I think we're still recovering from this trip. The boys are crying at bedtime, wanting to stay up and play until 9:00 or 10:00 pm like they did at relatives' houses, and Tim and I are still on the upper half of the list of things that need to be done to get caught up from being gone for nearly two weeks. But it was definately worth it. Here are some of the pictures.

FAMILY:

(THIS IS TIM and TOM's BABY, BELLA).

(THIS IS NOT TIM. THIS IS TOM, WITH J and C).

We have a lot more family pics of the boys swimming with cousins in the pool, for example, but there were a lot of people in those pictures, and I don't have their permission to post their faces on the web. So....don't feel slighted! The boys had a blast with everyone, especially Emilee, Ashlee, Aubree, Ireland, and Sophia, even if your pic isn't here. If you ever want a week away to see the coast, Emilee, our house is open to you!

THINGS WE LOVED:

Trains...
St. Louis.

Dancing on the tables. (Shirts off for spaghetti!)

Spaghetti!

Things we didn't like so much:

Camels.

Our last driving stretch was about five hours, from the Appalachians in to our house. The whole way, J asked, "Paw Paw? Grandma? Uncle Steve? Water? Baby?" He knew we had to be going somewhere exciting and new, and doing something fun, as that had been the routine for the past week or so. We answered him, "No, we're going home, to J's house!" As soon as we pulled into our driveway, and he noticed where we were, he screamed, yelled, kicked, punched, and threw a full-on toddler fit! I asked him, "Why are you sad?" And he said (signed), "Paw Paw, Paw Paw!" Amazing. After nearly 30 hours of driving, he wanted to drive MORE to see Paw Paw, and was truly bummed to realize that he was just-home. We all miss you guys, and hope we can see family more often. Who's coming in for the holidays?

What a tour!

Tim and I just got back from our annual "mid-west tour." Usually we do this around the holidays, but my grandpa passed away, so we went early. We spent time with my family, with Tim's family, and in St. Louis with my brother. I LOVE having a relative in St. Louis again. St. Louis is where I was raised, and it is definately "home." We had a great time there hanging out with Steve ("SSSSS" as J calls him), and visiting with old, dear friends. To see pics of some of that, check out Becky and Jenny's blog. Links to their blogs are on the right side of my blog. Just click their names, and you'll see pics of our fun day at Grant's Farm. We're home now, within twelve hours of J's first day of preschool! When I have more time, I'll do my own blog post-with pictures-instead of routing people to Jenny and Becky! Thanks for providing great pics, Karl! Have a great week!

Our dream for you...

C, we said from the beginning that you are God's baby. Like all of us, you're a child who needed a home and a family. Against the recommendation of many in charge of your destiny, we chose to spare you the foster care system, and desperately tried not to let the words, "extremely high legal risk placement" scare us away from loving you to the pit of our souls, even if God only sent you to us for a few weeks, or months. Though terrified of losing you, deep inside, from the day we met you, we dreamed that we would always be able to gaze into your eyes,
...to hold your hand,
...to capture every moment,

...to kiss you,
...to guide you in the way that you should go,
...to read to (and wonder what you'll do with those magnificently long fingers...piano?? basketball??)
...to tell you all about your birth mother, how we respect her, how her name is honored in our home, and how she has so much faith in God, and so much love for you, that she chose to give you not only life, but life abundantly;


...we dreamed we'd have you to dance with,
...to laugh with,
...to make music with,
...to cheer with,
...to celebrate with,
...to love and care for glorious, precious, irreplacable-you. And today, by the providence of God, our dreams have come true.
-It took eleven months, but after a lot of prayer and faith that God would place him where He intended him to be, today we received this irrevocable decree in the mail from the Court:
"Now Therefore, it is hereby ordered, adjudged, and decreed by the Court:
That from the date of the entry of this Decree [August 8, 2006] herein, the said minor is declared adopted for life by the petitioner(s), Timothy ________ __________ and Tiffany _________ __________ and that said child shall henceforth be known by the name of C_____ _______ _________ (our family name)." (Those blanks are filled-in, of course, on the decree). THANK GOD!!!

