Exciting news all the way around!

While the media is brimming with depressing news, there really is good stuff happening! And some of my friends are proof of that. I have two really exciting bits of news to share.

The first is that my "little sister" Kelsey is going into the convent. (Kelsey isn't really my sister, but we have so much in common including our height and basketball histories, that we call each other as such.) She will enter as a postulant for the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia in August! I don't understand all of this, but what I do know is that the first step of many for her to become a nun. She will be in this first stage for two years. Two years that we will not be able to talk to her or see her. We can write to her (and we will!) She can also write to us very infrequently, and we can get updates from her mom.

For those of you who don't know Kelsey, she and I met in Minnesota. She worked with me at the RLS Foundation. She went through a rough bit of life during her two years in Minnesota and ended up moving in with us. She also spent six weeks in Africa with us, Tara, and Ajit, in the spring of 2007. She is truly one of my very dear friends. When Isaac was born, we asked her to be his godmother because we knew that no one would pray for our boy like Kelsey would. For his first birthday we got something from a group of sisters. Isaac is having nine masses a month said on his behalf. Kelsey plans to do this on every birthday which means that by the time he is ten, he'll be having ninety prayers said for him each month. While we aren't Catholic, we are quick to note that prayer is prayer and that our relationship with Christ -- be it protestant or catholic -- is what matters. I have met very few people more in the love with the Lord than Kelsey, and I know she will make a fantastic nun. The only way I know how to explain what Kelsey is about to do is that she is like "Maria" in the Sound of Music right now -- deciding if this is the future for her. (We think it is!) I think sometimes we all sweat the small things. Kelsey and I both love the Lord and the details of that love are not something we feel the need to debate.

We are so excited that we will get to see Kelsey in July before she enters. We are taking a trip to Colorado, and Kelsey is going to stay with us in our condo while JB attends his conference and help me with the boys.

Here is a picture from the last time I saw Kelsey -- November of 2007.

In other news, our friends Dave and Jen have recently adopted a little boy. They are in Ethiopia right now making plans to bring him home. We met Jen through the Baptist church here in town. They had adopted from China and the church put us in touch with them. We are so excited for their family! Isn't this little guy just the cutest?!

In a bit of sad news, my Dad left this morning. The good news is that he is headed in his car to Chicago. Elijah and I are headed to Chicago by plane on Friday so we will get to see him for a few more days. However, Isaac said good bye to Grampa ... and probably won't see him for a few months. I was so blessed by how well Isaac took to my Dad.

Off to Elijah's head appointment. This is the first time I am going AND bringing Isaac with us. Wish me luck!

Things I did today (in no particular order)

• Got Elijah his four month shots. I hate when kids do the silent cry -- where their face turns red and you know the scream is coming. Breaks me heart.
• Got a little frustrated when they told me I'd have to come back for one of the things I needed at the immunization clinic! Ugh! I had timed this perfectly so my Dad could watch Isaac when I went. Now I have to figure it all out again.
• Watched Lisa's two kids -- what sweeties they are! Watching older kids feels so easy after being with little kids all day.
• Ate a delicious dinner cooked by my husband after he came home from a long day on call.
• Got to see my hubby briefly at work while Elijah got his shots.
• Played Tetris with my Dad (more than one time).
• Ate macaroni and cheese for lunch.
• Read part of my book while I gave Isaac a bath.
• Talked to my buddy Kristi on the phone.
• Fed Elijah seven bottles and Isaac two bottles.
• Cheered Isaac on as he drank one whole "bottle" from his cuppie!
• Took a three mile jog with Scrubs at 3pm. (Woah was it hot out -- even for me!)
• Changed a lot of diapers.
• Hugged all my boys (Scrubs included) a lot.

Dedication Sunday

Today we had the boys dedicated at church. For those of you not familiar with this practice, it is an opportunity to "vow" to bring up your children for the Lord. Our church does not practice infant baptism, but it was very important to us that our boys were dedicated. Since we missed the service last year, we got to have both the boys dedicated at once!

