Meeting Great-Grandpa and Grandma Whiteford

(Again, these photos were taken several days ago during our visit to Illinois.)
Here Ellie enjoys a book with Great Grandpa Whiteford bought for her by her grandparents (vanOrman) in Albania, the story of Pinochio. The text is in Shqip (Albanian) so we may try to get a recording of someone reading it to her in Albanian that we can put on CD. Wouldn't that be neat?

Meeting Great-Grandpa Van

Ellie with Great-Grandpa Van and Marilyn


Ellie held by MY 'Grandpa Van' and the newest 'Grandpa Van,' my dad

Our Nature Girl

Some more photos from last week...

I think this expression captures well her first impressions of grass.

Gotta keep those fingers clean!

The harder the wind blew, the harder she laughed and squealed


She loved the prairie wind!

new life for old toys

Last week, I told someone that I didn't feel old until I saw how 'old' my old toys look. Brought up from my parents' basement in boxes where they had been carefully stored 'for future grandchildren', some of my favorite childhood toys (and those of my sisters') were resurrected for play once more. Here, Aunt Hannah gives a demonstration.
P.S. For contrast, yesterday I saw a toy cash register that featured a beeping numeric key pad, LCD, and bar code scanner!

The glasses are working!

Here's our girl with Nancy and Megan! We appreciated that they stopped in for a few minutes this afternoon during their quick visit to Wilmore from Ohio. We're flattered that Megan manages to find time to faithfully read this blog in the midst of her second year of med school at The Ohio State University. Nathan was happy to produce Ellie's OSU soft toy ball from the toy bin in her presence. Go Bucks!

A quick update: We are happy to report that the eye doctor saw Ellie this morning and said she believes the glasses are doing their job and surgery most likely will not be necessary! Yay! Our next appointment has been set for the end of September...

Post-Placement #2

Ellie is featured above with our social worker, Anne. We met Anne in December 2005 when we started our homestudy to be approved to adopt. Over the course of the next couple of months Anne got to know Nathan and I REALLY well and in March she assembled one of the most significant pieces of our official dossier: our completed home study report.

Tonight Anne was in our home for the 2nd of 6 follow-up reports we have to submit to Albania to let them know how Ellie is doing. Every country has different standards requiring the number & frequency of post-placement reports. Albania requires reports upon arrival; then 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, and 24 months after placement in the permanent home. With each report Anne writes up, we include 6 photos of Ellie, one of which must feature all members of our new, happy & smiling family (the latter being a bit more difficult to come by, believe it or not -- we hope to get some family pictures soon, though).

We were encouraged by Anne's excitement and enthusiasm over Ellie's progress (she saw Ellie last on January 10). While we know Ellie has made progress, it is so reaffirming to hear confirmation from another party, especially one who hasn't seen her since we barely stepped off the plane! While playing on the floor with Ellie and her toys, we shared with Anne about the results of Ellie's doctor's appointments, hearing tests, developmental assessments, sleeping and eating habbits, interactions with us and others, etc., etc..

During the course of our conversation, Ellie would periodically scoot across the floor on her hands and knees for the next thing to catch her attention. Though crawling has become a regular activity on her part, we continue to marvel at her growing confidence in this area. Thanks to our newly acquired knowledge on the 'steps to walking' (via our PT, Beth), I did interrupt conversation on a few occasions with a, "Look at that!!!" to point out Ellie casually standing on her knees (one time to peer into the canvas bin for a particular toy, the other time to kneel by the hearth and bang her hands on the wood stove doors). Without understanding the significance of Ellie standing on her knees, I know I would have missed another sign of her continuing development. We are so grateful for the therapy which Ellie has now begun to receive regularly, both for the benefits it brings her and for the knowledge her therapists impart to us as her parents!

Before we knew it, an hour had passed and we were making tentative arrangements for post-placement #3 sometime this summer! Two down, four to go!

Meeting some more family...

It's been a fun past few days to introduce Ellie to her family in Illinois! Something I've looked forward to for months! I'm afraid I'm WAY behind in posting photos, especially those of Ellie meeting her great-grandparents Whiteford and vanOrman. Meanwhile, here are some from this evening. In order from top to bottom: my cousins Emily & Elyse and my Aunt Marcia. Ellie was a bit of a show-off. I think perhaps she feeds off a crowd!

me 'n my cousins

Here they are in birth order, the Waggoner cousins...

