a few pictures

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then I shouldn't feel compelled to say anything. But I will anyway. This post is all about a few pictures I wanted to share.

Here is all the cousins, together for the first time. It's our kids and my sister's kids. Love this picture 1) because, miraculously, everyone is looking at the camera and no one is picking his nose or freaking out, and 2) because it's so stinking cool to remember what it means to be a family. It's more than genetics. It's more than geography. It's about God's plan. Our family looks this way for no other reason other than the Gospel.

Wyatt's birthday party. Our big boy is six. He is really growing up. He is obsessed with sports, loves cars, and is way too smart for his own good. 

And these are my favorite pictures of Rex. Actually, they are my favorite pictures ever. Anne told him to make faces and pose for the camera, totally undirected. Here is what she got.

 

I can't look at these without laughing. Rex has more personality in his pinky than I'll ever have in my body. I love this kid. I am constantly reminded how much I can learn from this 4 year old. Wait, isn't it supposed to be the other way around? 

That's it. More to come sometime later. 

-Chris

new pictures of Judd

I asked for you to pray for an update on Judd. Well someone did. Today we got four new pictures and a medical update from a contact at New Day Foster Homes, a place which we have thanked God for countless times. Here are the pictures and our thoughts about them...

Here is Judd obviously early on at New Day. Little dude. According to the reports, it looks like he was 6 pounds, 18 inches when born. Who knows how old he is here. Still, here he looks like the CCAA picture we received when matched. And have I complained on this blog about how often he is pictured wearing pink? Take a look and this and following pictures. Poor defenseless dude. Yet another reason he needs a daddy.

This is like the face we randomly found on New Day's site in January. Cute face, chubby cheeks. This is the face we have in our minds when we think of Judd. But that's not his face any more...

 

So Judd had surgery. We had no idea. They have repaired his cleft lip, which is usually done before 6 months of age. It is doubtful that his palate has been repaired since that surgery is usually done after a child is 1. But who knows. That is the big news of the day.

This doesn't look like the same kid. We've stared at this face all day. It's unbelievable how different he looks to us. Anne said that if she had seen him in a friend's picture taken in his orphanage (yes, we are stalkers who look at other blogs looking for our child; hey, it worked once before). But this is not the face we've had in our minds. One, his lip is fixed. Two, he's much older and bigger. Three, he has a mohawk. Hmm. And four, they keep dressing him in pink. Daddy's coming to help you Judd!

This is our little man, at least a few months ago. He's 17 months old right now, and it seems that he left New Day at a year old (we believe he is now in the main Hohhot orphange with Half the Sky). My guess is that he is just under a year old here. Total guess.

It's really amazing how different he looks. It's weird for us to have a picture in our head since we got the match in November, now to find out that he didn't even look like that in November. Who knows what he looks like now.

We had two pictures sent to us when matched, and they are now close to a year old. Then we found another small picture online. So, these four pictures more than doubled what we had before today. Strange to have a son who is seventeen months old and have only seven total pictures of him. Strange to know so little about him. Strange to think that you'd not recognize your son in a picture. But adoption is strange like that.

So here is Judd Longshan. This is our boy. Pink clothes, mohawk and all.