I had asked that our pastor, if possible, mention those individuals still waiting on the perfect completion of their family, whether it be a spouse or a child, and was so blessed that he took the time to do that. I know pastors have a lot of requests and demands on them, and I so appreciate him incorporating such a seemingly trivial request. For all the weeks that I avoided church on the infamous "Dedication Sunday," I had always promised that if it was ever my turn, I'd try to make sure those people felt remembered. I was so blessed that my pastor took the time to do so. That really blessed me. It made me feel that I stayed true to that promise that I had made. I never want to forget where I came from, and sometimes I find myself starting to forget. I pray that the Lord never lets me forget and that I am never insensitive to the women who are still where I was.

I also, surprisingly, found myself choking up when he mentioned how after such a long wait we went from zero to two in a matter of a few months. I am not the type to cry so my sudden 'bout of tears welling up surprised me. I think that I am so busy with the two boys that I often don't have the opportunity to sit and smell the roses. I know how quickly this time will go, and I really do strive everyday to stop and play with Isaac, hold Elijah, talk to each of them. I don't want to look back and have regrets about how fast their childhood went. That being said, I still do find myself not taking the time to just sit and thank the Lord for both of their lives. I need to do that more often. I really do feel remarkably thankfully for the direction our lives have taken. I truly feel unworthy of this remarkable gift times two. As hard as we prayed for just one child, to have two, often takes my breath away.

I remember during our last IVF that when Dr. C. came into the room where I was being prepped for surgery he put his hand on my arm and told me he was going to do his best. I looked at him, started sobbing, and said, "I just want one child ... if it could just work one time." He nodded and looked as if he could cry as well. What an amazing and sensitive doctor he was to understand the plight of a barren woman. My prayer did not come true in the way I wanted. IVF negative again. But I am so blessed that it didn't come true. If it had, I wouldn't have either of the boys that I have today.

The rest of the day has been spent with a lot of odds and ends: a trip to the grocery store, unpacking JB, going to brunch at the Officer's Club, visiting with some friends, grilling out, time with both boys in the pool, things like that. I can't believe my Dad leaves on Tuesday already! It's been so wonderful having him here.

Off to give Elijah his last bottle ... night folks!

Yay!!!! He's home!!!

Passin' the time . . .

This morning I woke up with a plan. After Isaac woke up, we'd all go to the park. Grampa, me, and the boys.

Isaac woke up, and I got everything packed. My Dad was holding Elijah in his carrier, I had the diaper bag flung over my shoulder, and Scrubs was outside doing his potty-thing.

It was at this point that Isaac walked up to me, put one hand around each of my knees, stuck his head between my knees . . . and vomitted.

Sigh . . . forget the park. Scratch everything. Isaac into bath. Grampa clean up vomit. Scrubs sees action and begins whining. Why can't I be in on this?

Poor Elijah is left in his car seat for a tremendous number of minutes.

Anyways, since that bout of upsetness, Isaac has been fine. No problems at all. Not sure if he just ate something funny or what but you'd never guess that the upsetness had hit this morning. Either way we decided to stay home throughout the day. The only time I left was to go for a jog. The only time my Dad was to get himself some food at the food court in the BX.

So . . . here are some pictures from our day inside the house. JB should be home any minute. Man we miss him when he is gone!

I thought Isaac would forget about the cake pans. Yeah right! They emerged again today.

Isaac actually brought two banging cake pans to Grampa during Grampa's nap on the couch today. Needless to say we plan to find a new hiding place for the cake pans after Isaac goes to bed tonight!

This was Isaac's absolutely favorite toy when he was a baby. He saw it today and became infatuated with it all over again. It's been hanging there since Elijah was born, but today he noticed it as if for the first time.


My Dad holding Elijah.

