Patrick's Photo Gallery
Hello Family and Friends!
There's a new member of the San Francisco Downeys, a.k.a. the U.S. Van Aalzums!
On April 28, 2002 a very special boy was born in Guatemala to a loving,
but very poor, single mother. We had
just completed all our pre-adoption paperwork and were pleasantly surprised
when we received the first two pictures in "The Best of Patrick" gallery and an offer to
adopt him as our son (Lotte immediately wallpapered the house and her office
with reprints of various sizes -- and you can see what Brian thought about him
from this website). We immediately accepted the referral and a few weeks later were
sent additional pictures, doctor's reports, and a short video. We both
liked the name Patrick (particularly since it was pronounced pretty much the
same in Dutch as in English). We chose Robbins in memory of my father and
Anthonius for Lotte's father.
In July Lotte flew to Guatemala to hold Patrick while he was as
young as possible -- and to take pictures, videos, and to refresh the
diaper-changing skills she had mastered with her favorite nephews Sander and Maarten.
In October we completed the legal procedures in the courts,
traveled to Guatemala City and brought him home!
We're very happy, grateful, and looking forward to introducing him to all
of you in person later this year.
In spite of Patrick's short time with us, we've already taken a bunch of
photos and organized them into the following web albums - just click on
any
one of them and be prepared to be charmed! (If you want to view a second album, at the end of each column of
the small thumbnail pictures is a button that will return
you here to "Patrick's Home Page".) You can also click on this
e-mail address to
send "fan mail" to
Patrick.Downey@stratcomm.com
The Best of Patrick

October 2002
1st Halloween
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