A bragging mom...

Ok, I have to brag. I know that is sinful and pride comes before fall; however...

My boys are playing basketball for high school (Ok so that is hard to think, I have a junior and a freshman....ugh....)

Anyway, for the first game Jacob started varsity and Nathan was the 6th man. I realize it is just summer ball, but I don't think I would be a good mom if I wasn't excited. Right? Right.

It had been a hard time at the end of school for them, so the feeling of some success was wonderful!!!!!! Even dad was a little excited.

We know there is A LOT of hard work that will be needed, and we aren't always going to see them in these spots...I know, but oh well. For right now, I am proud!!!!

Tooth fairy...part 2

Kylie lost her first tooth. Suprisingly enough, she didn't even flinch. I could not believe it!

So in the last two weeks, we have had 7 teeth lost. Geesh!

In addition, Jacob got braces two days ago. That night he broke a bracket so it was back to the orthodontist the next day.

Next week, we have the first round of dentist appointments for everyone.

Have you seen the advertisement for the Duggars? They are all going to the dentist and there is something like 317 teeth that will be looked at...

Sound familiar?

The tooth fairy

I think I have found my limit when it comes to taking care of my children.

Jacob, 16, had 6 teeth pulled today. 4 wisdom teeth and 2 permenant molars. They needed to do this to make more room on the bottom.

He will have braces put on in a couple of weeks and then in about a year and a half, he will have jaw surgery. Poor guy.

Anyway, I think I have found my limit, and that is blood from my children.

I just don't do well with it. My skin crawls and I almost feel sick. It is not that the sight of blood bothers me, when they skin their knees or if they have a bloody nose, or pick a scab, really nothing. But when I know there is pain associated with it, I can't handle it.

I am a wimp!!!

John

John is a pistol. He is naughty and at the same time he is the sweetest little guy. And there are times when he can say and do the funniest things...

For example - tonight we went to pick up Jacob from his baseball game. It was just Jacob, John and myself in the car.

Tomorrow is preschool screening. And like a good mom, I was grilling him on the more important things a four year old going in to preschool should know...

How old are you? What is this color? What is this shape? Etc, etc.

Anyway, I said, "What is your whole name?"

He says, "John."
"No John, what is your whole name?"
"I don't have to tell you because it makes me a headache."

It should be VERY interesting tomorrow when we go through the screening. To be honest with you, I am very nervous. You never know what you might get.

Take for instance, when I asked him to spell him name, he says, "n, h, o, j." Agh. He might show him how smart he is and then again, who knows?

I'm back...

Well, we didn't win a fortune...actually the only amount we gambled away was the $4 my dad gave us as we dropped of the kids at their house. We were able to bring back $6.30 to my dad. High rollers we are...

What could I possible write about on this trip?

The fact that my husband surprised me with orchestra seating to the Phantom of the Opera?

The almost "Pretty Woman" bathtub at the hotel we stayed in?

Here are some pictures of the hotel where we stayed. Of course these are off of the website and they don't show the bathtub...but honestely, the bathroom was about the size of most hotel rooms!!!

The LITTLE BLACK DRESSES that were so little sometimes you had to look to make sure everything was covered?

The people who were stumbling all over the place after having too much to drink?

Or the absolutely wonderful time I had with my husband...just the two of us?

I could write all day long about those things, honestly.

But I would have to say the best part of the trip was coming back and being with my family again. (Actually Leonard is still in Las Vegas, he doesn't get home until Thursday but I know we are closer to being a family again.)

4 days was a long time...just a brief show for when I am gone to China. At least Leonard will be here to take care of the kids. Pray for him!

Goin' to sin city...

Leonard and I are off to Las Vegas for a couple of days...actually we won't leave until Saturday morning but right now, I have to pack 5 suitcases, get homework done, take Jacob to the dentist, get my haircut, paint my toe nails, and go to Jacob's track meet tomorrow afternoon.

Hhmm, it is 9:14pm right now on Thursday night, I still have um, let's see, about 10 loads of laundry to do.

So what am I doing? Blogging about having to do all of the work...

But the laundry is calling, the suitcases are yelling and the list of things to do just won't go away!

Still no news on Noah. Day 64...ugh!

Jacob's prom

It is hard to believe Jacob had his first prom. He went to another school's and had a great time. Of course, mom had to cry as she was taking the pictures of her oldest son dressed up in his tux.

