Sunday June 14, 2009

Good Sunday morning to you all from the Marshall Islands! We are off to church in a little while, and then Gordon and his family have invited us on a boat excursion to another atoll for the afternoon. It should be a very fun day.

Here is a shot from last night of Hannah on the balcony just before sunset. She has enjoyed the almost daily visits from her birth mother and 1/2 brother. As we were leaving the grocery store yesterday afternoon, a lady came up to us and said she was Hannah's cousin. She recognized Hannah from pictures she'd seen of her.

We spent the morning on errands, and selecting a gift for Boston's birth family. Then we spent time in their courtyard and playing with all the kids. We brought Capri Sun juice pouches and balloons which were a hit. Boston had a great time seeing his birth family and playing with all the neighborhood kids too. He was sad, of course, when we left them....but it seems to be an easier transition each time. We won't see them again for 5 full days now and we'll keep adding a day between our visits. From all we read before this trip - this is our best idea for how to help Boston in his attachment to our family.

Yesterday at dinner - one of the servers came over to us because she said she recognized Jacob and Hannah from when they were babies. Her sister was one of the other birth moms placing a child at the same time we were here in 2003. We got to know her sister and those kids on that visit, and so it was fun to hear now what that family was up to. Maybe I'm a slow learner - but it still surprises me how many people know us, our kids, or are related to our kids or to someone they know!






Jacob was having a bath after dinner last night - and Boston really wanted to climb in with him. So here are the boys posing for one quick tub shot. Boston was much browner than Jacob when we first met him, but all this time in the sunshine here and Jacob has quickly caught up.

All three kids are doing great. Boston is responding well to his pneumonia meds and seems to be feeling much much better. Hannah switches between being mothering and hovering to Boston, to then being bothered if he gets into her "stuff". Jacob is fighting a cold but doesn't want to miss a thing or an opportunity to go and do things outside of the hotel. That is true of all of us - the hotel room has been fine, (we are especially thankful for the air conditioning) but it is nice to get away from it every day too! So with that - I'll sign off for today and hope to have lots of pictures and news tomorrow about our Sunday afternoon adventure to another island. Love, Lois