City Life = Great Opportunities/Soccer

Really thankful for the soccer program that Tom (and Neil, when he is able) gets to be a part of! Big shout out to Coach D and his staff for their investment in the lives of these kids! #lifeinthecity

Artist in Residence

SITC student, Mandi, posted this photo on her FB page:  "Job was so excited to learn how to draw stars! He told me he is now an artist!"  

We are sooooo grateful that our kids get to be exposed to and loved on by wonderful college students like Mandi and others who were in our city this summer!

Three Years!

Three years ago today, we left home for an around-the-world trip to meet this precious little guy...what a gift he has been to our family! And now, just eight more days of K4...how did that happen?! He's growing up so fast!

Chin, meet Ground!

Here's how Tom spent his yesterday evening: eating a popsicle in the ER after crashing his chin on the playground at school. Result: 3 stitches and a Lightening McQueen band-aid for cool coverup!

From Tom's mouth to God's ears...

"God, please give me a thankful heart.  And will you come and live in my heart forever?"

Have more precious words ever been spoken?

Did Tom enter the Kingdom today?  I don't know....but I know that the Father does--and that He is working.  Unless the Spirit draws a person, he/she does not long for the things of God or understand the message.  But Tom is beginning to understand the Good News, and whenever evidence like this prayer shows itself, it is something beautiful.

Thank you, Lord, for drawing my son...

GOTCHA!

 You are FAMILY.  You are OURS.  We've GOTCHA...forever.

Big Surgery News

Many, many phone calls, doctor/hospital visits, and prayers have gone into the very simple sentence that is to follow.

Tom will have his first surgery on April 6.

Two weeks from today, on Good Friday, Tom will finally begin the surgical journey that we knew he would go on from the time we saw those first two pictures of his tiny little fingers and toes back in October 2009. We are so glad that it is finally happening.

More news will follow, and in fact, this site will now become one for updates on his surgery prep, his condition during our time at the hospital, and then during his recovery at home. I will be making the site public again so that word can easily be spread and prayers lifted. We need your prayers...it will be a challenging time in some ways, but we are hoping that our little boy adjusts well to his casts (He will be casted for four weeks.) and can enjoy life as he always does.

Stay tuned...much more to come.

Crayons and Pajamas

Can there be a better combo when you're two years old??!

Mobile Catches of the Day

Today was one of those long-but-good days.  Today, I am thankful for the village (my friends) who help us raise our children well.  I am thankful for a country full of charity and good will, where children who are born with congenital disabilities can receive medical treatment at very little overall cost.  I am thankful for my smiling little loves, who run up for hugs and kisses when I've been gone for even a couple of minutes.  I am thankful for the resiliency and personality of our precious new son, who dazzles me each day with his smarts.  He is curious and mischievous and wonderful, and his language development in seven months home has to be off the charts...I love him.

Today, we traveled to Shriner's Hospital for Children, where Tom was seen by an orthopedic surgeon.  We are very much looking forward to getting this surgery show on the road, and it looks like it will likely happen within the next few months.  We are still deciding whether we should have the surgeries at Shriner's or at our Children's Hospital, but today's visit at Shriner's was very good, especially thanks to Jose, the financial counselor who works with families and talks through all issues related to payment.  I had some questions, and he answered them as best as he could--and didn't make me feel dumb in the process.  At the end of the appointment, the nurse asked if Tom likes cars.  He and I both answered in the affirmative (in our own ways), and I expected her to return with a Matchbox car.  She brought him this.  He squeeled...it was pretty cute!  I'm sure, Daddy, that he was actually squeeling, "It's a Fooooooorrrrrrddddd!!!!"



