Happy Mother's Day!

To my mom and my wife,

Happy Mother's Day!

I feel extremely fortunate to have grown up under the tutelage and care of such a fantastic mom, and I am confident my children will share the same sentiment.

Speaking of my children, here is Lleyton executing on our plan that Sara wasn't supposed to raise as much as a finger today, while he watered her flowers on the front porch.

In an unrelated matter, nothing brings brothers and sisters together in perfect harmony better than Spongebob Square Pants.

Birthmother's Day

Today is Birthmother's Day. 

On the eve of the day we have always known as a time to celebrate moms and all they do for us throughout our lives, we celebrate a day meant to acknowledge, commend, and thank those women who have made the decision to give their children up for adoption. 

In our case, that means taking time to think about four different women.  The path that each of our kids took to ultimately end up in our house is unique.  That being true, they all started the same way, with a mother's decision to give up their child.  Whether that decision was made at birth, or years after, the decision was the same.  A decision most likely based on a belief that there could be a better life for this child elsewhere. 

Each of our kids' stories is just that, their story to share as they see fit.  As they grow up we will fill them in on all of the details that we know of. 

In Lleyton's case, we have communicated with his mother.  We have pictures of her and her family.  We have her story, and we know her reasoning for giving him up.  I'll be the first to admit that at times, while I watch Lleyton battle some of the issues that he has to deal with, I get upset with his birthmother.  When those feeling come about, I quickly remind myself (or more often than not Sara quickly reminds me) to be thankful that Lleyton is with us.  The truth of the matter is that we are so grateful to his birthmother for carrying him throughout her pregnancy and ultimately giving birth to him.  Sara and I realize that she didn't have to do that, but she did, and because of that we have our little man here with us.

In Addy's case, we had prepared ourselves for the possibility that we may have been able to meet her birthmother during our trip to Ethiopia to bring her home.  We were very saddened to learn that she had passed away before that meeting could take place.  Oh how we wish we could have met her.  Looking at our little girl, I am certain her birthmother  was beautiful, and we would have loved to have been able to meet the woman that gave her that personality of hers (she can be a bit of a spitfire).

We recently made an effort to find out a bit more about Parker's story and his path to where he is now.  Not surprisingly, we weren't able to find out very much.  We wish we could reach his birthmother.  We would love for her to see the young man her son has become. 

While he isn't technically a part of our family yet, we don't see it that way when we think of our little guy in South Korea.  So on this day we also think about the young lady half a world away that relinquished her rights to the baby boy that will one day become our fourth child.  She, just like the birthmother of each of our other kids, made the very difficult decision to give him up, and we feel very fortunate to be the people that will be welcoming him into our family.

So as I sit here tonight and think about each of these women, I wish I could personally tell each one of them how much their decisions have meant to us . 

From Sara and I to each of them, thank you so much!  The children that you gave birth to are in good hands and we look forward to sharing their stories with them as they grow older.

We have a winner!

Thank you so much to those of you that have helped spread the word about our Superman was Adopted shirts.  The response to our fundraiser has been fantastic. 

Onto the good stuff...

We have a winner of our first ever blog giveway.  Earlier this evening Lleyton reaching his little hand deep into a hat pulled out this name...

So there you have it.  Congratulations to Emmy!  You are the winner of a $25 gift card from Amazon and the title "1st Ever A Brother for Lleyton Blog Giveaway Winner". 

Thanks again to everyone that is now following the blog, tweeted about our sale, wrote about Superman was Adopted shirts on Facebook, and anything else you may have done.  We truly appreciate your support.

SUPERMAN WAS ADOPTED shirts...and a GIVEAWAY!

Who doesn’t love a very cool t-shirt? We certainly do, and hopefully you feel the same.

Sara and I are very excited to have the chance to do some fundraising for our adoption by selling a fantastic looking shirt. As we made the decision to move forward with our 4th adoption over the course of the last 4 years, we both knew that in order for this to be possible we were going to have to rely on some fundraising efforts.

Any and all money raised from our sale, and any other fundraisers we do in the future, will go directly towards bringing our little guy home.

Buy them quickly. We will only be selling them for two weeks. We will take all of our orders after the two weeks and get all of the shirts printed at that time. We should receive them within about 7-10 days and we will then send them onto you as soon as we get them...and shipping is FREE!

Take a look at these shirts and tell me you or your little ones wouldn’t look fantastic in one…

From our experience, the shirts may run a tad bit small, so you may want to keep that in mind while ordering.

You can order a couple of different ways. You can order right here on our blog and pay with PayPal or credit card, or you can email me (abrotherforlleyton@yahoo.com) what size(s) and color(s) you would like and then send a check through the mail. Either way works for us.

Along with the shirt sale we are also going to be doing our first BLOG GIVEAWAY!

Here is how you can help us spread the word…

Become a follower of our blog, then leave a comment on this post letting me know you are following (for those of you already following, leave a comment telling me that). Each follower that leaves a comment on this post will get one entry into our drawing. If you really like what you see, link back to our blog, grab our button from the sidebar, and/or post about our t-shirt sale on Facebook or Twitter. Let me know via your comment if you did any of these things and you will be given another chance(s) to win.

This coming Saturday night (May 7) we will put all of the names in a hat and have one of the little ones draw out the big winner.

What’s the big prize?

$25 Amazon.com Gift Certificate

and

The esteemed title: First Ever A BROTHER FOR LLEYTON Blog Giveaway Winner

Thank you for your help bringing little Camden home!

Our very special guest.

We always enjoy having family over to the house to visit, and today was no different.  What set today apart was our extra special guest.  Along with looking forward to seeing Sara's mom and step dad, we were also very excited to see her Grandma.  For as long as I have known her, Grandma Rena has not ventured out of town other than to visit Grandpa Bob in the hospital in Indianapolis.  So we were honored that she would want to make the long drive to visit us.  The visit was awesome.  Grandma Rena was such a good sport with all of the kids.  I am sure she is going to get a very good night sleep tonight after the little ones put her through their version of the Olympics.  I hope she enjoyed the visit half as much as we did.

Shortly after her arrival, Addy came to the conclusion that Grandma Rena and her were fast friends.  They hit it off while drawing pictures.

Highlights from the Olympics...

Flawless form.

Flawless form, Part 2.

Staring down the sign before delivering a perfect strike.

After retiring Lleyton on 3 pitches, she made quick work of Parker.

4 generations.

The boys are always so excited to see Grandpa Don.  When Don is in the house, fun abounds.  Here is Lleyton waiting anxiously for his arrival.

We've moved...kind of.

You can now find our blog at...

http://www.abrotherforlleyton.com/

If you just really prefer typing in the old address, knock yourself out, you will be redirected to the new address.

Thanks again for following along with us.  We are excited for an eventful year as we move towards bringing our newest little guy home.

Easter around our house.

The Easter Bunny made a stop at our house on Sunday and I think the kids were pretty happy with what they found in their baskets. 

Amongst Lleyton's basket full of goodness was a pair of work gloves and binoculars.  He put those to good use while protecting Addy from bad guys.

During a very brief break from the seemingly constant rain this past Saturday, we took the kids to an Easter egg hunt in our neighborhood. 

The kids were all smiles prior to the event, with visions of finding dozens of eggs and claiming their prizes. 

The smiles for Lleyton only last so long, as he was pretty disappointed with his haul from the egg hunt.  This is the face of little guy that only found three eggs.

After seeing this pitiful face, we reminded our little guy that we would be hunting for eggs at our house as well, so he could find more during that search.  He said he wanted to find 100 eggs.  His wish is our command.  We stuffed upwards of 200 eggs, almost ensuring that we wouldn't have to see the same sad face from Lleyton after our event. 



Friday Night Fun

As we have become accustomed to this week, the weather was awful this evening, so we set out to keep the kids entertained with coloring Easter eggs and eating Easter themed s'mores.   While the little ones decorated the eggs, it was Parker's job to assemble the delicious looking Peep s'mores.

By the looks of these pictures, he was happy to take on his task.

The little ones worked together to turn a dozen hard boiled eggs into works of art (by worked together I mean they stood next to each other). 

