HOME!

WE'RE HOME! It feels great to be home - our new family of 5!

About 12:30pm on Tuesday 6/30/09, our flight from San Francisco touched down at O'hare. It had been 36 hours since we left our hotel in RMI (on their Monday night). Only about 8 of those hours were spent in a hotel, the rest of the time was waiting in the airports and riding on airplanes! Changing the dates of our flights home from RMI with two different airlines proved very very challenging. So it was terrific for us that we were ready to leave RMI two days before our original scheduled departure date....but Continental and United didn't agree!! Our bags came to Chicago on a flight we did not get on, and we spent 5 hours after not getting on that stand-by flight getting to know the Honolulu airport (mostly Gate area #8!!) The two pictures below are of the kids and the hours waiting in the Honolulu airport!

Two overnight flights in a row are tough - but Boston slept almost every minute of the three flights (RMI to Honolulu, Honolulu to San Fran, and San Fran to Chicago) and Jacob and Hannah slept a good part of all three flights.

It was fantastic to be met at the airport in Chicago by family and friends. We came into the baggage claim area from a different door than they expected. So we saw all of them before they saw us!

We came home to more balloons, flowers, signs for the kids on their rooms from their friends, a refrigerator full of food, etc. We are catching up on our sleep and adjusting to the time change too. Hannah slept from 7:30pm Tuesday night until 10:00am on Wednesday morning, just getting up once. She's never slept that long in her whole life!

To land at O'Hare airport to 64 degree temperatures was a nice feeling too! Today on July 1st the temps. have been the coolest here for this date since 1930. Boston has probably never felt such cool temps. He also has never seen a microwave working, or a stove - from his staring at them at home.

I'll post again soon with more homecoming pictures! Love, Lois

Back in the USA!

Hello from Hawaii on Monday morning June 29th! We had a good finish to our stay in RMI spending our last day (also Monday June 29th!) returning the rental car, picking up Boston's VISA packet from the US Embassy (and getting yelled at by a guard for taking a picture of the outside of the embassy!), having lunch with our new American friends there, saying goodbyes to friends made at the hotel and the restaurant we ate at most often, and packing. The next two photos are of Jacob and Boston's birth families who travelled to the airport to see us off and the Joneses and Harveys who also came for the fun (and for the heads up for what happens there - for their own departures in weeks to come!)

Here we are in front of the Amata Kabua airport in Majuro - visiting before checking in. The beautiful hand made necklaces we are wearing were gifts from the birth families and also our security guard friend at the hotel. Checking in for the flight was exciting, as the airlines wanted a document I had already packed in a suitcase that had already gone through security....and they wanted me to open Boston's VISA packet that the embassy had said not to open. Then their computer went down, and so our five boarding passes had to be prepared by hand. End result - the plane was loaded and waiting for us and another passenger or two....and people were in some of our seats - just a riot. It was similar to our last flight out of RMI in 2003....you walk across the tarmack in the dark to the waiting plane - and people are calling to you from a fence outside the airport....birth families, friends - and we just waved back as we climbed the steps to the plane.

Boston did well on the flight - his first time on an airplane! He cried hard for probably 5-10 minutes after the flight attendant told Peter to buckle him into his seat. As soon as Peter picked him back up and held him - Boston fell asleep and slept the entire 5 hours until we were off the plane in Hawaii. Below are two pictures of our newest USA citizen, plus a tired Peter, Hannah and Jacob as we waited for the rest of the passengers to be processed before Boston's immigrant VISA was processed. Boston also had his first escalator and elevator rides in the airport this morning after immigration. This morning as he looked out the 11th floor hotel room window - we realized he's never seen mountains, tall buildings, cars going fast, etc. In fact as we walked off the plane this morning to the customs/border area - two Marshallese women in front of us were stopped in their tracks. They had never been on an escalator before (we figured out) and were standing there not sure what to do, as the line of people formed behind them. The pilots were behind the ladies and told them to just "jump"!


Well, I need to next get on the phone with United to sort out our flights the rest of the way home. We have been in Hawaii about 8 hours and spent about 2 hours in the airport processing and getting to the hotel. Jacob is still sleeping, but the rest of us slept about 4 - 5 hours. Once we find out when we are leaving here later today - we'll see what else we can do while in Hawaii for the day.

