Joseph's Outing

You know that weird feeling of being out of the house the first time after being home sick for a long time?  That feeling of, "Ahh....so this is the outside world??"  (I hope that's not just me, or I am going to feel really stupid.) Well, imagine what our babies feel like. Or more so, our toddlers who are actually aware of their surroundings.

Because we are such a small home, we have the ability and the privilege of being able to help transition and acclimate our babies into the "outside world" before they are placed with adoptive families and go out into their whole new world. This is one of the reasons why I intentionally have a small baby home, not a big orphanage with lots of kids. We are a family. We want to teach our babies what it is like to be a part of a family. And we want their transition from their Haven of Hope family to their forever family to be as easy, as comfortable, and as natural as possible.

Joseph will hopefully be matched with his forever family within the next few weeks.

As of now, this little guy, who is generally a happy, laughing, teasing little boy, is going through a "scream in sheer panic when a strange man comes into the room" kind of stage. He is not too fond of strange women, either, but men...whew! So, we took him out with us and to lunch, just to expose him to some new things and acclimate him a bit to the outside world.

He was such a good boy! He did not scream once when a man came towards or past him.....probably because he was partially in shock! I sat him with his back towards the rest of the restaurant, and we went to a Chinese restaurant where each table sitting area is partially partitioned off with dividers, which helped the situation and gave Joseph a bit of a comfort zone. Still, he did see others coming and going and he did a fabulous job!

Joseph LOVES to EAT! (And at 20 months old, he feeds himself very well.) Had we not gone to a place with food, and new, good food at that, he might not have had such a great time. I was so proud of Joseph! Julia did a great job of helping keep food on his tray and talking to him about everything she could think of.

Please pray for Joseph, and all of our babies who will be meeting their forever families in the next few months. (We have four of them "in waiting!") Annabelle went on her very first outing yesterday, but I forgot my cameral. :-( She had a little bit harder time. She is younger and it was her first time. Joseph had gone with Rebekah and Benita a few times while I was in America. Transitions are tough of babies....they need prayers. Please remember them. :-)