Two Boys in a Tub

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks-sorry! It's been busy. REALLY busy. It seems as though we spend half of our weeks in Dr. offices or therapy sessions. Not that kind of therapy (though after too many more weeks of this, I may need it...). Here's some things that are going on in August for us:

Speech and play therapy for J twice a week, but he's about to turn three, so we're in meetings every week to transition out of the infant/toddler program and into the school program. J is up to signing 50+ words, and speaking full or partial 42 words. That's up from nothing other than the "grunt and point" from when he came home in February. Way to go, J! By the way, people keep asking, "Has he learned English yet?" as though that were the delay. Learning English is only a part of the issue. J never learned to speak ANY language, even Tagalog, because he wasn't around spoken language enough to pick it up. (Orphan institutionalization delay). So, we aren't working on "in Tagalog, sit is upo, but in English, it's sit." We're working on, "This is a tongue; it's used for speaking. Can you make this sound? Look at my face....nnnnnnn." It is a long tedious process, but he is coming along very quickly. No, I'm not disappointed that he has these problems; I've worked with enough orphans to know to expect this. Yes, he can and will catch up. Yes, it will take YEARS, not weeks. And, no, he can't speak English yet. But he does UNDERSTAND English at his age level. Just wanted to field some questions there that we've been getting a lot lately.

Planning a birthday party! C will be 1 on the 30th, and J will be 3 Sept. 3rd. This year, we're combining them into one party. Of course, it has to be a train party since J is obsessed with trains! Very cute.

Starting Preschool. J starts preschool in two weeks, and we are so excited! It'll help him a lot with his speech and teach him what kids do, since he was never around kids until he came home. And C and I are really looking forward to getting some one-on-one time back. What do you want to do, C? I vote train time at Barnes and Noble. Nothing beats locomotives and lattes.

Finalizing C. We're soooooooo close! All the court hearings are done, and we're just waiting, waiting, waiting, on that piece of paper that says he's legally ours! Woo Hoo!

Finalizing J. J had his last post-placement study with the social worker July 30. Yay! That report is being sent to our agency where it collects the other needed paperwork, then the Philippines. Then the Philippines sends the papers to us, which get taken to court, which are ruled upon, and then get sent to us. And then I think we're done. I think. Adoption can be complicated, but so can labor and delivery, which is also a lot more painful. Speaking of which...

Tom and Alexis had a baby today! What's her name? Nobody knows. You've got 24 hours to decide, you two! Mom and baby are healthy. Alexis had an extremely fast delivery (under 4 hours from induction to baby-in-arms for her first baby)! Happy baby day!

A lot of doctor appointments for me. I have been spending time at my family practice doctor wiggling my wrist around. She sent me to a neurologist because of probable nerve damage, and an orthopedist who will fit me with a better brace and treat the mobility. What's wrong with it? Tendonitis gone bad. Real bad. What caused it? 23 lb., wiggly baby. I sure hope it heals soon because it is a huge inconvenience more than anything.

Vacation Bible School. That's Saturday, and Tim and I are in charge of registration. It's a pirate theme, so we have to-I mean GET TO-dress up as pirates for the day. Don't count on a blog post with that photo. Arg. It'll be fun for the kids, though.

Misc. Then there's always a host of birthday parties, showers, playdates, graduate school stuff, outings, and errands.

We are all still here, though. Alive and mostly well. Enjoy the pics and have a great week!

I can sign some too! This is "night-night." I can also sign, "food," "more," "bye-bye," "up," "stop," and blow kisses when Mommy says, "I love you."

This is the new persona I'm trying out. It's called, "onry and into everything." I think Mom and Dad prefer, "sweet and obedient," but I'm pretty sure this one suites me better. I put on this face when MaMa says, "no." Tough, huh?

This is my new favorite book. It's about trains. And my favorite movie is Thomas the Tank Engine. My favorite underwear has trains on it. I'm having a train birthday party. Everything trains! Choo! Choo!