The time change will be messing us up for awhile. We left RMI on the evening of Monday June 29th, and flew through the night and arrived in Honolulu at 2:30am on the morning of Monday June 29th! It's going to be our day that is two days long!

I'll post again when we get home and settled. Bye for now - so great to be back in the states! Love, Lois

Sunday June 28, 2009 - day #31 away from home

Hey Everyone! This will be my last post from the Marshall Islands!

We had a good morning at church (the picture of J & H above is from outside church with the breeze off the water cooling us off), and then enjoyed a Chinese buffet lunch with Gordon and his family, along with two other families from their church. The restaurant gave us the VIP room. It had a beautiful view of the water and palm trees, and it was nice that Boston could run around the room and not get into too much trouble! Peter said he hadn't eaten this much at a meal since probably Christmas! And, this was the sixth restaurant we had eaten at while on RMI - - a change from the three restaurants we ate at in 2003! The picture below of me and Boston is from lunch today!

When I said goodbye to Gordon and family today - I got all choked up. It really surprised me, because being in RMI is hard some days and I have been ready to go home for awhile. But their kindness and hospitality have just made this trip even more enjoyable for us. We anticipate Jacob and Hannah will have some mixed emotions when we leave tomorrow as well.

After lunch, we headed over to Jacob's birth family's home to say goodbye to his birth grandmother. Both Jacob and Boston's birth families have said they might come to the airport tomorrow night, but the grandmother is not up to it physically. I did not bring any goodies to pass out to the kids at this neighborhood - because I knew it was going to be a brief visit and I am out of suckers, tootsie rolls and gum. As we were sitting and the kids were kind of gathering around me - I realized my mistake. So I dug in my purse and passed out every Tic Tac left in the container!!

Then by 3pm we were back to the hotel for the rest of the day. Peter took the kids swimming and I got a lot of packing done. We were going to have a bring-your-own-dinner gathering in the Harvey's hotel room here, but as we were leaving - Boston's birth mother came to our door, along with Denise one of her nieces. We invited them in and cancelled with the Harveys. Denise was helpful in translating for us and we did learn more about Boston's life before we met him. Also, learned another interesting cultural thing. When we host people in our hotel room - we always offer for them to sit on the beds...but they never do - they always sit on the floor. There is one chair in our room and three double beds - so we have plenty of bed-sitting space and not enough floor space for all of us to sit. Denise explained tonight that it is a Marshallese custom to never sit on someone's bed. I told her we don't usually sit on other people's beds at home either - but in the hotel room there isn't much other choice! I love seeing how Boston is grabbing to include Jacob in the picture below with his birth mother Emcilla. Yes, those are suitcases stacked up in the background!

Well, it is time to publish this post and head upstairs to bed. We are in pretty good shape for getting on the hotel shuttle at 5pm tomorrow to head to the airport here. But then we were remembering the day we left the island back in October 2003....it was one surprise after another, visitors, etc. I'm sure tomorrow will be very interesting. Thank you for following our journey here - and our welcoming Boston to the family! I will post again sometime in Hawaii. Our flight leaves for Hawaii at 8pm tomorrow night 6/29. We fly about 5 hours and arrive in Hawaii in the middle of the night there, but during the early morning hours of the same day that we left RMI. We lost a day on the way here, but we will pick it up again when our Monday June 29th is actually two days long!

Below is a picture of Jacob and Boston at book time before bed last night! Jacob is smiling as you can tell by his eyes - and Boston is grabbing his cheek and saying "cheese". Sweet dreams everyone. I know I'm dreaming of sleeping in our own bed in just a few days!! Love, Lois

Saturday - our 5th one in Majuro

Hi on Saturday evening June 27, 2009! Before I forget - I need to tell you two things. That odd tide change we saw at Laura Beach this week is something that happens here once a month. Peter learned this from one of the security guards here at MIR. And, the other day while taking this picture below with Hannah - we saw a nice car with the license plate 00001 at the entrance to the hotel. I figured it must be someone important to have such a special license. Sure enough, we learned that it was the President of the country's car. We never saw him - just his car!

This morning I called DHL just to be sure our packet from Manila was here in Majuro. They couldn't find it - so we had a few moments wondering if we would really be here longer next week. We decided to go to the DHL office here and they did find that the package is here - waiting for delivery to the embassy Monday morning. What a relief!! Now I can really change our flights to Hawaii, reservations in Hawaii, and flights from Hawaii home.

Next we headed toward the airport, as a flight gets in from Hawaii on Saturday mornings - the same one we came in on 5 Saturdays ago! We thought it would be good for Boston to at least see an airplane before we get on one! We found a nice spot to watch the landing, just past the end of the run way. A small "Air Kirabati"plane landed while we were there and Boston loved that - but we found out that the Continental plane from Hawaii was 2 hours late - so we didn't wait. Both of our other USA families happened to drive by while we were waiting, and visited briefly. They were each travelling to Laura Beach today. Fun to be seeing friends along the way. The three pictures below were taken at the little lagoon along the ocean where we waited to watch the plane land. Jacob was climbing a palm tree:

Peter was placing Boston on one of the Palm Tree branches:

Hannah and Jacob were wading in the lagoon we found.

This afternoon was more swimming for the big kids - and in some rain again. Boston liked wandering around the pool area in the rain. An early dinner and back to the hotel for the evening. (at dinner, Boston had a horribly messy diaper...there are no changing areas in any bathrooms here, no counter space to even lay him down with something under him, and the floor was dirty and buggy. So I changed the diaper with him standing up in the ladies room. He was fine with it and we got it done!) We saw our first rainbow after dinner and it was beautiful. Back in 2003, we saw rainbows often - so we've been wanting to see some this time too. It was a fun way to end our day.

Bye for now - Thanks for keeping up with our long journey here. Lots of days have been not-too-exciting, but the scenery is beautiful and we have enjoyed the time together. Love, Lois

Friday June 26, 2009

Hi on Friday night! Our papers should be on the plane that came to Majuro this evening. We hope to pick them up from the embassy on Monday and be on the Monday night 6/29 flight to Honolulu!

Peter and the boys went to the playground this morning while Hannah and I went to the Continental office to change our tickets for home. Then we visited Boston's birth family and took them to lunch. He had fun with us all together and it was great to see him with both families. He was sad when we dropped them off after lunch (11 people -4 adults and 7 kids - in our rental car on the way back to their home - because we asked a neighbor and her son to come along and help with translation!) but this was definitely his best transition all month. It had been 6 days since we'd seen his birth family. Here is Boston with one of his sisters and his birth mother at lunch.

This afternoon the big kids went swimming and accomplished some new things. For Jacob - it was swimming the dog paddle the whole length of the pool, from shallow to deep end. For Hannah - it was jumping into the pool and letting herself go underwater before standing up! Fun to see these things and know they learned them here! Here is a picture of Hannah from the pool, plus the view of the hotel from the pool, and the view of the lagoon from the pool today.

After Boston's nap - we were all down in the gazebo that you see in the picture above and visited with our new friends. We all had dinner together and here is a picture of the 3 older kids after dinner.

We had a good day and it's exciting that this will be our last weekend here! Bye for now - Love, Lois

Thursday night June 25, 2009

Hello! We learned this afternoon that our papers are in Guam now! It's exciting that they are moving across the Pacific Ocean to us!

Today was one of our hottest days here. We never see a temperature reading, so we just rate the days on how quickly glasses and cameras fog up, or how quickly we all get hot and sweaty once we leave the hotel room. Peter rated today as the hottest day so far! We took a trip to Payless this morning for supplies - maybe our last trip there before heading home. And we bought another pair of the 25 cent tennis shoes for Hannah. Yes, we found these cute Ked-type shoes there last week for 25 cents. Today we bought another pair in a bigger size for the future. Below is a picture of Boston and Hannah trying out a new bubble blowing set this morning on the lanai.

Peter and Boston stayed in the room for naps this afternoon and I took the kids to the pool. It started raining just after we got all sunscreened and were heading down the stairs. Oh well - the kids still had a great afternoon at the pool, I watched them from the shelter of the outdoor covered patio here. Then the Joneses and the Harveys joined us for a part of the afternoon there, and we had dinner together at the hotel. It was great to get to know these families better, and to talk about our experiences here. It has been a gift to have their company this week!

Below is a picture of us from the end of our dinner with the beautiful Marshallese artwork and woodwork in the background.

This is the Jones family from Virginia - with their 5 year old daughter (who enjoyed the pool with Jacob and Hannah this afternoon) and their new 10 week old daughter (who is a sweetie but only showed the back of her head for this picture!)

This is the Harvey family from Oregon, with their 11 month old daughter.

Here are Peter and Boston enjoying a little ice cream at the end of dinner! Boston has the big spoon ready to dig in.
Bye for now - Love, Lois

Wednesday night, Day #27 away from home

Good evening!

It’s Wednesday evening here….it was rainy most of the day here today and cooler than normal – maybe only 80 and humid. We got our DHL tracking number today from the embassy – and learned that our papers have now been to Hong Kong and Seoul Korea, since leaving Manila on Tuesday afternoon.

The video above is from this morning in the room. The kids are sitting on the inside edge of the sliding glass door, and trying to sing the Marshallese tune of "Happy Birthday". It isn't anyone's birthday here - just a silly way to start the day. Hannah isn't singing much because she still had her vitamin in her mouth to chew. Jacob is very excited during the video, as you'll see...but I thought you'd enjoy seeing these three and Boston singing and clapping, hugging the kids, etc.

This morning I looked at the RMI guidebook for ideas of things to do today. We headed off to the Alele Museum, to see some examples of Marshallese canoes and learn some history. It took us a few drive bys to find the museum and when we went to go in – the sign on the door said “come back when we are open!” The hours were 9-12 and we were there at almost 10am…oh well. I laughed at the sign. We learned since that it took another about 5 tries to find the museum open, but that it was worth the trip. So, we'll probably try again! We have time.

After our museum try, Hannah spotted the tuna can rental car (which the Jones family is renting now) at EZ Price Mart, so we pulled in there and visited with them awhile. We promised them we were not stalking them – we were just bored! We thought about bowling, but the Majuro Bowl was not yet open.

Peter and the boys came back to the hotel and took a walk, and Hannah went with me to try and get my hair cut. The picture of Hannah above is of her almost curly hair in the rain and humidity today. Couldn’t get the haircut done with the time we had left, but we took some pictures downtown and found swim rings to replace ours which sprang leaks here.

I thought you would enjoy the picture of this chicken restaurant. Isn’t it a complete take off of Kentucky Fried Chicken?! The colors and everything! And instead of being the “colonel” in the picture, the chicken mascot is the “Marshall!” and it says that on his tie. The other pictures are of the bank and post office, to give you a sense of the downtown area.

At noon (yes, it was a long morning!) we went to visit Jacob’s birth family again. I practiced my 10 – 15 Marshallese words, and we all appreciated the Grandmother's new fan oscillating and making a breeze! We passed out gum to the 25 or so kids that were around playing there. Eomi and Danny gave us each a gift of jewelry . You can see Hannah and Jacob’s necklaces in the picture below – as they are sitting with Eomi and Danny, and their two little boys.
Back at the hotel, I stayed in the room so Boston could nap, and Peter took the kids swimming in the rain. Tonight we met up with the two other American families for dinner. It was a great time - even though with 6 adults and 6 kids not everyone was sitting at the table during all of the dinner! We are going to think of other ways to get together in the days ahead so the kids can play and we can visit. It was wonderful for us to be together with these other families - as we are all going through the same experiences.

Bye for now - thanks for keeping up on our adventure. Love, Lois

Tuesday - a day at the beach

Hello on Tuesday evening in RMI! This morning we took Boston back to the doctor for a recheck, since he had finished his antibiotics. Thank God that the pneumonia is gone! That was great news to start our day. Then we headed to Laura Beach for our 3rd visit there. The beach was completely different than the last two visits and we have to learn from the locals here how it happens. Peter thinks it might be called a lunar tide or something....an enormous part of the beach that was underwater before was now uncovered....coral, and all kinds of things were exposed. People from the area were walking way out and collecting shells and other treasures. It was more like a swimming pool in places, because Jacob and Peter were both jumping in from the shore/beach - so there was no wading into the water - it was more like sliding or jumping in, with the first step being 3 - 4 feet deep. It was a lot of fun - windy, sunny, and fascinating. As the water changed and the tide came in - we could see the coral farther out be covered by the water almost before our eyes, and the locals folks combing the coral had gone to shore. The fallen tree in the picture above was in the water last week and the trees behind the log are near where we parked. Jacob was jumping off of it into the water for fun. Today that tree was a long long way from the water's edge. It was such a surprise to us. Below are Jacob and Hannah enjoying their time in the clear and warm water.

And below is Boston in his big sun hat enjoying the time too!

And here is a long distance picture of the beach after the tide came in - the boys enjoying running on the sand.

We came back to the hotel, cleaned up and then Hannah and I went out to dinner by ourselves, and the guys stayed back in the room and ordered a pizza. We learned this afternoon that our papers are leaving Manila today by DHL. They will go to Guam and then here to RMI. When the papers arrive - we can be on the next flight out....any Monday, Wednesday or Friday night! It seems like we might be leaving here next Monday night then - we'll keep you posted!

A second family from the states arrived today to adopt their 11 month old daughter. It is nice to have these families here in the same hotel, and we look forward to spending some more time with them once they are done with their first few days of court, embassy, etc. Nice to be the veterans and on the home stretch here. Bye for now - I'm off to the 3rd floor, room 341 and join the rest of the family for a night of sleep! Love, Lois

Monday, Monday June 22, 2009

Hi on Monday evening in RMI! No news on our paper work progress today. I spoke to the U.S. Embassy contact here twice today and they are calling and emailing Manila to see where the papers are...but no answer yet. We continue to wait and pray. We did a grocery run this morning and spent a little time at the playground. Here's a picture of the kids waiting for our room to be cleaned this morning - they were hot and sweaty and ready to get inside the air conditioning.

We did have a very special experience this morning. We had just been visiting with the Joneses, the new family who arrived last night - and they got the call that the facilitator was in the lobby for their first meeting with their 10-week old daughter and the foster caregiver. We quickly left their room--but got to see the beautiful little girl on our way down the hall!

Hannah is still not feeling quite herself - we had another quiet afternoon and even Jacob didn't want to go swimming today! The time here is dragging and wearing on all of us. The kids have done really well with all the things they have experienced here, but it's been a lot to deal with at times. Peter said today that he couldn't WAIT to get back to work! Yes, I think that was after he waited in the car with all three kids while I ran back into the grocery store for one thing we forgot!!

Here is a scenery shot for you today too - we enjoyed watching some ocean waves crashing the shore before dinner tonight.

We had dinner with the Joneses and that was very fun. They took this photo for us in the lobby of the restaurant. I see now that the camera caught Boston reaching up to that cabinet above the fish tank - he is a fun and curious boy. Tonight getting everyone ready for bed - he was anxious for his bath, pulling on his clothes, etc. I was putting the dinner leftovers in the fridge before starting the water in the tub. He came over to me, turned my face to his with his hand, and said "MaMa tu tu" (bath)! I loved that and we did go right to the tub then. Of course, he calls Peter MaMa also! Bye for now - Sending our love across the miles of ocean and land between us! Lois

The Longest Day - June 21, 2009

Hello on Sunday evening! I have a bit of catch-up to do... Saturday morning Peter took the boys to the playground while and Hannah and I did an errand to buy Peter an RMI t-shirt for Father's Day. That secret errand didn't stay secret very long. Jacob (in the yellow shirt below) got to shoot baskets with some bigger boys and he really enjoyed that. The playground and basketball court is on the grounds of the College of the Marshall Islands, a two-year college here.
Saturday afternoon, after a nap for Boston and a couple games of Uno and Memory for the rest of us, we went to Jacob’s birth home and visited with his birth grandmother and some of his aunts. It rained off and on all day yesterday and today – our only 2 days in a row here that the kids did not go swimming. On the way back to the hotel we stopped for an early dinner, then baths and books and bed. Even here, so very far from home, our days have some routine which I think helps us all. Boston loves his bath, in fact he gets excited any time anyone takes a bath or shower. We've learned to say "go to the bath?" in Marshallese - and he just beams when we say it!

