My husband & I chronicled our adventures on a private Facebook group we created to keep friends & family up to date on all the latest happenings.
This is a re-cap & remembering of our journey ONE YEAR ago!!!!
***I AM PLAYING CATCH-UP RIGHT NOW, SO THERE WILL BE SEVERAL POSTS UNTIL I GET CAUGHT UP. ONE OF MY SISTERS IS IN THE HOSPITAL, SO I'VE BEEN SPENDING LOTS OF TIME IN THE CAR & THE HOSPITAL ROOM.***
May 25, 2012 - 1st post of the day
Fun random facts:
- WJ likes to have hot tea with his breakfast. :)
- WJ likes Veggie Tales (Jonah.) It seems to be his favorite so far.
- He smells EVERYTHING, & then screws up his little face whether it smells good or not.
- He sings all the time!
- WJ can play by himself well. I wondered if he’d be able to do this after being in a home full of children all the time, but give that boy some cars & he’s good to go!
- His fake laughing is hilarious (most of the time.)
- In Rutooro, they have pet names for each other (similar to honey, sweetie, etc.) His pet name is Apuuli.
- He calls Scott both “Daddy” & “Baabaa.” The Rutooro word for Daddy is Baabaa (sp?) It’s really sweet, & I hope he keeps calling Scott this.
- He has & is transitioning well from always eating with his dirty, little hands to eating with utensils.
- When we take his picture, he always runs to see the image on the camera.
- He snores when he sleeps. I think this is b/c he congested at night. If this continues once we get home, then we’ll get it checked out.
- He is a LOUD child when awake & when sleeping. He clearly has more Whitworth in him than Farrar. :)
- Yesterday we went to drive through the Rwenzori mountains. It was beautiful! WJ nearly jumped over the edge. We’ve got a long ways to go with obedience. :)
- When you call him, he says "tata" which means - yes, please.
- WJ likes to have hot tea with his breakfast. :)
- WJ likes Veggie Tales (Jonah.) It seems to be his favorite so far.
- He smells EVERYTHING, & then screws up his little face whether it smells good or not.
- He sings all the time!
- WJ can play by himself well. I wondered if he’d be able to do this after being in a home full of children all the time, but give that boy some cars & he’s good to go!
- His fake laughing is hilarious (most of the time.)
- In Rutooro, they have pet names for each other (similar to honey, sweetie, etc.) His pet name is Apuuli.
- He calls Scott both “Daddy” & “Baabaa.” The Rutooro word for Daddy is Baabaa (sp?) It’s really sweet, & I hope he keeps calling Scott this.
- He has & is transitioning well from always eating with his dirty, little hands to eating with utensils.
- When we take his picture, he always runs to see the image on the camera.
- He snores when he sleeps. I think this is b/c he congested at night. If this continues once we get home, then we’ll get it checked out.
- He is a LOUD child when awake & when sleeping. He clearly has more Whitworth in him than Farrar. :)
- Yesterday we went to drive through the Rwenzori mountains. It was beautiful! WJ nearly jumped over the edge. We’ve got a long ways to go with obedience. :)
- When you call him, he says "tata" which means - yes, please.
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| Walker's 1st swim! Look at that view behind him!!!!! |
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| Gorgeous Ugandan savanna. |
May 25, 2012 - 2nd post of the day
We are at the Mweya Safari Lodge, & it is really very nice. The closest thing to American standards since we’ve been here. We try to always remember that we are in UG & that we are fine with that, BUT to have a real shower & really hot water & a good flushing toilet, it does make us long for the luxuries of home. The drive into the lodge was very much what I expected Africa to look like. Mountains in the distance, but tall green & brown grasses over fairly flat land & African looking tress all over. I could literally hear the soundtrack to Lion King playing in the background……… well, that might have had something to do with the fact that Justin (the other adoptive dad) was in the back of the van singing it. :) Tomorrow we start our day BRIGHT & EARLY. We have to be on the Jeep for our land safari at 6:30am (that’ll be 11:30pm EST), & then on the boat for our water safari at 11am-ish. I am so excited about this! Scott has his camera ready, & will be taking TONS of pictures.
This afternoon we have pineapple Novidas & sat by the pool as WJ played. This was his very first time in the pool, & he absolutely loved it! No fear!!! I guess we’ll be spending a lot of afternoons this summer over at Nana & Pawpaw’s pool. They’ll be so happy!