Enjoying Grampa; Missing Daddy

JB left on Thursday afternoon for Tampa. He is attending a meeting for chief residents as the representative for Eglin's program. We are excited that he will only be gone until Saturday evening. It was supposed to be Sunday, but our church had already agreed to dedicate the boys on Sunday due to us being unable to attend the other dedication date for the second year in a row! Last year we were out of town, and this year JB was in Texas for the dedication Sunday. So this year we are having both boys dedicated on a different day than all the other families. How nice of our church to find a different day for us! Anyways, we found out about this meeting in Tampa after we had picked this Sunday to dedicate our sons. So JB definitely needed to be back in time for that. He'll miss the Sunday morning portion of the meeting to make it back in time.

We are also excited that Grampa Coach has been able to spend this week with us. It's a lot nicer having JB gone with someone here to help me. My Dad has been incredibly helpful. While he tries to stay away from changing diapers, he's been helping in all other areas -- even letting me go for a jog without the jogging stroller for a change -- which means watching both boys at the same time. He's been doing dishes, giving baths, feeding food, everything! It's been FANTASTIC! My Dad usually comes every summer for 1-2 weeks as he is a school teacher and has the time off. With all the help he has been giving me, I think he should stay for the entire summer!

Totally shifting gears ...

Becky wrote a comment on this morning's post which really touched me. She wrote: I love the responses you got to your post on "owing an explanation." I especially loved what anonymous said, "It was a huge miracle from the Lord." That is my favorite response because I have always thought of your story as exactly that - a huge miracle. I think it is an opportunity to give God all the glory every time you are asked. I think this can be done even without giving all the details. Your testimony is such an encouragement to us all that God's plan for us is SO much better than anything we could plan for ourselves. Truly He is able to do more than we could ever ask or imagine.

Thank you for this comment Becky. It really touched me. It helps me to know that my story provides encouragement and not pain to those who are still waiting. Your comment solidified my new response to people's questions. I plan to tell them that I have two boys close in age because it was "a huge miracle from the Lord." If they want more information, I can then use my "I don't remember which one was adopted" line! I am now really anticipating and excited for someone to ask me about the boys!

Speaking of miracles, I found this little onesie that someone had given us. I am embarrassed to admit I can't remember who blessed us with this. Anyone want to enlighten me? Either way, I think it is pretty fitting for our current lives. If Isaac could fit in it, I'd make sure to take a photo of him in it as well.

Shifting gears completely again, here are a couple of fun videos to share with you all.

This video features Isaac's new hobby and also shows him signing "please." I love the sign language but I especially love the sign "please." It has curbed so many temper tantrums because I can figure out what Isaac wants! I LOVE it!!

This next video was one I shot for my Mom. We wanted to show her what we were doing while she was working in Fort Lauderdale. We miss you Mom. We wish you were here.

follow-up

I loved all the comments I received from my post the other day about owing an explanation for why our boys are so close in age and in telling the story of our boys' births. I started to try and reply in the comments but felt like I had so much to say. So ... a separate post was in order.

First of all, to Tammy, who tells people "We were blessed with an adoption and a pregnancy" and then says that she can't remember which one is adopted when the inevitable follow-up question ensues ... I LOVE THIS! I actually read that Marie Osmond does the same thing regarding her children. Honestly, I really think we are going to start doing this. What a great response! It makes my heart excited just to think about having the opportunity to say this to someone.

To Jess ... thank you for reminding me that Isaac's birth story is just as important and just as cool as Elijah's. It is so true that I want him to be proud that he is adopted. I want him to be proud that he has a birth mom who loved him enough to pick another family for him and an adopted mom that loved him enough to bring him into her's. I think my concern is more when Isaac gets old enough to understand that I don't embarrass him or make him feel singled out. I think you and your husband are both right. There is a time to hedge and a time not to hedge. I think we are smart enough to know when is when.

To Leslie ... people certainly can be manipulative can't they? Instead of just asking if you did infertility treatments, which is what they want to know anyways, they work their way around, asking you if twins run in the family. I think your comment made me realize that people are curious by nature. We want to know. And truly, I don't mind people asking. I am so proud of both my boys and so proud at the two different ways they came to be my boys. I just need to figure out the right way to talk about it. And that brings me back to Tammy's comment. Did I mention that I love that?!