This morning Peter took Jacob and Hannah out to breakfast and they all had fun doing that. Boston and I stayed back in the room to play and give Jacob and Hannah some special time with Peter. Our church service this morning had lots of special parts to celebrate Father’s Day. At one point, the women of the church sang some songs, then presented each father with a towel, with gifts tied all over it. It’s a beach towel rolled tightly into a tube shape…then on Peter’s towel were razors, gum, a toothbrush, “beauty skin cloth” and deodorant all tied onto the towel with ribbons. The towel is worn around the neck. The man in front of us, who I think is an ambassador for Taiwan handed Jacob a Kit Kat that he took off his towel. Jacob was glad for the treat during church, but what a mess to share a partly melted Kit Kat with your sister! He didn’t have to share with Boston as he had already fallen asleep on Peter’s shoulder. After two hours of the service, the pastor began to preach, and then there was going to be a celebration afterwards with food for Father’s Day too. Hannah had gotten a headache, so we left before the service was completely over. I think Hannah just got overheated in church this morning. She and I spent the afternoon in the hotel room with her resting, us reading books, coloring, watching a dvd, etc. Peter and the boys kept our appointment to visit Jacob’s birth mother Eomi this afternoon - but couldn't find her - so we'll try again another day for that.

I have to tell you a little more about Boston too - he is quite the athlete - with water bottle baseball in the room, etc. He loves to walk to the outside/hallway door of the hotel room and stand there with his back to it - facing the sliding glass doors at the other end of the room. He then runs with all his might across the length of the room and into Peter's arms, laughing so hard! I told Peter it looks like a pole vaulter running that full-out sprint, only there is no pole at the other end for us - but a sliding glass door, lanai and 3 floors down to the ocean! I'll try and get a video to post another time of this fun.

Due to summer travel - Continental Airlines has added a fourth flight each week from Hawaii to Majuro arriving here on Sunday afternoons. A family from the east coast arrived late this afternoon to adopt their daughter this week. We had a chance to meet them tonight at our hotel and visit briefly. It was fun to be able to give them a gallon of water so that they didn't have to run to the store tonight, and also answer a few of those first questions. They have a 5 year old daughter named Grace. Jacob, Hannah and Grace were playing together within minutes of meeting each other. We are looking forward to getting to know them in the days ahead. My current question is -- now that there are four flights into RMI each week, why are there still only three flights out of RMI each week. Where do all those other people go?

Below is a picture I took after dinner tonight. I think the restful afternoon did us all good. Tonight at dinner, when we were the only people in the Tide Table restaurant (they served a big Father's Day brunch earlier and so all the usuals must have already eaten at brunch!), Jacob asked me why our servers always say "please enjoy your dinner". I told him it was because they hoped you liked your food and wanted to come back again. He then said very seriously "but Mom, we come back here every day!" We all had a good laugh at that.

It was a good Father's Day here. Hope the same is true for all of you!

Tomorrow morning we’ll call the US Embassy and see if there is any news of our papers in Manila. Is this our last week here? I told Peter that we could be packed and ready to go in two hours – truly! Bye for now - Love, Lois

Happy Fathers' Day a bit early!

Here's a picture from this morning on the lanai, showing Boston some bubbles! The kids have their RMI shirts on - bright colors with the flag on the back.

It's Saturday night in RMI, 9:30pm and I'm the last person left in the restaurant at our hotel using the wireless internet. So I'll keep this short for now - Sending our love across the miles on Father's Day, wishing my Dad and Peter's Dad a very happy Father's Day. So grateful for Peter and his love and care for our three kids!

I'll post more tomorrow...but Peter is taking Jacob and Hannah out to breakfast tomorrow before church. It will be great for them to have him to themselves for a bit. I'll miss my usual posting to the blog at breakfast time, but promise to post later on Sunday here.

Love, Lois

The Fourth Saturday - June 20, 2009

Good morning again - We arrived here in Majuro four Saturdays ago! Not that I'm counting (!), but this is day 23rd gone from home now. Above is the video from Laura Beach of all the kids ganging up on Peter - it's silly but fun - hope you enjoy it!

Friday morning we drove over to Boston's birth family's home and visited with them. A neighbor who had gone to high school in California was there - and she helped us a lot with translation. It was great to be in their home, to see a bit of what their daily life is....Emcilla was making pancakes when we arrived - one at a time on a hot plate. It took her almost an hour to make the pile of pancakes. They didn't want to go to lunch with us yesterday, so we made plans for that next Friday. I thought that I passed out my last batch of dum dum suckers to all the kids in that neighborhood yesterday - but when we got back to the hotel, I found one more whole bag of dum dum suckers!! Shouldn't be too hard to pass those out in the rest of the time we are here, because I am only bringing a few on the plane trip home just in case. Boston was sad when we left his birth family, but had the best transition afterwards so far. I thank God for how well this has been going - to live with us but visit his birth family occasionally. We 5 went out to lunch afterwards and the kids were all so well behaved. Boston literally fell asleep while eating his ramen - I saw his head bobbing right into the bowl! Boston is really affectionate with us all and seems comfortable and not afraid. He loves the routine of our daily activities here - running to get his shoes on whenever it is time to leave the hotel room, having taken over Hannah's water cup as his own, and other fun things.

