November is National Adoption Month

We couldn't let the month go by without recognizing that it is National Adoption Month.  Adoption has been such a blessing to our family.  It was just a year ago that we first realized what a gift it is.  It was late on November 1, 2012 that we received a referral from our adoption agency telling us the story of an amazing little seven month old girl living in a China orphanage waiting for a family.  We'll never forget seeing her beautiful picture for the first time and how quickly she stole our hearts.

 

The Owatonna People's Press (our local newspaper) has been writing a series titled "A Home to Share" in their weekend edition for the month of November bringing attention to adoption.  We were honored to be asked to share our family's story in their second article.  A link to the article is below.   



A Home to Share: Kleckers complete family with adoption

 

Thank you to our families and friends who have and continue to supported us through our adoption journey.  We look forward to the days when Ashlynn can read this blog and be reminded of how loved she is by so many. 

 



Our weeks following surgery

Thanks to all of you who have been asking about Ashlynn.  Let us show you how well Ashlynn is doing in the weeks following surgery . . .

First experience in the corn box during
harvest on Grandpa & Grandma Lanoue's farm

 

Carving pumpkins with our "little brother" Matthew



 

As you can see, Ashlynn is back to her energetic, determined, lovable self.  We are amazed by how quickly she has healed following surgery.  She also has quite an appetite.  She wants to feed herself whenever possible and is usually willing to try new foods.  She wants to eat all the time!  She is still learning to suck (something that was not possible with her cleft lip/palate in her first 18 months of life).  We are told this skill will come in time so for now she continues to drink from a bottle that we must squeeze for her.  She is also not saying any real words yet but we know she understands more and more of what we are saying to her.  This is great progress as she probably had not heard any English until we met her five months ago.  We will be getting some language services through the our school district to help her catch up.

 

Ashlynn has resumed physical therapy and is making great strides.  She continues to crawl everywhere and has started to pull herself up to standing and even take a few steps.  She impresses her physical therapist with her progress each week.  We are feeling confident she'll be walking before the end of the year which is really nothing short of a miracle given where she was when we brought her home in May.  And her brothers have no idea how that will change things around the house!

 

We have all enjoyed introducing Ashlynn to some great family traditions.  We spent five days on Brandi's parent's farm in October.  She loved spending time with her grandparents and cousins.  She liked playing in the corn box but was too scare to take a Ranger or combine ride.  She also wasn't sure what to think of the jack-o-lantern that Daddy carved for her.  We're sure she'll be more interested next Halloween.  And trick-or-treating was so fun.  She loved filling her candy bag at Grandpa and Grandma Kleckers and her uncles and aunts.  She really didn't know what to do with the candy but she liked playing with all the wrappers.  We suspect this will change by next Halloween too!