Hard to believe we have been back so long. A lot has taken place since October of 2008. The boys just turned 5 and Macie is now 6 and Asia 10. The boys are fully established as the Hanson boys! While we have had our struggles with adapting to having 4 kids over night we have worked hard at and are truly blessed.
Looking back I think the biggest adjustment was simply going fro m2 kids to 4 overnight and everything that entails. Everything takes longer from getting everyone to bed to getting everybody lunch or dinner or whatever. Heidi and I are continuously trying to make sure that we give each child the time and attention that they need but there are times when we are just exhausted and it is a challenge. Asia Grace has definitely had to grow up quicker than we would have liked, she has really taken on the role of second mother at times and we sometimes forget that she is only 10. We try not to put too much on her as she needs to just be a child...She is incredible though in how she has adapted to have three siblings now. Thank you Lord for giving us Asia Grace!
Macie is doing great too! I call the three little guys the Three Amigos since they spend most of their time together. While Macie is a year and a half older than the boys they both weigh more than her now...She still has about an inch in height on them but that won't last long! :)
Luke and Ben are entirely different in their personalities. Ben is very outgoing and rambunctious while Luke is somewhat reserved and cautious about doing new thing. Ben picked up riding a bike within minutes and Luke took an extra year... Luke is much more of a mamas boy and loves to cuddle and snuggle while Ben is independent but he does engage and can be close if you make the attempt first.
Well that is it for now, I will add some pics so everyone can see what everyone looks like now. God bless and take care!
Pete
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Sunday, October 11, 2009
10-12-2009
Hi everyone,
Wow, I can't believe it's been 10 mos. since Pete or I have been on this Blog! My apologies to those looking for answers and support. We are back on and will do our best to check in more regularly. The boys are doing very well and adjusted quite nicely. Their language abilities continue to amaze us. It's incredible what young minds can absorb and the rate at which they are absorbed! Benny is our daredevil and will try ANYTHING he has seen done by ANYONE!, with little to no fear!!! Lukee likes to take things much more cautiously and he LOVES his Mama! They are both officially citizens now and have had their names legally changed. Louis has become "Luke Washington Hanson", (Lukee) and Benedict has become "Bennaiah Hurricane Hanson", (Benny). Their sisters have adjusted well also. Macie having the most difficult time with everything still admits that she loves them and spends her days playing, riding bikes, arguing, homeschooling and laughing with her brothers. Since she is only 17 mos. older it is like having triplets in the house! Asia Grace has always been kind and supportive of the boys, except of course on those rare occasions when she can't resist a little tormenting of her younger siblings:)
Well, off to bed it's quite late and mommy needs her rest in order to be a friendly mommy in the AM.
Bye for now,
Heidi
PS. I hope to add some recent pics. in the next day or two.
Hi everyone,
Wow, I can't believe it's been 10 mos. since Pete or I have been on this Blog! My apologies to those looking for answers and support. We are back on and will do our best to check in more regularly. The boys are doing very well and adjusted quite nicely. Their language abilities continue to amaze us. It's incredible what young minds can absorb and the rate at which they are absorbed! Benny is our daredevil and will try ANYTHING he has seen done by ANYONE!, with little to no fear!!! Lukee likes to take things much more cautiously and he LOVES his Mama! They are both officially citizens now and have had their names legally changed. Louis has become "Luke Washington Hanson", (Lukee) and Benedict has become "Bennaiah Hurricane Hanson", (Benny). Their sisters have adjusted well also. Macie having the most difficult time with everything still admits that she loves them and spends her days playing, riding bikes, arguing, homeschooling and laughing with her brothers. Since she is only 17 mos. older it is like having triplets in the house! Asia Grace has always been kind and supportive of the boys, except of course on those rare occasions when she can't resist a little tormenting of her younger siblings:)
Well, off to bed it's quite late and mommy needs her rest in order to be a friendly mommy in the AM.
Bye for now,
Heidi
PS. I hope to add some recent pics. in the next day or two.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Busy, Busy, Busy
Merry Chistmas everyone and sorry to for not updating this earlier. Things have been very busy with the holidays and with us all trying to get back into a routine. The boys are settling in very nicely and we are communicating really well at this point. Both are quite talkative and energetic little boys! Needless to say our house is quite loud these days. Heidi has done a great job with getting into routine during the day and we have tried to do the same at night. We have found that the more structure we have the better things seem to go. The boys had a very stuctured life at the orphanage so they are used to it. I am sure it is comforting to them to have a similar level here with us.
