I'll start with a few pictures (the most fun part of the blog)





Good news – Nathan’s visa paperwork has now left Honolulu and is headed for Manila, Philippines. This is the last stop before it heads back here to Majuro, Marshall Islands (AND WE CAN GET OUTTA HERE). We are optimistically hoping this will only take 2 weeks (although will likely take longer).

We FINIALLY found a decent, safe beach to play on. We traveled by boat to one of the outer islands and finally had sand, sun and fun. We went snorkeling and saw all kinds of colorful fish (and a few sea creatures!). What a great day that was.

Nathan is doing great. He is eating well & gaining weight. Of course, there is no way to weigh him, but his checks are filling out and his little arms and legs are getting some flesh on them. He seems very happy, other than a little congestion, but looking forward to having him checked out by Dr. Joe when we get home.

Joel is ready to go home. Every few hours, we hear “let’s go home.” He doesn’t understand why we can’t just go back home. Erica loves the sunshine & fun. She bravely went snorkeling and is ready to go again. Our suntan lines will look funny. In the Marshall Islands, women dress much more modestly than we do in the West. No swimsuits in public. We are starting to get used to swimming in our clothes, but it is very different.

I made a chicken casserole the other night, using canned chicken & we devoured it. I think Joel had 4 servings. Of course, I had to throw away the 1st box of stuffing due to bugs in it (very common) and the next box was stale, but we used it. We had 2 small cans of corn and some garlic bread with it. The groceries are so expensive here; Dennis and I calculated that one meal to be around $35.

Our plans upon return to the western world are to
1. Eat at O’charleys (including salads) and
2. Eat Oreos with BIG glasses of milk – lots of cold, skim milk!

We will be spending less time on the internet, as we are paying for by the minute and it is starting to add up quick. We hope to be making plans for home soon; we miss everyone so much. We can’t wait for you all to meet Nathan. We are also very anxious to meet our new great-nephew, Noah, born Dec 17th. This is Justin’s baby. He is doing great and we cannot wait to get ahold of him!!!

We love you all!
Kathy

Merry Christmas from the islands!

Although it is only Christmas Eve at home, it is now Christmas day in the Marshall Islands. We enjoyed a quiet time of family togetherness and opening a few, simple presents. We spent Christmas eve enjoying pizza with Nathan's birthmom and brother & gave them a few gifts to open this morning. We've been invited to Christmas dinner with the local Yachters Club here -- they are nice to invite us misplaced Americans for some traditional Western cuisine. We are looking forward to familiar food.

We miss everyone at home terribly & wish this process of waiting on Nathan's visa wasn't such a long, drawn-out process. I really hope that someday, someone will remedy this needless wait for families. Nathan was legally our child on December 14th, but our own government makes us wait for our adoption packet (including his Visa)to be shipped to several different US offices and signed before he can enter the US. Very frustrating, that our own government creates such a hardship for us. In this day of internet & faxes, this is such a needless wait.

Merry Christmas & we hope to see you soon, although it will likely be several weeks from now.
Love you,
Kathy

Address

Several of you have asked for our address here in the islands. Well.....they don't have addresses here....really, they don't! They only have 1 road & no house or business numbers. They contract with the US postal service and DO have po boxes. You can mail letters or packages to the po box. I would not recommend mailing anything of high value in case it "gets lost." In case you would like to a send care package....we would rather you send items for Nathan's birthmom (size medium) and brother (4 yr old).
Our address is:

Dennis & Kathy Irwin
PO Box 4012
Majuro, Marshall Islands 96960

My understanding is that it will take about a 1-2 weeks for things to arrive & it should only cost US prices (a letter would cost 44 cents). Remember -- don't send very valuable items.

Our cell number from the states is 011-692-456-6650. I think this DOES cost a lot to call here. Our service is not great, so you take your chances on getting us. We can accept text messages.

Keep us in your prayers.
Love you all,
Kathy

Nathan with Rickson, his biological brother

Doing well

We are REALLY struggling with internet service -- so please don't be offended if we have not responded to an email. We've not been able to get our email in 2 days. Our power was out most of the day yesterday (everyone needs to THANK GOD for KUB, right now!).
We are doing well. Nathan is cooing more and more each day. He is such a happy baby. We are struggling finding food that we like, but today we found a GREAT grilled cheese sandwich for only $4. Great! Erica did get her spaghetti last night -- we made it at the apartment -- with no meat. I'm scared of the meat at the grocery stores - refrigeration isn't the same here.
We took some candy and bubbles to Nathan's birthmom's community & you would have thought we brought them the world! It was great to see all the sweet smiles. will post more soon.

