked about the week. It was good alone time for the 3 of us, just like back in Africa.

We saw the International Adoption Specialist Doctor this week. She confirmed that Zeke seems amazingly healthy for an orphanage kid. That was good news. We'll find out more when his lab work is done. He's still wrestling with the congestion he had when we picked him up. Please pray that clears up. The doctor thought it was probably a virus and may take as long as 4 weeks to clear. Poor kid. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to bother him too much.

My parents were here this week doing all the cooking, entertaining the kids, and even helping Addie and Ellie plant a garden which they will be in charge of for the summer. They're thrilled of course. We took them to the airport this morning and then I made my first Costco run with 4 children. God smiled on us and Zeke cooed happily in the carseat the whole time! Victory! I know the reality of having a newborn around will really hit now that they're gone. They were a huge help.

Here are a few pics of our first week at home:

Welcome to America, Zeker!

We are home and Zeke is happy! We had a warm welcome at in the Washington DC airport by our country's leaders ;)

and then an even warmer welcome at the LA airport by Mark and Kristen Michaelian and their family and Scott and Ashlee Harry and their family.



As we arrived home, Addie, Ellie, Jackson, and Grandpa and Grandma were out in the front yard with some of the neighbors cheering. There was a big "Welcome Home, Zeke" banner across the garage. Here's our first family pic with Zeke!


Zeke has been smiley and giggly since we got here. He must know he's home!
Last night was a bit short as he woke up at 2 and thought it was morning, but generally we're all just really happy to be home. This morning's shower was pure bliss. Unlimited hot water!! and the food!! Raw veggies to our heart's content. High speed internet!! These things we no longer take for granted. :)
Thanks for the calls and visits. It's been so fun to celebrate with everyone the "birth" of our new son, Zeke!

Here are a few more pics for your enjoyment!
First time in a carseat! Surrounded by beautiful American girls (and Scott)!


Meeting Grandma Sue and Grandpa Mel


Getting to know his siblings.




A few of his first visitors.



A few people have been asking, so how big is he? We finally weighed him this morning and he's 19 pounds!! His latest nickname is the "Chocolate Chunk". And it fits. He's 6 months old, but most of the 6 months clothes I brought are too small. Not what we'd expect from an orphanage kid. We're thankful God tenderly cared for him through the Sisters in the orphanage. All things considered, he's a healthy little guy. We take him for his first appointment with the International Adoption Doctor on Tuesday, so we'll know more then.
Thanks again for being apart of all this. Joys shared are multiplied!
To God be the Glory!
The Michaelian's

God does it again!

Yep! That's right! Despite the consulate's prediction that it would be monday or tuesday, we got Zeke's visa this morning and are now sitting in the Nairobi airport waiting to fly to Addis Ababa. We leave there at 10:15pm and arrive in DC sometime Saturday morning having gained 7 hours. Then we layover for 8 hours and fly to LA. We'll try to stand by for an earlier flight.

We've been staying at a Catholic Retreat Center here in Nairobi called Savelberg. It is dedicated to a man named Joseph Savelberg. He was known for his dependence on God's providence and his motto was, "God has helped. God is still helping. God will always help." That has been our theme this week and He has proven himself again! What an amazing God we serve! Powerful enough to cut through the bureaucratic red tape of even the United States of America! ")

Please pray for our flights and for Zeke's traveling attitude. :) We're almost there!

Safari and Slum

Today we had some discretionary time as we wait for Zeke's Visa to be processed. We went on a Safari Walk near the Nairobi National Park and then drove through Kibera Slum, the second largest in the world. Here are some pics of Zeke wearing his first USC gear and some of what we captured today on our outing...