Road Trip Part 1: California

Since I visited the Oregon Coast in 2005, I have wanted to drive along the Pacific from San Francisco to Seattle. When a work conference was scheduled in San Francisco this summer, we decided to go for it, partially motivated by the fact that we only had two children and were planning to grow our family. We thought it would be simpler this way, but then were happily surprised by #3.

Since I was already in California, we asked the children's Godmother Carolyn if we could fly her out with Joshua and our 5, 2, and 1 year old. She made the trip possible and visited a college roommate for a few days before flying back home. 

We spent the first day of our trip walking the city of San Francisco.

We made a stop to see the Sea Lions, which Sophia observed had "mermaid tails".

And the site of the first public playground in the United States.

We stayed in 8 different accommodations on our adventure and Sophia loved the royal theme of our second one, which was located in Glenhaven, CA.

We continued to drive North to Fort Bragg, CA where we explored the glass beach.

It is known for having a high concentration of sea glass. Similar to searching for seashells, we were able to bring home many different colors.

 We veered off the coast to drive through the Avenue of the Giants. The Redwoods seemed even more immense in comparison to our little ones.

 Our last stop before crossing the California border was Eureka where we stayed with our friends Jill and Dale Maples. Sophia was thrilled to have more children to play with and we enjoyed talking with them about foster care ministry as they represent The Forgotten Initiative in their region.

Sophia's 5th Birthday Letter

My dearest Sophia (favorite nicknames this year: Monkey, Sweetie. Sophia Girl)

Happy fifth birthday!

This year has been fun. You have continued to flourish at CKH and have a deep love for reading. You have taken to memorizing books, so you can “read” to your mom or I, or your brother. You love words, and are always asking “what do these letters spell?” or “what does that word mean?” You love to take out joke books and books full of puns from the library and laugh along to each, and have started to get into knock-knock jokes.

I can’t wait till you connect all the dots for reading and the world of reading on your own is opened for you. (Even if I worry slightly about being able to get your attention when you are deep into a book in the future). 

This was a big year for our family as Jason was adopted and you formally welcomed him into our family at the party at church by singing your heart out in front of 150 people a song you came up with on the spot "Happy Adoption Day", sung to the tune of Happy Birthday. You have fiercely loved your brother into our family from day one and have not skipped a beat celebrating the good of adoption, even as you try to wrap your brain around the hard parts of adoption at the same time.

Your compassionate heart has been on full display this year as we welcomed numerous “foster friends” into our home for a weekend, or a week. My favorite quote on this topic was one you shared with Mom, that you wished we had more beds in our house so we could welcome more foster friends.

Your first instinct is often to get down on the floor to help a new friend in our home feel comfortable with toys or help feed them. You beam with pride when you tell your mom and I that you now classify as a helper and not a kid. Thank you for those moments, and we look forward to seeing that helper mentality grow with age.

When you were born, I remember looking forward to the day that we could have full conversations about every day things. Those days are here. And driving in the car is often a great chance to hear your thoughts and questions. For example, while driving the other day you asked how medics were able to help sick people in the ambulance while it was moving. We then proceeded to have a 10+ minute conversation about different situations of sick people of varying ages and what medics would have to do for each while driving to the hospital and how they would do that.

You often ask to play car games or sing songs in the car, and love time with any extended family. It is only when your mom and I are alone that we realize how much of our daily conversations involve your participation. You are all in.

You take an "all of the above approach" to life. When asked what you like best, and are provided a list to pick from, you often say "all of them". When asked what activity you want to do, and are given options, you often say "all of them". It is this passion for life that we love most about you.

You run hard, play hard, love hard, negotiate hard, and want to do “just one more” and try it all almost every day. You are fiercely (and stubbornly) independent at times, but still ask to sit in my lap to read books (and I will never turn you down for that).

You have internalized many of the truths about Jesus this year, and I so enjoy hearing you make sense of the world through that lens. And I am so grateful for so many in our church family that have loved you well this year.

Have a great sixth year, as the fifth was truly fulfilling.

Love,

Daddy

First Fish

During his first time fishing, Jason was the first person to catch a fish at our church's "Take a Kid Fishing Day" with the assistance of Pastor Drew.

Sophia's 5th Birthday

5 felt big, in a similar way to how 2 felt big. Still not very big, but seemingly a greater leap than a year.

When Sophia turned two it became clear that she was no longer a baby (amplified by the fact that her infant brother joined us that year) and all of a sudden at 5 we have entered a new stage as well.