I'm not sure if it will upload, but I took a video on my phone during the time in between seeing the resident and seeing the surgeon.  After the resident examined Tom's hands and feet and had left the room, Tom became the "doctor" and kept crawling up onto the rolling stool to examine my hands.  He would say, "I check Mama's bumps."  Then he would hold each of my hands in his, turning them over and then saying, "Okay."  He would then get off the stool, go stand on the scale, go over to the wall chalkboard and write something, then come back to the stool to start all over again.  This went on for 20 minutes.  He was cracking me up!  So smart!!  He was such a brave guy, engaged in the whole thing...and only cried when the mean lady tried to stick that temperature thing under his arm!  Can you imagine the horror???!!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, one of my friends took Beth with her for the day; our intern picked Neil up from school and took him to basketball practice and then home; and Rex--he got to go to a Milwaukee Wave (professional soccer) game with his good friend, M.  M's mom texted me this picture...big smiles all around! 

(Thank you, Nancy, Bridget, and Kari...for loving our kids along with us.  We were blessed (again) by each of you today.)

The Best Days of Our Lives

Yesterday was one of them....the day when our Tom received his new name and the judge said "yes".

Yes, it's final...and he is ours forever.

More pictures later, but for now, here we are with our social worker just after the court case...I'm a happy mama.  :)

Court Date!!!

Exciting news!  We found out today that we have a court date for Tom's readoption in our state!  At this point, his name will officially change to the one we are giving him, and we will go from being his guardians (according to the US) to being his parents! 

December 13, 2011.....the perfect day for court!  We were really hoping to be able to finalize this year, so we are grateful.  It'll be so good to have this part of the process behind us...praise the Lord!!!

The Haircut

On Friday, Tom had his first haircut since being home with us.  He is such a handsome guy, and for quite awhile, I was diggin' his long hair.  But a few weeks ago, the length overtook his face, and it became apparent that it was finally time for a cut.

 He was pretty skeptical at first.  In fact, when we first sat him in the chair, Tom panicked and reached for me (and when he reaches, he doesn't let go easily!), so I ended up sitting in the chair with him in my lap.  After the major length was already off, it occured to me that I should be taking pictures.  I really wish I had gotten a picture of his halfway-through-the-cut mullet.  It was pretty sick (In other words, it was awesome!).

So most of the appointment went like the above pictures.  But then something happened.  Out came the clippers, and the giggles weren't far behind.  Tom wouldn't stop laughing!  Every time she brought the clippers close to his head, he would bust out in hilarious laughter and shrug up his shoulders so close to his ears that she could barely finish.  I was holding his head, but it didn't matter--the kid is strong!  And by the end, we were all laughing!  We didn't end with an entirely finished cut, but we did end with a kid who was smiling!

Tom and Me

Isn't he. just. so. handsome???!  Seriously!  He got his first haircut with us yesterday, and it makes him look so much more grown up!  He is definitely not a baby anymore.  :(

Oh, and the kissability!?  This morning, those beauti-full lips kissed my face all over, one precious little kiss followed by another.  I am his mama, and he is my son.  We belong together.

And then there's Beth, his bestest friend in the world!  Today, Beth was gone for a few hours, and Tom was lost without her.  It was cute.  He eventually decided that Mommy was an okay substitute, but the look on his face when she returned....it was priceless.

Today makes 5 months since we have been all together as a family.  I already can't remember life without him.  Love you, Buddy!

The Highs and Lows of Little Tom

The Highs?  New words and a 3-word sentence!  The Lows?  The stealthy mischief in which he finds himself involved.

We had our 2nd post-placement meeting with our wonderful social worker, Gale, this morning.  When she asked us how many words he has, I had to think about it....and I've come up with about 15:

-Mama

-Daddy

-Onno (His name for Beth.)

-Heh (Sounds like a grunt, but it's clearly his name for Rex.)

-Teddy (Sounds a lot like "daddy" but it's a little different.  His name for Neil.)

-no

-yeah

-please

-Tan Tu (Thank you)

-hat

-night night

Okay, that's only 11, but I'm sure that there are more.  And his receptive language is fantastic!  Today, Gale asked him to point to the baby doll's eyes, and he did!  His first 3-word sentence?  DON'T DO THAT!  I'm sure he learned that one from Beth, as she says that to him often!  :)

Now for the mischief...in one 90-minute period a few days ago, he pulled a cup of water off the counter; gave Beth's baby doll a "bath" in the toilet, using a half roll of toilet paper and clogging said toilet; and drew all over his high chair tray with crayons.  If we find ourselves saying, "Where's Tom?" it is usually followed by an "Oh no!" after he's been found.