As to the anonymous twin who was in the same class as her brother, thank you for providing me with both the positives and negatives on this. It is true that technically the boys would be in different grades. However, both JB and myself have always been firm believers in not putting kids in school too early. We are big James Dobson (Focus on the Family) faithfuls, and in his book Bringing Up Boys, he specifically tells parents of boys born in the May/June/July months to consider holding them back another year so that they are not the youngest in their class. When Isaac was born in May, we decided to do that, and then we learned of Elijah's impending arrival. Now what to do? I know this is awhile away and we are in no hurry to figure this out. Isaac may be the type of kid who is soooo ready for school that we wouldn't dream of keeping him back a year. We'll let God lead. But for now, it is something we think about.

June ... I plan to address your question about doing IVF again in a post all to itself. It's a great question and I need some time to formulate my response.

To my anonymous friend who wrote, "Who would have ever thought you would be in such a dilemma?" ... isn't that the truth! I totally agree that it is an opportunity for witnessing and giving God the glory. I do use the line, "God has a great sense of humor doesn't he?" But I like your line better. "It was a huge miracle from the Lord!" In the same way, I am so glad we named our boys what we did. When people ask their names and I say Isaac (meaning laughter and the long awaited son of Abraham Sarah) and Elijah (which means our Lord is God), I am able to share why we named them what we did and what their names mean. It's another powerful opportunity to share our faith in the Lord.

Judy ... right on! I totally agree. People just ask things about things all the time. I'm with you on that. And truth be told, I am one of those people. I've asked nosey questions before. I'm sure I have. I can't think of a time I did right now, but I'm human so I am sure I have!

Bethany, I love your comment regarding embryo adoption with Peter and Mitchell. What a fantastic story! I, for one, am not educated or detailed enough to look at eye color and determine, by pulling out my high school biology dominant and recessive trait mapping system, that Peter and Mitchell cannot be biologically your children! Geeesh! But obviously some people are. I'm so blessed you allowed me to share you story with the Rochester Women audience. To this day, that remains one of my most favortist writing pieces.

Thank you everyone for your repsonses. You all gave me so much insight into so many different aspects of this journey and so many things to think about! Blessings to all of you!

Fini Flight

Yesterday JB, Isaac, and I were given the privilege of attending our friend Jeff's "fini flight" while my Dad graciously stayed home with Elijah. As I have mentioned previously on the blog, Jeff, Bobbie, and their kids, are preparing to move to Seattle. They moved out of their house a few weeks ago but have been living in TLF (temporary lodging facility) until their final departure on Saturday. Jeff is taking a position in ROTC which will not allow him to fly anymore. Therefore this was his "final" flight. We were so honored to be able to attend this event, and I actually took some pictures as I only had one child with me and he was so occupied with other stuff, I had plenty of time on my hands.

Before the flight. Paige, Bobbie, and Brooke.

Before the flight. Robert holding Isaac.

The four kids with Isaac who adores all of them. From left: Isaac, Paige, Matthew, Brooke, and Robert.

We took a little mini bus to the flight line and then waited for Jeff's arrival. Here is Brooke with Bobbie waiting for him to finally land. He kept going back up to take one more ride before officially retiring from flight.

Jeff arrives. It was very emotional, even for us, to see him come in for what could be the last time.

Until they turn the engines off, it is VERY loud out there. We all wore earplugs or noise protectors but getting Isaac's ears covered wasn't so easy. We tried earplugs. Isaac HATED them and kept pulling them out.

We tried the noise protectors. Not happening.

JB finally decided to just put him in a "full Nelson" and let him scream. No one could hear him crying anyway.

JB with Isaac and Jeff arriving in the background.

Here's the fam spraying their Dad down once he returns. This is a very popular tradition in the military and was very fun to get to be a part of.

