Did you know that November is Adoption Awareness Month?

This month is a time to celebrate adoption as a positive way to build families and shed light on children who are in need of permanent families.

At Three Angels, we make this a priority every month of the year. If you follow along with us or sponsor a child at Angel House Orphanage, you already know that the children in our care receive the most excellent beginning possible— healthy food, medical care, early education, enrichment programs and play, and 24-hour nanny care by ladies who love these children as their own.

From time to time, we feature an update on a child who began at Angel House but has been with their forever family for some time, and Adoption Awareness Month is the perfect time to share one of these stories. You might remember Daniel, who came to us in August 2014 at about 10 months of age. He went home almost exactly three years later in September 2017, and he just celebrated his sixth birthday with his family last month. In this story, we want to share Daniel’s journey with you, in the words of his mom, Lucy.

Daniel’s Story

Daniel’s transition home and integration into our family went amazingly well! That first night home, we were showing Daniel around our house to help him know where everything was. He was shivering and my first thought was, "Poor buddy—he's scared!" Then I realized that, even though it was 74 degrees outside, he was cold. So the first few weeks, I had to dress him very warmly.

From the beginning, Daniel was excited just to do new things and do whatever his brother and sister were doing. He was soon climbing trees, running around the playground, or trying out our outdoor stilts. We knew that Daniel had hip dysplasia, but he was doing so well moving around that I remember thinking, "Maybe it's not as bad as we think; after all, he's running everywhere!"

About six weeks after he came home, we took him to the orthopedic doctor. The first doctor said, "I'm not even going to waste your time. There is a hip specialist that you can see if you go back out to the waiting room." So we were told that he would need to have the surgery done that winter because most children with hip dysplasia have surgery done when they are younger. The surgery had been attempted down in Haiti but had failed, which isn't uncommon; we were told that even in the U.S. this surgery could fail. We learned that Daniel would be in a full body cast for ten weeks, and I just sobbed and sobbed. I couldn't imagine how this active boy was going to handle this after being home for such a short time. We didn't want this to affect his attachment to us, and we were worried, but we knew he needed to have the surgery.

We were given the choice to wait until after Christmas, but we decided to have the surgery done before Christmas in hopes that all the seasonal distractions would help the time go quicker. The first few days after surgery were very hard; Daniel was in a lot of pain, and this was hard to see. But once the pain was under control, Daniel again adjusted remarkably well. In time, he learned to walk and climb the stairs in the cast that covered both legs—the doctor said he had never had a patient do this!

After recovering from the body casts and two additional minor surgeries, Daniel gradually grew stronger. One of the few things he could never do before his hip surgery was ride a tricycle. In spring of 2018, we bought him a used trike and he was off in no time, riding everywhere.

Soon he was on the bicycle we had also picked up, riding with training wheels. His legs grew stronger and he was so happy to not have the "orange cast" anymore.

Life was beginning to feel easier. Daniel had been slow to learn English (so we thought.) He went to speech therapy but wasn't making as much progress as we had hoped. His speech therapist said to me, "Why don't you get his hearing checked?" We thought this was crazy. We knew Three Angels had had similar concerns, but his hearing had already been tested in Haiti, and he had passed. However, when another friend of mine mentioned that she also thought we should get his hearing checked, we decided to do so. A few hospitals later, it was confirmed that Daniel had permanent mild to moderate hearing loss in both ears. There was some sadness, guilt, and grieving about this diagnosis. Why didn't we notice sooner? How could he have been basically reading lips in a new language and doing so well communicating?

We went to get Daniel's hearing aids in December of 2018. I was feeling sad because he looked different wearing them. It was a grief that I had to process, as his mother, and it was something he had to process too. He would look at his brother and sister and say, "When I get older, I won't need hearing aids anymore." We would tell him that he would indeed need hearing aids when he was older, but mostly he was just excited to hear everything! We got in the car and put on his favorite CD, and immediately he said, "I like the hearing aids!" So that made us like them too. It's really cute because whenever he sees anyone with hearing aids (usually elderly people,) he runs up to them and shows them his hearing aids. My grandfather, who is 96, gets a kick out of him!

Daniel attends kindergarten four days a week at a special school for the deaf and hard of hearing, where they teach a special reading curriculum designed for these children. He rides the bus and loves coming home to sing the songs he learns there. It has been amazing to see Daniel grow and learn so much over the last two years. He loves reading books, riding bikes, playing ball, building with his brother, and playing pretend with his sister. And he loves to act out his favorite fairy tales playing different roles, such as the wicked wolf or the three pigs.

This year, Daniel had his own garden and was delighted when he picked his first zucchini. He's not a huge fan of vegetables, but I think growing his own made him more happy to try them! It helps that he loves cooking and helping in the kitchen. Daniel also loves animals. We have a friend who owns a farm, and Daniel is always excited to go there. The cows are his absolute favorites! Also, we raise Monarch butterflies, and Daniel is very gentle with them and the caterpillars.

With his sister, harvesting from their garden

We don't yet know what Daniel hopes to be when he gets older. He has an amazing memory for people he meets and great compassion and insight into how others

are feeling. He also is able to express how he is feeling, which is quite extraordinary considering his age. I truly believe the love that was poured out upon him during the years he spent at Three Angels is why he has adjusted so well. We are very grateful for all the sponsors, nannies, and others who have helped our son.

We are hoping someday to take our whole family to Haiti to visit. Daniel talks about going back to Haiti, and we all speak a little Haitian Creole around the house amongst the five of us.

A doctor that we visited when Daniel first came home said to us, "He will keep the joy in your family." This is so true; God has blessed us abundantly through the life of this little boy.

~ Lucy

Enjoy these photos of Daniel from his arrival at Angel House to his sixth birthday celebration last month. We are so thankful for all who have supported and continue to support the children of Angel House until they can go home with their forever families!