A few tidbits

A few weeks ago I lamented the finishing of our last can of the powdered milk from Guatemala. We had weaned her off of it slowly to regular milk, but it represented a loss of her heritage of sorts to me. We can bring in Guatemalan customs, articles, and such, but it will never be the same as if she lived there with her birth family. I am thrilled to see what the Lord has for her life her with us, unfortunately with adoption there will always be sad aspects. Sometimes it is good to reflect on those and remember the loss she feels/will experience and the loss her birth family has been going though.

Hannah participated in Sparks-a-rama a few weekends ago. She is the cutie-pie red-head in the front. The team did very well.

The Story of Marilyn and Joel

The girls and I were invited to a birthday party. The very creative mother of the bday girl sent home fish as favors to the swimming themed party...absolutely the only way that I would have ever introduced pets into our home. :) Ellie was not to particular about her fish, so Hannah allowed Austin to claim and name it it would be a boy, labeled "B"). He chose the name of a twin boy in our church that he looks up to and so the girl had to be named after his twin. Austin, in his enthusiasm to care for Joel, decided to get up early the next morning and feed him. Despite my attempts at emergency tank cleaning on a busy Sunday morning, Joel passed on Monday. My son was sad at the breakfast table upon learning the news (got quite and put his head in his hands) until Hannah said that we could name the remaining fish "Joel" instead of "Marilyn". We had a simple service for the fish that became Marilyn in the bathroom and Joel lives on, to this day, with the fish food is guarded, of course.

updated: Joel #2 passed sometime in the evening on Wednesday, March 19, 2008. It will be missed as we return to our petless state we previously enjoyed.