I would post pictures of him and his date, but I didn't ask for permission to post her photo on the world wide web...so I will just show Jacob and how handsome he looked.

He was a little nervous here, can you tell?

There were 11 of them that met and had their pictures taken. Then they had dinner and made it to the prom for about 45 minutes, missed pictures, but then went to the after prom. He was finally home at about 4:20 am then had to be ready to leave for Vail for FBLA state at 6:15 am. Haven't seen him since but I am sure he is one sleepy guy!

Kaycee update

When we were in China, I was traveling with a woman who was adopting her fourth child. She told me that she always that a great milestone in their lives was when they had been home longer than they had been in China.

We are now at that milestone. It is amazing the changes and growth we have seen in her.

When we first came home, she would scream any time Leonard came near her. It crushed him. Now, she cuddles, laughs, calls for, takes naps with, and LOVES her daddy. She can now read the word daddy, sign it and write it.

Kaycee had 4 words in Chinese when we got her. Mama, meme, no, and toy. Now, she is a nonstop chatter box. She talks and signs all of the time. Actually she is sitting here right now telling me about how John hit her.

She knows all of her shapes.
She knows all of her colors.
She knows all of her alphabet; writes, signs, recognizes, says
She knows all of her numbers up to 16; writes, signs, recognizes
She can group small items with small items.
She can match items.
She is even getting to the point where she will let the PE teacher and the male bus driver get close to her. Not too close, and mommy always has to be there, but she will talk to them now.

She has come so far, she is a different little girl.

She is beautiful, smart, sweet, and very clean - almost obsessive about it...

She is my daughter!
She is getting to the point where she can make her needs be met.

A new blog

I decided to have a blog just for Noah. We did it for Kaycee. I thought he needed his own too.

You can see things that are Noah only things at http://lovingnoah.blogspot.com

Unfortunately, most of these things right now are complaints from me, so really, I am sorry.

However, I know that in a few short months, they will not be complaints, they will be praises.

Just hang in with me!

Do I dare...

Do I dare hope?

Two LOA's came today at 75 and 77 days. The average had been around 95-105 days. Could it be getting faster?

Could we still travel this summer? We are at 40 days today....

I don't dare...........

Spring Break has Sprung!

Oh the hair...what is going on? Actually John woke up looking like Don King, so Jacob and Nathan decided to join in...

Can you believe I was actually able to get this picture? It is absolutely amazing! It didn't last long, so it is a good thing I got it when I did!

And the picture below. It is kind of hard to see but they are Kylie's fingernails and toenails. She wanted something "fancy." Orange, green, purple and pink. How much more fancy can a girl get?

P-E-N-G-U-I-N

I am sitting here amazed today.

Kaycee - 3 - is sitting next to me very quietly coloring while I finish up 3 assignments for my class. I look over after noticing some movement that doesn't go along with coloring...

Kaycee is signing and saying every letter that is in the coloring book. Then after she signs the letters, she signs the word. (The words that are in the book are just the titles and there are pictures of the titles, like penguin....but still.)

Two nights ago, she and I were in my room at school and she was writing on my board. She likes to write her name. Then she signs, "write John name." So I signed J-O-H-N to her. She wrote it on the board, just like it was nothing. So I signed to her to write Jacob's name. I signed it to her again, J-A-C-O-B she wrote all of them except the B - she made a "d" instead. (I have some junior high kids that still get this wrong.)

I am now actually getting a little nervous about her being in preschool for three years. She has been in part time this year, then will be in full time for two years.

But I don't think it would be a good idea for her to be in John's class. Actually, I think that would be a really BAD idea!!!

I know she will be ahead of Noah, do I keep him back so the competition is less between the two? He is a little younger than Kaycee...

Time will tell, I guess.....

2024...here we come

After having 2 boys and attending tball games, baseball games, football games, basketball games, two games of soccer, and even one practice for wrestling, I have a wonderful treat for myself.

Gymnastics...yes, my girls are doing gymnastics. And they both LOVE IT!

I was told by the O.T. that if I had concerns about Kaycee's balance, I should take her to gymnastics to work on it. So after getting done with basketball for the boys, I signed the girls up for gymnastics. Was it for me more than them?

Probably - at the beginning...but...

Kylie wants to go everyday. Each morning, "Is this the day I get to go to gymnastics?"

