We miss him already!

Sorry that we did not leave a post last night. We JUST now got in from Maxfield so I wanted to sit down and catch everyone up on the happenings in Kingston. Yesterday was a long tough day. We were so emotionally drained that we could not even think to type. Yesterday morning we taxied to downtown Kingston to our appointment with Mrs. Tummings. Going through downtown Kingston is really an eye opening experience. We met with Mrs. Tummings at 10:00. Mark and I were both pretty nervous but I think that we did a good job at hiding that. She was very nice and explained her concerns about Caucasians adopting Jamaican children. She wanted to make sure that we understood the importance of keeping Bevaughn in touch with his culture. We told her that we completely agreed and we even showed her the life book that we are making for Bevaughn. For those of you that have not seen the book, it explains his beginnings and what a tough decision it must been for his birthmother to place him for adoption. It explains his life at Maxfield Park, and it included lots of pages about Jamaican culture. We also explained to her that we would like to bring him back to visit at Maxfield each year when we come to Jamaica. She told us that we seemed more prepared than most of the adopting couples that she has met. She gave us some more information on Bevaughn’s beginnings and some details on his abandonment. The unfortunate part of the meeting was that Mrs. Corothers apparently has not been communicating with Mrs. Tummings as far as where we are in the adoption process. Mrs. Tummings explained that his birth certificate would have to be ordered in order to finish Mrs. Corothers’ final report. I told her that the birth certificate had been ordered in December and no one has heard anything about it since. She said that she would speak to Mrs. Corothers as soon as possible. The only problem is that Mrs. Corothers is on vacation for the rest of April. After the final report has been made, the report is sent to Mrs. Tummings for approval and then we have our court date. Fingers and toes crossed, we should be able to come back in June or July to bring him home. As of yesterday, Bevaughn completely came out of his shell. He is calling us mommy and daddy and giving hugs and kisses and wants to be with us every second of the day. Yesterday we colored some more, played on the play ground and of coarse read more books. We also played with all of the toddlers and kicked the ball around the room. Mark seriously impressed the kids by spinning a basketball on his finger. Bevaughn said “My daddy”. Bevaughn is such a funny, smart, and very particular kid. On the play ground, he picks up the sticks and puts them in the area where the sticks are burned. Everything has to be tidy and in its place. He makes sure that my purse and book bag are always closed and if he gets something out, he puts it back where he got it, he always wipes his mouth when he takes a drink, he takes himself to the bathroom and washes his hands without being asked, if he drops food on the floor, he picks it up and throws it outside.. I could go on and on. He is very sweet and pretty serious.

(Organizing and zipping up the bags!)

(Playing on the tires with daddy)

(The first Jamaican basketball star!)

(Beauty Salon)

(Our baby is so great about sharing)

The caretakers say that he was a serious baby as well. …I could go on an on. He is amazing. I keep asking myself what I ever did to deserve such a wonderful blessing. We left last night right before his dinner time. We were halfway down the driveway and I heard a child crying and I knew instantly that it was him. We walked back up the drive a little and sure enough Bevaughn is standing at the gate screaming and crying. He even yelled mama. The workers said that he stood there for over an hour and did not eat his dinner. My heart broke like nothing I have ever felt. I sobbed uncontrollably and continued to cry the entire ride back to the hotel. When we got back to the hotel, we instantly showered. We had been slobbered on, bit, pooped on, peed on, and God only knows whatever else we had on is. There are possible cases of pink eye, ring worm, etc….. SO worth it though. I think that I kissed and hugged every kid in the place! After we cleaned up, we walked to a restaurant downtown called the Hot Pot. It was SO good. Mark got the curry lamb and I got the brown stew fish. It was two whole fish..I even pulled its eyeball out with my fork. Sweet! They were playing very depressing 80’s slow jams and I cried a couple of times. After we ate, we headed out to get a taxi and talked to a man named Ivan for sometime. He reminded me that everything happens on God’s time, not ours. I really needed to hear that. He, along with the security guard at out place both said that they “like our vibes”…funny. The people in Kingston have been so friendly. The taxi driver last night even called me “Darlin”, I couldn’t help but laugh. The security people at the children’s home have been very protective over the last few days. The will not let us leave the gate while waiting for a taxi. Today, she wouldn’t let us leave to walk up the street to get a drink. She sent someone with us. I guess I understand. I heard on the news this morning that there was a shooting last night on Maxfield Ave.

(Lunch time for the toddlers and schoolers)

We woke up this morning around 7:30, had breakfast and headed out. We walked to a shopping center called the Sovereign Center. We were looking for sunglasses for Matthew and something for Bevaughn. We found the sunglasses and got Bevaughn some Spiderman sunglasses as well. He has been totally into our sunglasses for days, so we thought that he should have his own. He loved them and he put them on everyone. If pink eye is going around, they will all have it. Ooops. We had no idea how far away this shopping center was. We walked, and walked, and walked. If the sun was out, I would have had a heat stroke for sure! We did pass the Bob Marley museum and took some pictures of the outside.

Maybe we will go next time. We will definitely go to the beach next time too. It has been so weird being in Jamaica and not going to the beach. We don’t want to miss a minute with Bevaughn. We made it to Maxfield and Bevaughn was sleeping. We walked over to the nursery and helped out with feeding and holding the babies. There are only 7 babies; 5 girls and two boys. They are all so precious and so giggly. They melt your heart. Two of the baby girls are half Indian and have the curliest hair. One of these girls has a heart condition as was just released from the hospital. She is a very loud breather.

(What a sweet baby. The nursery worker said that Mark should be his daddy :) )

(New Spiderman Shades)

Bevaughn woke up and we spent some time talking before snack time. The snack today was caramel popcorn. Way better than yesterday’s roasted red pepper crackers. The kids did not like them at all and I caught Bevaughn slipping his into another kids bowl when the kid wasn’t looking. Sneaky. It was raining for most of the day so there wasn’t much to do outside. He wondered around for an hour sharing his sunglasses. He is very good at sharing. The rain did let up and we went outside and blew some bubbles. He looked really confused when the bubbles popped. All of the kids ran out to see and got in trouble for going outside. The caretakers keep saying; “Leave Bevaughn alone with his parents. When your parents come, you will not want anyone around either.” Heartbreaking. Some may never know what parents are. There are 18 year olds on the campus that have been there since birth. We do want to spend time with Bevaughn but we also want to give love to the other kids. Sometimes you have to sneak them some love (and treats) when no one is looking J We decided to stay tonight until bedtime. I even got to give him a bath. It was such a special moment.

(Catching bubbles)

(Teeth chattering after bath time)

(Potty time for the toddlers)

He is so adorable! I love his cute accent and I hope he doesn’t loose it completely. We want to get to Maxfield early tomorrow because it is our last day. We were also invited to see a presentation at the Basic School at 10:00. There are 4 teachers at Basic School and they are all wonderful. I just don’t know how we will leave him tomorrow. We are attached to him and he is clearly attached to us already. All of the kids call us his mommy and daddy. The other kids are also getting attached to us. I gave everyone of them a goodnight and hug and kiss before we left. Omar asked if he could have three hugs and kisses and wanted to know if he was the best hugger..how cute. His sister’s name is Marie by the way. I thought that they were saying Mary. I am really going to miss Omar and Amalvo. Amalvo needs so much love. He can really be a stinker at times but if you love on him for a few minutes, he is as good as gold! Off to bed.

Omar and Marie (not Mary)