Most Frequently Asked Questions About Adopting a Child With Down Syndrome
October 7, 2015
developmental delays, Developmental System, Down syndrome, Education, IEP, October 2015 Feature - Developmental, physical therapy, public school, speech delay, speech therapy
October has always been my favorite month of the year. I love everything about the cooler temperatures, family time carving pumpkins and roasting marshmallows over a backyard fire. October is also Down syndrome awareness month, and as a Ds adoption advocate, this is one more reason for me to love October. Since adopting my daughter …Read More
Mercy: Adopting a Child with Albinism
September 30, 2015
albinism, developmental delays, Family Stories, September 2015 Feature - Skin Conditions, Skin Conditions
In 2011, my husband and I attended a banquet to benefit Ukrainian orphans. Our hearts were stirred for orphans that night. After praying for God’s direction, we chose All God’s Children International as our agency and began the process towards a special needs adoption from China. One afternoon I scrolled through the Rainbow Kids website, …Read More
My Life for Yours. Gladly
September 16, 2015
ADHD, autism, developmental delays, Developmental System, Family Stories, institutional autism
This is a story about expectations vs. reality. A story about HIS grace in the midst of my weakness, my fear, and my anxiety. This is our story. But I don’t want our story to just be for us. In the adoption community, our expectations are almost always at least slightly different than reality. I …Read More
Part II {Genetic analysis: to test or not to test}
October 9, 2013
birth family, developmental delays, DNA and genetic testing, Nancy
{Part I, Dark brown hair, Light brown hair is here} It’s discussed pretty regularly in the adoption community. To test or not to test. Now just to make sure we’re all on the same page here, I’m not talking about genetic testing as advised by your doctor for medical reasons. I’m talking about genetic analysis …Read More
Food issues and binging 5 years later
July 9, 2013
binging, developmental delays, early intervention, feeding challenges, feeding/swallowing therapy, food issues, hoarding, Nancy
Feeding a child is deeply rooted within us mamas. It’s almost beyond maternal and instinctual. It’s a part of what we do, and right or wrong, it’s a part of how we measure our success. And when it didn’t go according to plan, it affected me much more than I could have imagined. Being a …Read More
Living with attachment issues long term
May 9, 2013
Attachment, attachment activities, attachment challenges, developmental delays, Nancy, parent-to-child attachment
I tell people all the time, especially when we’re knee deep in discussions about adoption or attachment issues. Ya know, some kiddos just don’t handle institutionalization well. Some come out of it just fine. Some go straight to their new family and never look back with smiles and enthusiasm. And others, like our sweet thing, …Read More
Perfectly Made
April 9, 2013
clubfoot, developmental delays, Education, IEP, Nancy, public school
Dear IEP team members, As the mama to the little girl that we just spent over an hour talking about, I want to say more than our 60-minute time slot allowed. IEP meetings are hard. {That may be the understatement of the year.} They suck. For a parent, sometimes it feels like IEP meetings are a laundry list of how …Read More
The Best Christmas Present Ever
January 11, 2013
developmental delays, early intervention, Education, IEP, Nancy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, public school, speech delay, speech therapy
I stood in the back of Tess’s kindergarten classroom with the other proud parents and looked on as my 5-year-old daughter performed in the class’s “holiday show”. Her part was a simple song with just a few lines and hand movements to go with it. She didn’t know all the hand movements… just like the …Read More
What loss looks like four decades later
August 25, 2012
clubfoot, developmental delays, Nancy
When I was two years old… …my mom left. When Tess and Jude were 12 months old, they were taken from the only home they knew. When Mimi was 23 months old, she was taken from the only mama she knew. So how do we process not being chosen? I don’t remember any of those …Read More
BABY STEPS
June 25, 2012
clubfoot, developmental delays, Nancy
It was 9 am, and I was still in my jammies. Everything seemed stable, everyone fed, playing nicely, so I stole a moment to get dressed and splash my face with water… or at least I tried to. Mid-pulling up my pants I heard the shrieking. Tess’s shriek is unmistakable. It’s a guttural wounding, and …Read More
Our Early Intervention
May 25, 2012
clubfoot, developmental delays, early intervention, Education, feeding/swallowing therapy, Nancy, occupational therapy, speech therapy
Our girly qualified for Early Intervention services. Our sweet lovely amazing daughter is delayed. I don’t want it to be that way. But it is. And it’s no surprise either. We went into international adoption with our eyes wide open, preparing for the worst and praying for the best. Her delays were completely expected. There’s …Read More
Monday, March 5: {beginnings}
March 5, 2012
developmental delays, Journey to Mazie, Nancy
There was rain and then a traffic jam, and by the time the babies reached the hotel they were two hours past due. They brought Mazie directly to our`room because they were so late, and I was glad for this. On top of the trauma of being passed to us, she was overly tired, very …Read More
The Plan vs The Unknown
February 10, 2012
developmental delays, Journey to Mazie, Nancy
You know that saying…You want to see God laugh? Just tell him what your plans are!I’m pretty sure it went down like that. In July of last year Papa and I carefully looked over our agency’s special need’s list. It’s a paper that lists about 50 possible special needs. Hepatitis C, missing limbs, cleft lip and …Read More
welcome Nancy
February 3, 2012
clubfoot, developmental delays, Nancy
I am excited to share that we have another new blogging mama who is joining our team at No Hands But Ours. Nancy blogs at Ordinary Miracles and the Crazy 9… and since she says it so much better than I do, here is bit more about her and her growing family! My name is …Read More
My Denial Envelope
October 15, 2010
cognitive delay, developmental delays, Developmental System, Parenting Special Needs
When we found Jubilee and requested her file, we were well aware of her diagnosis of “Lower Mental Development”. In fact, it drew us even more to her. Somewhere in there though, I wondered if maybe Ch*na had it wrong. I mean, “Lower Mental Development” could be just learning delayed, right? We already had …Read More
Addie
February 22, 2010
developmental delays, disruption
by Lyn, mom to Addie from China with an SN of psychomotor developmental delays My husband Bob and I got married in 1995, and by 2001 had two beautiful daughters. We were content with our family and had no plans to have any more children. However, in December 2005, God showed us that He had …Read More
Can I handle this????
October 15, 2009
amblyopia, developmental delays, hypoplasia of the corpus callosum, Nicole B., vision issues
I can still remember the first special needs checklist we ever filled out. It was March 2005. We had just sent our first dossier to China. Our checklist was quite simple. We stated cleft lip and palate, female and As Young As Possible (AYAP). My husband and I signed it and I quickly faxed it …Read More
Chu Meng
June 5, 2009
arachnoid brain cyst, cerebral palsy, developmental delays, Family Stories, seizures
by Cheri, mom to Chu Meng from China with Arachnoid Brain Cyst (later to find out stroke induced Cerebral Palsy), Developmental Delay, Seizures Chu Meng’s story is a bit unusual but her story all the same. Our family like many families started out as a NSN family. Our LID was May 16, 2006. I started …Read More
John
December 4, 2008
developmental delays, Family Stories
By Branda, mom to John from China with a SN of developmental delay Our sweet, sweet boy When my husband and I began to fill out the forms to adopt our next child, we knew that we were adopting a “special needs” child. We checked off our checklist of what we could handle as a …Read More