The biggest thing that we have going on now is the "sharing issues" that Louie, Benny and Macie have from time to time. We have a million toys in the house yet they seem to want the same exact one from time to time which results in a lot of yelling and screaming between the three of them. We are working on that and they are getting better. Patience....
All in all we could not have hoped for a better initial transition. It has also been nice to have the holidays as it has meant that I have more time off from work to be home and settle in as a family. But, it has not all been a bed a roses as they say, we have definitely had some tough times both us adjsusting to having 4 kids now and for the boys adjusting to their new environment. We have to remember that they have come from a place where they basically had about 40 little friends with them everyday and now they have us as their daily companions. I sometimes wonder if they miss some of them from time to time. Most of our frustrations come from our struggles with communication but again that is getting better everyday as the boys pick up more and more english.
The boys are pretty much celebrities at our church since so many people were following us along and praying for us in our adoption process. So many people have come up to meet the boys. The boys don't seem to see why people are putting up such a big fuss!
One of the big things were worried about was at Church and how quickly we would be able to transition the boys into the jr. kids class that they have while the grown ups stay in main area to listen to the sermon. We decided to try on the second time back to church and surprisingly they didn't ahve any issues being away from us. In fact I think they enjoy it since it is probably an environment(all little kids) that they are very comforable with. Since the boys are pretty much potty trained as well (thank you to the sisters at the orphanage!) we haven't really had any issues with that when we go out.
Also since we have been back for about 6 weeks now we have had time to reflect on our time in Rwanda and Kenya and it all seems like so long ago. Like most things, while you are going through it, it can seem a lot worse than it actually was. In other words while we missed our girls terribly while we were away, now that we have been home for while it definitely makes us feel that this was so worth the effort and we are so grateful to GOD for laying this on our hearts and for picking out these two very special boys to join our family. We are truly blessed!
That is it for now... Have a great New Year everyone. Be safe and praise GOD.
The biggest thing that we have going on now is the "sharing issues" that Louie, Benny and Macie have from time to time. We have a million toys in the house yet they seem to want the same exact one from time to time which results in a lot of yelling and screaming between the three of them. We are working on that and they are getting better. Patience....
All in all we could not have hoped for a better initial transition. It has also been nice to have the holidays as it has meant that I have more time off from work to be home and settle in as a family. But, it has not all been a bed a roses as they say, we have definitely had some tough times both us adjsusting to having 4 kids now and for the boys adjusting to their new environment. We have to remember that they have come from a place where they basically had about 40 little friends with them everyday and now they have us as their daily companions. I sometimes wonder if they miss some of them from time to time. Most of our frustrations come from our struggles with communication but again that is getting better everyday as the boys pick up more and more english.
The boys are pretty much celebrities at our church since so many people were following us along and praying for us in our adoption process. So many people have come up to meet the boys. The boys don't seem to see why people are putting up such a big fuss!
One of the big things were worried about was at Church and how quickly we would be able to transition the boys into the jr. kids class that they have while the grown ups stay in main area to listen to the sermon. We decided to try on the second time back to church and surprisingly they didn't ahve any issues being away from us. In fact I think they enjoy it since it is probably an environment(all little kids) that they are very comforable with. Since the boys are pretty much potty trained as well (thank you to the sisters at the orphanage!) we haven't really had any issues with that when we go out.
Also since we have been back for about 6 weeks now we have had time to reflect on our time in Rwanda and Kenya and it all seems like so long ago. Like most things, while you are going through it, it can seem a lot worse than it actually was. In other words while we missed our girls terribly while we were away, now that we have been home for while it definitely makes us feel that this was so worth the effort and we are so grateful to GOD for laying this on our hearts and for picking out these two very special boys to join our family. We are truly blessed!
That is it for now... Have a great New Year everyone. Be safe and praise GOD.
Monday, November 17, 2008
WE'RE HOME!!!!
