My Love Poem (given to us by the Judge)

Following is the Poem given to us by the Judge today that she had all of us sign. As mentioned, it was written by a Poet, who had just adopted a little boy. He wrote it from the child's perespective.

I hear my father; I hear my mother. I need never fear. I shall never be lonely or want of love. When I am hungry it is you who will provide for me. When I am in dismay, it is you who will fill me with comfort. When I am astonished or bewildered, it is you who will make the weak ground firm beneath my soil. It is in you that I put my trust. When I am sick it is you who will send for the doctor. When I am well, it is in your eyes that I shall know best that I am loved. And it is towards the shining of your smiles that I lift up my heart and in your laughter that I shall know my best delight. I hear my father and my mother and they are my giants. My king and queen beside whom there are no others so wise. So worthy, so honorable, or brave or beautiful in this world.

Here comes the judge...! 'officially adopted in Massachusetts'...

This morning at 8:30 a.m., we went to the Probate Court of Bristol County (in New Bedford, MA) for our finalization hearing for Isabella's adoption. From what we were told by the attorney, this is not necessary but it has Bella's adoption on record in the state of Massachusetts. This will assist her down the road if she ever needs access to birth certificates; adoption information, etc (if she's applying for marriage licenses and so forth). All four of us went to the courthouse and were called into the Judge's chambers. The Judge was VERY VERY sweet, and you can tell she LOVES this part of her job; seeing a family finalize their adoption. She had a HUGE jar of assorted candy on her desk and immediately asked Zach how many pockets he had. He replied 4; she asked how many does your daddy have; again, answer was 4. Tina and Bella did not have pockets in their outfits, so the Judge said the number 8 just isn't going to do for pieces of candy. She told Zach and Bella to take 10 pieces of candy, and proceeded to have Zach dump the ENTIRE jar on her desk...!! You should hear Bella's squeal of delight as they started taking pieces of candy (bear in mind, they exceeded 10 due to prompting from the Judge....!! they got about 20 pieces, much to their delight...!). The Judge gave them a large manila envelope to stash their goodies in...She then took out an outdated Polaroid camera (film no longer exists for it; she stocked up on as much film at CVS that she could before they ran out), and had us take a picture with her....She was very very sweet...The pic is small, but she gave us two, along with a poem, 'My Love Poem' that a father who was adopting a little boy wrote (it is from the child's point of view), she gave us 2 copies; one for Bella and one for Zach. She said that it is a promise for the family to honor, and had all four of us sign the Poem (Zach signed for Bella).....She said a lot of familes take the picture, and put it with the poem for framing. We will do just that, and I will post the Poem here......Bella, of course, ate her way through the Judges office....NOTHING changes, eat and eat and eat...She ate here way through China and hasn't stopped.....!!!

Lazy days of summer.....not quite...!!!

it is hard to believe that it is July 1oth....I have a feeling this summer will FLY by for us, unfortunately. So far, can't complain about the weather, if you like hazy and hot....!!!

Anyways, it seems like we have been on the go since Zach got out of school....We spent a week up in the NH area, visiting Story Land....Santa's Village...Clark Trading Post (where Zach and Bella were almost attacked by the legendary Wolf Man as we took a train ride through his terriortory...hopefully can post pictures...)....It was a very nice week for us before Zach started summer camp....He is attending a camp which is right across the street from our home at Memorial Park..it is great as i can walk him across the street in the morning and pick him up in the afternoon. They have a lot of activities for the kids, as well as field trips....This is actually his 3rd summer attending, and more and more of his friends are going. I look back on the first summer he went, at the age and 5, when he knew no one....Zach is a shy child to start with, so it broke my heart to leave him in the morning, and to see him sitting there, all alone, sobbing a bit.....all it took was a little boy to introduce himself, and things got better...now, he's got a little posse going for him....!! Bella is still going to daycare 4 days a weeek down the street from us, and LOVES it...it keeps her busy and she is learning alot.......For the 4th of July, we visited our near and dear friends the Pagano's in New York (Long Island). We drove down on Friday morning and came back late Saturday night......it was great, relaxing weekend...swimming in the pool...hot tub...couple of beers...and lots and lots of BBQng..(thank you, Dante, for cooking all weekend)...Carmen traveled to China with us last year to get her gorgeous little girl, Jianna....She traveled all by herself, as her husband, Dante, stayed home with their 2 boys (Michael and Steven; 2 of the nicest boys you could ever meet)...we became fast friends in China and the friendship has carried over into the States....we have posted pics here before of their family, and we thoroughly enjoy getting together when time permits......in any event, it was a fantastic weekend, Zach had a ball with their boys and Bella and Jianna played great.....thank you, Pagano's for a great weekend, if you read this....!!

August will be a busy busy month for us....We have our annual China 137 (our travel group number) the weekend of August 9th....then we leave August 16th to the Vineyard with good friends of ours (nancy and jimmy and laina, don't think we're not gonna track you down on the Island.....).....The weekend we get back, one of my best friends from high school is having an informal reunion at his home that continues to snowball....(last count, I believe 60 old high school buddies and spouses have said they will attend...should be a blast)......then, wow, it's the end of summer....!! But, we love doing thing on the weekends with the kids, and they seem to have a blast, too...we will fit a trip up to Maine to visit my brother and his family and I will try and sneak in some golf or a Red Sox game here and there....i HOPE to get some updated pics online of the kids and their various activities/travels.....Best summer wishes to all!