WJ is doing better & better each day with us. He is responding well to us, his English is improving, & he is remembering what we tell him. However, each night he seems to “act out.” Very stubborn & refusing to obey. I think it has to do with everyone being together for dinner & him being overstimulated. There seems to be a noticeable rebellion & regression when our driver, Ken, speaks to him in Rutooro (& we don’t know what he’s saying.) He is, of course, only trying to be helpful, but somehow I think WJ rejects our authority when he does that. Maybe he is just getting confused??? Anyway, I am seeing some improvement with his listening & obeying although we still have a ways to go. Again, SO very thankful to be reading “Give Them Grace” by E. Fitzpatrick. God’s timing couldn’t have been any better.
We are establishing a night time routine, & WJ is doing well with that also. Momma bathes him & slathers him with lotion & brushes his teeth --- now that our luggage has arrived, he is really loving his bubble gum toothpaste. :) Then we all 3 get in bed. Momma reads 1 or 2 books to him (currently repeating “A Mother for Choco” and “Mommy & Me”), & then Daddy reads a few pages to us from The Jesus Storybook Bible. Then Daddy prays. Then Mommy. Kisses & then we put him in bed. Last night & tonight he laid right down, pulled up his covers, & was totally out in a matter of seconds. Praise, praise, praise the Lord!
I will sing with Walker, & our 2 favorite UG songs right now are a number song & a song about a mango tree. His adoptive friend, Stella, taught this one to me, & I try to get WJ to sing with me. Right now it’s mostly just me singing in a little African accent. :)
Mango Tree……. Shake, shake the mango tree. Mango yellow. Mango green. One for you & one for me. Shake, shake the mango tree.
Number Song…… Number one, number one. Where are you? Here I am, here I am. How do you do? (and so on & so forth up to number 10)
Oh, I also forgot to report that we had a very magical African day yesterday. We went trekking back into the “bush” of Africa (our 2nd day of doing so.) It was raining, & we were walking all under the banana leaf trees. Some of us ended up cutting down banana leaves to make umb-a-rellas (as WJ said) to protect us from the rain. It was so cool! Definitely a once in a lifetime moment!
This afternoon we have pineapple Novidas & sat by the pool as WJ played. This was his very first time in the pool, & he absolutely loved it! No fear!!! I guess we’ll be spending a lot of afternoons this summer over at Nana & Pawpaw’s pool. They’ll be so happy!
WJ is doing better & better each day with us. He is responding well to us, his English is improving, & he is remembering what we tell him. However, each night he seems to “act out.” Very stubborn & refusing to obey. I think it has to do with everyone being together for dinner & him being overstimulated. There seems to be a noticeable rebellion & regression when our driver, Ken, speaks to him in Rutooro (& we don’t know what he’s saying.) He is, of course, only trying to be helpful, but somehow I think WJ rejects our authority when he does that. Maybe he is just getting confused??? Anyway, I am seeing some improvement with his listening & obeying although we still have a ways to go. Again, SO very thankful to be reading “Give Them Grace” by E. Fitzpatrick. God’s timing couldn’t have been any better.
We are establishing a night time routine, & WJ is doing well with that also. Momma bathes him & slathers him with lotion & brushes his teeth --- now that our luggage has arrived, he is really loving his bubble gum toothpaste. :) Then we all 3 get in bed. Momma reads 1 or 2 books to him (currently repeating “A Mother for Choco” and “Mommy & Me”), & then Daddy reads a few pages to us from The Jesus Storybook Bible. Then Daddy prays. Then Mommy. Kisses & then we put him in bed. Last night & tonight he laid right down, pulled up his covers, & was totally out in a matter of seconds. Praise, praise, praise the Lord!
I will sing with Walker, & our 2 favorite UG songs right now are a number song & a song about a mango tree. His adoptive friend, Stella, taught this one to me, & I try to get WJ to sing with me. Right now it’s mostly just me singing in a little African accent. :)
Mango Tree……. Shake, shake the mango tree. Mango yellow. Mango green. One for you & one for me. Shake, shake the mango tree.
Number Song…… Number one, number one. Where are you? Here I am, here I am. How do you do? (and so on & so forth up to number 10)
Oh, I also forgot to report that we had a very magical African day yesterday. We went trekking back into the “bush” of Africa (our 2nd day of doing so.) It was raining, & we were walking all under the banana leaf trees. Some of us ended up cutting down banana leaves to make umb-a-rellas (as WJ said) to protect us from the rain. It was so cool! Definitely a once in a lifetime moment!
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