Well not really a vacation actually. About the only thing vacation-like about this summer was the way it flew by. Big changes this summer for The Fam. We sold our 3 yr. old suburban McMansion (the first time I heard that term I was slightly offended, but well, it really fits) and moved closer to the Big City.
We are technically still in the 'burbs but we are so much closer to L's office and the grands. By closer I mean around the corner! It used to take him about 2 hrs of drive time every day on average to get to and home from work. Now, he calls me and says "hon there is traffic and instead of being home in 7 min. , I will be home in 13. Sorry, please don't beat me. " L travels quite a bit too so between the commute and the travel we were not seeing so much of each other. The kids missed him, I missed him, he missed the kids and he missed me (so he says.....)
Thus we packed up our stuff and moved. Our new home was built in 77 and has been sort of updated. It is smaller, mostly because we do not have a sweet basement with a movie theater and wet bar anymore. But now we have an incredible flat cul-de-sac and a nice sized playroom. I really love our new/old house and I told L that after living here 3 weeks it feels more like home than our old/new home felt after three. The layout is perfect and of course the location could not really be better.
The boys all have one room with awesome IKEA bunkbeds that L and I put together. I also got some cool torch looking wall lamps that have a 'flickering' option to make it look all flamelike. IKEA again. Only 15 bucks for those lamps!
Laine will share a room with her new sister, but for now she has her own 'space' where she can meditate and just get away from it all. Her own private oasis in this mess of boyness. Mostly she just jumps on the bed though. Not that she is allowed to jump on the bed mind you, but she is one persistant little lady.
Lee and I share a room too. We have a lovely queen for now and have no plans to move up to a king. Although, come to think of it, many people have lobbyed for us to get a king. I wonder why? Are they getting a stipend or finder's fee from Haverty's? Why do these folks care about the size of our our bed? Is there a King Bed Cult? Are they trying to recruit us?
Anyway lots of sharing going on here which is just normal for a family of 6 soon to be seven!
So anyway with the move and all this summer went by so fast. Faster than any summer since I was in grade school I believe. A hyper-speed summer is actually a good thing this year because it has helped to pass the Big Wait until our referral. I am still hoping for a November referral. So hurry on up Labor Day, Columbus Day, Arbor Day and Halloween!
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Thursday, May 5, 2005
Am I crazy?
It is very possible that I will be re-using this title again and again.
Tonight I took the kids up to PA because the high schoolers had their spring play "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" BTW....the actors were good, but man is that a pretty bad play.....
Jake and Ryan were pretty well behaved. They enjoyed seeing the older kids up there on stage. L and L were another story. Mainly Luke. He squirmed and just would not be still. I think he was ticked that everyone wasn't looking at him and clapping for him. Laine watched it mostly and only got a bit restl towards the end. I loved looking at her as she sat in that big chair with her ankles crossed and looked up intently at the stage. I could almost see the stars in her eyes!
It is hard going anywhere with them now that they are PT. They want to go like every 30 min. They just enjoy public restrooms really. Oh and Luke has to strip his pants and his underwear completely off. What a PITA.
I just keep trying to remember that by the time we have Baby Smoosh that they will be so much better and easier and be able to do more for themselves. I may just be kidding myself but it is working for me now, okay?
Tonight I took the kids up to PA because the high schoolers had their spring play "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" BTW....the actors were good, but man is that a pretty bad play.....
Jake and Ryan were pretty well behaved. They enjoyed seeing the older kids up there on stage. L and L were another story. Mainly Luke. He squirmed and just would not be still. I think he was ticked that everyone wasn't looking at him and clapping for him. Laine watched it mostly and only got a bit restl towards the end. I loved looking at her as she sat in that big chair with her ankles crossed and looked up intently at the stage. I could almost see the stars in her eyes!
It is hard going anywhere with them now that they are PT. They want to go like every 30 min. They just enjoy public restrooms really. Oh and Luke has to strip his pants and his underwear completely off. What a PITA.
I just keep trying to remember that by the time we have Baby Smoosh that they will be so much better and easier and be able to do more for themselves. I may just be kidding myself but it is working for me now, okay?
Tuesday, May 3, 2005
Short Version of the Paperchase
Ok I am a lamo and I have not written at all about the paperchase part of this adoption process. The truth is it is just not very exciting. You see it is just a bunch of paperwork and red tape. Honestly it is tedious and boring, not too much diary material.
Now though I am regretting not at least writing down what steps we did when, how the homestudy went and when we were fingerprinted etc etc blah blah blah. But I am not going to wallow in the regret too much because...................da da da....IT IS ALL DONE!!!
[this was going to be a short post about how we are now done with the paperwork, but I got a bit sidetracked] Yes, that is right, we finished the paperchase in what I am sure is record time. We are lucky because we have never been married before or had bizzare name changes or criminal histories..uh oh.... I mean I have no criminal history. L on the other hand has quite the rap sheet we discovered.