Meeting at Last

Ellie is photographed above with fellow Albanian adoptee, Nathan B (not to be confused with Nathan W). In the summer of 2004, Nathan (W) and I found ourselves in Albania at the same time Nathan B's family were finishing up the last of their steps to bring their little guy home. When people ask us 'why adoption'? and 'why Albania'? We can say that witnessing their experience first hand was something we never forgot and led us to really consider, 'why not'?

When we got Ellie's referral last fall, little Nathan was one of the first few who could pronounce her given name perfectly. When we walked up the sidewalk to their home in October to share referral photos and consult with them about what to expect next in the process, little Nathan greeted us at the door, craned his neck to look behind us and asked, "Where is Elisona?"

Last night we were pleased to say, "Here she is!"

Picture of the Day

4 Generations of Waggoners

This past weekend Ellie made her first trip to the great state of Ohio where she got to meet her Great-Grandpa Waggoner! Grandpa Waggoner is a dear, sweet man and we were so glad for them to finally meet in person. Grandma Mary (Waggoner) knew of our plans to adopt but never got to know of Ellie as Grandma Mary passed away this time last year. Their lives of service to our Lord (they served as missionaries in Kenya from the late 1940s to late 1980s) are lives we pray Ellie may emulate as she grows up in the next generation of the Waggoner family.

Friday morning is playgroup morning!

Friday morning is play group morning and a highlight of the week for us! I've been wanting to get a photo of the gang and I learned today that it may be better to take the photo at the beginning of playtime instead of the end when everyone is hungry for lunch and ready to go home!
From l-r: big sister Anna holding Abby (adopted from China), Phoebe (also adopted from China), our Els, and the sole little man this morning, Luke (who usually lives with his brother and parents in Bolivia but is calling Wilmore home until the summer). We missed Luci (adopted from Guatemala) and her brother -- their mama was under the weather today. The Lord has blessed us so much through our little international group of friends!

Ellie & Mom

On the move...

These were shot yesterday afternoon, after getting up from naptime (hence the wild hair). She's playing a fun game of "peek-a-boo" with her friend, Mark. I wanted to provide some evidence that she's indeed popping up on all fours regularly and can crawl around more quickly when she wants to! (still working on the motivational aspect)

Feels like spring...

Ellie continues to grow... as does her hair! We call it her 'Liza Minelli' do. We may be getting close to using barrettes. (Her dad and I have a disagreement to the proper pronunciation of that word. Is it 'bar-ette' or 'buh-rette'? It may depend on if you're from Illinois or Ohio!)

The weather today is GORGEOUS so Nathan had the bright idea to take Ellie's swing out to the porch while he did some desk work on the patio table. I grabbed the camera to get some picts since it's been a while since we've had anything to post. Incidentally, Ellie is smiling because her dad is behind me making "pig" noises. Too bad you couldn't hear her giggles -- they're amazing.

This morning Ellie had her assessment performed by the physical therapist (PT). The PT reported that Ellie was doing a lot of things well, like reaching across her body and getting into and out of a sitting position with good form. She confirmed what the other therapists have stated which is that Ellie has "low tone." We really saw this when the therapist pointed out her "swayback" while in the crawling position. The lack of muscle tone explains why Ellie feels so heavy for her size (everyone who holds her says she feels 'solid' or 'surprisingly heavy') -- essentially Ellie isn't helping hold her own weight yet.

In setting Ellie's 6-month goals she said 'walking' might be a little ambitious (good thing we bought that baby-backpack!), but we could certainly work towards "cruising" (walking around furniture) and crawling up and down stairs. In terms of working on the in-between steps, she gave us some tips for positions to have Ellie play in which will encourage her to pull herself up (something she's not doing yet).

We're especially excited that because the PT lives in Wilmore, she will come once a week for a 30-minute session -- instead of a 1-hour session every other week like her other therapists who are traveling from Lexington or further away.

Below: Thursday morning's breakfast fun... BTW, that's oatmeal (in case you were wondering)

Watch a movie, support adoption!

A few week's ago we saw a preview for the film, The Greatest Gift, before watching another film we recommend, Amazing Grace.

This week we received an e-mail from Bethany (our adoption agency) saying that if one buys a ticket (following the directions below) to see The Greatest Gift this weekend, Bethany will receive $1 for every ticket sold!

Click here to view the trailer...

