The Life We Imagine

Brooks is getting a brother! We would like to share with you all some exciting news. We have started the official process of adopting a child from Rwanda. We look forward to having a second little boy who will come to live with us at the age of 2-3. We are very excited and hope that you will share in the excitement of this process with us. In adoption circles they refer to this as a “paper pregnancy.” I’m hoping I get to eat unlimited quantities of chips and guacamole this time around, too!

Our baby is four years old! We can hardly believe it has been four years since Brooks took us from being a couple to being a family. It seems like yesterday and yet so much has happened since then. Brooks has grown into a smart, affectionate, energetic, opinionated, and beautiful little boy. His baby face allows us the luxury of thinking he is still a baby, but we know he is all little boy! Brooks’s world is a fantastical imaginary land filled with Superheroes and “Bad guys”, pirates, and knights. He loves to pretend! He also soaks up knowledge as quickly as we teach him and often surprises us by using rather sophisticated language (and using it properly even if he doesn’t say the beginning “s” sound!) We have celebrated his birthday 3 times this year (living away from home as its advantages in the birthday party department!). Brooks was able to squeeze in a sports themed party with Nana and PawPaw, a pirate party with Mimi and Grandpa, and a Superhero party with his friends. At his...

Well, I can't say that it was a beautiful Easter weather-wise; leaving church Brooks asked, "Is Easter always a cold day?" We had rain and 50 degrees, so our Easter egg hunting took place indoors! On the positive side, this arrangement did allow for Easter egg hunting in Batman pajamas. The Pawlak's are here with us this year, and we've had a fun weekend. And, yes he did dye eggs in his underpants--you're lucky, he prefers to go au naturel!Enjoy the pictures! "Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there." ~Clarence W. Hall

This is an account of the moments--big and small--that make our ever-changing, ever-evolving life as a family always remain exactly as we imagine even if we don't know all the detours we'll take along the way! Big changes have occurred in our lives over the last few years--some of them taking us away geographically from our loved ones and friends. This blog will help us keep in touch, and give us a way to share with you some of the exciting changes and events we anticipate over the next year! "Family life is full of major and minor crises -- the ups and downs of health, success and failure in career, marriage, and divorce -- and all kinds of characters. It is tied to places and events and histories. With all of these felt details, life etches itself into memory and personality. It's difficult to imagine anything more nourishing to the soul." Thomas Moore