The entire family after the flight. I cannot put into words how blessed I have been to have had this family adopt our family into their own for the last 15 months. Bobbie had two daughters one year apart and so she was able to help me get through some of the highs and lows of managing two boys so close in age. The girls babysat and all the kids took turns helping with Scrubs, especially while I was out of commission for six weeks. I often wonder what would have happened if our dogs wouldn't have become such good buddies as that was the reason we initially became friends. We look forward to visiting them in Seattle sometime soon.

Jocelyn

First of all, thank you all sooo much for all your great comments to yesterday's post. I'm working on a follow-up post that I'll share in the next day or so.

Yesterday Jocelyn spent the morning with us so her Mom could help volunteer at big sister Madison's school. Here are some fun photos from the day:

If I could be guaranteed that any child I babysat would be like Jocelyn, I would do it all the time. She is soooo easy. She plays well with Isaac and by herself, likes to watch movies with me (we watched 101 Dalmatians while both boys were asleep,) and she listens well and totally goes with the flow. And now that she is potty-trained, it is even better! The only time it felt like I was watching a third child was when my Dad was taking a shower and I needed to go to the bathroom. Jocelyn, Scrubs, AND Isaac wanted to go with me. I opted for shutting them all out which Jocelyn took in stride but caused Scrubs and Isaac did not.

Someone asked me in a previous comment about Scrubs since I hadn't mentioned him since we returned from our trip. He is home and back in his groove. We went and picked him up from dog camp on Tuesday morning bright and early. He slept about two days straight again after playing so hard for an entire week but he is now back to his normal self. They said that he is GREAT at dog camp and plays so hard with other dogs that they will eventually force him into the air conditioning for a few hours so he doesn't overheat. That's my Scrubby!

Also, I wanted to tell you all that it is currently 7:07 am and BOTH my boys are still asleep. This has, honestly, NEVER happened to me before. Usually one of them (and that's often Elijah) is up by about 5:30-6:00. Elijah is now sleeping swaddle free since he can roll over and we didn't want him to roll over with his arms trapped. He is taking his last feed around 8:30 or 9:00 and for the last two days has slept until at least 6:00am. Keeping my fingers crossed for more days like these ...

Owing an explanation

Elijah went to physical therapy again yesterday. Each time he goes, "Miss Jenny" says that she can see tremendous improvement. We can see it at home too. He is actually starting to look to his left a little bit. I've been meaning to post some pictures so you can see the head turning "issue", but I just haven't gotten around to it. I will try ... I promise!

Good ol' Brittney R. watched Isaac for me so I could take Elijah to his therapy appointment and also get some groceries in anticipation of my father's arrival. He showed up on base at 3pm and is staying a week. I am so excited to have him here with us especially because JB is headed out of town on Thursday again for a conference in Tampa. I was also excited because you could tell that Isaac actually remembered him. Isaac went right to him and was obviously excited about his arrival. They've already been reading tons of books (well, mostly his dinosaur book over and over and over again) and doing lots of playing.

While I was at Brittney's, she and I got to talking about adoption. As some of you may know, Brittney has two daughters. The first is biological and the second is adopted. Her daughters are one year apart.

I shared with Brittney about the abundance of questions we were asked while in transit this past week. People seem to talk to each other a lot in airports and on planes, and we received the question about the distance between our two boys at least a dozen times during our two visits to the airport.

Brittney said that when Jocelyn was younger, she felt that she "owed" people an explanation as to how she had two daughters so close in age. But as Jocelyn has gotten older, she doesn't want to say that Jocelyn is adopted in front of her. And if she does, Jocelyn always corrects people by saying, "I'm not adopted. I'm Jocelyn."

I can totally relate to what Brittney said. Since Elijah is so little, we inevitably get the questions. "How old is he? And how old is big brother? How many months apart are they?" I planned to say, "Less than a year," and I do say that sometimes, but it doesn't seem to be the answer people want to hear. When I say, "Eight and a half months," they look at me funny. It is at that point that I often feel obligated to explain. These are just strangers, aren't they? Why can't I just leave it at that. Or when they ask how we managed to have children less than ten months apart, why can't I say, "It's a long story," or something else clever and appropriate?

