Papa's visit

This weekend my dad stayed with Bill, Moses and I and was able to spend great quality time with us and Moses. It was great, we a took couple walks in Broadripple, stopped into a coffee shop and had lunch on the Monon, went to Chuck E Cheese for Moses' first time, had family over to grill out and play cornhole and my dad was able to go to his class reuinon. Here are some pics from our weekend, Moses had a great time with Papa. Moses also had a heart echo on Friday afternoon, we should have the results in on Monday. So far, all of Moses' tests have come back normal, and we are really ready to not go to the Dr. for a very looong time. We have had so many Dr appointments, blood draws and ultrasounds, it is nice to know Moses has no health problems from having Down Syndrome, he is a healthy little boy!

Moses meets Joshua

Well, it has been a little over 2 months since Moses has come home, and things are amazing. He is still such a happy baby, and it has been incredible getting to know one another. It feels as though he has been with us for more than 2 months because we all are just so in love with one another.

We did get all of our blood and lab work done for Moses, and he is a healthy little boy! We also got a chromosome test done for Down Syndrome, and that revealed that he does in fact have Down Syndrome. His development has baffled the Dr.'s, he is just so smart. He mimics us, is feeding himself, talking a lot, rolls over and sits up great. He is attentive, and loves to give kisses, and even smiles and giggles when we tell him "I love you". We are having First Steps come to our house to work with Moses with any developmental delays he may have. We are also having tests done on his eyes, heart and GI tract since it is common for people with DS to have problems with these 3 areas.

Yesterday he was able to meet Joshua, the little boy who was adopted by our friends, the Otts, who live in Zionsville. Joshua is also from the DRC, and lived in the boys orphanage of Jamaa Letu. Moses was in the girls Jamaa Letu orphanage. It was really neat to see them interact, and are excited for these boys to get to know one another even more.

21 days

Sporting Purdue for Aunt Jessica

He loves books!
He was studying the story of Moses

Chillin' at the lilly Gardens

Daddy and Moses



The Lilly Gardens

The fun feeding Eval at Riley
He has impressed the doctor with his mad eating skills
Hmmmm...not sure about that!

Waiting our feeding evaluation at Riley


Aunt Shatasia, Aunt Tori, Uncle Stephen and Grammy Carrol
Grammy Carrol

In 2 days it will be a month since we first held our boy. It seems as though so much more time has passed. Moses is so naturally our son. We seem to have found a rythmn together and are understanding one another more and more every day. A lot has happened since we arrived in Indy with Moses just 21 days ago. He has progressed at an amazing pace, and is doing amazing. He eats well and sleeps well, His muscles are strong, which is amazing, but tough when we are trying to change him and he likes to wrestle :) He sits up on his own, he is beginning to hold his weight up when we put him on his hands and knees. Today he wanted to help me put his spoon in his mouth when I was feeding him. He mimicks us, and is learning at a rapid pace, we are impressed, and so are his doctors, by his abilities! Over the past 3 weeks, we have met our pediatrition, been to Riley twice, celebrated Jessica's (aka Aunt Sugar) birthday, celebrated my first Mothers day, Dedicated Moses at Common Ground, family and friends have been over nearly every day, and we have been on the go. Moses loves people, he loves to go places, his smile says it all! All that being said, we have had much time for rest and getting to know one another intimately. I enjoy dancing with him, reading to him, cuddling, laughing with him. I love rocking him to sleep, I love sharing this with Bill, he is such an amazing father to Moses, and a great husband to me. I love the way Moses responds in uncontainable joy when Bill interacts with him. Moses loves bath time, looking at books, music and cuddling, which has earned him the nickname "cuddle bug". Enjoy the pics!

Baby Dedication

Today we dedicated Moses to the Lord, to our families to help us raise Moses and to the community at common Ground. Baby dedication at Common Ground is a public

recognition of the importance of the parent’s role in providing a nurturing and loving context

where their children can experience the Gospel first hand and grow into a mature and

personal decision to follow Christ. Our participation in dedicating Moses is a time for Bill and I to commit publicly to raise Moses in the way of Christ. It is a time where we are to recognize the importance of our commitment to our own spiritual formation and thus the formation of Moses' spirit as well. Common Ground states their desire is to journey with us, to pray for us, and to help equip us to live out the calling that we have received as parents.

We are so thankful for our family, friends and community who are committed to see that the journey we take as a family is the way God intended it to be.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 begins with the beautiful Jewish Creed, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." It goes on to say "These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."

This is what we are committed to, to love the Lord our God with all that we are, and as Jesus also emphasizes with this greatest command, we will also love others sacrificially. We commit to teaching Moses these 2 greatest commands, and we commit to living these commands out ourselves. We know many mistakes will come, and many already have, but we ask for grace, for loving correction and instruction. We ask for continued prayers and love.