Kathy

A few pics

I'm struggling with the internet here, so pictures are limited. But you can trust me, Nathan is SOOOOOOO cute! He is starting to coo & we just want to eat him up!!!! We are so in love!
We are now in an apartment but living conditions are still challenging, but we are adjusting well. We hope to find a safe beach tomorrow. Have found out that swimming in the lagoon is risky due to e.coli from sewage. We've also found out that the CDC has issued a TB warning for this island and we've been warned to stay away from the hospital unless it is critical. We've rented a car for only 1 week - can't afford any longer, so riding in the taxi cabs has me concerned with the TB warning. We will be staying in a lot and walking a lot to get to places. We will stock up on groceries and supplies during this week with a car.
We are so glad we packed our Wii. Dennis bought a TV and coffee pot today - we are in heaven!!
Love you all.
Kathy

December 14, 2009 is Nathan's "gotcha day!"

Court date went well and Nathan Atner is our new son. We are excited beyond measure and totally worn out! After one more meeting with the lawyer, our visa paperwork will head off to Manila! And then we wait.
We have moved to an apartment, bigger, but still very modest conditions. I will update more soon (with more pics)!
Kathy

We met Nathan Atner!

We made it to Majuro and within 2 hours, I was able to hold Nathan in my arms. He is smaller than I expected, but very alert. We met 2 other couples also adopting. One is at our hotel. We (us and other couple) were able to take our babies' birth moms out for lunch. The language barrier is somewhat difficult. We also took Nathan for his passport picture. Our court date is Monday at 9:00am (Sunday 4pm Knoxville time).

We went to the grocery store which was a different experience. We paid $10.20 for a case of diet mountain dew, but trust me, in this heat, it was the BEST we had ever had. We cannot get enough fluids in.

Kids are in bed now, Dennis and I tried to calculate how long it had been since we got up in Hawaii, but it was too hard. With crossing the international date line, and arriving in the NEXT day, we just couldn't "do the math." I just know we are all tired.
Please continue to pray, especially for this dear birth mom during this difficult time.
Pictures may be kinda few and far between, the internet is very slow.
Love you all,
Kathy

In Honolulu

We have arrived in Honolulu for our 14 hour layover. The flights were good so far, Joel tolerated them well.
Dennis and Erica are out trying to find something to eat (Joel is ready for bed) It is 6:30pm honolulu time, 11:30 knoxville time.
Tomorrow (Friday), we leave out on a 6:55am flight to Majuro, Marshall Islands. We will cross the international dateline, therefore when we arrive in the marshall islands, it will be Saturday afternoon.
Thanks for following this journey with us!
Kathy

Busy, busy, busy

Wow, the last few days have been a whirlwind. Preparing to leave the country for 6 weeks is harder than I thought!

Many of you may be scratching your head thinking, "I thought they asked for a girl." Well, to make a long story short, Yes, we were expecting a match with a girl, but due to an error, we were matched with our precious Nathan Atner. We choose to believe the LORD worked this out, leading us to our son. We are just so in love with him.

My church family is throwing together a last minute shower for us, this coming Monday night. Can't believe they would get this together for us so quickly, and during the busiest season of the year. I KNOW how busy everyone is, I am so grateful for my church family. They are SOOO excited with us! I can't wait for Nathan to meet them & know this wonderful group of people who will watch him grow, teach him about Jesus, and love him unconditionally. Even one of our youngest members (2 yr old) is excited for his arrival. All our AWANAs kids are praying for Nathan, and our Sparkies have his picture on their world map to mark the Marshall Islands. We are all so blessed.

This will be a crazy busy week, as we continue to prepare. We both have jobs that we love and will be working hard this week to prepare our workplaces for our "maternity" leave. Erica's state meet is also this weekend, so we will travel to Nashville for that (Go Erica!).

We have our airline tickets! They were less than expected!! Yeah! Please pray specifically that Joel will tolerate the long flight. This will likely be hard on him.

Can't believe I will have Nathan in my arms in 12 days!

Kathy
"But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." Luke 18:16