In the genes

Well I knew I had put the pictures JB's Mom gave me of him when he was little somewhere for safekeeping. I found them a few days ago. In a photo filer under the name "John childhood." Go figure that I didn't remember that!

Anyways, she was right. Elijah looks just like JB when he was little. Wanna judge for yourself? Here he is in a few pictures with big sister Elizabeth.

I've also been coming across a lot of pictures of Bri when she was little. I found this one of her hugging Pluto on a trip I took to Disney World with their family. Not only do I think Isaac looks a lot like her, but can't you just see him in her demeanor as well? That quiet sweetness. I love it.

I think the nature vs. nurture debate is very interesting when observing my boys. They are nurtured the same. But there are some things that you know are just inbred in them. Isaac has an infatuation with stuffed animals. Bri had the same infatuation. He also, most recently, has decided that going home is a bad idea. We can be anywhere and he'll just start crying. "Howse. Noooo." Then when he is home, he'll say "Buh bye? Soon?" While talking to Joan this past week, I was reminded of how Bri used to do this when she was little. She too liked being out and didn't enjoy being cooped up inside the house.

Adoption is so magnificent. I'm blown away by it all the time. In the beginning, it made me feel weird to talk about the fact that Isaac didn't look like us or that he acted like Bri. But now, man, I just feel such incredible joy that he isn't related to me biologically. If he was, he would not be Isaac. He'd be some other little boy. He wouldn't be Isaac.

I was nervous about adopting. Nervous about adopting from someone we knew so well. John was too. We had a lot of questions. How would this all play out? But, and this is just the Lord, let me tell you that I was nervous for no reason. I love Isaac so very much. I think that's obvious. But I am proud of the fact that he is adopted. I am proud that I get the opportunity to parent him and that Bri gets the opportunity to watch her biological son from the sidelines, cheering us on! How cool is that? I look forward to Bri travelling through his childhood and into adulthood with us.

Don't get me wrong, Elijah is loved equally. But in such different ways. I love his passion. I love his fake cry. I love the fact that he doesn't cry for blood draws or shots but will cry when he just tips over. And hard.

I love who they are through their nature and who they are becoming through their nurture. What a great honor to lead them through the next eighteen years of their lives.