***** County government has a memory like an elephant. We had to request all the court findings and records bearing his name because he had a hazy and vauge memory of being written a ticket for underage possesion. The record we got has about 4 things on it though! It even included traffic violations from when he was 16! Whew!
No arrests though, right? Just some tickets, right?
Right?
uh uh.
My sweet husband is actually a felon! He was wanted in the state of Florida for skipping out on probabtion. He was leading a double life. However, it is all in the open now. It is with great shame that I reveal to the cyber world that my husband L was arrested at the age of 19 (nineteen, y'all for heaven's sake!) for shoplifitng a shark tooth necklace ( 2.99$) from Alvin's Island in Destin, Fl. Oh and if you are ever there shopping for trinkets and cheesy souveniers and you see him, please do not tell the manager because as part of his sentencing he was banned from Alvin's for life. I will let L be the one to explain the lurid and sordid details of his criminal past. Please, just don't ask him in the middle of the store.
Unbelieveably, the United States still saw fit to grant us the much coveted I171H which is our Official Permission to Adopt a Foreign Orphan. Halleluia!
Finally all of our paperwork,including 12 pictures of 'family life', is at our agency in Denver (Chinese Children Adoption International) and it is currently being translated and will be mailed to China next week.
Now though I am regretting not at least writing down what steps we did when, how the homestudy went and when we were fingerprinted etc etc blah blah blah. But I am not going to wallow in the regret too much because...................da da da....IT IS ALL DONE!!!
[this was going to be a short post about how we are now done with the paperwork, but I got a bit sidetracked] Yes, that is right, we finished the paperchase in what I am sure is record time. We are lucky because we have never been married before or had bizzare name changes or criminal histories..uh oh.... I mean I have no criminal history. L on the other hand has quite the rap sheet we discovered.
***** County government has a memory like an elephant. We had to request all the court findings and records bearing his name because he had a hazy and vauge memory of being written a ticket for underage possesion. The record we got has about 4 things on it though! It even included traffic violations from when he was 16! Whew!
No arrests though, right? Just some tickets, right?
Right?
uh uh.
My sweet husband is actually a felon! He was wanted in the state of Florida for skipping out on probabtion. He was leading a double life. However, it is all in the open now. It is with great shame that I reveal to the cyber world that my husband L was arrested at the age of 19 (nineteen, y'all for heaven's sake!) for shoplifitng a shark tooth necklace ( 2.99$) from Alvin's Island in Destin, Fl. Oh and if you are ever there shopping for trinkets and cheesy souveniers and you see him, please do not tell the manager because as part of his sentencing he was banned from Alvin's for life. I will let L be the one to explain the lurid and sordid details of his criminal past. Please, just don't ask him in the middle of the store.
Unbelieveably, the United States still saw fit to grant us the much coveted I171H which is our Official Permission to Adopt a Foreign Orphan. Halleluia!
Finally all of our paperwork,including 12 pictures of 'family life', is at our agency in Denver (Chinese Children Adoption International) and it is currently being translated and will be mailed to China next week.
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Selecting an Agency
After scouring the internet and reading all I can find about adopting from China, we have selected the CCAI agency.
I had made a short list of possibilities and then I remembered that an aquaintance had adopted daughters from China. I emailed her just to get her references and see what she thought. She used CCAI, which was at the top of my short list and had a wonderful experience. Then I remembered that she had said they were going through the process again so I emailed her back just to see if I remembered correctly. Later, I recieved an email saying that yes they were and they receieved their referral just an hour before! They will be leaving for China to pick up their daughter Ali in February.
I had made a short list of possibilities and then I remembered that an aquaintance had adopted daughters from China. I emailed her just to get her references and see what she thought. She used CCAI, which was at the top of my short list and had a wonderful experience. Then I remembered that she had said they were going through the process again so I emailed her back just to see if I remembered correctly. Later, I recieved an email saying that yes they were and they receieved their referral just an hour before! They will be leaving for China to pick up their daughter Ali in February.
Sunday, December 12, 2004
December 12th 2004
Today we decided to add to our family. We are going to adopt a little girl from China! I am so excited!
This is something we have talked about for about a year. This time last year I was really getting serious about pursuing adoption. Lee was more hesitant, but not against it really. Then we kind of put it on the back burner. Over the last few months, I felt comfy in our family and began to think perhaps adoption wasn't really right for us. This wasn't something I shared with Lee, but just a feeling I was settling with. Of course at the same time, Lee was feeling more and more like our family wasn't quite complete. He never came right out and said hey let's do this, but I could tell by the way he was talking that he as really leaning this way.
Now we are going to move forward.
This is something we have talked about for about a year. This time last year I was really getting serious about pursuing adoption. Lee was more hesitant, but not against it really. Then we kind of put it on the back burner. Over the last few months, I felt comfy in our family and began to think perhaps adoption wasn't really right for us. This wasn't something I shared with Lee, but just a feeling I was settling with. Of course at the same time, Lee was feeling more and more like our family wasn't quite complete. He never came right out and said hey let's do this, but I could tell by the way he was talking that he as really leaning this way.
Now we are going to move forward.
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