John Paul updates

Guess what landed in my INBOX this morning?  A whole lotta updates on our little John Paul!  Woohoo!!!!

John Paul lives with a foster family.  The foster home sponsored by a US adoption agency (the agency provides training, support, encouragement for foster families).  And the foster families provide quarterly updates on the children. 

And as of today we have all of John Paul's updates!!!  Each one includes his height/weight, a photo, and a description of his general health, development, etc. 

This past month with Luke I've had moments of deep sadness, realizing that I will never know John Paul as a baby.  There are many details I will never know.  Questions I cannot answer.  Just a few nights ago the kids were asking me what time of day they were born.  Julianna? Evening.  Lydia? Evening.  Isaac? Early morning.  Luke? Early morning. 

Then they asked "what about John Paul?"  I don't know what time of day John Paul was born.  I probably never will. 

Today Julianna asked me "if John Paul lived in your tummy what city would he have been born in?"  It's an interesting question to try to answer, and together we decided that since we were living in North Dakota in early January 2011 then hypothetically, if John Paul had been in my tummy, he would have been born during a North Dakota blizzard.  [John Paul's birthday is Jan 1, 2011.... and yes, North Dakota was buried in snow!]

The ugly truth is that I don't know for sure what city he was born in.  Or what time of day he was born. Or how much he weighed.  Or .......

So the more information we do have, well.... I just love filling in a few of those missing details.  Yes, knowing a few details reminds me how very much I do not know.  But it's nice to start to fill those blank pages of his life history, even if I fill them with just small little tidbits.  

John Paul had a head full of black hair when he was three months old.  At six months he was reaching out and grabbing for table food.  At nine months he weighed 9 kg and was "climbing everywhere". 

And my personal favorite, straight from his 15 month report (a week ago)

"He likes to play with friends but does not like friends to grab his toys and he will fight over and get his toys back." 

It seems he's going to be a perfect fit for our family :)  His four siblings will provide plenty of friends, and I have toys ready to be fought over. 

Oh how I cannot wait to go get our John Paul and bring him home!   (speaking of... no news on the wait, it seems to be stretching longer and longer but I know God knows exactly what day John Paul is coming home, so waiting confidently)