Monday, June 08, 2009

Kazapalooza 2009 - Just Pictures for Now! - Updated

I'm in a rush, so I'll just quickly post some pictures of our great weekend - narrative to follow (hopefully later today!).

Headed to the pool for the very fun pool party! The resort was so gorgeous!

Definitely a water baby - he LOVED it!

Like his brothers...

Titus and Asa were born 1 week apart within 1 hour distance of each other and both were adopted into families with two older boys.

And here are the families of boys - six between us! Gretchen and Chris went from 0 to 3 kids in about 13 months. They are an awesome family and we loved hanging out with them!

These boys were all born and adopted from Uralsk, Kazakhstan. Our boys have been home the longest and are the oldest by a bit. They are all absolutely adorable! It was so fun comparing notes about the baby houses and in-country experience!

Our family on the last day.

Stopping for ice cream on the way home...what would a trip be without an ice cream stop. :)

It's just so amazing to be with people who love Kazakhstan, have had similar experiences, and have been so blessed through adoption. I loved feeling "normal" - you don't have to explain everything; we all know how it works etc. It was incredible to see all the families - some built entirely through adoption and some built through both biology and adoption.

Every single person would tell you that adoption is awesome - I think we are all pretty passionate about it! :) What beautiful families, beautiful hearts, and beautiful children.

Yesterday was an emotional day - in a happy and good way! I learned of two families receiving referrals and another family having two foster children placed with them. I saw all of them this weekend and rejoice with them! I love that more children are on their way to finding forever families. I could go on and on but I'll stop. We can't wait until next year and we hope to see many of you before then!

12 comments:

Courtney said...

Love all the great pictures. Look like you guys had a great time!

Heather L. said...

Great pictures!! i'm so glad you all had such a fun time!

Gretchen said...

Those are great pictures! We had a wonderful time with you and your family. :)

Mama10EE said...

Looks like an awesome trip! Can't wait to hear the details.

Kim said...

Wow - GREAT pictures! Hope to see you before 2010! :)

Jodee said...

What a fabulous trip! I agree -- adoption is such a wonderful thing!

Merrilee said...

It looks like you all had a great time!!!

Thad and Ann said...

wonderful pictures! It was so fun to see other families & get to know the ladies behind the blogs a bit better. :)

When you come up in our area let us know! We would love to get together.

Amy K said...

Sounds like you guys had an awesome time!

Monica said...

Looks perfect. Hey, I'm astonished that your boys can eat ice cream in their car seats. Every time I've caved and done this, it has been a disaster:)

Welcome back!

a said...

Hi Alaina,
It was nice to share some pool time with you. It was such fun meeting you and your boys ..yes, all 4 of them ;-)! Check out the shutterfly site of Kazapalooza, I uploaded some pics.
Annette

Unknown said...

Came across your blog. We also adopted our children: one domestically, one from China.

You are absolutely correct about having extended family with those who share the adoption experience. We went to China with 2 other families and our girls are from the same orphanage so they have a shared history and we have a shared life experience that those who have not been down that road share. I also believe it is important for our children to know other children who have a similar history so that they grow up knowing that they were not the only ones and were not "singled out".

And it makes for fun times with get-togethers, which is what makes life sweet! :)

PS: Boys are terrific! And three is triple-terrific!