What a whole year can bring.

I can't believe that Stephen has been here a whole year. When we got the call last September we were told this was going to be a long term placement. Of course it didn't take long before we were in love with this amazing little boy. When he arrived he was pretty sick. I remember being so scared that he wouldn't sleep and that he would scream all night. That never happened. He seemed to know that we were here to comfort and love him. It took his a good month to regain his health and several more months after that (including speech therapy) before he was eating well for us. It was interesting because the more he trusted us to take care of his needs the better he ate and slept. This little guy seemed to fit in right away and now after a year we can't think of him as anything other then our son. When he got here at 7 months all he could do was sit up. We have watched him learn to crawl, walk, talk, climb, and enjoy life everyday. He loves to be outside (playing baseball or riding on a toy), he LOVES the water, and he really likes to be where ever we are. Now that he can get up and down the stairs on his own he follows Evi and Robert everywhere. I can't believe how well he keeps up with them. We take each day as it comes and hope and pray about what the future will hold for him. We want him to be a part of our family forever but we do know that ultimatly God is in control. We pray for his birth family as well. Today was a crazy day at the Babel house. First Robert peed his pants at preschool (don't worry he didn't care one bit), then Evi got a warning at Kindergarten for talking when the teacher was talking (I know big surprise.) It seemed that not a lot was going right when all of a sudden the phone rang and it was ECFA. At first I thought we were getting another placement call but it turned out to be Stephen's case worker calling to say that they were going to proceed with getting his plan changed from return home to adoption. What a great anniversary gift for us. At this stage of the game anything could still happen but we are really excited that things are moving in the right direction.

Stephen and me September 30, 2009


Stephen and me today