Fundraiser frenzy!

 We have a thousand things going on right now trying to raise funds for our adoption! Yard sales, Bake sales, Bunco night, a paint night, Zumbathon, a concert... Yes we are crazy at our house. Fundraising is almost a full time job! Add in my actual full time job and teaching Zumba two nights a week and a very active 3 year old, you get one crazy schedule.

 I just wanted to take a few minutes to thank everyone for their support and help. I have so many people who have taken on various tasks of organizing events, advertising, brainstorming and allowing me to bounce ideas off of them. I truly appreciate all you have done and continue to do to help make this adoption a reality.

 Stay tuned as I will be updating with new events and fun things we have planned!

We are not Angels...

  I'm not sure why people say that kids with special needs are only given to 'special people'. As far as I know, my husband and I are not angels, nor are we saints. We are just two typical people who happen to have a child with Down syndrome.

  Don't get me wrong, we love our kiddo and try our very best to make sure all of his needs are met. Just as we have done with our other children. This is what a parent is supposed to do.  As parents our job is to make sure that those "needs", whatever they may be, are addressed.  If your child has bad vision, you get then glasses.  If your child has asthma you make sure they have medicine.  If your child struggles in school,  you make sure they get extra help. Sometimes this means you must learn certain skills to help your child.

 As a parent of a child with special needs we just learn what we need to to help or child.  If your child is nonverbal,  you learn sign language. If they are unable to to physical things you figure out a way to adapt.  This is what love is.

 Tait was not given to us because we were special to begin with.  Like any parent, having him has made us strive to be great patents. Our hope is that our adopted child can benefit from what we have learned so far in our journey. And that we can continue to learn through loving her.

We have been given permission to share a few pictures of Tait's new sister.  She is in Eastern Europe and she also has Down syndrome.  We are so excited!

Little man has been sick. The nights are long and he's needed lots of snuggles.  While laying awake with him one night I wondered to myself if I was truely ready and capable of caring for another child. But, just as I was beginning to run through the negatives, he snuggled up to me and put his arm around me. Tears welled in my tired eyes and my heart filed with enormous love.  All of the doubts washed away. I couldn't help longing, once again, to hold our little girl.  I wondered if there was anyone to comfort her when she is sick.  If anyone rubbed her back when she was unwell or unable to sleep. She needs us and we need her. I can't wait to hold her in my arms and share our love with her!

I saw this today and immediately thought about our sweet little girl on the other side of the world. In an instant we fell in love and now our whole world has begun to transform as we prepare to bring her home.  

More details (and pictures) to come as we continue to make progress!

https://www.youcaring.com/my-fundraisers.aspx

Meet Tait

 I thought since we were calling this "A Sister for Tait", you might want to know a little bit more about this amazing kid. 

 Tait is three and has a serious love for music. He prefers classic rock like Steve Miller Band, AC-DC, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. However, he enjoys Warren Haynes, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Muddy Waters, Pitbul and Bruno Mars. Basically, he's a sucker for a good beat. He loves to play drums while dad plays guitar and usually asks for a jam session at least once a day. In between jam sessions you can find him playing his acoustic guitar, kazoo, or harmonica.

  

 Tait also has some pretty sweet dance moves and loves to show them off in my Zumba classes. He almost always leads the warm-up and warm-down and he knows some of the routines better than I do. My students get a kick out of watching him and sometimes I get a little jealous that they watch him more than me. 

 If there is anything he loves more than music, it's tortillas. I swear he could live off them alone. He will eat anything else in the carb food group but is not a fan of meat. Occasionally we can sneak some in his pasta or into a quesadilla but he glares at you if he finds it and usually ends up feeding it to the dogs. 

  One of Tait's favorite activities is to go off-roading. He loves to go on the bumpy dusty roads and look out the window with his binoculars. He and dad spend a lot of time out in the Jeep looking for ducks, deer, and the elusive elk. It's funny because he gets cranky if we are in the car for more than forty-five minutes but he will spend all day on the back-roads without complaint.

 Tait loves to give hugs and if you're a guy, with a beard you had better be prepared to pick him up and hold him. For a long time. And he may even blow mom a kiss and try to leave with you. I suppose this could be because all the men on dad's side of the family look like hairy mountain men with big bushy beards. 

 Mr. Personality is somewhat of a celebrity at school. Not only does almost everyone know him by name, but he knows which class to go to to find his friends. He has a very good friend at school who also has Down syndrome. He is an adult and has made it known that he intends to adopt Tait when he gets his own house. I should probably be a little more concerned...

 So, there is your brief description of  the illustrious Tait (aka Tait Man, Little Man Tait, Taiter Tot, Tait Dude). Here are some pictures: