DeSoren Family

So this past week we had three great days, that have really kicked the old biological parenting clock into overdrive for both of us.

First a great evening with Jaden. Then the adoption BBQ and then yesterday we spent the afternoon and evening with Shawn (8) and his little Brother  Daniel (4) who was visiting. (Changing names for privacy reasons).

Shawn was recently placed with his forever family. A great lady named Sara. Our adoption clinician referred us to Sara, as Sara needs some respite care help so she can have a well-earned break now and then.

Our clinician though it would be really good for us to see firsthand what working with a special needs adoption child is really like. And the added bonus is we are also learning what being a special needs parent can be like.

So far, we have three great visits now with Sara and Shawn.  Yesterday Shawn’s little brother was down for a visit, so we got twice the fun! As we walked to the house, Josh headed up stairs to help with a little project with Sara and I became an instant jungle gym for the two boys down in the living room.

Both Joshua and I had a wonderful time with the two boys and it really made us both think even more about looking into sibling groups for our own adoption.

Shawn and I spent the afternoon working on Magic school bus science experiments, as Shawn is a young budding mad scientist. We learned all about how iodine changes color when mixed with bread and sugar. We also learned that the board game Sorry does not work out so well for a 4 year old.

Next weekend, if Shawn has a good week, we are going to take the mad scientist out to OMSI and let Sara have a Sunday off.

Last night we had our first big harvest of the Raspberries from the back yard. Luckily Jaden (April’s son, Suzanne’s grandson) was visiting and was able to help us.

It was Jaden’s first time picking berries but he quickly became an expert. Within 10 minutes he had a big bowl full and was carefully eyeing the white ones to see if they where ripe enough to pick.

Jaden then helped Anthony wash the berries and then all four of us (Josh, Sam, Jaden and Anthony) sat outside on the patio and ate some with cool whip.

Jaden let us all know that he doesn’t like berries except sweet strawberries. So we added a little sugar to his and he then magically finished the rest!

After cleaning up, Jaden showed us his new Cars video game and then got very excited to see we had the Lego Star Wars game for the PS3 just like at his “weekend house”

This was cause for a sudden and major shift in video game priorities. It was just as we finished level 3 of Star Wars Lego Jaden’s Mom came by to pick him up.