It's official (again)! Plus, an update on the life and times of Petey.

While our adoption of Peter was official when we received the adoption decree in China, and he became an American citizen when we touched down on U.S. soil in Chicago, we have now completed the process with our state declaring Peter's adoption so that he can be issued a birth certificate. Just another step in the post-adoption paperwork, but a noteworthy step to have completed. 

It has been a while since I've written an update about the life and times of Petey. He keeps quite a busy week for a three-year-old. Because he responds very well to music and really enjoys it, we enrolled him in a weekly mommy-and-me music discovery class. He recognizes the songs we sing and dance to as familiar, and particularly enjoys when the teacher breaks out the instruments and he can play the drums.  

Petey still has weekly speech therapy. The best part of it is the ideas, inspirations and homework that I come away with in order to continue working with him on a daily basis. Because he has been in speech therapy for eight months and is only able to say one word, I have incorporated sign language into my communication with him, at the advice of the speech therapist. There are about 70 signs that I use when talking with Petey, and over the past several months, he has learned how to consistently and accurately do 8 signs. I'm so proud of him. His receptive language has also sky-rocketed in that he clearly understands pretty much everything I say to him, which is evident in the way he responds, reacts, and follows instructions. All that to say, the sign language has helped him learn English because 1) he is a visual learner and having something to see as well as hear has been beneficial, and 2) sign language utilizes the language center of the brain and encourages cognitive growth in that area. Regarding the one word he does say -- it is Mama (be still my heart!), which most often sounds like "mum-mum." 

Petey now receives weekly occupational therapy, as well. He has a blast during OT because it is predominantly physical play -- rolling on a yoga mat; using an exercise ball to do "push-ups," roll and bounce; pulling himself on a roller scooter; and doing exercises while on his tummy -- all aimed at strengthening his core, neck and shoulder muscles. He also works on fine motor skills such as pincer grasp to pick up small items, learning to scribble, and improving eating with a spoon. 

And with the beautiful weather that accompanies spring, we spend several hours of most days playing at various playgrounds in the area. Big brother Noah is a huge fan of the outdoors, so that suits him just fine during his non-school hours!

Blessedly, Grammy (my mom) came to visit for 12 days a couple weeks back and the boys had a ton of fun with her. Noah kept saying that he didn't want her to leave. "I want Grammy to stay until we go to Heaven," he would say. None of us wanted her to leave! 

Here are some photos of the boys and Grammy:

~Allie

The most important day in the history of the world!

What an amazing joy it is to celebrate Christ's resurrection. It fills my heart with gladness to know that our boys are able to celebrate the most important day in the history of the world: the day Jesus rose from the dead and conquered our sins, so that through faith in Jesus we may live in relationship with Him in this life and in Heaven with Him for eternity! 

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life." ~ John 3:16

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." ~ 2 Corinthians 5:17

We are blessed to have Grandma (the boys' great grandmother) living nearby and so much a part of our lives:

Easter egg hunts are so much fun! Noah has had me hiding Easter eggs all over the house and yard, over and over and over again. He loves the thrill of the hunt! Here are photos from our neighborhood's Easter egg hunt. Petey's age group went first and he was so cute slowly and carefully picking up individual eggs and gently placing them in the basket. Noah's age group was up next. Since the eggs in this hunt were largely strewn about the lawn, Noah cleverly approached it as a race, running from place to place to pick up whichever color egg he decided he wanted next.

Happy Easter!

~Allie

Happy (Chinese) New Year!

Sshin-nyen haoww! 

That's the phonetic way to say 'Happy New Year,' directly translated as 'New Year goodness,' in Mandarin. While the Chinese New Year actually begins Monday, we had fun celebrating today: 

2016 is the Year of the Monkey. The monkey Noah is holding is actually the toy he greeted Peter with the morning they first met face-to-face. There are many Chinese New Year traditions, including wearing red, hanging red lanterns, and eating dinner with several generations of family around a round table. We were blessed to celebrate with Matt's parents, making it three generations around our kitchen table. The kids are wearing Chinese noble hats from our local Chinese market. We purchased the red lanterns on Shamian Island, China, with Peter back in May. 

