Rare Opportunities...

This weekend we had the opportunity to meet Joey's biological brother, Zach. He's 13 months older than Joey and was adopted by a family in Montana when he was 5 months old. We've known about Zach from the time we received Joey's referral but have only recently been in contact with his family.

Zach had a break from school so his parents asked if we could meet them in Bismarck for the weekend. I will be the first to admit I was a little nervous for this meeting. We've been trying to prepare Joey for awhile (as much as you can prepare a 5 year old) but all it took was about 45 minutes and they were best friends and my nerves were quickly put at ease. His mom and dad are two of the nicest people we've met and Zach is a complete sweetheart. He and Joey have so much in common. Not only do they have similar physical features but also many of the same mannerisms and expressions. We spent the entire weekend watching the boys bond (Sam included) and enjoyed visiting with his parents. We've already made tentative plans to meet up again this summer and are so excited to build on this relationship. Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Joey introducing Zach to his Nintendo DS. They took turns playing Mario Bros. and talked about it all weekend.

BIG hugs!

Getting ready to hit the pool.

Sam had an absolute blast in the splash pad. 

Joey and Zach playing under "the mushroom"... just like Mario Bros.

We took the kids to a science museum that turned out to be really cool.

All the boys loved the bottle rocket exhibit.

It wasn't easy getting Sam away from the tool exhibit.

This picture warms my heart!