Adoption Days!

This week is CRAZY exciting, because Casa de Amor has TWO adoptions going on! Our first family arrived at the house late Monday evening to meet their little boy...look who's got a mom, a dad, and a big brother!

This 1 1/2 year old little boy is incredibly precious to the CDA staff - he arrived at the home as a premature newborn, very sick, and very slow to put on weight. It's an ongoing joke here that he has more than made up for the weight over the past year and a half...this kid is a chunk! He is pretty talkative, loves swinging, and has been sleeping with a photo album of his new family. :)

(Before the family arrives, we generally give the baby or child pictures of everyone in their family to begin familiarizing them with who's coming to meet them.) This little guy knew exactly who "Mama" and "Papa" were when they arrived!

I will say that we were a bit concerned about the meeting of this baby with his family, as he has never been very good with strangers. There have been days when he has left the home to spend time with staff members, only to scream every time someone else tried to talk to him or even look him in the eye. Thus, we made sure to get him out and about as much as possible over the past week and a half, getting as many new people to touch him and hold him as possible. I won't say it was a week and a half of miracles, but I think some progress was made...plenty of smiles!

Church with his dress-alike twin, Tio Mateo

Crashing during one of my classes at language school...all that socializing can wear you out!

This baby's family arrived all the way from Denmark. It is hard to imagine that he is going to soon live there! His parents are very patient and sweet, and he has a big brother, age 4 1/2, who was also adopted from Bolivia! It is really, really neat to see the brothers together, and honestly they are just a beautiful family. Happy to report that the first meeting went much better than expected! Our guy was very calm - he wouldn't come out of the corner of the playroom for a while but was content watching his parents and big brother and let them touch him. It did not take long at all for his parents to get him laughing with peek-a-boo! Since the initial meeting on Monday night, the family seems to have meshed really well - the baby is SO happy to be with them and cries when they leave at night. Saying that I'm so happy for this family doesn't come close to covering the emotions that come with this adoption! Here are some pics from the meeting on Monday night: