More photos....

The 5th and final day with Chase

Nothing could prepare us for what awaited when we had to return Chase to his foster mother. Her name is Bella Louisa and you could tell that she cared for him very much. However, it was the most difficult thing to have to hand him over to her. Enough said. We just pray that the process moves quickly and he comes home to us very soon.

Day 4

Most of the final day was spent outside by the pool. As you can see Chase has a friend. Her name is Sophia Chappell. Her family lives very close to us in Illinois and are going through the same agency as Erich and I. It was great to meet so many families there who share the same story and have the same concerns as we do. Sonia and Joe Chappell will be a great support to us. Thank you to Sonia for setting up my blog for me.

Day 3

As you can see Day 3 consisted of a few costume changes. We pretty much did the same thing every day. We awoke when Chase did and we ate, showered and went out when Chase said we could. You can see by these pictures he isn't always so serious. He laughed the majority of the time, it was us who couldn't get the camera timing down to capture it.

Day 2

Day two consisted of a bath, just hanging out, a stroll around the hotel and soaking up some rays by the pool.

Day 1

As you can tell Day one consisted of a couple of dress rehearsals. He warmed up to Rita and I nicely. We were instructed that he took a bottle every two hours and ate fruit/veggies in between. Hence, the chubby checks. The night ended up nicely, we only got up three times between 6pm and 7am.







Erich and I were split between a girl and boy. However, after meeting Chase it just didn't matter anymore. But if it isn't dresses and bows then it will definitely be cute hats...

Meeting Chase for the first time

On November 8, 2007 I met Mr. Chase for the first time. We arrived at the airport at 12:45pm, took a shuttle to the hotel, got checked in and waited until 3pm when Chase would be dropped off to us. At 2:30pm we wandered to the lobby just in case the foster mother was early and there he was. All wrapped up in ten layers of clothing and waiting to meet me. He took to me right away and ofcourse right away I took to him. We offered the foster mother our thanks and was on our way. We immediately went to our room and it was time to start bonding.....