I think this situation will improve as years go on. When the boys are older and we aren't counting in months anymore, it will be much more natural to say that they are "about a year apart." But what do I say when someone asks me how old they are and during February through May, they are both the same age? "They are two," I'll say. "Are they twins?" someone will ask. "No." I'll say. And then, the obligation will come flooding back to me again.

I definitely know that this obligation is something I am totally putting on myself. No one is making me feel that way, and I know that I do not owe anyone anything -- especially strangers. I'm just not sure how to field these questions. During one conversation with a woman on the plane, I told her they were eight and a half months apart and when she crinkled up her nose, I did not allow myself to try and explain. A few minutes later, the flight attendant asked me how I managed to have boys less than nine months apart. I answered such a direct question honestly. This caused the first lady to pipe in, "Oh okay. I've been sitting here trying to figure out how that was possible for the last half hour."

Anyways, I'm not really sure that I can come up with a good conclusion for this blog post. I know this is something I need to just work through and figure out. I am not embarrassed that Isaac is adopted whatsoever. But I also know that as he gets older and can understand more, I don't want him to be forced into answering questions. His adoption will be his information to share as he wishes. It's one of our concerns about the boys being in the same grade. If we put them in the same grade, will Isaac have to constantly explain why his brother who is not his twin, is in the same class as him? I remember teaching sisters that were not twins in the same class and I too was curious. They had to explain that one of them had been held back.

JB's opinion is to just take each comment or question as it comes and answer as we feel comfortable at that moment. However, we have both agreed that we should not feel obligated to provide information to strangers and we should not provide information that is not requested.

So anyways, for now, what I do know, is that as overwhelming as it can sometimes be having two little boys, I am so enjoying this journey. I love that they are close in age. I love that they will have a best friend (and worst enemy) to grow up with. I love seeing Elijah laugh at Isaac or Isaac come up to him to give him a kiss. We have no regrets whatsoever about this journey. If we would have known Elijah was coming, we would have still adopted Isaac in a heartbeat. We just have to continue to figure things out as we go, and I know the Lord will continue to provide us direction on this interesting journey.

Four months old

Our little Elijah Luke celebrated four months on this earth yesterday by taking a plane flight from New York to Nashville and then a car ride from Nashville to Eglin.

However, he chose to celebrate in other ways too! On the day of the wedding, our little guy rolled over for the first time. Unfortunately, Dad and Mom were running around the hotel room like mad people and only had time to say, "He rolled over! Holy cow!" But he has since done it numerous times. All back to stomach and all over his typical right shoulder, but still. We are way proud of him for this major accomplishment.

I have fallen so deeply in love with this little guy. I did have to wonder how I could ever love anyone as much as Isaac, but somehow, I do. It is truly as if I have two separate hearts -- each one filled with love individually for these two little boys.

One thing that we always say about Elijah is that he can go from happy to furious in a matter of milliseconds. Want proof? The picture below was taken mere seconds after the picture above!

Elijah continues to chunk up like crazy. He is still taking 7 -- 6 ounce bottles a day. That is 42 ounces. Dr. G. says he is catching up but that he should be closer to 30. I have tried to cut him down to 5 ounces a feed, but he figures it out and demands an eighth by the end of the day.

He is on a pretty good schedule. He usually eats at 6am, 9am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm, 9pm and then sleeps through the night. But somewhere in there, he will squeeze an extra feed. He usually decides when that will be.

Elijah is different from Isaac in many ways. For one he doesn't spit up quite as much as his big brother did. He also likes being with us a lot more than Isaac did. Isaac could sit in his swing all day long. Elijah can do that as well IF you are in the room with him. He really likes someone hanging out with him.

