Six Months

This past week our Baby Boy turned six months old. While most parents see this as a fairly major milestone for their biological children, and some even celebrate it, for us it was kind of a sad day. It was a very distinctive reminder that we have missed the first half of the first year of our son's life. It is also a reminder that our son has spent SIX MONTHS without a loving family of his own. Studies have shown that there is roughly a one month developmental delay for every three months a child lives in an orphanage- type setting. Every month that goes by that he is not with us, he will be sicker, more delayed, and have a harder time forming meaningful attachments in relationships.

In an attempt to "celebrate" his 6- month birthday, I made him a sign and took a picture of us holding it while we were out on a hike. Unfortunately, we were standing too far from the camera to actually read the sign in the picture. Oh well- we tried. Hopefully when he is older, he will look at these pictures and know that his parents were thinking of and caring about him during all these months that we were apart.

 

view from our hike

the dogs enjoying refreshment from a miniature waterfall

another view from our hike