Heading to UPS with boxes of spit & pee

Yep. You read it right. Today I handed the unsuspecting UPS employee 3 boxes filled with lots of tiny vials of spit and pee.  Really, this is an exciting thing.  It is a part of the preparations for our participation in Hope Camp at TCU's Institute of Child Development under the leadership of Dr. Karyn Purvis.

This July Blaise and I will participate in 3 weeks of day camp (Chris will join us for the last week) in Fort Worth.  The camp will help us to better understand the effects that Blaise's background has had on him emotionally, psychologically, and physically.  It will give us insights that will help us become better parents to him and it will help him cope with his unique struggles.

I highly recommend Dr. Purvis's book The Connected Child to anyone who is in any phase of the adoption journey.  I also really think that if you have a close friend or family member adopting or with an adopted child it would be a blessing to them for you to read this book. Finally, if you work with kids as a teacher, volunteer, social worker, etc this book will provide insights into many of the children whose lives you touch.
So, what were the vials of spit and pee for, you may be wondering? I guess if I'm going to lead off with that, I should explain. As a part of the study, Chris, Blaise, and I will be evaluated for the levels of various stress hormones and such.  Children from hard places like Blaise often remain in such a state of awareness and alert that they have high levels of these stress hormones.  There are several other factors which will be tested and I can't wait to see the results!

Blaise and I head to Fort Worth on July 8. I will definitely be blogging about our experience and what we learn. If this is an area of interest to you, get the book and get reading and maybe you can get some benefit from our camp experience.

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