The Martins

Today we had my Mum & Dad down... as usual they spoiled Joel, and this time they had another grandchild to spoil.

Lots of fun was had with the flying dinosaur, (remote control bug).

It was good to have my folks down, although dad did act like Lord Lichfield/David Bailey with his new camera. 

Jerry Ryan Fluffy Martin

Sadly, Joel today found out that his pet hamster had died... he wanted to mark this sad occassion with his own words...

"Jerry you were the best hamster ever. You gave me so much joy. I am going to really miss you. You were one of my best friends".

Jerry had been losing hair and wasn't looking the best before we went to Thailand. We are glad that we got to spend some time with him at home before he died. We will miss him running around his wheel at night, pooing on the floor when he broke out of his cage and hiding in Joel's hood.

To say good bye to Jerry, we had a short burial service where Joel was able to say thank you to God for all his memories of him. 

A month with Tamah

It feels as if she's been with us forever, but in reality we have only had Tamah for a month. She has fit so well in to the family and apart from the sleeping part of things.

Last Friday we went to a family wedding in Banbridge and it was interesting that Tamah was shy with most folks and yet ran around with most of the kids. Again, she was great bu

t as the night went on you could tell that the "wheels were coming off the cart".

Norman and Heather then made their way down to meet us in Omagh and then come down to Dromore to spend the weekend. Amazingly, the weather was great and we had good fun together as the video shows...

Tamah and Joel played really well and it was great to see their relationship blossom... I love watching them play together, hug each other and grow together.

Joel has to go to school tomorrow after a 5 week break, and I begin to get back to work properly. It will be interesting to see if Tamah misses both of us and if Lesa can get through the day without pulling her hair out.

We are thankful that Thailand has calmed down a lot, although looking at the news this morning we heard that an assignation had been made on Sondhi Limthongkul, (the leader of the yellow shirts). Inevitably, this means that the 2 political parties will move further apart and in the coming days there will tit-for-tat attacks.

I really pray that things calm down...

Home a week & thankfully so

What a week we've had... Joel, Lesa, Tamah and I have been learning and loving each other more and more this week & Tamah has been growing in confidence and courage.

Yesterday, was a lovely sunny Easter morning and it was Tamah's first experience of Holy Trinity Dromore. She had been on edge until the choir struck up 'See what a morning', which she danced through. Everyone was besotted with her - naturally!

After the service we travelled up to Belfast and met up with

 Norman & Heather, Paul & Ruth, Bethan & Joe and Maisie. She was delighted to see Tamah... 

The kids were great and had great fun together, looking for Easter eggs round the garden.

On a totally different note, we are so happy to be home now... everything seems to be kicking off in Thailand at the minute.

There are so many people we know now and we hope they are alright - we knew that things were tense and we are devastated for those we know who were planning to head out to pick up their child next week. 

The Home Office is saying not to fly at the moment, (it must be so frustrating). Please pray for peace in Thailand...

Tamah at home

Since my Thailand travels blog was such a hit, my son asked if we could continue posting under a different guise... and here it is a record of Tamah at home, for as long as she wants me to do it, or as long as I can be bothered to post.

Tamah has been amazingly flexible - imagine flying to the other side of the world, living in temperatures 30 oC below what you're used to, getting up when you should be asleep (and visa versa), eating "foreign muck"... she has had to change in so many ways and yet she's done it with style.

Yesterday, we had Heather with us and I have to say she was a God send... she helped Lesa with the clothes and with tidying the place up... thanks Heather. It was really special to see Tamah and Heather play together, hug each other and talk with each other.

We also had 2 health visitors call in, and whilst Miss Martin was none to pleased about being stripped and put on to a freezing weighing machine and then being laid out flat to gauge her length... we were happy to see that she is gaining weight and growing well.

Today, we had Paul, Ruth, Bethan & Joe and for a while it wasn't going so well. Tamah wasn't in the greatest of forms from the off today... but after a sleep and a bottle, she started to thaw a bit with Bethan and then with everyone else. Joel was his typical hyper self when the family was around.

Tomorrow, a local social worker is calling round for a quick visit... it will be interesting to see how Tamah copes with her.

For now she is away to the land of nod & Joel will be soon behind her... and I'll be there just after that.