If I haven't told you before, Addy is a bit of a diva.  She really likes having things her way and if she deems things are going that way, she isn't afraid to tell you.  This was quite evident during this evening's fun.

She didn't really dig the idea of sharing the egg spinner with Lleyton, so while it was his turn to decorate and egg or two, this is what we saw...

A slightly different side of her came out when it was her turn...

Never a dull moment around here.

_______________________________________________________________________

Oh, I almost forgot to share with you how Addy likes to tell us she is finished with her dinner.

Does she politely push her bowl to the side and wait for us to grab her?

Does she say "All done"?

Does she offer her brothers whatever may be left over?

No. 

She dumps her bowl on her head.

Thank you Rainbowkids.com.

Upon making the decision to consider another adoption, Sara began spending more and more time on Rainbowkids.com.  Rainbowkids is a website that not only houses a plethora of information regarding adoption, but it is also home to lists of waiting children with special needs throughout the world.  On one of those lists is where we found our little guy. 

Our first three adoptions were borne from Sara and I's desire to form and expand our family.  This one is a bit different.  This one we set out to hopefully find a child with special needs that we were comfortable that we could address.  Our family could have been complete with three kids, but we have chosen to open up our hearts and home to one more because we feel that we have what it takes to offer the same loving family to another needy little person that Lleyton, Parker and Addy enjoy.

The little guy that that we can't wait to meet and welcome into our family has a heart defect that will need to addressed with surgery.  He has been diagnosed with moderate to severe ASD/VSD and heart failure.  Long term prognosis for him should be good after the surgery that will be required to fix what is ailing him.  One good thing that has come from our recognizing, diagnosing, understanding, and dealing with Lleyton's special needs (I have yet to write about what Lleyton is dealing with, but I will at some point soon) is that we have come to know more than our fair share of really talented doctors and therapists at the Children's Hospital in Cincinnati.  One of which is a cardiologist.  After discussing our little guy in Korea's issues with her, she seemed confident that the surgery can be done with very high success rate and no long term affects on his health.

Unlike Lleyton and Addy, who spent their infancy in an orphanage, this little guy (whom I should come up with a blog name for so that I don't have to keep writing "this little guy") is living with a foster mother.  She lives in Seoul, which is where we will travel to pick him up when that time comes.  From the looks of the video we received of him last week, the conditions he lives in far exceed our expectations. 

More details to come as we move forward.  As of now we are gathering necessary paperwork kick this process into gear.

Please keep our little guy in your thoughts and prayers.

Book Buddies

Springtime has arrived.

Both Sara and I took the day off today to spend some quality time with the kids since this week in Parker's spring break.

On tap for today was a morning visit to the zoo.. 

Thank goodness we took our camera with us on our adventure, because the tulips were out in full force and I took advantage of that and took plenty of pics.

Before we get to the tulip pictures, Lleyton ran into Dora right when we entered the zoo, and how could he resist having his picture taken with one of his favorite characters ever.

One of the highlights of the day, albeit a brief highlight, was the boys getting to feed a giraffe. 

What the kids think.

By far the biggest part of our decision making process was the determining the effect adding another little one to our roster may have on Parker, Lleyton, and Addy.  Sara and I debated for days (if not weeks) before coming to the conclusion that we were prepared to move forward with this adoption. 

The decision wasn't made without consulting the little ones, and here's what they thought...

Parker - He was really campaigning for an older sister (he must not have remembered how difficult our adjustment was with him).  Once we brought him back to reality he was very excited about the possibility of a baby brother and he has been lobbying to share his room.

Addy - She seemed to be in favor of becoming a big sister, that is as long as we could guarantee her that the new little brother wouldn't try to drink any of her milk.  Don't get between our little girl and her milk.

Lleyton - He was our wildcard.  When asked if he would like a little brother, his response was, "No...I want to keep Addy."  After she was able to curtail her laughter, Sara assured him that we weren't trading Addy in for a little brother.   Upon understanding that Addy was still going to be around, most likely imitating his every move, Lleyton came to the conclusion that he was in favor of the new addition.

Our little guy in Korea has a few very excited older siblings waiting for him to join the party. 

