Boston Caleb Stenstrom

Hello on Tuesday afternoon! I tried to post this morning, but was unsuccessful - so will try again now around 1pm here. Peter and the three kids are back in the room. When I left, Jacob, Hannah and Boston each had a sucker in their mouth and had just found some kids tv to watch. Looking out the windows here - the lagoon/ocean is just 10 feet away and beautifully blue! Today is bright sunshine and hot....the previous three days have been overcast and rainy at times.

Court yesterday went really well - One hour and 15 minutes....The birth mother was called first on the witness stand, then me, then Peter - then it was done. The picture above is in front of the Judge's bench after it was done. You can see that Boston was not impressed with the proceedings - he fell asleep during court and had a nap.

The hours after court were a flurry of car rides - getting his passport pictures, a celebration lunch with the birth mother, lawyer and others involved in the process here; getting Boston's new birth certificate; applying for his Marshallese passport; and seeing the doctor for his immigration physical. The facilitator here and the lawyer are exceptional people - we accomplished in hours yesterday what took DAYS the last time we were here! About 5:30pm we were together as our family of 5 in our hotel room. Boston is a brave little boy, but obviously is having some really sad times. He also has perked up at times and played hard with all of us. We are so thankful to God that he slept the whole night through!

This morning we went to the lawyer's office to go over all the papers for today's appointment. And the passport that was to be expedited for Boston was not yet done - but thanks to the lawyer's history - he just called the attorney general (who signs the passport) and got it done before their office closed at noon for the lunch break. I guess no one showed up to work today at that passport office, so things came to a halt! Island time!

I'll keep this short because we have to leave soon for our US Embassy appointment at 2pm today - the last big step in the paperwork process here. It will also be another time for Boston to see his birth mother, since she has to be interviewed as well....so we realize these days will be full of happy and sad times.

Boston is a darling boy - has a great twinkle in his eyes, can throw great from both arms, (as we threw stuffed animals and koosh balls in the room yesterday), babbles, laughs, loves playing with Jacob and Hannah....and enjoys food - especially candy and MOUNTAIN DEW! Yikes!

Thanks for your love and prayers and support across all these miles! More tomorrow! Love, Lois for the FIVE of us