It's Jack's Day

Today, January 6th, is Jack's fourth birthday.

For those new to my site, he is our middle child, but we adopted him last, as he was closing in on four months of age. We were supposed to adopt him at birth, but his birth mom had a hard time relinquishing him and decided to parent him. By the time he was nearly 4 mos., she decided it was best to relinquish her rights. His adoption story is an amazing revelation of God's sovereignty, and I invite you to read it in its entirety when you have some time. All four parts are located on the right sidebar.

As I was looking through old pictures for this birthday post, I realized one of my worst fears. We have lost some photos. And those photos are of Jack's first few days of life with us. It saddens me greatly. Not only do I not have photos of the first 4 mos of his life, but I've now lost photos of our first few days as the fabulous five.

My mom has a copy of the first picture of he and I together. The quality is horrible, but I have to post it anyway.
That is moments after our attorney's secretary handed him to me. What I remember about those first few moments is how BIG his eyes were. And his 'fro cracked me up.

For those familiar with attachment issues, you'll pick up on how stiff he was in my arms and how he's avoiding my eyes. I picked up on it right away, and I was immediately nervous.

When we took him to our hotel room, he refused to let me rock him or feed him. He only wanted Rick. For some reason, we have this one photo of that night.
Look at his sweet eyes and clinched fists. He was probably so confused by all the change taking place in his little life.

This is a photo of the five of us the next day. When people see this photo, they usually say, "Ami, you look so tired." Oh my word, I was beyond tired and scared out of my mind.
Moments after this photo, Jack began crying inconsolably. I took him to another room and held him close and cried right along with him. And prayed like I've never prayed before in my life. "Lord, I know you brought Jack to be our child. Please, please help him to attach to me."

And I continued that prayer for a long time.

God was faithful. Jack has attached and is a normal member of this family. He can be my most challenging boy, but he keeps me on my knees.

Not every moment in those first months were rough. Here's a shot of his bright eyes along with a grin.
Man was life crazy with two infants and a 2 year old! But look how cute they were!

(Jack, Liam, Garrett on the night of baby dedication)

Today, Jack is an interesting character. A little more about him:

He is my best sleeper. Night, day, bed, car, glasses or not...almost anywhere he allows himself to be still for more than 5 minutes.

He is my most imaginative child. He can turn the most simple of objects into a game of almost anything. He is also the one to be most macho in his play...always wanting to fight, hunt, or repair something.
In public, he will sit and watch strangers for hours. In this next shot, he had been staring at passengers on a train. I called his name, and he knew it was time to stop staring.
And then, it was time to be a ham. He is our class clown.
He is often more entertained with everyday objects than normal toys. An umbrella kept him from staring on the train.
Notice the "I love you" sign on his left hand. He is frequently found telling us he loves us. Now, if that's not healing from the Lord, then I don't know what is.

And this is one of my favorite recent photos of Jackson.
So handsome. Bright eyes. Beautiful smile.

Happy 4th birthday, Little Man! I love you,
Mommy