I think, though, that it's mostly innocent.  He is just wonderfully and marvelously curious-----and quick, too!  :)  Better go check on him, as he's probably had time to make 4 messes just in the time it took me to type this email.

(Phew!  Actually, it's after bedtime, so he is peacefully sleeping away in his crib.)

Our Cramazing May, Episode IV

On the morning of May 14, we woke up bright and early (Okay, it probably wasn't that early; then again, I had only gotten about 4 hours of sleep!) to finish up the packing and be gone on our incredible adventure.  There was so much to do still, in spite of all the work and prep we had already done.  Packing for that many people who were going to be in such different places was quite challenging:  Neil with 2 families, one where he needed school uniforms and the other where he didn't; Beth with my parents; Rex with us in 3 different climates; our clothes, and, of course, clothes for Tom in three different sizes!

Thankfully, our faithful and available friend and intern, Noel, came over to help with the kiddos and with just about anything I asked of her.  I can't even remember all that she did now, but all I can say is THANK YOU!  Noel, you blessed us so much that day...it was fun having you around to cheer me on and you were super duper helpful!  I can't even say how helpful....we probably would have left a lot later than our already-late leave time of 3 p.m.

One of the things that Noel did that day is that she became our chief photographic documentarian.  Here are some of the images that she captured....

C000847 was Tom's passport application number.  Here, I am pointing to India's passport application update website and noting that it says, "Passport has been granted and is expected to be dispatched by 20-05-2011.  Subject to all documents being in order."  It was a very big deal when it was updated to this status from the previous one, which had said, "Application has been received and is expected to be dispatched by 10-05-2011.  Subject to all documents being in order."  The date was 10 days later, but in the newer update, it actually stated that the passport had been granted.  Now all we needed to do was to get there and find it!  I had gotten very familiar with this passport website, so much so that I am pretty sure that I knew more about it than the Indian passport official we eventually spoke to.

Our travel partner, Scott, helped me to make our hotel reservations for our arrival in India.  For some reason, I was having trouble, and Scott and his expertise with all things business-in-India came in quite helpful even early on.  A sign of things to come.  I spent moments in between packing doing all sorts of last-minute computer things as they would come to mind.

By this time, I had moved upstairs to print.  The Hub was busy, too--paying bills, organizing things for while we were gone, making sure we had our traveler's checks, etc.  We were in task mode for sure!

I had the thought that maybe I should print out a screen-shot of Tom's application status from the Indian passport website.  This became a very important piece of the puzzle on the day we appeared in person at the passport office.  I am so grateful that the Lord gave me the idea to do this, as I'm not sure that we would have been able to move forward in the process without it.

After printing Tom's, I decided to print a screen-shot of L's application status as well.  Later, it would be extremely important that I had paid close attention to her application as well as to Tom's.  Praising God for making me just a little bit OCD about stuff like this!  ;)  I say that tongue-in-cheek, but the reality is that every member of our travel group had strengths that came in handy and that God used to bring our children home.

Another thing we had to do was to print out a copy of our Show Hope grant application, as it had to be mailed before we took guardianship of Tom.  We were blessed to receive a grant from Show Hope (Shaohannah's Hope at the time) when we were adopting Neil, and we are praying that God will use them to again provide for some of our unexpected travel costs.  Either way, though, we love Show Hope, as they are a blessing to so many families and have been used to bring so many orphans around the world into forever, loving, God-centered homes.

Here is our packing list, with lots of it crossed off!  We would buy the food once we got to my hometown.  Mom and I needed to have a reason to go to Target after all!

 Many bags!

 Rex and Beth spent lots of time on the couch that day watching Saturday morning (and afternoon) cartoons.

The Bible to the left of our wedding picture and bouquet belonged to Thomas, paternal grandfather of Hoffbeast.  Thomas was an immigrant from Ireland and a minister of the gospel.  Tom is named partly after his great-grandfather Thomas and partly after Thomas the apostle, who is oft-credited with first taking the Good News of Jesus to India.