So what does the 2024 mean? The Olympics of course. So keep that date open...of course it would probably be in the late summer, I just am not sure of the exact date...or really where it might be. I guess I need to start paying attention to the announcements of where it is going to be held the next time. :)

Redirected

After a week and a half of a heavy heart and finally coming to the conclusion that I would travel along sometime in September or even October, I received a very surprising email.

Let's back up.

At this time, I will have six days paid for my adoption - the trip and the bonding...I have been told that I can see if our school board will change this policy. I have MORE than enough sick days to pay me through 8 weeks of maternity leave, however, as this is not a physical birth, 6 days. Moving on....

I emailed our agency to make sure that I would be traveling sometime after school started. I didn't want to have to go through the process of trying to get a policy changed if I didn't need too at this point.

Email back states, "we received an email from China today with your family's LID. It is 2-19." Ok, so this is only two weeks sooner than 3-2, however, 2 weeks is 2 weeks!!!!!!!

Still, I most likely will be traveling right as school starts. As our agency said that families are usually traveling 6 months after their LID. 8-19. School starts 8-17. And then there is Kylie's birthday on 8-30.
_______________________________________________________
Email received while I am typing this...

We are confirming with China right now to see which LID is yours. Ugh. 2 weeks is 2 weeks.

Remember the snow day?

Here are some pictures I took on our snow day from a while ago. Yes, this much snow closed our school. Why? Wind. When there is wind with the snow, it is bad...very bad.

This is Kylie...freezing but loving it!

Just know that this DOES not happen very often. These two fight more than any other children I know. (They are 10 months apart.) But here they are displaying the best team work ever!

I told Kaycee that in China, she wouldn't have seen the snow. "I like snow." She signs back and laughs!

It was absolutely freezing. But you can't tell by John's face! He loved it until we had to go inside!

Where are the older boys? They were inside, where it was very nice and warm playing Guitar Hero...

March 2

It is supposed to be a good thing when you actually get your LID. It really is. I should be jumping up and down...

But I'm not. Actually I feel so heavy hearted right now, I can't even think right now.

Our LID is March 2. Yes, March 2 - yesterday. We were supposed to be DTC on January 24...what happened? I don't know.

4-5 months to LOA
and about 3-6 weeks later for TA...(There is a new form that has to be filled out and sent to immigration before you can travel.)
Then about 2 weeks later travel. Travel in September - October? Summer is just about out of the question now.

I am sick.

Happy Late Chinese New Year

I absolutely love True Children's Home newsletter. Each time I get it, I hold my breath as I open it...

Here is another wonderful surprise. Another picture of Noah.

Looking at more than just the sweet little boy in the picture, I notice that his pincher grasp (fine motor skills) and his ability to balance while in a squatting position (gross motor skills) look good! :)

Makes me wonder about something else...is he left handed? He looks like he is opening the tin with his left hand. Interesting! :)

Living on Faith

I attended a funeral earlier this week for a friend who died of cancer. Instead of mourning the death of him, we celebrated his life and the fact that we all know where he is now...He couldn't wait! He knew he would be healed - either here on earth or in heaven.

During the funeral, our pastor talked about living on faith. He talked about Noah being shunned by his friends and neighbors because he was building the arc. Noah was laughed at and made fun of.

But Noah knew he was hearing God speak to him. He knew what God wanted him to do. Noah did what the Lord wanted him to do and he was rewarded for it.

Do you think adoption is a little like this? You hear God speaking to your heart about these children? You see their sweet little faces and know that this is what the Lord is calling you to do?

I have heard all of the comments from many people as we adopt...how much does it cost? I can't believe you are adopting again. Don't you have enough kids...etc, etc.

And there have even been times when I listened. Yes, we do have enough, no we don't need anymore. We could be spending our money on other things.

But then I hear that Voice again. And I see those sweet, precious eyes looking out from the pictures again, and I know, and I will follow.

Yes, she needs sign language

I was asked again, "Why do you have to do sign language with Kaycee? She has hearing aids, right?"

There was even one time this comment was made, "Kaycee's hearing is so good she will not be saddled with sign language all of her life."

Saddled? Interesting that this would be the chosen word when it was from a special education teacher. Actually, this was the head of special ed in my area. HHHmmm...

ANYWAY...Kaycee has been very successful with sign language.

For example, yesterday we were talking about it being warm. I was not signing to her,
I was just talking.

