NO MORE HIDING!

During our adoption process, there were 3 families who were over in Lithuania adopting their children. These families took the time to visit with Ben and give us pictures and updates about him.  This was very precious to us because when someone you love but never met is so far away and you are waiting so long to meet him, any little morsel about him is greatly appreciated!  All these updates just kept making us fall more in love with him.


Well, we can finally share these treasures- we don't have to keep them hidden anymore.  Some of these pictures are directly from the orphanage, some are from the families mentioned above, and some are from Silva when she would have visit Ben during our adoption process.  

Enjoy a walk thru Ben's 1st six years!

I know this one was in a prior post, but this is Ben at 3 weeks old, when he came to the orphanage.

August 2011, 1 year old.  

This was Ben's orphanage ID card photo.

April 2012, almost 2

November 2012, almost 2 1/2.  

This was the first photo we saw of Ben on 

Reece's Rainbow.  Little did we know...

February 2013, 2 1/2 years old

August 2013, 3 years old.

This was Ben's orphanage ID photo.

December 2014, 4 1/2 years old.

June 2015,  5 years old.  

An adopting mom takes time to snuggle with Ben.  She comments on how sweet and very bright he is.

August 2015, 5 years old.

This is Ben's orphanage ID photo.

January 2016, 5 1/2 yrs old.  

Another adoptive family takes time to visit with Ben.  This is the grandma playing with him.  What you don't see is just to Ben's other side is the caregiver at the orphanage that was Ben's special mama.  

She cared for him since he was 3 weeks old.  Ben really bonded with her over the years.  We are very grateful for the love and care this woman gave our Ben.  She always prayed a family 

would come for her special boy.  

March 2016, 5 1/2 years old.  

Another adoptive family takes time to visit with Ben as well as Silva, the in country adoption worker.  This family also comments on how bright Ben is.

April 2016, almost 6.  

Our son's claim to fame!  This is the president of Lithuania speaking at the orphanage.  At the time we saw this photo, we wondered how did Ben get so close to the president?  Now knowing his personality, I can definitely figure out how he got so close to the president- he just marched up to her because that is what he wanted to do- Ben is a very determined little fellow-hee, hee.  The other neat thing about this photo is the reason the president is at the orphanage.  She is trying to make people more aware of the orphan situation in Lithuania.  One thing that is starting to happen is offering help and support to families with kiddos with Down syndrome in order to help them parent their children rather 

than have them end up in orphanages.

 

April 2016, almost 6 years old.  

One of the last photos we got from Silva before our trip over to bring Ben home.