The moment has arrived! Nathaniel is a wonderful baby. HUGE and wonderful. He eats a lot and sleeps well; in fact we are just coming off a 6 hour stretch! Here he is. The woman in pink is his foster mother.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
On the Home Front
So Annie and Sarah are in Taiwan living the high life of Champagne and caviar (ok, maybe M&Ms and Seaweed flavored Pringles). I'm at home with Sammy and my Mom (Sam calls her "Oma"). Can you blame us for not wanting to bring a feisty 18 month-old on that plane trip? We also couldn't leave Sam for a week without one of us home.
Things are going fine here at home (Don't worry, Annie!). We're playing with Sam's little toy guitar, putting on every baseball cap in the house, and dancing to John Mayer (See Photos). Sorry the pictures are blurry. Sam moves too fast for the camera on my phone!
We're also spending a good bit of time wrestling:
Or going on "walks":
(I think Opa taught Sam how to exercise!)And we're keeping a picture of Annie and Sarah around Sam. Here he is giving it kisses:
When Sam goes to bed at night, he usually just grabs his blanket and a nook. Tonight, he wouldn't go to bed without his picture of Mommy and Sarah. When Oma brought his blanket and bottle to him, Sam ran over, took their picture off the fridge, and brought it along to bed.
What a blessing Sam is, and what a blessing Nathaniel is.
-Peter
Barsch Week
We have declared the last week in June as Barsch week. June 29, 2002 I became a Barsch when I married Peter. [Happy Anniversary love!] June 27, 2007 Sam became a Barsch when we picked him up. Today, June 30, 2008, Nathaniel will become a Barsch.
Labor Pains
My friend and colleague Kelly, also a mother of adopted children, once said that every child enters the world through pain. She told me to think of my trip overseas as my labor. I love the analogy! That being said, I would consider Sam's delivery quite smooth and uncomplicated. Nathaniel on the other hand is requiring a c-section!
Our first plane left O'Hare airport in Chicago yesterday 45 minutes late, because the connecting flight from Minneapolis was late. We did have fun getting to know Annie, a 2 year old little girl traveling with her Dad. His wife had just had a baby on Sunday, another girl named Sarah. We thought the coincidence was funny. We got into Detriot and as we headed toward our gate we heard the announcement overhead- "Last call for passenger Barsch." So we sprinted to the gate and made it... just to then sit on the tarmack for an hour and a half because of problems in the cargo area and the need for refueling. We eventually took off and flew a good 8 hours [of a 12 hour flight] before this announcement was made- "Folks, I apologize but I am embarrassed to make an announcement I have never had to make before. The lavatories have become full and we can no longer offer them to customers." SO for the rest of the flight there were no more bathrooms and no more food or drink to help with the situation. CRAZY, right! So we do land and at this point in Osaka Japan and we want to kiss the ground. We get up as we pull into the gate and then hear the overhead annoucement- "Please be seated immediately and buckle your seatbelts. The oxygen masks will drop. Please put on your own first before helping another person." This came over the intercom twice. Everyone just sort of looked at each other and laughed thinking this has to be a mistake. Which it was. We enter the airport and run to the bathrooms with everyone else. While in the bathroom we hear overhead- "Final boarding call for flight 69 to Taipei." Once again we are sprinting to the plane. We made it and got here trouble free after that. We got through customs just fine, got our bags, and found our guide Fion. She is the best! She commented that I had cut my hair- what a memory!
We made it to our hotel, got some potato chips and peanut MnMs, showered and went to bed. After sleeping about 4 hours we are up and ready for the day! Today we will go to get Nathaniel. We leave 10:30am Taiwan time which is 9:30pm Chicago time.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers. The devil is determeined to interfere with this miracle, but we are fighting him tooth and nail with all your help!
Pictures of our second son coming next...!
Our first plane left O'Hare airport in Chicago yesterday 45 minutes late, because the connecting flight from Minneapolis was late. We did have fun getting to know Annie, a 2 year old little girl traveling with her Dad. His wife had just had a baby on Sunday, another girl named Sarah. We thought the coincidence was funny. We got into Detriot and as we headed toward our gate we heard the announcement overhead- "Last call for passenger Barsch." So we sprinted to the gate and made it... just to then sit on the tarmack for an hour and a half because of problems in the cargo area and the need for refueling. We eventually took off and flew a good 8 hours [of a 12 hour flight] before this announcement was made- "Folks, I apologize but I am embarrassed to make an announcement I have never had to make before. The lavatories have become full and we can no longer offer them to customers." SO for the rest of the flight there were no more bathrooms and no more food or drink to help with the situation. CRAZY, right! So we do land and at this point in Osaka Japan and we want to kiss the ground. We get up as we pull into the gate and then hear the overhead annoucement- "Please be seated immediately and buckle your seatbelts. The oxygen masks will drop. Please put on your own first before helping another person." This came over the intercom twice. Everyone just sort of looked at each other and laughed thinking this has to be a mistake. Which it was. We enter the airport and run to the bathrooms with everyone else. While in the bathroom we hear overhead- "Final boarding call for flight 69 to Taipei." Once again we are sprinting to the plane. We made it and got here trouble free after that. We got through customs just fine, got our bags, and found our guide Fion. She is the best! She commented that I had cut my hair- what a memory!
We made it to our hotel, got some potato chips and peanut MnMs, showered and went to bed. After sleeping about 4 hours we are up and ready for the day! Today we will go to get Nathaniel. We leave 10:30am Taiwan time which is 9:30pm Chicago time.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers. The devil is determeined to interfere with this miracle, but we are fighting him tooth and nail with all your help!
Pictures of our second son coming next...!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Its Official!!
Our final hearing was yesterday so Nathaniel is officially ours!! We will travel to get him leaving Sat June 28th and returning home with him on Fri July 4th. We will post updates, pictures and video on this blog so STAY TUNED...
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