Kaycee looked at me and signed, "Where worm." (I don't like bugs and those types of things, so when I sign bug, snake, etc, I wrinkle my nose. She has also learned to do this. And when she thought there was a worm, she was a little concerned.)

I signed back..."No, there is no worm. It is warm in here." Not getting there was no worm, I signed it was "hot in here."

Yes she says. Hauck...(She has a hard time with "t" at the end of her words.)

Sign language is very important to her language. Spontaneous, expressive signs range in about the 50 word range. I really should make a list.

Receptive signs - I really think she has the same vocabulary I do (in sign language.) 200 words? I really should make a list. :)

So as you can see, even though Kaycee has almost regular hearing with her aids, sign language has been a huge part of her communication.

So, yes, she needs sign language. Will she need it all of her life? Who knows? Probably not. She is actually starting to drop some of the signs that she learned early on where she now knows the spoken word AND can be clearly understood.

Noah on the other hand, will most likely need sign all of his life...if his audiograms are correct - he is not only missing the external part of his ears, one of them is missing the inside also. But we really won't know that until we have him home.

Speaking of this subject...still no LID. UUGGHH!!!! It has been over a month since we were DTC. Oh well. All in God's timing!!! :)

Out of the mouths of babes...

The other day Kylie (5) and I were talking...

Mommy, you have 3 daughters.

No, Kylie, I only have 2.

No, you have 3.

No, Kylie, there are only 2, you are my first and Kaycee is my 2nd.

Nope, you have 3.

Ok, so where is this 3rd daughter of mine?

She is in China with Noah........

Sooooo funny!

I was reading another adoptive mom's blog...I came across this. Granted, it is a little out of season right now but none the less, I had a great big laugh! Hope you will enjoy it too!

Dear Santa,
I've been a good mom all year. I've fed,cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the
doctor's office more than my own doctor and sold
sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant ashade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could
spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to
write this letter with my daughter's red crayon, on the
back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and
who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next
18 years.
Here are my Christmas wishes:
I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache(in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms
that don't hurt or flap in the breeze, but are strong
enough to pull my screaming child out of
the candy aisle in the grocery store.I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere
in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.
If you're hauling big ticket items this year
I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that
only plays adult music, a television that
doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking
animals, and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind
the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.
On the practical side, I could use a talking doll
that says, 'Yes, Mommy' to boost my parental
confidence,
along with two kids who don't fight and
three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without
the use of power tools.I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks
chanting 'Don't eat in the living room' and
'Take your hands off your sister,' because my voice
seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can
only be heard by the dog.
If it's too late to find any of these products,
I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my
hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food
warmer than room temperature without it being served in a
Styrofoam container.
If you don't mind, I could also use a few
Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it
be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will
clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you
could coerce my children to help around the house without
demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized
crime family.
Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is calling and my
daughter saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think
she wants her crayon back. Have a safe trip and remember to
leave your wet boots by the door and come in
and dry off so you don't catch a cold.
Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat
too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.
Yours Always,
MOM

Something to share

Noah is currently being supported by True Children's Home.

Here is a picture of his 3rd birthday party.

It makes my heart hurt...it really was one of those times when I inhaled very quickly when I saw his picture in their newsletter. My heart skipped a beat...

A day off of school...what to do?

You know, there are days I am as bad as the kids...

It is a snow day here in Northern Colorado.

No school WOO HOO!!!!

What does a teacher do when there is no school? Laundry...dishes...cleans rooms...etc etc etc!

AND gets an email from her agency that states we are DTC (Dossier to China) TODAY!!!!!!!

Today is a very momentous occassion!

Should we try to guess when we will be traveling, then we can look back and see howclose (or how far away we are...)

Ok, DTC today - Janaury 26, 2009
Arrival in China? Let's guess January 30, 2009
LID? I think the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) is closed next week also for Chinese New Year, so I will guess that our LID (Logged in Date) will be February 9, 2009
LOA - Letter of Acceptance - CCAA will send a letter that makes sure we are still wanting to adopt Noah, then we send it back. These have been taking about 90 days...May 10, 2009
Then about 2 weeks later we get the TA - Travel Approval telling us when we can travel - let's go with May 25, 2009
Then we would travel about two weeks later...June 8th? Could that we the day we get Noah? Let's see how close that is.

How long is that from today? 119 days...I think I will put a stipulation in here that states:
We cannot be liable for any dates that are not accurate and
ALL DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE!!!

