It was a Happy Father’s Day indeed…

Father's Day + Baseball = Great Memories - Father's Day 2011

Happy Father’s Day to all the Dad’s out there…whoever and wherever you are.

The family and I headed out to a Colorado Rockies game today. Mateo and I representing with our Cardinal gear. Dad, well, he’s become a local…and cheers for the Rockies. Living in either N.C. or TN. neither one of us had a team until in my early teenage years, when I started cheering loudly for my beloved Cardinals. Dad, has just been a baseball fan, in general. He used to take me to minor league games growing up in Nashville and that’s really where the fever hit. Now, Mateo and Kaia are set. My brainwashing and programing them to be true RED Cardinals fans is all part of parenting right? If when they are 18 and/or have moved out…THEN, they can cheer for whatever team they wish, but not until then .

Seriously, this is my 3rd Father’s Day and my Dad’s 50th (I have an older sister), and they just keep getting better. I forgot to ask Dad today how he felt compared to number 1-3, but I know, as I see him with my kids, the joy has just started all over again. Their smiles and my love for them is just a perfect mixture of joy that I can’t match to anything. Baseball is such a Dad sport too, so it was just fitting today that we spend it at the ballpark.

Enjoying a Rockies game with Daddy's girl - Father's Day 2011

What a blessing it is to enjoy my family and kids today and be honored by them and thanked by them for just being me…a guy that can’t help but love them and in a large sense was made to love them. It’s become easier and now fun to sit and enjoy moments of time with them, because soon they will be gone. Because, despite looking at a picture, just like you are right now, as I write, the moment has passed and the memory is now set. The picture/video is not the same as the experience that it reflects. God blessed my life by His perfect timing, because fortunately I learned to not let these times pass without feeling them wholly. It’s taken practice but now, being present is more on than off. I’m sure I miss a lot, but I catch more, I think, because I won’t take for granted the best gift I’ve been given…FATHERHOOD.

Thank God for Grandparents

When Pearlie and I moved to Colorado over a year ago after leaving Nashville, my hometown, our motivation was to live in a city/state that had a lot to explore and enjoy. And that’s exactly what we’ve done. We dig our home. The kids have now spent as much of their life in Colorado as they did in Tennessee. The downside to moving anywhere and away from a city is leaving people. We have many friends that we think of often and talk to or see occasionally. It is for different though than living in the same city. We left family too. Pearlie’s sister and her family lived only a few miles from us. The cousins would now have to wait and see each other less often and catch up with each others lives via the phone and internet.

My parents too are from Nashville and when we talked about moving to Colorado, I for sure saw the sadness in their eyes. The grandchildren they had dreamed for along with us were now not going to be in their daily lives. Or were they. Turns out, as I look back and remember, my parents talked fondly of Colorado long before it was on our radar. So only 4 months after we moved in Feb. 2010, my parents moved right along too in May. The kids so love their their Papaw and Nana. Their other set of grandparents, Lolo and Lola, we knew would never leave South Florida, so they are the “visit grandparents”. You know the kind that you talk to on the phone for holidays and birthdays, and then meet up with on vacation to catch up with and enjoy. But my parents just so happen to get the “Go West Bug” when we did, and boy are we, as a family happy they did.

More like me then DNA

Wordless Wednedsday Blog.

4 years ago…it all started

I really can’t believe almost 4 years has gone by since Pearlie and I entered the world of international adoption and the journey our lives have been on. I started this blog back then to connect and hopefully stay connected to the wonderful souls that were feeling the same feelings I was feeling and who could relate to my perceived successes and failures along the way. I’ve watched kids come home, along with mine, and kids that haven’t.

The last 4 years of parenting these 2 kids has been a roller coaster of…Man, I’m the greatest parent and most connected to God right now, to…Dude, I suck at this, and if I can get through the next 18 years without causing too much harm to these little ones and not rack up big therapy bill, it will be a miracle.