As for the brother relationship, Elijah loves to watch Isaac and laugh at him. Isaac makes a kissing noise everytime he sees Elijah indicating that he wants to kiss his head. It's way cute. I really enjoy seeing them together and can't wait to watch them grow up as brothers.

Happy four months on this earth little Elijah! You and Isaac are an amazing blessing in my life.

Stolen pictures!

All right so I felt pretty bad that between Tara, Lesley, and me, we managed to get ZERO pictures of the happy couple on their wedding day. Can you believe that? Thank goodness for Facebook. I stole a few of these photos from an album on Ajit's Facebook page.

Picture of the church.

Jeny changed into a beautiful sari for the reception.

A picture of the happy couple (just for you Joia).

Bride with flowergirls and bridesmaids. Beautiful bridesmaid dresses. I was impressed that the wedding party was able to stand at the altar for the entire hour and a half or so that the wedding took place. I was even more impressed when I noticed that one of them was probably seven months pregnant! Yikes!

Jeny in her wedding dress.

Long Island Wedding

So, here I am, back on Eglin with a few pictures to share.

A quick look back at our trip from TN to NY and back again.

We left Josh and Sarah's at 4:30am on Friday morning. We were at the airport by 5am and on our flight by 6:35am. We were so blessed to each receive a row of seats. JB took Isaac and his car seat and I took Elijah and his car seat. JB took one row, and I got a row across the aisle. Both boys slept, and it made for a glorious three hour trip (which included a stop but not a change of planes in Baltimore.)

By lunchtime, were at the airport and in our rental car in Long Island. This made for perfect time to pick up Dave and Lesley from the train station near our hotel. The four of us and the boys stopped at an awesome Mediterranean restaurant for lunch and had some time to catch up before heading to our rooms at the Marriott and all trying to get some rest. Isaac took a nap in his hotel crib while JB rested on one bed and I slept with Elijah on my chest on the other bed. I don't think any of us got much sleep but it was enough to jump start us before the rehearsal.

We left for the rehearsal and dinner at 4:30pm. We got to see Ajit and his brothers: Sujit and Abraham in the lobby. There were nearly 500 people scheduled to attend this wedding but only about 150 of those were people from Ajit's side of the family. We therefore got to spend a pretty good amount of time with Ajit and his family considering that when I go to a wedding, I usually don't expect to see the family except from a distance. It was great to see Ajit and his awesome brothers and parents.

Here are a few pictures from the rehearsal dinner. It was a DELICIOUS Indian meal! Yum!!!

Here is Ajit's Mom feeding Elijah. Ajit's mother is the sweetest woman I have EVER met, and I was so glad to get to see her again. When I reiterated this to Ajit, he said, "Now you see why I could never do anything wrong as a child." His mother, in her sweet Indian accent would stroke his arm and say, "What did I do wrong as a parent to cause you to act in such a way?" I could just see her doing that!

Ajit, Dave, and JB during the dinner portion of the rehearsal. There's some Indian food on the plate! It was AMAZING!

Here are Dave and Lesley in line for food.

Friday evening went as good as it could in the hotel room. We actually put Isaac to sleep around 8pm and then hung out in the bathroom and fed Elijah until we were sure Isaac was down and out for the count! We then snuck out, put Elijah down and prayed he wouldn't cry while he fell asleep, and went to sleep ourselves. Other than a few quick moments of resettling Elijah during the night, we all slept until about 5:30am! A far cry from our last experience at a hotel.

Once morning rolled around, there was a lot to do. The wedding started at 10am, and JB needed to be in the limo with the wedding party by 8:30am. Here I am attempting to feed both boys while JB ironed his suit and headed out the door. Thank goodness Tara showed up a few minutes later to help me get everyone ready and to the church.

On the way to the church, Isaac fell asleep in his carseat. So I stayed in the car for awhile while Tara and Lesley took Elijah into the church. I cannot possibly say enough about Lesley and Tara and their helping hands. I could not have possibly attended a wedding out of town with both boys with a husband unavailable due to being in the wedding without the help of these two gals. They got spit up on quite a bit and changed a couple of diaper doozies but didn't seem to mind at all. Thank you both soooo much!