Hope he's ready to be showered with kisses upon arriving at the airport.  The kids are already smooching him through the computer screen.

Last stop...South Korea!

It is with great excitement and anticipation that I announce that Sara and I have made the decision to add onto our family one more time.

The little person that is going to have the pleasure of having Parker, Lleyton, and Addy as siblings is a very handsome little boy from South Korea. He was born July 2, 2010 and will probably have about another year of his low key lifestyle in Seoul before we are able to bring him home and introduce him to the daily excitement that exists in our household.

The journey we have taken over the last 4 years since deciding to form our family through adoption has been nothing short of incredible. The places that we have been, the people that we have met, the countries we have fallen in love with have changed our lives for the better, and I am planning on this experience being no different.

I vividly remember a conversation Sara and I had as we ascended an escalator at Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport on the afternoon of July 3rd last summer. We had just finished the 3rd of 4 legs of our trip home with Addy as she screamed in our ears. Fatigue was at an all time high when we looked at each other and agreed that three children would be enough.

Who knew that just the day prior, half way around the world, the boy that will become our 4th child was born.

Our feelings changed after getting home and settling in and getting used to life with three very vibrant and energetic little ones. We decided that if the right situation presented itself we would be willing to jump back in and adopt again...and here we are. The adoption process never seems to be easy, but we are ready to take it on once again.

There’s a little guy 6,800 miles away that we are very eager to meet and bring home.

Wish us luck.

Stay tuned for what will hopefully be a few really cool fundraising ideas that we are very excited about.

Quote that confims being a dad is the coollest thing ever...

It's 10:28pm and Lleyton is having trouble sleeping because of the high winds, so he is hanging with me on the couch watching the news. 

Our kids are on a pretty strict schedule.  Each night they are in bed by 8 o'clock and Sara and I enjoy the quiet time after they are resting peacefully.  But Lleyton being awakened by wind and being up late has been well worth it on this night because this is what he just told me...

"Daddy...you're my best buddy, but Mommy is my best friend."

How lucky are we to have such great kids.

__________________________

UPDATE

It's now 10:38pm and Lleyton just switched gears on me and came up with this quote on an entirely unrelated topic:

"Daddy...if I eat dog poop, I'll throw up."

Here's to hoping that he chooses not to put that theory to the test and that he does decide he needs to get a little shut eye tonight.

Lleyton's Soccer Debut...Take 2

In the NFL, many times when a player is injured and is unable to finish the season he will be put on the PUP list.  PUP stands for physically unable to perform.  I have determined that if youth soccer has such a list it may be called the MUP list...mentally unable to perform. 

If that list existed, Lleyton would have been put on it before the his first game last season.  He had all of the skills to potentially run circles around his comrades, but he lacked a bit on the other side of the game.  What he had in dribbling skills was outweighed by his lack of attention span.  What he had in speed was countered  by the impulsively that drove him to dart off of the field in warm ups straight into a busy parking lot.  He wasn't unable to focus enough to sit on the sidelines and cheer his teammates, choosing rather to stay right by our side. 

With all of that being true and with those memories from a year ago fresh in our minds, we set out this afternoon to give soccer another try...and our little guy far exceeded our expectations.

He did great!

We have clearly come along way in the last year (with the biggest strides coming in the last few weeks). 

Does this look like a kid that lacks focus?

How about this one, taken while our little soccer player stared down the competition during pregame warm ups.

Lleyton is usually asked to hang on the sidelines with Addy and cheer on Parker while watching him play, so he was delighted that the tables were turned and Parker and Addy were the ones cheering him on.

He was very assertive and aggressive on the field (maybe too aggressive at times...sorry to those little guys that he ran over).  Here is taking Bob the Bobcat for a little ride down the field.  Bob the Bobcat is the name of the ball in the league he plays in.

Sara and I beamed with pride while watching our little guy play this afternoon.  He has really made progress recently and we are thrilled about that.  Our biggest point of pride wasn't his passing skills, his ability to control the ball while dribbling, and certainly not his slide-tackling, but rather we were most proud of our little guy for this...

Sitting on the sidelines rooting on his teammates. 

Onto next week.  He is excited about getting back on the field, and we are equally as excited to watch.