Another update

The little 13 year old girl - she found her family!!! Yeah!! It was not us..too bad. But the main thing here is that another child has found their family!

Our paperwork should be on its way to China today. We said yes to Noah back in February of '08, and we are DTC in January of '09...

GOOD GRIEF!!! With Kaycee, it was 9 months... start to finish! Post Hague adoptions are the pits.

BUT can you believe it? We should be able to start our countdown here soon. Of course we have to get through Chinese New Year...:)

Oh well. At least it is totally out of our hands now. (It always has been out of our hands, as in it has been in God's hands; however, now the paperwork is really out of our hands now.)

God speed, dossier...safe travels!

Update...

After sending our dossier to our agency, there were two items missing. Actually one item wasn't missing, but Leonard's doctor had marked him as having Hep B. China would have said NO!!! if that would have gone to them. So it was a good thing our agency was on the lookout for things.

So it was back to getting paperwork done, notarized, and certified...then overnighted to our agency AGAIN, and I am thinking this is it.

We should know tomorrow.

But...you know all of the delays we have had.

Little stops along the way. All the while I knew God was at work for some reason.

I may have found the reason.

I hate to even think it. I hate to even dream it. I hate to even write it.

My sister in law- a mom to four kiddos from Eastern Europe reads a lot of adoption blogs. She found one today.

It talked about 4 older kids that will be turning 14 in the next few months. When that happens in China, they are no longer adoptable. At all. They then head for a life of who knows what.

One little girl has to be adopted by July or else.

She loves crafts. She loves knitting. She loves clothes.

Could she be the reason?

How many miracles would have to take place in order for her to become my daughter?

Let's start with the first miracle...my husband! ABSOLUTELY NO MORE KIDS has been stated more than once.

I brought it up to him this afternoon. He didn't say no.

Then let's go to China, the CCAA. They require that all adoptions have at least one year in between them. However, for the older, harder to place, they are willing to give many waivers to families.

I have asked a couple of different people who are much more experienced with Chinese adoption. They have stated that if I could possibly get our I797 (Immigration approval) changed to have two adopted, and have our homestudy amended so that it states we can be approved for two kids, there would be a chance we could adopt two at a time....which was TOTALLY unheard of until just this last year.

No I won't think about it. No I won't dream about it. But I am on my knees praying about it. Praying God will remove this thought from my mind and this feeling in my heart. Maybe her family has already found her. I so very much hope so!!!!

Long ago pictures

Have you seen that commercial for Walgreens? The one where all of those people are standing around from different events: a wedding, fishing, football game, riding a pony, etc.

And someone else pops in...and all of the people get mad?

"Not another one," says the bride.

Then beep, beep, beep, and all of the people look worried. "Someone's going to be deleted."

"Not me," says the fisherman, "I was deleted last time." The pop, the fisherman is deleted.

I have 6 cards for my camera. And believe me, these are not the small ones. They hold somewhere between 200 to 400 pictures EACH!!!

Guess what I have on each of these cards? You guessed it....I had to delete two pictures so I could take the picture of our dossier.

Anyway, here are some from LAST SUMMER!!!! We took a day trip to Wyoming to see a train...

Anyone know what this is?

For those of you from the adoption community...you know what this is. This is all of the blood, sweat, tears, worry and frustration all scattered on my bed. (Actually it really isn't all of it...the homestudy is already at our agency.)

For those of you not from the adoption community, this is our dossier. It has our birth certificates, marriage certificate, two background checks each, a letter of adoption, employment and salary letters for both of us, physicals for each, and the ever elusive I797 (letter from the US government stating we can adopt a foreign orphan.)

All of them are notarized.

All of them are state certified.

Tomorrow they will all be in the mail to our agency to be sent to the Chinese consulate to be authenticated.

Then translated.

Then sent to China.

Then the wait starts ALL over again.

But at least once it is there, it is only a matter of months before Noah is home.

In the mean time, we need to...

get passports for Jacob and Nathan...(they are traveling with me)

Leonard will take 6 credits,

I will take 9 credits,

I will be teaching 6 credits at Aims,

I need to take one of my PLACE tests for my masters,

watch about 20 more basketball games,

about 10 baseball games,

go to about 10 track meets,

have 8th grade graduation,

Leonard will be in Las Vegas for a week,

and possibly take a family vacation to Pennsylvania at the end of May.

Hhmm, I think we will be busy. Hopefully this will help the time go fast! :)