Tuesday was a wonderful day

Isaac during his 2 1/2 hr nap

Isaiah and his Baba

Isaiah and HIS computer!!

Typical sibling rivalry-"No Isaac, that is mine!"

Preparing to leave the Jonah House in the morning

We were so blessed today. Our fears and worries yesterday dissipated with a renewed sense of purpose and love today. Chuck read something that really helped both of us see the eternal value and stop focusing on the present (selfish) concerns we had been focused on. We went to Jonah House and our boys were waiting for us. Isaac is such a little peanut, and such a doll. Isaiah is just all smiles and is very gentle and sweet. He blows kissed constantly, and is a very busy little boy-a typical 3 1/2 yr old.

The hardest part of my day, other than returning them at 4 pm, was when we put Isaac down for his nap. His way of comforting himself and getting to sleep is to roll from side to side, quite rapidly, and moaning softly while he does this. It makes me cry, knowing for months, that is how he has comforted himself and gone to sleep. I want to hold him, rock him, and love him, but he needs to accept it from us first. We have already seen great strides in his interest in and concern for us and where we are, but I think we are a long way from rocking him to sleep at night.

He hates his formula, and loves food. I am toying with the idea of trying a different brand, but maybe I should just wait until we get back to the US and buy something there.

We skyped with our 3 children at home Monday night. I think it means more to us than to them, they are so busy and preoccuppied with life there. But Thursday night will be different I am sure, when we skype with the 2 boys with us.

Tomorrow we meet Isaiah's 2 foster families, and attend his therapy sessions. Then, he comes with us forever. We will go to the JonahHouse and visit Isaac for the afternoon, and then come back to the Agora and begin to settle in to a new kind of normal!!

Blessings

Chris

Our Babies!!

MEET OUR BOYS!!

Isaiah loves to slide

Our first glimpse of Isaiah

Mommy and her baby

Isaac loves toys like this

Daddy getting acquainted with his little man

Enjoying a little bottle-he doesn't really like it very much

Adorable

We were delighted to spend a day with our boys yesterday at
the Jonah House in Taipei.

We started out in the morning meeting Penny, the english
speaking social worker at the Jonah House, and then heading right up to the
nursery to meet Isaac. He is surrounded by nurses that really love him. It
appears he was extremely sick a year ago in March-and they almost lost him-and
he is very special to all of them. I will try to get some pictures today of all
of the nurses-it is unbelievable how much they think of him.

AfterIsaac went down for his morning nap, we had a bit of time
to ourselves, which we spent wondering how life was really going to be when we
get home with our 2 boys. I think we have been so busy up to this point we
haven't had much time to ponder the extent of our decision to bring these 2 boys
into our homes and lives. There is a bit of fear and trembling in both of us as
we recognize there will be many hours of doctor visits ahead of us, therpaies of
many different kinds. Isaac is currently in occupational and physical therapy,
Isaiah is in developmentally slow classes.

We had to do some memory work yesterday-how we found these
boys, how we felt led to them, how we prayed and prayed for God to lead us to
our future children and how we alwasy prayed for Him to shut doors we aren't to
go through. Well, He never shut any doors, and other than the paperwork taking
such a long time to arrive, the entire process has been incredibly smooth
and uneventful-even quick-we had Cathwel's approval in 1 day-the court process
was only a month long-we just have to deal with our own fears, and remember we
have 2 little boys who need us very much, and there are 3 waiting at home who
think the world of them and can't wait for them to come home.

In the afternoon, we went upstairs to meet Isaiah, and did he
ever smile when we walked into the room. He loves toys that make noise, or have
lights on them, and he loves to build with legos, and enjoys slides and all
sorts of riding toys. He is a lovely little boy, and he seems very smitten with
his little brother, always wondering where he is and what he is doing.

Today, we will bring them back to the Agora for the day, and
return them to the Jonah House for tonight.

Until later

Chris and Chuck

Monday Morning

A bit fuzzy, but the mountains are beautiful in the background-and it's SUNNY!!

After all these years, I finally need a crib!!!

Our bedroom is literally sorrounded by the city/mountain sites!

We do really enjoy Taipei-it is a fascinating city!

We made it to Taiwan with an very uneventful flight-we actually slept through most of the overseas portion-thankfully!
We both had very little sleep the 2 nights before we left, like 2 hours, and the stress of leaving our farm and the 3 kids at home made for some long hours of apprehension.

But, it was all for naught, as all is going very well.

We meet our boys today, and I don't even have butterflies in my tummy-YET!!

We are staying at the Agora again, but it is different without our other children here with us.

I am thankful for the laptop we just purchased, as it is SOOOO nice to be able to do emails, check news, and skype from the privacy of our own room.

Tonight, we will Skype with the older 3 and find out how it is all going on the farm!

I have a few pictures of the view from our room. We are at the end of the tower, and have surround-the room views of Taipei!
Today, it is sunny, although they are calling for 60% chances of rain every day we are here.

Yesterday, it was rainy and dreary/gray all day. We are thankful for the sunshine today!!

Blessings

Chris and Chuck

May updates

YAYYY!!

photos of both boys together!!!

Isaac and his nurses

Isaac and his braces-gotta love that support

such a happy boy

We were very pleased to receive updated info and photos of our boys on May 3-the largest batch of photos we ever got
We were especially blessed to see pics of the 2 boys together. Cathwel has recently begun to get them together once a week in preparation for our picking them up.

I will give more updated info later, but wanted to get some pics out there for everyone to see!!

Blessings

Chris

WOW!!!

I can't believe it has been sooooo long since I last posted

Of course, we have had a whirlwind of a life for the last 3 months, some of which I will not be sharing, much that I will be sharing!!

The biggest news to date is our travel call

On April 15, we got word of our civil ruling for the boys-with an anticipated May 28 departure date.

On April 15, it seemed like a LONG time before traveling

On May 19, it seems like, Oh My Goodness, how will we ever get it all done in time???

We are so excited to meet our boys in person

We are so excited to be adding to our family

and we are SOOOO excited to be skyping with them and their social worker tonight and next Wednesday

The part about talking to them online seems a bit strange and un-doable, but the part about seeing them live and almost in person is very thrilling!

We also have new photos of them-together, and I will be posting them next

I just had to give a brief update and get back to the business of getting ready for travel!!

Blessings

Chris