8 months!

This month has been very exciting for Nik. Its hard for me to believe it has been 8 months since he arrived home with us.  As I wrote in my last entry, Nik turned 4 this month and we had a fun day of celebrations. He is still singing "Happy Birthday" to himself on a regular basis. 

The other big event this month was our first family vacation as a family of five!  We went to Cancun, Mexico and had a great time!  Nik was not a huge fan of walking in sand, but considering he refused to take socks off his feet until about 4 months ago, that is no surprise. He did love the pools, the all inclusive resort (ie non-stop eating!) and the time together as a family.  Here are a few of our favorite pictures from the trip!



Fun in the kid's pool!



Meeting a real iguana at our resort!



Tired after a long day in the sun.  Poor Nik fell asleep waiting for us to get dressed for dinner!

Enjoying a fun dinner at the resort. Nik is a big fan of sushi!

Mr. Photogenic!



First time in the ocean... not a big fan!



Painting pottery by the pool...

It rained one afternoon on our trip! Here Maddie and Nik are trying to eat the rain!

Family Photo by the Beach!

 

 

 

June 20th also was the one year anniversary of the day that changed all of our lives forever.  On June 20, 2012, we received this photo and a video of Nikita.  We loved his face from the moment we saw him and knew God wanted us to be together. It is hard to believe that one year later, this same little boy is thriving in our home.  We love him dearly!

 

Nikita's picture from Russia that we received 1 year ago. I don't know how old he is in this picture.  I suspect it was taken sometime early in 2012.

Nik Bowen, age 4! Living in Plano, Texas

Nik and his family!

 

 

Happy 4th Birthday, Nik!

We celebrated Nik's birthday today. Technically, his birthday is June 10th, but today worked best for his birthday party schedule-wise, so we decided to have his party and celebration today.  Nik has talked about his birthday non-stop for a week.  He has even been singing "Happy Birthday" to himself for 2 days straight.  Yesterday, he told me that he was most excited for cake on his birthday and blew at the air, a gesture that seemed to indicate blowing out candles.  I asked him if he had ever blown out candles on his birthday before, and with a sad look on his face, he said "No". 

Today was special for us because I was excited for Nik to celebrate his first birthday with us, and to celebrate his birthday for the first time!  Nik was so happy all day... he kept saying "Its MY birthday!"  He expressed this with a tone of joy and pride that I have not seen in him before.  When he got to blow out candles on his birthday cupcake tonight, his face lit up.  He paused after we sung happy birthday with a grin on his face.  I think today was a dream come true for Nik. 

As we celebrated today, I was reminded of a quote by one of my favorite authors, Henri Nowen:

Birthdays need to be celebrated.  I think it is more important to celebrate a birthday than a successful exam, a promotion or a victory.  Because to celebrate a birthday means to say to someone ‘thank you for being you’.  Celebrating a birthday is exalting life and being glad for it. On a birthday we do not say ‘thanks for what you did or said or accomplished’ no, we say ‘thank you for being born and being among us’.

On birthdays we celebrate the present.

We do not complain about what happened or speculate about what will happen but we lift someone up and let everyone say ‘we love you’.  Celebrating a birthday reminds us of the goodness of life and in this spirit we really need to celebrate people’s birthdays every day by showing gratitude, kindness, forgiveness, gentleness and affection.

These are ways of saying ‘it’s good that you are alive’;

‘it’s good that you are walking with me on this earth’,

let’s be glad and rejoice.

This is the day that God has made for us to be and to be together

Nikita, This time last year, we did not know that you even existed. And yet, today, we love you and cherish you and celebrate the life God gave you.  You are our precious son and today was a day to celebrate the miracle of your life and the miracles of God that brought you to us. I hope you know that you are very loved by us and so many friends and family members.  You are special and we cannot wait to see the person God created you to be.  Happy Birthday, Nik!
Love, Mom and Dad

Eating a donut at his birthday party at the park!

Special Friends, Preston and Clara, celebrating with Nik!

Friends (and sister) celebrating!

Jaden and Dylan eating Donuts!

Nik is a fan of Donuts! I think this is #2!

Happy Birthday, Nik!

Wresting with Daddy!

Riding home from the party... the car is full of presents and balloons!

Look at all Nik's presents! He couldn't believe it!

Opening presents, with Dylan's help!

Birthday Lunch!

More presents!

Nik loves Lightening McQueen!

Opening gifts!

Nik is so happy he's hugging his gifts!

Birthday swimming!

Love!!

Pei Wei for dinner!

Here come the candles and cupcake!

Look at that grin! Nik is happy, happy, happy!

Yummy!

Thanks for helping me celebrate, Grammy!

7 Months!

Tomorrow will be seven months since we arrived home with Nik.  This month has been full of busy, end of the year school activities.  Nik had his first mothers day with a mom and his first weekend away, which he spend with Dylan at Brent's parent's house.  He continues to grow, connect, and bond.  We love him dearly.  His 4th birthday is fast approaching and he is beyond excited at the mention of "birthday!" I suspect his birthday has not been celebrated in the past and we are so excited to celebrate with him this year.  Here are a few pictures from this month:

Rockband!  Nik is also a big fan of "Just Dance"!

