"Holy" Weekend! What a good time!

Mike and I finally met the newest member of the Kerschen family last weekend!  Our new nephew Johnny has been in our hearts and on our minds for well over a year now.  Cathy began this Haitian adoption process a year and a half ago, all the while knowing it was a long drawn out process, much of which was well out of her hands.  She has been "promised" to Johnny for quite some time and even took a trip to Haiti last fall to meet him.  This January when tragedy hit Haiti and the earthquake destroyed an already damaged country, the Haitian government finally agreed to speed up any and all adoptions already in the process.  Cathy endured a very painful 10-12 days watching the tragedy unfold on television and waiting to find out if she could finally bring Johnny home.   Finally, she got word that Johnny and many other orphans were being released.  Mom Kerschen and Cathy met up in Florida and spent the night (yes, the whole night!) awake, in the airport waiting for the children to be paired up with their adoptive parents. 
Johnny turned 2 in February.  He and his sister Layla have adjusted amazingly well to each other and their new life with Cathy.  Cathy is one of the busiest people I know and she seems to be handling it VERY well! We are so very glad to be Johnny's god-parents and even though he is surrounded and loved by his Michigan family, we know when he gets older he'll love visiting his Colorado family too! 

Here's Johnny with his Godfathers (Uncle Mike & Uncle John)

Uncle Mike practicing holding 2! 

Layla (who will be 1 year old next week) and Johnny

We're calling our Michigan trip a "Holy weekend" because not only did we have a baptism, but we had our niece Amanda's confirmation too.  It was great!  The pastor asked all family members and the confirmation sponsor to come up to the altar and lay thier hands on the candidate.  Most of the kids had 3-5 family members apporach the altar.  But in classic Kerschen style, we over-represented, 14 of us were there to support Amanda's rite of passage!   If that wasn't embarassing enough to a 12 year old soon to be teenager, her cousin Johnny adores her and couldn't understand why she had to go back on the altar and he couldn't go with her.  So after an hour long car ride and an hour long mass program, he finally had a typical two-year-old tantrum.  I'd say it was long overdue! 

As usual, we had a very busy but awesome visit back in Michigan (our 3rd trip in a year!).  Unfortunately, I was VERY sick while we were visiting.  I have perhaps the worst cold in my adult life right now.  I told Mike I don't even like being around mself right now!  I have been sick for two whole weeks now and I'm finally starting to feel better.  As if I didn't have enough on my plate!  I've been coughing so much I've bruised my ribs...ugghh.  Mike went to a natural grocery store last night and bought me some cough lozenges, throat sprays, lemon tea, honey and my personal favorite a lavendar plant and get well card.  The lavendar plant is supposed to help you sleep (and will look fantastic in my yard if I ever get to garden again!).   I'm not usually one to believe in herbal medicines but I did sleep better with it by my bed last night.  Could it be the lavendar's healing powers or the love of my very sweet husband?  I'm not sure but I hope it helps again tonight!