Nov. 17, 2008
Well, miracles DO happen! Our God IS a God of Miracles and one, or should I say several, happened for/ to us on this journey of a lifetime. We did indeed get our visas last Fri., though not without a glitch along the way. One of the boys' visas had him marked as a female! Luckily Pete caught it and we had to wait a couple more hours at the embassy while they ran the clearance again on this 2 1/2 yr. old and re-print the visa. Once we had it in hand we knew we were finally headed home. We caught a plane that night and arrived in Boston around 11 AM on Sat. the 15th. Not bad after all that, considering we were due in originally on Sat. the 22nd. It was incredibly emotional to see our girls all grown up waiting for us. What a release of emotions! What a wonderful feeling to have all 4 of our children together with us! We don't plan on leaving our home or our children in the next years to come. This trip truly made us appreciate the small things. The boys have settled in quite efficiently. I believe the transition has gone so well because they were already bonded and connected with Pete and I and because of our two amazing daughters who made them feel so welcomed. It snowed a little today and we were so excited! Can't wait to see how the boys react to snow. We thank everyone for the prayers and words of support. It was a painful experience being away from our girls so long and I would not recommend it to everyone, but it was truly life changing. We made some incredible friends along the way and I will write more later about them. Take care from now and Thank you's and Blessings from the Hanson Household in NH!
Heidi
Well, miracles DO happen! Our God IS a God of Miracles and one, or should I say several, happened for/ to us on this journey of a lifetime. We did indeed get our visas last Fri., though not without a glitch along the way. One of the boys' visas had him marked as a female! Luckily Pete caught it and we had to wait a couple more hours at the embassy while they ran the clearance again on this 2 1/2 yr. old and re-print the visa. Once we had it in hand we knew we were finally headed home. We caught a plane that night and arrived in Boston around 11 AM on Sat. the 15th. Not bad after all that, considering we were due in originally on Sat. the 22nd. It was incredibly emotional to see our girls all grown up waiting for us. What a release of emotions! What a wonderful feeling to have all 4 of our children together with us! We don't plan on leaving our home or our children in the next years to come. This trip truly made us appreciate the small things. The boys have settled in quite efficiently. I believe the transition has gone so well because they were already bonded and connected with Pete and I and because of our two amazing daughters who made them feel so welcomed. It snowed a little today and we were so excited! Can't wait to see how the boys react to snow. We thank everyone for the prayers and words of support. It was a painful experience being away from our girls so long and I would not recommend it to everyone, but it was truly life changing. We made some incredible friends along the way and I will write more later about them. Take care from now and Thank you's and Blessings from the Hanson Household in NH!
Heidi
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Interview, US Embassy Nairobi
Nov. 12, 2008
We are headed to our interview for the boys' visas tomorrow, Thurs. Nov. 13th. It has been a long road to get here and have learned a lot of what to and not to do, unfortunately after wasted time and money. Oh, well, we are safe and getting closer to the light, (NH and our girls!!!). Our prayer today is that the interview would go well, that they would receive paperwork still missing on Pete from NH immigration and that they would miraculously have the visas ready on Fri. so we may fly out and not have to wait and pay for another weekend here is Nairobi. The boys are doing quite well and learning what many words and phrases mean. They are particularly familiar with "NO, NO, NO!" and, "Do you need to go sit?!" They are doing well with "Please Mama", "Thank you Mama" and "Potty Please". Overall they are adjusting quite well and settling in with the comfort that we are here each time they wake up. They are incredibly busy and quite a joy to watch and to listen to. We look forward to introducing them to the rest of the family and settling them into their new home in NH. We are finally getting to the end of this long arduous trip. It truly is the experience of a lifetime and would not willing go through it again. It's not incredibly terrible, but there is some serious waiting in an area of the world that we are not real comfortable going out for a walk or anything like that to pass the time. So... this lovely guesthouse has truly been a safe haven and though there is a pool we are here in the wet season and it truly has been rainy, dark and cold with the exception of today. Pete was actually able to take the boys in the pool and they loved it! Well I am off for now, the internet costs by the min. here! Thank you all for prayers and support. We will be sure to add in more details upon returning to NH when we can use the internet freely.
