Sunday was one of those days that does my heart so much good.

I'm not talking about getting my HDLs higher or my LDLs down, or pumping out forty minutes of cardio. Nope. It's that warming thing that it was all about.

The family of the most recent of Cambodia-born babies, home just before Christmas, invited us and another family for lunch.

There were four ... count 'em, four ... children under the same roof in Seychelles, all born in Cambodia and cared for at AOA orphanage, and the sight of them together brought tears to my eyes.

Both of the other sets of parents had suffered through years of infertility and the ever-fading hope that causes people to fear to wish. The joy and love and peace they glow with now is enough to warm any heart, and their darling children are not only thriving, but radiant.

Sam was the first ... in fact, the first internationally adopted kid in the country as far as we've been able to determine ... so is in a way the groundbreaker, and so grown up compared to the five-month-old he was pleased to cuddle. He is already beginning to understand their shared circumstances and is proud to be the founder of this group of "Cambodian Cousins".

As far as anyone knows, none of these kids are biologically related, but their roots all began in Cambodia near the village of Kok Prech within the last four+ years, and their early months were spent in the same baby room in the care of nannies who know each other as well as sisters.

All now are living on this island in families who's origins range from America to England to France, China and Africa, and are loved as much as any child could ever be loved, and doted upon in at least three different languages.

These photos show how tough it can be to get four kids four and under to cooperate for a photo shoot, even when two of them (the two that are mine, of course) are total hams and love posing. Mark plays the part of the furniture the kids are to be posed upon ... a role he loved!