Just Another Day

Today was just another day. There was a miscommunication and we ended up not going to the zoo today:( We will go Friday instead:) We spent the morning learning about engineering and aerodynamics--just basic stuff. And to show for it we have quite an impressive fleet of paper airplanes! They started out very simple and got progressively more complex. It was so fun to sit back and watch the gears turn in ALL the boys' heads as they tried out their individual aircrafts, came back to the table, made a few adjustments (a cut here, a fold there, sometimes starting over from scratch), trying them out again, going out into the hallway where they could go farther, realizing they fly differently in the cold air of our room than the hot air of the hallway, more cuts, more folds, more test flights... There were intense moments of laughter, "smack talk", victory dances, and frustrations. I love to hear them laugh! This kept all three boys busy for more than two hours! It was quite entertaining!

Then we headed out to the park. We had a great time and got some good video... ...and had our first casualty. The younger one, competing with the big boys, fell pretty hardand scraped up his elbow. Although I'm new to this mother-of-boys thing, something (or Someone) told me before we left to stick some antiseptic and bandaids in my bag, so I was prepared, and he was back in the game in no time:)

Since we played hard right through siesta time, we had an early dinner and shower and watched Ice Age with them in Spanish. I love to hear them laugh. Did I mention that I absolutely LOVE to hear them laugh? The younger one has this bubbling-up-from-the-toes, diabolical kind of laughter that is quite contagious. So needless to say, what we thought would settle them down and put them to sleep ended up being a bed full of giggles! It was great!!

More good, actually great, news!! Our court date got moved up to tomorrow. Only one day, but we're happy for every little bit. It's a day closer to being a family legally and a day closer to coming home and introducing them to all of our family, friends, animales, etc. I see changes in them already. They now wait for Darin to pray before starting to eat, they are saying please and thank you and showing thoughtfulness, they know that Darin will pray for each of them when we tuck them in bed and willing give him their hands. I know they are watching our every move--the way we relate to and care for each other and those around us, the way we talk to each other, our habits- they don't miss a thing. I can tell that they are becoming more comfortable and feeling more a part of the family each day. When we go to court tomorrow we have they opportunity to change their names if we want to. We decided to keep their first names and just add a middle name and of course change to Jones for the last name. When we told them that we wanted to give them a new name, they said that they really liked it and practiced saying it several times. We chose Nathanael which means "gift from God", and Gabriel which means "devoted to God". We feel these are very appropriate and pray daily that they will grow to be amazing men of God.

WHAT A GREAT DAY!