Take care and God Bless from the Hansons in Nairobi
We are headed to our interview for the boys' visas tomorrow, Thurs. Nov. 13th. It has been a long road to get here and have learned a lot of what to and not to do, unfortunately after wasted time and money. Oh, well, we are safe and getting closer to the light, (NH and our girls!!!). Our prayer today is that the interview would go well, that they would receive paperwork still missing on Pete from NH immigration and that they would miraculously have the visas ready on Fri. so we may fly out and not have to wait and pay for another weekend here is Nairobi. The boys are doing quite well and learning what many words and phrases mean. They are particularly familiar with "NO, NO, NO!" and, "Do you need to go sit?!" They are doing well with "Please Mama", "Thank you Mama" and "Potty Please". Overall they are adjusting quite well and settling in with the comfort that we are here each time they wake up. They are incredibly busy and quite a joy to watch and to listen to. We look forward to introducing them to the rest of the family and settling them into their new home in NH. We are finally getting to the end of this long arduous trip. It truly is the experience of a lifetime and would not willing go through it again. It's not incredibly terrible, but there is some serious waiting in an area of the world that we are not real comfortable going out for a walk or anything like that to pass the time. So... this lovely guesthouse has truly been a safe haven and though there is a pool we are here in the wet season and it truly has been rainy, dark and cold with the exception of today. Pete was actually able to take the boys in the pool and they loved it! Well I am off for now, the internet costs by the min. here! Thank you all for prayers and support. We will be sure to add in more details upon returning to NH when we can use the internet freely.
Take care and God Bless from the Hansons in Nairobi
Monday, November 3, 2008
Farewell to Rwanda soon....
November 3, 2008
We hope to have the boys' passports by this afternoon! We'll see.... Everything is so incredibly different here in Rwanda, such as a price is not really the price, on ANYTHING! You must always barter back and forth and have a general idea of what the item is worth or you could end up paying way too much. It's good to be living with our missionary friends who have been here almost 3 years now. It's quite an experience even to make a photocopy. Today I needed a black and white copy and the machine was broken. For black and white copy it costs 150 francs, but since the machine was broken they charged me 500 francs to make the copy on the color copy machine! Ok, the catch is my copy was done in black in white since that is what I asked for, it just had to be done on the color machine and therefore they said I had to pay 500 francs. What an experience to learn how other people live. We took the boys to the orphanage to say "Good Bye" today. That went well and we learned a little more about our boys. I do have more pictures to put on the BLog and I will do my best to add them bigger at the bottom of the blog, but those will come later. Power and internet tend to go out several times a day here. We will be heading out to Nairobi on Wed. to start the visa process on Thurs. Any and all who would like to e-mail their local senator's office to ask them to e-mail U.S. Embassy in Nairobi to ask them to expedite our boys' visa process would be greatly appreciated. We miss our girls terribly and want to get home as soon as we can. We are enjoying seeing a different country and new cultures, but would prefer at this time to get home to be with our beautiful daughters.
Asia Grace and friends, how was storybook character day? Maybe you could reply to our comment section and let us know what characters you were since we missed the big day?
We have not booked a guesthouse yet for Nairobi, but hope to by the end of the day.
Bye for now,
Heidi
We hope to have the boys' passports by this afternoon! We'll see.... Everything is so incredibly different here in Rwanda, such as a price is not really the price, on ANYTHING! You must always barter back and forth and have a general idea of what the item is worth or you could end up paying way too much. It's good to be living with our missionary friends who have been here almost 3 years now. It's quite an experience even to make a photocopy. Today I needed a black and white copy and the machine was broken. For black and white copy it costs 150 francs, but since the machine was broken they charged me 500 francs to make the copy on the color copy machine! Ok, the catch is my copy was done in black in white since that is what I asked for, it just had to be done on the color machine and therefore they said I had to pay 500 francs. What an experience to learn how other people live. We took the boys to the orphanage to say "Good Bye" today. That went well and we learned a little more about our boys. I do have more pictures to put on the BLog and I will do my best to add them bigger at the bottom of the blog, but those will come later. Power and internet tend to go out several times a day here. We will be heading out to Nairobi on Wed. to start the visa process on Thurs. Any and all who would like to e-mail their local senator's office to ask them to e-mail U.S. Embassy in Nairobi to ask them to expedite our boys' visa process would be greatly appreciated. We miss our girls terribly and want to get home as soon as we can. We are enjoying seeing a different country and new cultures, but would prefer at this time to get home to be with our beautiful daughters.
Asia Grace and friends, how was storybook character day? Maybe you could reply to our comment section and let us know what characters you were since we missed the big day?
We have not booked a guesthouse yet for Nairobi, but hope to by the end of the day.
Bye for now,
Heidi
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