Welcome to the family..............

It is true, I have not posted much lately. Mostly, this was due to Colin's prolonged absence during his training, but the past few days, it has been about some impending additions to our family.

The Burmese foster care program had been delayed. So, although we became licensed foster family, due the uncertainty, we weren't anticipating a placement any time soon. So in the meantime, our adoption network had led us to hosting a foreign exchange student from China. Her name is Sunny and she is due to arrive in August to attend our local high school. We are very excited to have her stay with us.

In the meantime, in the past couple of days, we were called by our foster agency. The first question they asked me was how many foster children can you handle? The answer........only one at this time. Gulp.....only one. So we don't know exactly when he is arriving (but probably fairly soon), we do know that he is 16 years old and speaks little or no English. The recent Cyclone in Myanmar has created an urgent need to place the existing children in the refugee resettlement program. This has led to an urgent need in our family to spring clean, reorganize and reallocate the toys in our house. The kids just lost their private playroom but it was successfully integrated into our Rec room and they are actually really excited about it. Thank goodness we have five bedrooms in our house, and it seems we need every one of them.

Things are going to get very interesting around here.......... :) as if they weren't interesting enough....ha, ha, ha, ha....................

Happy Gotcha Day #2

It was exactly two years ago today that we first met Sophia.

Then...................

Now..................

I realize that saying "Gotcha Day" is no longer so politically correct but two years ago, it was still the accepted term. But things do change, so today we will call it "Happy Gotcha Day/Happy Family Anniversary Day." Sophia was thrilled with her brownie and strawberry mix and so was Keenan. Our love for this little girl has grown and evolved over the past two years. We feel so lucky to have her in our lives.

Hello, My Name is Trouble

Our neighbor has a son Sophia's age. While Sophia is on the bottom of the growth chart, their son is at the top. Keenan gets to reap the benefits in the form of clothes and shoes. This shirt was the best hand me down we have ever had. It says it all, and truly, his facial expression seals the deal.

Our little bundle of trouble, we love you so very much!

Happy Belated Birthday to Colin (and Mother's Day to all Mothers)

Colin was flying on his birthday and so we decided to celebrate his birthday and Mother's Day on the same day. My parents joined the fun and we had a really nice time. Earlier in the day, Colin shared his breakfast with Sophia and Keenan.

Later in the day, bed time stories were shared by everyone. Both Keenan and Sophia hardly move when we read to them, they are so absorbed in the story. I love it and it was an amazing Mother's Day gift to see my three favorite guys together!

Incommunicado

Yup, that is how it feels to me, like I have been far removed from blogger land for some time now. There is a pretty simple reason for my absence...for the past month, Colin has been in Denver training on a new airplane. He upgraded to the 767, although I have to say it will probably be short lived when United starts parking some planes in the fall, we will just have to see.

Colin's prolonged absence has been very tough on the kids so we made two extended trips to visit him. He was having to do so much studying that we only got to see him a couple of hours a day but the kids were ecstatic to spend time with him (so was I). The kids were amazingly good in the hotel and Keenan actually slept all night, a not so small miracle in itself. Now he is on his inaugural trip on his new plane and will hopefully have five days off when he completes it.

We got to visit with my cousin and her husband and we all went to the Denver Zoo together. The kids adorded Aunt Betsy and Uncle John (yes, I know they are actually second cousins, but it just has a better ring to it).

Keenan tries out Uncle John's glasses.....