As much as our family enjoys food, this blog post would not be complete without a picture of our mini-feast. It included Chinese barbecue pork (tastes like candied meat), tofu with peppers, Chinese eggplant and bok choy, all from our local Chinese market and all absolutely delicious. Here is a picture of Peter outside the market this afternoon when Matt took him along to pick up our goodies:

It is fun learning about and celebrating Petey's Chinese heritage as we add these customs, practices and observances to our family traditions. We look forward to adding more Chinese New Year traditions next year when the boys are older.

Sshin-nyen haoww, friends!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Joy to the world! The Lord has come.

Let earth receive her King.

Let every heart prepare Him room.

Let Heaven and nature sing.

Petey had a very special first Christmas, celebrating our Savior's birth with us, his Honey & Ozzie (Matt's parents), his aunt, uncle and four cousins. All twelve of us celebrated Christmas Eve at church last night. Here is a photo of the Osman family taken before the service began:

We began Christmas morning at our house and Noah was so sweet helping Peter open his presents:

We then joined the rest of the family at Matt's parents' home, where the festivities continued until bedtime. The best part of the day was seeing all the cousins playing together all day long. It was a day filled with special memories, and my heart overflows with joy!

Dedication

Train up a child in the way he should go;

Even when he is old he will not depart from it.

~Proverbs 22:6

Today at church, we had the honor and privilege of dedicating Peter to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Here is the prayer that Matt prayed during the dedication:

Zephaniah 3:17

The Lord your God is with you,

he is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you,

he will quiet you with his love,

he will rejoice over you with singing.

Dear Father in Heaven,

We take great delight in Peter, just as You take great delight in him. And we rejoice over him becoming a part of our family, just as You rejoice over Your children.

Lord, thank You for saving us, and please work in Peter's heart as he grows older and gains understanding, that he, too, would  find a saving grace in You. Lord, please bless us with wisdom and insight to raise him in a godly manner consistent with Your plan for our lives.

Lord, we also pray for Peter's birth family, in particular his birth mother. We pray that somehow, someway, she would find a peace that passes all understanding and know in her heart that Peter is happy and loved and that we, his forever family, will care for his every need.

Thank You Lord for blessing our family with Peter.

In Jesus name we pray, Amen

The ceremony began with a renewal of marriage vows. Here we are praying, following the vow renewal.

During the ceremony, Pastor Robbi talked with Noah about being the kind of big brother who exemplifies Jesus.

Then, Pastor Robbi anointed Peter with oil as we dedicated him to the Lord, promising to raise him according to God's word and way.  

 What a special and blessed day for our family. 

Tactile Play

I'm writing this blog post in hopes that it may help another little guy or gal as these activities have helped Petey. At the suggestion of Petey's speech therapist, I have increased tactile play activities in order to increase his attention span, which is usually about 30 seconds. He loves manipulating his hands around in various textures (mostly slimy). Everything I've used is non-toxic and many are food items. Here are a couple examples.

I started with pumpkin guts and he played with them for 37 minutes the first time and 50 minutes the second time. Absolutely amazing!

An unexpected bonus when Petey played with pudding was that he succeeded in using a spoon to feed himself for the first time! (He has fed himself independently since a few days after he joined our family, but always with his fingers.)

In related news, Petey also learned to use a fork to feed himself yesterday. Granted, he only ate about 10% of the food with the fork and used his hands for the rest, but I'm so proud of him for learning these new skills.

~Allie

A Season of Thanksgiving

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, 

For His lovingkindness is everlasting."

~Psalm 136:1

We have so much to be thankful for this year: the addition of Peter to our family, our new home, and the family and friends who have blessed us in so many ways.

This was Peter's first Thanksgiving ever and our family's first Thanksgiving in our new home. We had the great fortune of hosting four generations of family. Petey's favorite part of the holiday was playing with his Grammy (Allie's mom), whom he grew to know and love during her five-day visit. He also enjoyed eating multiple helpings of Matt's delicious smoked turkey during Thanksgiving dinner!

Here are some pictures from our holiday: