Forever Family

Hi all!

With all the business of being a new family of 4 with 2 toddlers, I finally have a chance to blog about our 1st month as a forever family. We are feeling more and more like a true family, with all the fighting of siblings, tough time getting everyone out of the house, and overall craziness ... I love it!

Kiera loves being a big sister (most of the time).
She gives him hugs and kisses and is always in his face trying to get him to play like she does.
She tackles, tickles, kisses, dances and tries to carry him everywhere.

Silas loves his sister (even when she tackles him).
I am sure it won't be long before he tackles back.
He loves hugs and kisses too and copies everything his sister does.
He has grown 1 inch in the month we have been home and we are seeing his personality more and more.

We are still working on getting Silas healthy. Our newest endeavor on this front it TB. He had a positive TB test and questionable chest x-ray last week. They re-tested the x-ray and determined that he does not have active TB, but are diagnosing him with latent TB (not contagious). We are waiting to hear from the health department about the medication that he will be on for the next 9 months. We are praying that we will be through all of this by Christmas this year :)

Even with everything, Silas is such a strong and healthy boy. We love him and Kiera so much and are very blessed to be their parents. And we look forward to celebrating Silas Baptism on March 10th and welcoming Silas into Christ's family.

Blessings,
Mandy

The First 2 Weeks ...

We have been home for two weeks, so I thought I would take some time to recap.


We left Ethiopia on 1/20/13. We had the same flights as Matt and Becca, who adopted twins at the same time. It was great to have another family to experience this with (but I am sure the other passengers on the plane that wish these three 1 year olds were not all together :)

After a 2 long flights, where Silas hardly slept, we were pucked on and pooped on, and totally exhausted, we landed in Minneapolis and got through customs fairly quickly. Silas fell asleep in the line of course so he didn't sleep on the last flight home to Wausau either.

We arrived in Wausau after the short 45 minute flight at 3:17pm ... you can see from the picture it was -5 degrees outside (quite a shock for us coming from 70 degree weather - and Joel only had a t-shirt left due to Silas on the plane).

 Many people were waiting at the airport to welcome us home. It was wonderful to see many of our friends that have prayed with us through this journey and especially this trip home.

I think Kiera was getting impatient ...

And then she saw us ...
We have her on video saying "I see daddy's glasses ... I see daddy's red shirt ... I see daddy's ears ... Hi Silas!"
I guess I knew that Daddy and baby brother would be most exciting for the daddy's girl :)

This was the moment Joel was waiting for. They even practiced this hug before we left on the plane. Kiera couldn't quite wait until we passed the "do not go beyond this point" sign.

Our Family!

Brother and Sister love at first sight! 

Kiera was so excited. She kept giving Silas kisses and then jumping up and down giggling. 

I did get my kiss too! I missed my big girl. And wow does she seem big now. She was so brave and mature with all this. I am so proud of her. 

Silas taking it all in. He was all over the airport and saying hi and smiling at everyone there. 

He had a great hug for Great Grandma!

And smiles with Grandma and Grandpa!

I love my Family!
Thank you to our friend Lisa with Bluesixteen Photography for waiting for us at the airport to take these beautiful pictures.

Silas got to meet his Oma and Opa the next weekend. And he enjoyed Max (the dog) a lot too!

The next day after coming home, Kiera and Silas enjoyed celebration cupcakes that Kiera picked out with Grandma ... Silas didn't want to give it up.

And Silas had some Christmas presents to open. We had fun playing together as a family of four. Kiera has been such a great big sister, sharing her toys and trying to teach Silas how to play with things the "right way."

It even snowed! And Silas loved watching Daddy use the snow blower. He also giggles every time he sees it snowing. They had fun sledding and playing in the snow on the warmer days.

So far we have had a lot of fun. Mommy is home for another 9 weeks, so we enjoyed finger painting, bubbles, building walls (or knocking them down), and getting into a little of everything.

Not everything is roses though. 

As we assumed, Silas has some health issues. He had a bad cold/cough while we were in Ethiopia and in the first week home. Thankfully that has been getting much better. 

We took him to Children's hospital in Milwaukee to the International Adoption Clinic for a arrival visit check up. They ran many tests and found that he has a double ear infection (no wonder the plane ride was so hard), Hepatitis A, Salmonella, and Giardia. The last 3 all affect his digestion. He is on medication for the ear infection and Giardia, but the others should pass out of his system in time. 

Right now he is a sick little guy, but still very happy. We aren't sure if he knows what it feels like to be free of these illnesses. He is going to be a handful once we get him well. 

Thank you for all your prayers and for following along on this journey. I will try to continue to update about our family on a regular basis, so please keep checking.

Blessings,
The Brandts,
Joel, Mandy, Kiera and Silas