The birthday celebrations began in New Hampshire on her Dad's birthday. While there are thirty years between them, the calendar dates of their birthdays are less than a month apart. On Joshua's birthday they spent some time looking through his baby book (they looked a lot alike).

Grandpa made birthday cakes out of the only snow left in the yard at the end of April.

And Grammie made real cakes, to celebrate the April and May birthdays in the family. 

Back home, Sophia designed her own cake with an oreo cookie crust, cotton candy and dulce de leche frozen yogurts, butterfinger topping and rainbow sprinkles. 

A few days before her actual birthday, we went to the Chocolate Buffet at the Langham Hotel to celebrate a big birthday for her Nana.

All three of us had dessert for lunch and discussed our favorites from the 200 featured items on the train ride home.

Birthday week festivities also included a sleep over with family friends Brittany and Kevin.

The morning of Sophia's birthday she came downstairs to the three items she had requested for her special breakfast.

A chocolate croissant, a chocolate milkshake, and a hard boiled egg.

She shared her pizza dinner with grandparents, godparents, parents, her brother, her Aunt Aimee and a little one who would be turning 1 just a few days later. Our prayer is that there will be many more Happy Birthdays for both of these girls!

Spring Adventures

This spring has been filled with adventurous activity, at least by 2 and 4 year old standards.

While we were in Pennsylvania for Easter, we made a trip to the Tyler Arboretum, a favorite place of my childhood.

They currently have a series of tree houses spaced throughout the woods.

Jason loved the one that was built in the shape of a guitar with musical instruments on the walls inside.

Sophia was helpful with the ones that required climbing.

It was a joyful way to welcome in spring after a long winter.

Almost all of the house components are made from natural materials, including tunnel entrances.

We were glad Uncle James was able to take the day off work to spend it with us.

Our next spring adventure, was a return to the cold, with Sophia's first time on ice skates.

The Friends of Foster Care sponsored this wonderful event for foster families.

A new friend very patiently helped Sophia, until she was moving across the rink on her own.

Jason was not interested in trying on skates and much preferred to drive the Zamboni.

Also sponsored by the Friends of Foster Care, was a day at Furnace Brook Farm Therapeutic Riding.

We had gotten a photo of Sophia on top of a pony about three years ago, but this was the first time she really rode.

She also had an opportunity to feed and groom some horses.

I have always loved these gentle giants and it was wonderful to see my children interact with them.

On to more adventures!

Jason's Adoption Party

Ten days after we left the courthouse, we celebrated Jason's adoption with neighbors, family, and friends from as far as Colorado, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut and as near as walking distance from the building. We wish you all could have been there!

Jason's adoption is about adding, his name begins with those given to him by his birth mother before Archambault was added and his body continues to flow with the blood of a father and mother that are not Joshua or I. 

We celebrated with Ecuadorian music coming from the speakers and pictures of his birth mother in the slide show of his first 2 1/2 years of life. Our hope is that we will be able to sustain a relationship with his mother and connect with his father and half-siblings.

Jason's Speech Therapist

Trains are Jason's current favorite and his Aunt Aimee and our friend Kim brought the theme to life with tables turned into steam engines, railroad tracks, a photo booth with train props, and a train car buffet table. The train shirt he wore was mine as a child.

A train running alongside one wall displayed some of our favorite quotes about adoption, such as:

"In adoption, a child is not given up. A birth mother gives life, she gives a part of her heart that will never feel whole. And the adoptive mother gives her life to the child, as well as a part of her heart to another mother."- Tevva Cooper

Sophia singing "Happy Adoption" to her brother

"Adoption has the dimension of connection - not only to your own tribe, but beyond, widening the scope of what constitutes love, ties, and family. It is a larger embrace. By adopting, we stretch past our immediate circles and, by reaching out, find an unexpected sense of belonging with others."-Isabella Rossellini

It has been said that adoption is more like a marriage than a birth: two (or more) individuals, each with their own unique mix of needs, patterns and genetic history, coming together with love, hope, and commitment for a joint future. You become a family not because you share the same genes, but because you share the same love for each other." -Joan McNamara

"Family not only need to consist of merely those whom we share blood, but also those for whom we'd give blood." -Charles Dickens

"He is hers in a way that he will never be mine, he is mine in a way that he will never be hers, and together, we are his mothers."- Desha Wood

We are thankful to everyone for bringing food to share, to the decorators and party planners. To Alison and Ross MacDonald for the 4 ft letters with lights from their company DorisLoves USA. To Ashley Ringius for the cake (Each tier with one of his names, the first three given to him by his Mom and the bottom one with Archambault) and Melissa Fuccillo with Lovelifepics.com. We are fortunate to have such creative and generous friends.