Kaia is my princess. I know, I hear you sighing. Really? A princess? Although we have yet to buy her any kind of dress up outfits or “princess dolls”, this girl has it in her “enjoyment Guatemalan DNA” that Princess’ Rock. She plays as rough and hard as her brother, but let me tell you, here heart is as fragile as a glass slipper. As a Dad, I often get torn with teaching both my kids on protecting vs. sharing their your heart. I’m a feeling guy and teaching my kids to feel their feelings, tell the truth, and trust in the process is tough if I have my doubts about all that.

Mateo is “chill”. He is only 4 months older than his sister, but sometimes it seems like he’s years older. His personality fits for being the older child. He’s a guardian and watches out for…everybody. Mateo, is an opposite reflection of how is sister is ALL girl, with him being ALL boy. His love for baseball and hockey was programmed into his head at an early age by me and his Mom spending hours watching these 2 sports in person and on T.V. So in case you were wondering, you can guide your kids interest, especially if they are the family’s interest.

It amazes me sometimes when I stop and think about it that these 2 are not biologically related. They are as adopted to each other as they are to us. Yet, spending 9 months together at Eagles Nest (orphanage in Guatemala), and now day in and day out in the same house, their bond and love for each other is thick. As babies they had their own “language”, before they could speak to us. And now as 3 year olds they read each other’s mind and finish each other’s sentences. They are as tight as I’d hoped they’d be…maybe more.

We’ve jumped right into it these last 3 years. Sometimes we landed on our feet and other times not. The best part of all this is that we ARE jumping…moving…living life and experimenting with how everything God lays out works in my life and theirs. It’s fun and I can’t stop laughing, crying, smiling, and loving.

Peace…it’s good to be back and writing. – Jeff

Photographing my life

I’m up late tonight and got a chance to cruise through some blogs. It has been months and months, but I haven’t been totally absent from the “cyber-world”. My hope is to turn this blog into more of a photoblog, but lately my pics have stayed in Flickr, along with the info related to them. I say all that, because if your like me, whether I know you well or just your kid from EN, I love seeing God do his thing in family’s lives. And what I mean by that is that adoption affects so many people. Mine did…my kid’s did…and I have been reading how yours does. I realized, I’m not a Facebook guy, so I let my camera be my “voice” about this last year of my life, and the Flickr site has some of that, so check it out. I surprisingly haven’t shot as much video as I thought I would…I think because it just takes to long to process.

Anyway…all that to say, I learn from others (you) and have a lot to share about what God is teaching me. My children and family seem to be the medium of God’s teaching lately, but more to be revealed. Peace. Here’s a couple pics of Mateo and Kaia last month at my buddy’s wedding.

        

Officially…Mateo & Kaia

It’s official. Mateo and Kaia Pope are officially re-adopted.
We started this latest process in late January, which turns out to be a little late to get all the tax info for 4/15/2009. So, yes, extension-time. But none the less we chose to spend a little more money and give the kids the gift of being officially registered in the state of Tennessee, via a report of foreign birth, through Vital Records. So neither one will ever need to refer back to Guatemala for a birth certificate. Even though at the time of their adoption Coatepeque and Amititlan were relatively “cool” with getting our certified stuff on to the the embassy, you never know what the future situation will be. Many of my friends have told us that over the years they have needed several certified BCs, mainly for schools, so we figured what the heck, let’s do this for them…and us. I know not everyone that adopts internationally does this, but we could not find any negatives about doing it versus not. This takes the place of the name change part, since their new names were part of the court degree of re-adoption. It killed 2 birds with 1 stone. My only regret is not going ahead and registering for their SS card under their old names and just doing a name change of the card later. Oh well, it all worked out. So Mateo and Kaia are official now…They don’t seem to notice any difference it appears, but Daddy’s wallet soon will, as I can finally finish my taxes now.

Kaia, Pearlie, me, and Mateo wait for our number to be called at the SS office.