Trip to the zoo! 

Enjoying Lunch at the zoo... Yummy!

Zoo! 

Nik is a happy boy!

End of the year celebration at preschool! 

Miss Holly was one of Nik's teachers and
was such a blessing to love and care for him!

Miss Karen was Nik's other teacher this year! So blessed to have
her play a part in his adjustment to life here.

I love these kids!! And, they love each other! 

Mother's day!  Celebrating with my three kids!  My heart is full!

The pool is open! 

Tomorrow will be 6 months!

To me, 6 months seems like such a milestone.  Nik has been home with us for half of a year.  It has flown by and in many ways, its hard to remember our life before he was with us.  He has bonded with us.  I've noticed lately how much he has grown in his ability to empathize with us.  If one of us seems sad or gets a "boo-boo", Nik is quick to give a hug, offer a band aid, and express general concern.  He seeks comfort from us too. More and more, he has become a part of the family. 

As I look back over the last month, some things that stand out to me about Nik:

• Nik loves to be a "helper".  He'll stop anything he is doing and come if I say "Want to help mommy?" Nik especially loves to be my shopping partner at the grocery store. 
• Nik loves imaginary play.  This is especially true if cars are involved.  They talk to each other (in English!) and, when we are playing with him, he likes to tell us what they say.
• Nik likes to be silly.  He loves to laugh.
• Nik does not like to feel "left out".  If Brent or I are taking one of the others kids somewhere, Nik will protest if he isn't included. 
• Nik is obsessed with learning letters and their sounds. 
• Nik is talking more. He still isn't at the point of having a real "conversation" with us, but he is speaking in complete sentences more and more. 
• Nik acts like a "normal" brother.  One minute, Maddie or Dylan will be his best friend; the next, they are fighting over a toy or mom or dad's attention. 
• Nik's favorite place is church. He asks to go everyday.  Second to this, a favorite hobby is praying.  He always starts with "Dear Jesus..." 
• Nik is learning more and more gross motor skills. When he came home, he couldn't run or jump or climb. He couldn't step down from a curb or use the stairs.  This month, he was climbing a rock wall at the park, runs everywhere, and walks up and down the stairs. With this adventurous spirit comes quite a few boo-boos.  As I type this, he is covered head to toe with bruises from a particularly adventurous weekend that involved multiple falls! So, we will hold off on any professional pictures for awhile. 

This month was also full of adventures.  We celebrated our first Easter together as a family.  My brother, "Uncle John" came to visit and we celebrated with him and Grammy after church.  Nik even got to ride in Uncle John's super cool Corvette.  Nik also went on his first camping trip.  We went with our lifegroup. I had no idea what to expect from Nik, but he did great! He slept well in the tent and had fun with friends. We have very special friends in our lives who have embraced Nik into their own hearts and he is comfortable being with them and letting them love him.  Nik also went to
Chuck-e-Cheese for the first time and swam in our hot tub (pool is still a little too cold!). 

One other very meaningful thing happened this month. As you may remember, Nik was classified as "special needs" when we adopted him due to a diagnosis of hydrocephalus (extra brain fluid on the brain). All indicators were that this had not caused brain damage and he had a good prognosis, but without a new MRI in the states, we could not be 100% certain of this. Acting on faith, we proceeded with the adoption, knowing God had led us to him.  On April 3rd, we met with a neurosurgeon to review an MRI we had done in January.  This neurosurgeon told us that the hydrocephalus has "healed" and that no further followup is necessary for Nik.  He is healthy and the doctor expects no long term problems for him.  This was such a blessing for us.  The doctor (who "coincidentally" did his residency in Moscow) also shared with us some disturbing interpretations of Nik's Russian medical reports and MRI images.   These were hurtful to us to hear as we learned Nik was probably not treated as well in the orphanage as we had been led to believe.  While I am not comfortable sharing details on the blog of this, I can tell you that it has been amazingly clear to us that God has been watching over Nikita since long before we knew him and cares for him deeply. I hope and pray Nik is able to understand the depth of God's love and provision for him when he is old enough to comprehend. 

 Here are some pictures from the month:

Dressed up for church for Easter!

Lunch at Grammy's House on Easter!

Look at the cool car my uncle drives!

Riding around the block was awesome!

 



Mommy and Me love each other!

Chuck e Cheese was a big hit!

Camping was so much fun! The kids had fun sleeping in the tent!

Nik learned how to fish. Dad is teaching him how to put hooks
on the pole!

Hiking!

The lake was beautiful!

Camping!

Our friend, Lora, loving on Nik!

Nik's friend Sydney is sharing her marshmallow! Yum!

Heading home from camping! Dirty and ready for baths!

Playing with bubbles on a pretty spring day!

Pool! Nik has been taking lessons since January. We heated the hot tub on a
warm afternoon and the kids had so much fun. Nik has been begging to get back in
ever since.  I think its going to be a fun summer!