Happy Father's Day

We had a wonderful day today. Spent time in the pool this morning with our friends Kristen, Patrick, Parker, and Taber. After lunch, returned to the pool for more swimming fun. Then, the boys took a late nap (3-5), after which my mom watched them, so Rupert and I could go to dinner. The boys enjoyed chili with my mom, popsicles outside, and lots of bike riding. Rupert and I drove to Stowe and enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the Stowehof. (On Sunday nights they offer a special deal where two entrees and a bottle of wine are $59.) This is where we stayed just a little over five years ago, the weekend of our wedding (since we didn't take our official honeymoon to Hawaii until I finished teaching in June). A special thanks to my mom for suggesting she watch the boys and we go out for dinner. We had a lovely time, and the boys certainly enjoyed spending time with Grandma!
Here's a photo of our family of 4. Rupert is wearing the new shirt we gave him.

The Pool Boys!

Loving this summer weather! Donovan and Aaron absolutely LOVE the pool. Rupert found a way to make a "firehose" by putting a waky noodle up to the water return spot, so the water goes into the waky noodle and shoots out. Suffice to say both boys are now begging to be "firefighters" everytime we are in the pool. They also love jumping into a float we have (which they call the "boat") and then Aaron begs to have me tip it over so he falls into the water (screaming "tip me, tip me").

2 Months...and a lot of Emotions...

Two months ago today we met Aaron, and tomorrow will mark two months since we legally adopted our wonderful son. What a wonderful two months it has been for our new family of four! Every day gets better and better! Aaron is adjusting so well to his new home, brother, routines, etc. His English is coming along so incredibly well. I'd say he understands over 90% of what is said, and most of the time he is able to communicate what he wants. We still have a tantrum or two each day, but much less than before. He's learning our expectations. Mealtimes have improved tremendously this week after a rough few days. We just feel so lucky to have both our sons...

I must admit, emotionally, it's been a tough week or so in our home. (Some of you, especially my online friends on RQ know the details of this. Thank you for your cyber hugs and support.) We've unfortunately been dealing with someone who truly does not understand the spirit of adoption and is choosing to have a difficult time accepting Aaron. (How anyone who has seen his photos or met this loving and enthuiastic boy could have trouble accepting him is impossible for me to understand!).

Adoption is truly a leap of faith - but so is becoming the parent of any child, biological or adopted. Rupert and I truly believe that every child is innocent and deserves a family to love them. Have we ever wondered what possible situation in Aaron's birth family led them to make the decision to abandon him (such as extreme poverty, death of one of the parents, or having a 2nd child in a country with a One Child Population Law)? Yes, but we will never ever know those details, and you know what, it doesn't really matter. We do feel so fortunate that Aaron's birthmother CHOSE LIFE for him - certainly she could have made a different choice, but she chose LIFE by abandoning him in a public place. Now, HE IS OUR SON, and WE LOVE HIM UNCONDITIONALLY, the same way we feel about Donovan.

What we do know is he was an orphan in China for three years. He was in a need of a family. One look at his gorgeous photo, and we just knew he was to be our son, and we WANTED to be his family. As the quote on my blog says, "Adopting a child won't save the world...but for that one child, the world will change." We chose to give Aaron a chance at the love of a family, access to an education and medical care, and a future absolutely beyond anything available to him in China as an orphan. We feel like we have done something so selfless in adopting one of China's orphans, and that by having Aaron as our son, we are so richly blessed.

We do want to thank everyone who has welcomed Aaron, and sent us such supportive emails, cards, phone messages, and gifts. Our new little boy has been showered with love by so many kind and wonderful friends. Thank you!

Our Adoption Announcement...

Finally...on the eve before it is two months after we met Aaron, our adoption announcements are ready. (Better late than never!) A huge thank you to Kelli Mills for designing the layout. Several years ago I followed Kelli's mom's blog when she adopted Kelli's younger sister, Zoe, from China. I was in awe of the beautiful adoption announcement Kelli created for Zoe, and made a note to contact her when it was our turn to adopt. Thank you Kelli!
When Donovan was born, Rupert took the photo when Donovan was one week old, and they were in the mail before Donovan was two weeks old. With Aaron, by the time we got home, settled in, deciding on wording, and took some photos of him in his gorgeous Chinese outfit, and ordered the announcements...well here we are two months later.
We are so happy with how the announements turned out!

Fantastic Day at Shelburne Farms

Today Donovan's wonderful childcare provider, Lisa, organized a field trip to Shelburne Farms. She was kind enough to let us come along with both Donovan and Aaron - and Rupert took the day off from work. The weather was great, and the kids had such a great time. They have been talking all afternoon and evening about the tractor ride up to the Farm Barn, the chickens (which they were able to pet and were amazed that one of their friends, Eli, was able to pick a chicken up all by himself), all the animals (donkeys, piglets, lambs and sheep, goats, cows, etc.) Both boys got to pet a beautiful rabbit, and Donovan chose to milk a (big!) cow! (He told everyone it pooped after his friend Eli milked it, and he had to wait for them to clean up the poop before he milked the cow!) Here are a few photos from our wonderful day!