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[Games] Re: My Adoptees 1 Year Later
DW: Brittany Danyle (Parks) Carnahan (30)
DH: Matthew Samuel Carnahan (30)
DD: Maria Putri Carnahan (10)
DS: Felix Samuel Carnahan (8)
DD: Lily Michelle Carnahan (6)
DD: Arianna Grace Carnahan (3)It has been a long, sometimes difficult, wonderful year with our new children. We fell in love with them the moment we met them. We met Feliu first. He only knew a little Spanish and French, but with the help of a translator we talked to him. He seemed so happy to have a family again that it made Matt and me both cry. He laughed at our bungling of his name, and he agreed to the translator's suggestion of changing it to the English form, Felix. His first English words were Mommy and Daddy. He adjusted almost right away to life in his new home and picked up English quickly. He loved having two little sisters, and they both quickly came to adore their big brother, though Lily had to adjust to not being the oldest anymore!Maria we met about two weeks after Felix came home. She spoke a fair amount of English, having learned it at school, but she rarely said a word at first. She missed her birth parents and her home, and though she was glad to leave the orphanage where she had been livign we could tell that we did not feel like family to her at first and she seemed afraid we would leave her. For the first two weeks she slept under her bed, afraid of another earthquake. Arianna helped her most, just be being sweet and willing to cuddle when Maria would cry. With care and love, our new daughter soon came to trust us and then to love us. About three months into her life with us, she called us Mom and Dad for the first time (she had been calling us the Indonesian words for Mr. and Mrs., which we accepted). It was a sign to us that she was really starting to feel like our daughter. Now we cannot imagine how we went through life without her. Felix, Lily, and Arianna all absolutely adore her and she them.There were a few conflicts with our new children at first. Maria was not used to having siblings and had to learn to get along with them. Felix had a hard time concentrating all day in school, which he had never attended before. Lily had the biggest adjustment--instead of beign the oldest she now had two older siblings. But everything worked out with a little patience and now our kids are happy with their large family and their multiple aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. We now can't imagine life without our two adopted children.
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