And God Grew a Family...Part 1

Let me just sit here and shout for a few minutes!!!!

Ok, I may be able to go on now:) 

God is sooo very faithful and I have spent so many nights (up from Jet Lag) 

overwhelmed with thankfulness for all that HE has done in our lives!!!!

I failed at keeping ya'll informed with updates and for that I am truly sorry. 

I am sure you can forgive me when you see that I was preoccupied with 

the handsome addition to our family!!! 

Yep, I have been guilty of just staring at him at times:) 

In awe that God has brought this sweet boy to us as only HE can!!!

I know you are anxious for photos, so I mix my tale with those:)

We left for our 24 hour journey on January 18th!

I am so proud of our children who handled the LONG flights with grace!!

(it does help that there are unlimited movies on international flights)

We landed in Manila at 10:30pm Saturday their time and got through immigration around midnight.

We were so very blessed to be able to go directly to Aaron's orphanage 

and arrived there around 2am Sunday morning.  

We were given a beautiful room to stay in 

and the exciting news that we could see Aaron in just a few hours....at 7am.

Of course this Mama DID NOT SLEEP!!!

This was my first glimpse of my sweet boy in person and I could not wait to get my arms around him!!!

  We took a few photos, had breakfast, and were blessed to visit Aaron's church that morning!!!!

(I wanted so very much to be able to attend church with Aaron and his orphanage family!!!

God granted us that special blessing just because He can!!)

After church we went to Aaron's favorite pizza place.

(can you see the beautiful volcanos behind them??)

Later we went to a pool and got our splash on!!

We played

And just enjoyed time as a family!!!

(can you see that one of us was dry....

the water was freezing and I was so not going in there!

someone had to take some photos...right???)

Sunday evening was by far one of my favorite memories from Aaron's wonderful orphanage!!!

When we returned from the pool we found children and staff out in the play yard.  

Everyone was playing and laughing.  Some played backyard style volleyball, some jumped on a trampoline, and others ran playing tag.  

We were welcomed into their family and played with the children until our hearts were full!!  

We could not miss the love and joy in the atmosphere!!

We played hard and laughed much!!!

Later we relaxed with a movie before bed.

I wish I had words to express the overflowing love that we have for our son!!  

I wish I could adequately express to the world that wether from your womb or through the gift of adoption...God puts the lonely in families and creates a love and bond that cannot be replaced by anything this world has to offer. 

I wish I could explain just how my much I adore each of our children...even if some have been with us longer than others...and some I have never held as an infant.  

Maybe if my words cannot express it...the sparkle in our eyes will tell the tale!!