I meandered into the church around 9:50am for what I thought was a 10:00am start to the wedding. Once inside Lesley informed me that this wedding was at 10:00 Indian time which meant it would actually end up starting at 10:30am. Fashionably late is the name of the game.

Here is Isaac making friends with a fellow wedding guest during our wait for the ceremony to start.


Here is the only photo I got during the wedding. A quick snap of the beautiful bridesmaid dresses. After I took this picture, Isaac saw JB through the glass which you can see in the picture and got very upset that he was not with "Da-da". Tears ensued and I had to spend the rest of the ceremony in the lobby and on the front lawn while Isaac played and stayed close to JB who was still ushering late attenders into the balcony. This, honestly, did not bother me to much as the wedding was VERY long, and I could hear and see everything just as well from the lobby.

From there, we were off to the reception. It was a beautiful reception. The music and food were amazing. Here are some pictures from the day.

Lesley holding Elijah.

Tara feeding Elijah.

Dave and Lesley on the dance floor. Doesn't Lesley look so pretty? This is the outfit she got on their trip to Napal! Some of the Indian gals helped her put it on correctly for the big event.

JB and Lesley after our salad course.

Isaac running from a little girl. The little girls at this wedding LOVED Isaac. He kept getting flogged by them and their cheek pinching. At one point he backed up and hit his head on a table in the hopes of escaping their throngs.

Tara with Elijah after she changed him into a new outfit.

I actually had Elijah in an outfit identical to the one Isaac had on in this picture. But he destroyed it with an exploding diaper that Tara was fortunate to stumble upon. So a backup outfit was the result.

Here is Elijah with Antonio (one of JB's classmates from Mayo) and his beautiful wife Latova. This was at the end of the day. Both boys were completely losing it, but we were attempting to hold on as Ajit wanted to take a picture with us before we left.

This is the last picture taken by my camera. I think Tara took this. This is JB and me trying to settle both boys while we waited for Ajit and Jeny. I don't even have one picture of the bride! Ugh! I also was upset that I had to wear my glasses to the wedding, but my contacts are causing some real eye redness that I can't seem to get around.

So that's all my pictures. Not a very good collection, I agree. We had a wonderful time but with both boys in tow, it was pretty stinkin' chaotic. There wasn't a lot of time for extra photos.

We left on Sunday morning for the Islip airport. Our flight was at 7:35am. After a few hours in the skies with rows all to ourselves again and then an eight hour car ride, we were back on good ol' Eglin AFB.

Josh and Sarah's

All right so first off, a warning. My picture taking was pretty pathetic during our vacation. I just, honestly, couldn't find a moment to snap a photo. It was very busy with both boys. In addition, we didn't take our nice camera to New York due to the fact that we just had so much stuff to take with us and it was another bag to carry. So, my few feeble attempts will have to do.

Here are some pictures from the few days we spent with Josh and Sarah at their beautiful home in Brentwood, Tennessee.

Six year old Tyler hanging out with Elijah. Both of Sarah's boys were amazingly gentle and helpful with both of the boys.

Josh and Sarah took us to an AWESOME restaurant at Opryland. It was an aquarium restaurant. There was a huge tank in the middle of the restaurant with lots of smaller tanks all around. It was so neat for the kids. This is the best picture we could manage with three year old Jordan, Tyler, and wiggle worm Isaac.

Here is an attempt to capture the huge tank behind our table.

Our amazing hosts, friends, and cousins: Josh and Sarah.

We had a great time hanging out with Josh and Sarah for three nights. I got to go to Tyler's baseball practice with Elijah, Sarah, and myself, and just sit outside in the beautiful weather and catch up with Sarah. I was able to see the church where Josh serves as a youth pastor and just take in the beautiful Kentucky/Tennessee area that I loved so much!