Mr. Wonderful

The other day I was holding David while he slept. I looked at him, and thought of all the times we prayed for him to come to our family. We knew at the time it would be wonderful to have a child in our home. We never imagined just how wonderful it would be.

It's probably a good thing that we didn't truly know how lonely and incomplete our lives were before David entered. I don't know how we would have made it. Now that we are able to love him, kiss him, play with him, and hear him laugh we both know that we would do it all again if we had to.

It's good for us to reflect on the miracle David is in our lives. I hope he knows every day just how much we love having him in our family!

Dip*Net

This morning Sam left on a fishing trip with a neighbor. Dipnetting is a privilege--and even a way of life--for Alaskan residents. The season opens for 3 weeks every summer, when the red salmon run thickest through the rivers. Sam and Dan will spend some time on the Kenai River and some time on the Kasilof River--and with the numbers running this year, it looks like they will be able to bring home their maximum catch. For us, that is 45 salmon. Yes, you read that right. 45 Salmon for a family of 3 (but we agreed that we only have room to reasonably store 30 fish). In addition, Sam is doing proxy fishing for an older lady, so he will hope to bring home 25 salmon to fill her freezer as well.

Dipnetting involves a net up to 5 feet in diameter with a long pole attached--maybe 15-20 feet (see photo above). At high tide, the fisherman stands out in the water at the mouth of the river, and when he feels the net wiggle, he walks backwards onto the bank until he lands the catch. Then he does it again and again and again. Until he "limits out." This year seems to be a year with high numbers of salmon running. For instance, for 3 consecutive days last week, 50,000 salmon passed through the mouth of the Kenai River. That makes for some very succesful fishing!

So this is one of the essentials for Alaskan food storage: a freezer full of fish (and for some, rounded off with moose meat). Last year at this time, I was nervous about having a freezer full of Salmon. I have learned to enjoy Salmon over the last 10 years--but having grown up in a land-locked state, the taste is definitely learned. Now I understand the cardinal rule: Never eat seafood unless you can smell the water. The good news is that we can smell lots of water up here, and the Salmon are delicious.

Here is a link to a slideshow with images of this truly Alaskan experience. (warning: a little graphic if you're sensitive to the look of dead fish)

And, just for good measure, here is our star performer while he helped Daddy pack for his fishing trip:
Someday you'll fit into those shoes, buddy. It'll just take a few years.

Finalization

We are thrilled that we have a court date to finalize David's adoption--August 10th at 1:30 pm, PDT in Washington State. We will "appear in writing" since we live out of state (although it would have been so cool to be there in person!!!).

Since we brought David home, we have regularly met with a case worker for lengthy interviews and home visits. They asked us about David's bonding and attachment, his physical and emotional development, our adjustment to parenthood, if we have taken him to well baby checks and if he has received immunizations. In one memorable question, they asked, "How would you rate David's overall development?" Without a second's hesitation and even before the question was completely phrased, Daddy blurted out, "Superb!"

Of course by now we are used to answering all kinds of questions about ourselves, our desire to be parents, and David's progress. It has been a year and a half since we started the mile high pile of paperwork, and now it is finally coming to an end. The court documents will soon be signed and sealed, and everything will be complete for David to legally be ours.

Even more exciting is that five days later, on August 15th at 11:00 am we will be sealed to David as an eternal family in the Washington DC temple. That is a day when heaven will meet earth for our family, and then David will eternally be ours.

In all of this, our thoughts are never far from the amazingly selfless angel birth mother and her family, who have blessed us with this most precious gift. We love them. Our family would not be complete without her.

And since every good thing around here is finger lickin good, here's a summary of how we all feel:

Indpendence Day

David is holding his own bottle now--at least when he feels like it. I don't mind at all that my independence discovering baby still lets me cuddle him while he eats, no matter which hands are feeding him.

On another note, we thought David might be ready to eat solid foods. We found out that David will open his mouth for anything except solid food. He chews on everything that comes within reach of his mouth--but somehow he pinched his lips together and didn't want anything to do with the spoon. We'll try again soon, maybe after he knows how to pinch so he can feed himself.

Missionaries

This is a big weekend in our extended families for mission service. Sam's brother, Aaron, returns home tonight from the Rome Italy Mission. We wish him well as he readjusts to life again.

And my sister, Dacia, received a mission call on Friday to go to Houston, Texas and speak spanish as a missionary. We wish her well as she prepares to serve her mission beginning October 14.

We love you both. You are in our prayers!

Watching Daddy

Mostly David is ultra sensitive to loud noises. This time he didn't seem to mind the sound of the lawn mower while watching Daddy work. In fact, he seemed to really enjoy the show. He didn't take his eyes off Daddy the whole time.