Bethany Christian Services will receive $1 for every ticket you purchase using these instructions:
Go to www.foxfilmfund.com
Select The Ultimate Gift and enter your zip code
Choose the theater you prefer to attend
Enter code: 500421 as you complete your purchase
The Ultimate Gift will inspire you and help you consider your legacy of faith for your family.
Visit www.theultimategift.com

Here's a little bit about what Bethany does in Albania alone besides facilitating adoptions...(from their website)
"Bethany has been active in the country of Albania since 1991 when we began working with the Government prior to the democratic elections. One of the early activities was our work to assist the government in establishing a school of social work at the University of Tirana. Within a few years, hundreds of social workers graduated from the programs and were integrated into the community. In addition, Bethany built homes for orphaned and abandoned children on a campus outside the capital... Bethany provides a variety of services for the children and families in Albania. We have medical clinics in which we serve families, especially women and children. There are also social workers in hospitals, providing vital information to mothers, and social workers in schools where children are at very high risk for institutionalization and separation from their families.Bethany provides support for international adoptions to the U.S.A. by working with the government as a licensed adoption agency. There are unwed women being supported by our Shepherding Program until they are ready to return home. The staff goes to high schools and the university campus to lecture about sexual issues, including STD prevention and personal responsibility. Our BATI program provides professional training and education for professionals in the field of social and medical services and human welfare."

Thursday update

I wanted to expand on my few comments in yesterday's post and add a little update on Ellie's therapy situation. This morning we had our "IFSP" meeting (I need to look up what that stands for). The IFSP was basically a conference meeting between all of Ellie's therapists, the intake coordinator, and our primary service coordinator. We are really excited about the team of professionals who will be working together to help Ellie. We had been unable to find a physical therapist (PT) with any availability but our Developmental Interventionist (DI) went above and beyond and contacted a PT yesterday that she highly recommended for Ellie and convinced the PT to add us to her caseload. (We've been told that right now the First Steps program is bulging with new clients and therefore running into shortages of available therapists). We are grateful to our DI for petitioning on our behalf!

The ladies today gave the results of their assessments of Ellie and collaborated on strategies for helping her reach her 6-month goals which were also set this morning. Right now it feels like it would be miraculous if by the start of the fall semester she was eating with a utensil or running around the house gabbing (or at least speaking a few words), but they didn't seem to think it was unrealistic. Many of them expressed that they didn't want us to be concerned about what seemed like bleak results on her multiple assessments, but that they were all confident that those were due to her orphanage environment. By all indications they agreed Ellie should have no problem catching up. She (Ellie) seems like the kind of challenge with whom they enjoy working.

The other big decision to make today was to divvy up her alotted therapy credits. I knew that was going to be difficult because she obviously needs help in EVERY area. The speech therapist (who is extremely interested in working with internationally adopted clients -- which we really appreciate) was very gracious to recommend we wait another 4 months to begin Ellie's speech therapy to allow more time for her ears and brain to become accustomed to the intonations and rhythms of the English language. In the mean time she recommended a new Baby Einstein sign language video coming out next week as homework for Dad, Mom and Ellie! I think we can handle that! In spite of not beginning speech therapy until the summer, Ellie only qualifies for 1.5 hours of therapy a week between three specialties which means we will probably only see her therapists about twice a month. We're hoping that we might be able to appeal for more hours in a few months.

At one point in time after getting Ellie's referral, I was concerned she was going to accomplish all of these childhood milestones before we would get to Albania to pick her up -- that we would miss her first steps and a variety of other accomplishments. If you've been reading this blog for any period of time you know that obviously wasn't the case, but we are getting doubly blessed now to witness a variety of little advances every day. It's so much fun to be her little cheerleaders when she tackles a new skill and share with each other, "Did you see her do that!?!"

For those of you who are interested in knowing some of Ellie's recent accomplishments here goes:
1. Ellie will "pant" to get Reagan's attention -- funny she speaks his language but not ours
2. She is beginning to differentiate between people (recognizing not only Mom and Dad when we enter the room, but also recognizing her favorite student friend, much to the chagrin of the other students)
3. This afternoon Ellie had three back-to-back crawling sprees. We had been happy if she crawled once a day on consecutive days!
4. Ellie is demonstrating more balance on her legs when we hold her by her hands or when sitting unassisted on one of our knees
5. Ellie started stacking rings on the post, just after I told the therapist that she can take them off but not put them back on! Way to prove me wrong!

Play time with Els

Tomorrow we have our joint meeting with Ellie's therapists to divvy up her allotted therapy hours between them all. It's going to be a difficult decision making process because she needs help in all areas (most of her assessments have her operating at the level of a 6-9month old in nearly every level -- social, cognitive, developmental, physical, etc.). We'll keep you posted as to the results!