At 3 p.m., we locked the door and headed out.  Rex and Beth were safely situated in the car seats, and Noel, Jeff, and I stood at the car and prayed.  We prayed that God would protect us, that He would provide for our needs, that He would go before us with the passport officials, that Tom would bond well to us.  It was a special time, anticipating that there would be a time a few weeks from then, when we would stand in the same place, holding our son and introducing him to our neighbors.

It happened.  It really did.

Month One

A month ago, Tom and I touched down in America.

How is it that it was such a short time ago?

Here are some things about Tom that I don't ever want to forget...

-the way he yells "Abba!" when he wants to get our attention, especially mine.
-the fact that he called his daddy "Mama" for the first couple of weeks.
-the way he points with his pinky fingers
-the way he nuzzles in when he's tired, left thumb in mouth and either his right hand on our throats or left pinky finger feeling our faces.
-the way he uses the palms of his hands to feel.
-how he loves touching Daddy's whiskers with his hands.
-how "holding hands" means that he holds onto our pinky fingers.
-how he chatters in Oriya when he is pretending to talk on the phone or when he sees something out the window and excitedly wants to tell us something.

For those of you who have met him, you know what I mean....the kid is p-r-e-c-i-o-u-s!

Tonight we went to a drive-in movie.  There, he was not quite as precious, as he wouldn't sit still and then wouldn't fall asleep.  Between him and Beth, it was the best drive-in movie I've never seen.

And I wouldn't trade it for the world.

The Glider

My parents have a glider that sits on their front porch.  It's one of my "thinking spots", if you will.  Do you have those?  Places where, when you sit, the world stops a bit?  Memories flood back, prayers pour out...

The glider is one of those places for me.  I have sat there many times over the years, thinking many thoughts, dreaming many dreams....hopes, goals, plans.  All of that.  And celebrations, too.  It's a solemn moment, a holy ground, when the Lord allows you to see His hand and reckon His work. 

That has happened here again.  Three weeks ago, we were here, ready to embark on one of the most important trips of our lives.  It was wonderful and tiring and trying, and amazing....and now we're back.  I'm here again...on the glider...thanking God for all that He has done.  Our son is home, and today, our whole family will be reunited by His grace.

What more can I say?  Joy in my heart at the anticipation.........thank you, awesome, Abba Father.  Pouring down good gifts on your children.  I watch him now, onesie on, Beth's Hello Kitty backpack wrongly placed around his neck, looking at books...in my parents' living room, rather than on the other side of the world.  No longer abandoned and unnamed.  Now belonging and with a new name and a new family.

There is great Love.  Amen.

And now for his name...

...introducing again, our son, Job Thomas Jagat Hoffman! 

As is often the case, he is seen here with no pants on....we're hoping that that means that potty training is well underway!

We've been working on his name for a very long time, but we just couldn't finalize one until recently.  I think the closer our travel dates are getting, the more necessary it seems for us to make a decision.  There are so many reasons that we are naming him what we are, but suffice it to say that Job was a man of character who believed in and trusted a great God.  I would love for my son to display the kind of faith that his namesake did.  Thomas was Jeff's paternal grandfather, an immigrant who came over on a boat from Ireland, and in addition, tradition says that the apostle Thomas is the person responsible for taking Christianity to India.  Jagat, of course, is his given name, and it means "world".  We were told that whoever named him likely wished that they could give him the world.  That's a beautiful gift.

We love it....well, at least the Hub and I do.  The boys are insistent that we are calling him "Zeke", another name that was on the shortlist.  But Job it is!  We will likely call him J.T.--or just Jag for now.  I actually like "Job Thomas" said together.  We'll see....nicknames just sort of happen, so it'll be fun to watch one develop.  For now, Job isn't too different-sounding than the beginning of Jagat, so hopefully it'll be an easy transition name for him.

His blog name?  Tom...or Tommy.  I haven't decided which yet.  The name discussion continues...