In the afternoon we were all down by the beach at the lagoon and the kids had a lot of fun swimming. Mamwich, one of the security guards that we have gotten to know here, was hosting his church's youth group for a picnic and boat rides. He had just given us a big plate of bbq chicken, hot dog, rice and potato salad...and Boston and I made a trip upstairs to put it in the frig to eat it later. We were walking into our hotel room, and I looked out into the lagoon as always, and there goes Mamwich paddling a canoe and the boy in the front of it was Jacob! We hurried back down to take photos, but the ride was already over by then. Jacob loved hearing that I saw him from our 3rd floor lanai doors, and he was thrilled to have been asked by Mamwich to go on the canoe ride. The two pictures below are of the lagoon swimmers yesterday, some boats way off in the distance, and then the canoe Jacob went for a ride on - but in this picture it was other kids' turn.



The picture above was of Jacob and Hannah talking about something at the water's edge. I thought it was cute. And below is our happy Boston who loves to run around the beach investigating rocks and bugs and the taste of sand.

Showers and early jammies for the kids after the late afternoon lagoon swimming, and a quiet evening in the hotel room. The power went out for awhile this afternoon and the room quickly heated up. I was thankful when it came back on - we are very grateful for the air conditioning here.

No plans for today - some errands, and perhaps visiting Jacob's birth family again. Bye for now - Love, Lois

Friday June 19, 2009

Good morning on Friday. It rained this morning, but has already cleared and the sun is shining as I type. We had a terrific day at Laura Beach yesterday (top picture). One of the odd things for us here is how public everything is...and Peter and I are pretty private people. So we drive up to that chain link strand that is the gate to Laura Beach, and Hannah and I got out of the car to pay the lady our $4.50 for the entry fee. Then the questions start - the lady asks me if Hannah is Marshallese, and then asks me who her birth mother is. I'm thinking come on - we are an hour from the downtown of Majuro, 30,000 people live here, she was born six years ago - you can't possibly know Hannah's birth mother...but she was sure that she did!!

Here are some other random pictures - sorry some of them are not zoomed in better - it was so bright on the beach - I could not see much on the camera display! Hannah (above) was in the water the whole time - couldn't be bothered with eating lunch until we were on the way home, and then she promptly fell asleep in the back seat after she ate a sandwich. Boston was saying something very serious to us in the picture below as he ate his pbj sandwich. He really enjoys eating and that has been fun. Just two nights ago at dinner - he saw the cup of soup I had ordered for myself and ate it all. The soup of the day was chicken vegetable, but when it arrived the server said it was really beef tomato. Whatever you called it - Boston loved it and all the veggies in it. So then last night we ordered him soup again - it was "beef noodles" soup and he ate it all. Fun to see him enjoying new things. He really likes chicken (bao) and rice. He uses the chicken pieces like my Armenian Uncle Abe used bread at a meal - as a utensil almost. Boston takes a piece of chicken, scoops up some rice with it, kind of balls it together and then puts both things in his mouth.

Jacob had a great time at Laura Beach swimming, jumping off this fallen tree, throwing a coconut like a football in the water, etc. He was the first one to sleep last night - four hours playing in the ocean tired out even energetic Jacob!

At one point when all five of us were in the crystal clear water - Peter said this was the most fun he's had the whole trip so far - and I had to agree. We had the beach to ourselves for almost the whole four hours we were there. And you might have noticed that the kids always have shirts on - the custom here is to swim in your clothes... We just throw tshirts over swim suits to get the same effect.

I tried uploading a video from yesterday, but it is still uploading after 30 minutes. I will try again another time to post it here, maybe when I have a faster connection.

Today we are taking Boston's birth family to lunch. It's been 5 days since we have seen them. Boston will be thrilled to see them, and then sad to leave them again, but this process seems to be working as he adjusts to our family. Bye for now - Love, Lois