((BIG NEWS AT THE END OF THIS POST))

“Christ is the power of God, and He is the power of the children of God. Who can strengthen the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees, but Jesus? In those who have no might He increases strength. When they are weak in themselves, then are they strong in Him. His declaration is, ‘My strength is made perfect in weakness’ (2 Corinthians 12:9). Lean, then, upon Jesus for strength. He has strength for all your weakness; He can strengthen your faith, and strengthen your hope, and strengthen your courage, and strengthen your patience, and strengthen your heart. Lean upon Him; He loves to feel the pressure of your arm; He loves you to link your feebleness to His almightiness, to avail yourself of His grace. In all your tremblings and sinkings, you will feel the encircling of His power.”
~ Octavius Winslow (1808-1878)

Yesterday was so hard. Today was better. We have seen overall progression with Nolan. I would have to say even supernatural progression. But yesterday morning was the worst we have had yet. He absolutely refused to comply with anything we required of him. It took a huge chunk of our morning to unravel everything. Scott and I lost another few months off our lives, and we added one more building block in our relationship with this little boy who really does seem to be trying to trust us and figure this out. Things did finally resolve on a positive note, and we moved forward into the best afternoon we’ve had so far. We know, based on our experience, that it was no coincidence that our worst morning was then followed by our best afternoon. Even the order of those things was typical and somewhat expected.

Nolan and I usually do a little morning walk together, collecting bird feathers, while Scott showers. Then we spend some quiet time playing games, doing puzzles, or reading books. After this we usually do a little in-room bowling and then settle him in with his lion to watch a little Curious George while Scott and I try to answer a few emails. After lunch, we go out for awhile and find some kind of fun activity away from the heat. This works very well for him. He has progressed far enough now with his lion that he is able to keep him with him all day. Maybe it won’t be too much longer before he is able to begin sleeping with him. He loves that lion!

Taking Lion to the mall

Daddy helping Nolan and Lion off of the escalator

We did take him to bowl on Tuesday, and that was fun.

Choosing just the right ball

Daddy helping him set it up

Very happy with the results

But, as I said, our best afternoon yet was yesterday. We spent it at the Oklahoma Aquarium, and he absolutely loved that. It was the most relaxed and excited we’ve ever seen him. We felt like we saw all of his potential joy and healing multiple times yesterday.

Heading into the aquarium

Touching a real starfish

Looking at the rays

He loved the turtles

Watching a diver feed the fish and the anemones

Waiting for the feeding of the otters and telling the little girl next to him, “My mom said just a few more minutes.”

Watching the beavers eat

The sharks!

In a shark cage with Mommy

He ended the day peacefully and slept deeply last night. This morning we had planned, with our attorney’s permission, to drive across the state line to visit a drive-through safari park. Nolan was really excited about seeing a real lion and was so good all morning. We were later getting away than we had hoped, and then hit stand-still traffic on State Highway 412. I dreaded trying to hold Nolan together while we sat there with no idea of what was going on or how long we would be there. But he surprised us and did so much better than we ever expected. We finally had to give up on our plans for this excursion and turn around. Again, he calmly expressed his disappointment and then fell right into step with our new plans for the day. This is incredible! He did eventually begin to slip back into some of his old behaviors later in the afternoon and lost a couple of privileges, but after that, he turned right back around and finished the day on a positive note again.

Scott is currently reading to him before we tuck him in, and we plan to try the safari park again tomorrow. Maybe it’ll work out this time.

But the biggest news of all, is that things broke loose very suddenly today, and our attorney let us know that we can go home  on Saturday as planned! This was very welcome news. We miss our kids, and we’re anxious to start life with Nolan actually in the family, but we are also feeling some nervousness about this. The flights could be challenging, and once we are home, where we will have eighteen other kids needing us, we won’t be able to give Nolan 100% of our time and attention. But we went into this adventure, trusting God to decide the perfect time for us to return home. So we are leaning on Him and pray continually that In our “tremblings and sinkings,” we “will feel the encircling of His power.” Please keep praying for us. We are on a most exciting ride. Thank you for coming along.