Monday, April 07, 2008

A Long Overdue Update

Wow, I can believe it has already been nearly 4 months since our last blog update. I just got busy, and thought I would do it later…pretty soon a few weeks turned into a few months and I just never got around to it. I will try to keep this reasonable in length, but I have a lot of ground to cover.

Christmas…We had a wonderful Christmas. This year was the best so far. Aiden was at an age where he could grasp the concept of Santa and it was a blast. The kids of course got way too much stuff, but each child selected 2 gifts to donate to an orphanage in Honduras that we planned to visit in February.

Vacation…We went on our much anticipated cruise vacation through Central America. During our week long trip, we visited four countries and had a wonderful time.

First stop was Roatan, Honduras were we visited an orphanage and lots of brought supplies. The boys both really enjoyed the time with the kids at the orphanage. The children were so grateful for all the stuff we brought as was the caregiver. We also got to play with Monkeys while we were in Honduras.

Next stop was Guatemala were we went up the Rio De Leche to a Mayan village in the Rainforest and visited a community and school. We all loved our visit to Guatemala, Chaunta and I agreed that it reminded us very much of the area of Vietnam that Liam came from).

Next we went to Belize City where we snorkeled on the Great Barrier Reef and swam with sting rays. The kids spent most of the time on the boat with my mother, but did swim with the sting rays. Liam just loved it and was touching all over them…Aiden however was pretty scared.

Our last stop was Cozumel, Mexico where we spent the day at a beach resort. I had the privilige of performing a wedding ceremony for my sister and her fiancé. It was a great wedding right on the beach.

Easter…
The boys were really excited about Easter this year. Especially Aiden…I think he thought that the Easter Bunny was like Santa Clause. He kept telling us what he wanted the Easter Bunny to bring. We did explain the true meaning of easter, and he did grasp it (kinda).

Adoption…We continue to wait for a referral, but we do expect to see one this summer. We officially went on the waiting list in July of last year. They have been telling us the wait should be approximately 12 months since we switched programs. According to the message board, we are 2nd on the list for a girl. However, referrals seemed to have slowed in the recent months. In any case, we are really not in a big rush like we were last time. With two boys, we keep very busy.

Overall…Overall, our family is doing well. Aiden is thriving at his new school. His teacher just loves him and has had a huge impact on him. We are so thankful for Ms. Liz. Aiden will turn 4 next month….WOW, it is hard to believe. Liam is doing well also. He is now 2.5 and really doing great, but the terrible part of two’s are really setting in. My last post was about his potty training. He continues to do really well. He will start preschool in October when he turns 3.

Chaunta and I are doing well also. We recently joined a gym and have been working out together a few times a week. We really enjoy doing something together (and getting a small break from the kids).