Waiting Stitches

One year ago we met this little boy.  One year ago, we became a family of four. One year ago our lives shined a little brighter. We learned our son had a smile that could light up a room and eyes that twinkled with love.  One year ago we started a bond and an attachment with a child that will forever be ours.  We officially became a Forever Family. One year ago a brotherhood began. Their ties are strong and become tighter every day. One year ago... We often say adoption is not for the weary. We not only had to run a race to bring our child home, but we ran a full marathon, a marathon riddled with twists, turns, and hills. The cheering along the way from our family and friends kept us going, and many prayers to our good Lord above kept us running even when we felt like catching a break. One year ago our lives completely changed and there has been no looking back. BOTH our boys are our world, our joy, our chaos, our fun, our lo...

Time to Celebrate! It is a BIG day in the Schack world as we get to celebrate 6 MONTHS together as a family of four! Can hardly believe it! Time is going by so fast! When I told Tope & Caleb tonight that today was a big milestone, Tope's eyes first became very wide with sparkles, and then he had the cutest smile (although, I think he was realizing that a celebration meant a treat was on the way!...). Although Tope may not understand the significance of this time frame, I do believe he is starting to understand the significance of how his life has been changing. We have been watching Tope grow into his family, his surroundings, and learning how to be more and more himself wherever he goes. With all of this growth has come lots of wonderful times and many frustrating times, for both Tope & our family, but one thing is for sure, we are all very happy and can't imagine this life any different.  During the last couple months, we have seen a hug...

We have now been home as a family of four for one month! And inevitably, we are experiencing some "inevitables"... 1. My house inevitably looks like this, all the time. Well, ok, it has been picked up a few times and has looked "clean" for maybe five minutes at a time! The boys are a windstorm and have found toys I didn't even remember existed - but I sure am glad the toys are getting some regular use. 2. We have inevitably been to a couple medical appointments with many more to come. Tope has now seen the dentist and we had a three hour visit to an adoption clinic. He handled himself well at both appointments. The dentist was the hardest because the xrays were scary for him. I was having a hard time holding it together watching him quietly cry all while I couldn't be with him because of the stupid radiation, blah. He will have to have some oral surgery done soon to remove a bunch of decaying teeth, but good news is they are all baby teeth and the...

We are doing well. We've been together for almost two weeks and life is good. Tope is doing better than I could probably have truthfully imagined. He seems to be very easy going and is one of the happiest little boys.  Tope is getting used to his home and surroundings.  *He loves time with superheroes and any other small figures that he can play with. He can also spend countless hours with cars or the train track.  *He speaks to himself and to us in Cebuano/Bisanya, but he also uses a lot of English words and seems to know what we are telling him a good portion of the time.  *Tope is in love with "iro" which is the word for "dog". He hugs and pesters Izzy every chance he can get, which is both good and bad for Izzy, depending on her mood and if she was just trying to eat versus getting attacked with hugs!  *Snow is not an issue! He has never once complained about putting on winter clothing or about the snow touching his skin. It's like he ha...

We made it home! It is so great to be home as a family of 4! The trip was LONG, as we figured it would be. Jon and I woke up at 4:30 to get ready and get the kids rolling. We had to take two taxis to get all of the luggage to the airport, but it was still MUCH cheaper than taking a hotel van. We found out that to board an international plane in the Philippines is even MORE work than in America. First we stood in line for our tickets for an hour because we couldn't check Tope in on-line, it was hard keeping the boys happy, but we got the worst of their tiredness only in the last few minutes! We passed through three security checks plus three other check points where we owed money and had to show documents... LOTS of check points! oy! I was very happy to board that plane! Although, it was bittersweet saying goodbye to the land below. Check out this great sign! We love you Philippines! We will be back someday! Finally some breakfast! The first flight to ...