My friend, Mario

It seems these two were a bit notorious at the orphanage for being, well..."all boy." Here they are climbing around and eating in a couple of shots that were captured for J.'s Life Book that the orphanage put together for us.


Mario and his teddy, "Leonard": We are so blessed to have an adoption support community-via the world wide web. We are a part of a yahoo group made up of families from around the world who have, and are, adopting children from the Philippines. It was from this group that we learned specific timelines for paperwork, how to make USCIS work for you , the details of attachment disorders, what hotels in Manila are within walking distance of the Embassy, and just pure encouragement when the waiting and red tape seemed endless.

Another huge benefit from this group is that sometimes, children from the same orphanage are adopted by parents who are both members of the group. God's hand has been on J. from the day he was born, clearly, and this is no more evident than in his friendship with little Mario. (Don't you love those chubby cheeks!) J. and Mario were best buds at their orphanage. They both spent months together at this orphanage, and though a year apart in age, they had no trouble getting into trouble together! They were inseparatable from what we can tell, and there were several pictures of J. and Mario playing together in the Life Book that the nuns put together for me when I met Judah to bring him home. In the greatest miracle of all, God delivered families to Manila to pick up each of these boys within seven days of each other, so neither boy was left behind for long.

A couple of months after J. came home, I saw a post on the yahoo group that said, "the parents of J.." A wonderfully sweet couple, Peter and Karen from Canberra, Australia, brought Mario to his forever a week before I brought J. home. On a whim, Karen decided to check the group to see if "J's" parents were members. Lo and Behold- we were, and we have been in contact ever since.

It was so amazing to share stories about the boys. How they both are mischievious in the same way, how they both came home signing, "all done" the same way, how Mario named his teddy bear after our son immediately after coming home, and how J. points out Mario in his Life Book with a look of love and loss. We share pictures regularly now, and J. laughs with delight to see Mario show up on the computer screen. (See above) Those two share a bond that few of us do with another human being. Though babies, God put them together as a source of joy in an otherwise tragic time. I don't know if J. still gets "homesick" for his Philippine caretakers, but I can tell from his reaction to Mario's pictures that he misses him. Hopefully, one day, we can get those two together again. Tim and I certainly wouldn't argue against a trip to Australia in a few years! In the meantime, we're encouraged by God's providence even for the littlest of His creation. He shines a ray of sunshine out there for all of us, and for a time in J.'s life, his sunbeam was named Mario.

You can visit Peter, Karen and Mario's blog by clicking on "J.'s friend, Mario" in the right hand margin of this page.

Our Visit with Grandparents

We had a busy and exciting visit with my dad and his wife, Janne recently. They came in Thursday and left Tuesday. We spent a couple of days on the coast at the beach and the aquarium. We swam closer to the pier this time, and the water was so clear you could see the seashells from beyond where the waves break. Judah didn't scream nearly as much, and he even signed "more" a time or two while in the ocean when the waves swooshed over him. The Fearless Caleb considered taking up surfing, but we're waiting until he can walk before we encourage that. Clearly, Judah was not in a mood to have his picture taken at the aquarium, but we saw some beautiful fish up close. We had a nice Father's Day lunch at a Bar-B-Que place in town after church on Sunday. Judah never got tired of the "here comes the bee-bzzzzzzzzzzzz..." game with Paw Paw, and after they left, Judah walked around the house saying, "Paw Paw," looking for him, and signing, "airplane." I think he almost has it figured out that family come and go on airplanes, but that doesn't mean they're gone forever! Dad and Janne, Tim and I enjoyed the dinner out-alone-and we can't wait to see you all again! So, who's next???? Tom and Alexis? Ted and Lisa? We have a room for you, and summers here aren't nearly as humid and miserable as they are in the midwest. Plus...we have the ocean...any takers???

Nothing other than some cute pics

There's no other reason for this post other than I'm so in love with these two boys I think my heart could burst! :) And two other things: 1. C. loves pickles. Isn't that weird? I think it's because they're the perfect teethers; irregardless, he's made a habit of gumming away his "pre-dinner pickle" lately. 2. After a little rocky start full of jealousy and distance, these two have become inseparable! J. is protective of C. now, and C. cracks up at all of J.'s antics. They are true brothers.

Thanks, Mom!

Here are some pictures from our visit with my mom last week (and one cute one from her last visit). J. calls her "La," short for "Lolah" which is "grandma" in Tagalog. It's always nice when grandparents come in to give Tim and I a break! My mom doesn't hesitate to jump in to change diapers, feed a kid, or redirect a behavior. Tim and I even got a night out to enjoy some Mexican food and good coffee-kid free! We had a great time, Mom, and we can't wait to see the other grandparents-oddly enough, the only ones who go by the traditional "Grandma and Grandpa"- in a couple of weeks.