Smith Updates

Tomoyuki reading to Bethany, yeah right, he's not even looking at the book.....

Bethany reading to Tomoyuki, that's more like it................

Junko, Shoko and Baby Saran on our way, in the typhoon, to the family court to file Tomoyuki's petition for adoption.

Juda sharing his favorite book, "Go Dog Go" with his first grade class.

Juda trying to decide who to call on for questions to ask him about himself.

Just wanted to update the blog with the goings on of the Smith Clan. Been busy with the school year starting up and both Bethany and Juda are doing quite well adjusting to the new schedule. Tomoyuki and I are staying quite busy by day while they are in school. We have been able to get alot of things caught up at the house, ie...spring cleaning (after summer vacation cleaning) and some Ai no Kesshin work. He is really blossoming since he is staying well. He is now eating bananas on a regular basis with oatmeal cereal, green peas are one of his favorites, imagine that. He is grabing at everything in his reach, jibber jabbering all the time with da da da , blah, blah, blah. Always in response to some silly question we ask him, he is keeping us laughing. Yesterday we went to have our weekly Thursday lunch with Bethany and Juda and before lunch we went to Juda's 1st grade class that he spends a little bit of time daily with. It was his turn to be interviewed, ie, favorite color, favorite toy, what do you want to be when you grow up etc.....he did quite well with signing his answers, we are so proud of him. I shared with his class about Down Syndrome, the class was great at asking good questions and understanding the answers. They are so good to Juda and love interacting with him, as he is quite a funny fellow.

Junko, Shoko and baby Saran went with me today to fileTomoyuki's petition for adoption in the Okinawa Family Court. The clerk said he has never filed a petition for adoption and quite possibly that office has not processed one since Bethany's 5 1/2 years ago. WOW....He was not quite up to snuff with the way the process works. For instance, he thought we wanted to adopt Tomoyuki and Tomoyuki's birth parents......Junko tried her best not to laugh, she didn't tell me what he said until we got back to the car, probably because she knew I would laugh out loud, she knows me oh too well. We spent an hour with this clerk and walked him through the process ourselves. He was a little embarrassed that he did not know the process, however, he did have a manual to check from and sure enough, we were guiding him correctly.

Bethany is so excited about school and reading. She wants to set our books up just like the school library, and she is serious. We bought stickers to put on the binding of all their books. She says the easy readers should have "A" on them and as they get harder move onto "B", "C", etc..... sounds like a plan to me. So we made the first step toward running our own library and bought the stickers.....maybe during this typhoon we'll get motivated to open the library.

We are currently in TC1, or Typhoon Condition 1, as a typhoon is approaching Okinawa, and so is Tom. He should be in Tokyo now, returning from a week in Chicago at a conference and visiting with Andy. We are hoping that he will be able to make his way back tonight, if not, he will stay in Tokyo til the Typhoon literally blows over.

First Day of School and some

Yes, they are all growing up. Juda and Bethany are in 1st grade, not together, but they see each other often throughout the day, this helps Bethany out tremendously, and me too!

As we make our way to school for the first time for Bethany. Juda is an old pro at this since this is his 4th year going. I managed to not cry........at least not in front of Bethany.

Mr. Kenny is Juda's teacher again this year. He is picking up where they left off a few months ago, we are so pleased with Juda and his teacher/aids and his progress.

Bethany's classroom. She is in the middle of the pic in red. She is sitting beside Sam, a very sweet boy. So far all is going well, we have just completed week one though. It was a great week, I made my way in there on Thursday and had lunch and recess with the two of them. Their lunch time overlaps, makes it nice for me, I don't need to eat lunch twice.

Juda got a much needed accessory in the mail this week. He was so funny looking around the house, opening the door to look outside, at night he looked up at the stars. We will begin wearing them gradually as the first thing he wants to do is take them off. It will be a challenge, but nonetheless, we will work through it.

Technically Tomoyuki is not sitting up on his own. It is just a technicality, called a laundry basket. We are in between stages. He is not satisfied to lay on the floor and roll around, the swing doesn't offer him much exercise, just entertainment, so I put him in the laundry basket, that lasted about 1/2 an hour of fun and enjoyment. He is wanting to grow up. I guess that is warranted as he is 9 1/2 months.

A few days in Shizuoka Japan

Well....We finally made it to Shizuoka to spend a few days with the Gordon family and to pick up some much needed paperwork to get Tomoyuki's adoption started and filed in the family court of Okinawa. Of course there always has to be some excitement, so how about SPOTS (they were bright red, this pic does not reveal the full effect) . Upon our arrival to Japan I noticed a few spots breaking out on Tomoyuki. As we drove to the Gordon's (2+ hours from Tokyo) I mentioned to Micah, "Does it look like there are more and more spots appearing on Tomoyuki??" Well, yes, there were. So many that when we arrived, Sarah thought he might have the "Chicken Pox" and we took him to the DR. before we could let him be around too many folks/babies. As it turned out, he had the "Summer Flu" a great virus with a 24 hour fever then some folks get spots like Tomoyuki. Sadly enough, we did leave the virus in Shizuoka and the Gordon's are dealing with it presently.

Here we are preparing to be entertained by Hannah and her ballerina's, of course enjoying a cup of tea and cookies while we wait. There is no such thing as "Tea for Two" at the Gordon's, it is more like "Tea for Twenty Two"!!!

Hanah, Emma, Bethany and Aya entertaining us and doing such a fantastic job.

Juda felt a little left out and thought he'd give it a try.

Madi, Kaz and Jason trying their best to enjoy such a femine event.

Erica getting her neck scratched by Tomoyuki while Ricky, the head of this household, tries to relax for a moment.

Bessy enjoying the most recent Ai no Kesshin baby girl. She was the smallest baby I'd ever held, so precious. Bethany told Sarah, "I know we can't have this one, but can we have a baby girl this small some day?"

Mason, Ando, Akihiro and Megumi preparing dinner. What a well run household.

Ako, Sarah, Micah and Lou working hard on paperwork, well Micah was taking care of the baby.

Akihiro and Micah, my means of transportation upon arriving in Tokyo. They did such a good job finding me at the airport and getting us safely to Shizuoka. Good driving Akihiro and good talking Micah, to keep Akihiro awake and me informed and updated on everyone.

Ando tried from the minute Juda walked in the door to be friends. But Juda was a bit overwhelmed with the whole event that he just wanted to do his own thing. This is on our way out the door to head back to Okinawa. Thanks for not giving up Ando, you two will be friends for life.

Baby Einstein entertaining Tomoyuki and Shouta while the baby girl sleeps away. Actually, I think Shouta is more entertained by his own hand at this point. His arm is casted due to surgery on his hand. They made the cast so big so he wouldn't pick it up and hurt himself with it. They underestimated him, he was able to wack himself pretty good a few times.

Dr. Juda checking out Tomoyuki.

Ballerina girls, oh so beautiful.

Everyone flew like champs. Good to know before we head to America in December. Of course this 2+ hour flight is no comparison to a 14 + hour one, woooooo, looking forward to that.