Disney pictures

Recently, my mom, my sister, and I took the girls to see a Disney show...

























Sydney loves her new horse. It is fancy just like her!















This picture of Veronica shows how excited she was to see her favorite characters from Toy Story!

Too cute!!!! Thanks to my sister for these adorable pictures of the girls. (Janet- you owe me for not sharing the one I took of you. Hee, hee)

The boys went to see the Percy Jackson movie together. So, fun was had by all.

Uh.....OK

Wow, I lost 30 minutes of my life today working the USCIS phone tree menu to speak to someone about an apparent mix-up in our paperwork. We have a completed I-800A and needed to submit an updated home study to reflect a change in Lil Bubba's age. We did that at the beginning of March and received a notice from USCIS that we needed to re-appear for biometric processing. Really? We already have an approved I-800A. So I called and spoke with a less than helpful customer service rep who apparently wasn't familiar with an I-800A and talked to me like a child while she tried to find someone who could help. This took over 20 minutes between trying to get to her, then explaining the situation and discussing the paperwork I had in front of me. Once she transferred me to the "escalation" team, the man I spoke with was pretty smarmy with me and said that there was nothing he could do over the phone and that I'd have to mail in the new appointment notices with a letter explaining what happened. Uh....ok - apparently talking with someone over the phone and/or faxing doesn't work so we're back to mailing papers and waiting for a letter in the mail. So here I sit preparing another FedEx to Texas hoping we have everything we need in there.

Good times for sure. Glad our taxes pay their wages so they can treat us like children and not help at all. *sigh*

Never a dull moment, is it? ;)

Feeling a bit emotional today

Ugg...I am not sure whether it is the dreary weather outside, the overwhelming amounts of stuff to be done, the unknown about our dossier and our son, or what, but I am feeling a bit "blue" today. Just one of those days. I figure typing on here and spilling my guts to all of you is cheaper than a therapist. :)

I am bummed because the closer that we get to summer break and the longer we wait to hear about our son the more we are hearing things like "Well, that will be better if you get to go in the summer. The kids will not have to miss school." etc. I know everyone is just trying to be supportive and practical; but, this is so hard to hear. It truly has nothing to do with the people who made this particular comment and/or similar ones as I know they mean nothing by it and honestly, we have thought of this too. So, please if you are one of the people who have made a similar comment, do not feel bad. It really is not you. It is the thought of having to wait and the frustration over having no control. It is just not easy to deal with the thought that our son is over there and we cannot see him and hold him. We do not want to wait to go get him just as we would not want to wait to go pick up Max, Sydney, or Veronica from somewhere. Our child is in a whole different country. Every day is one more day of his life that we are missing, one more day that he is an orphanage, one more day that he is missing out on hugs, kisses, tickles, and giggles from and with his forever family. It hurts that we cannot get to him. Have you read the following quote? It is one of my favorites as I find it so true and right now part of my heart is in a crib far away from us.

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."
-Elizabeth Stone

About a year and a half ago, I painted a vase with this quote and put each of the children's hand prints on there. I was referring to it to copy the quote. Veronica was looking at it. I showed her every one's prints. She asked "Where is Little Bubba's?"

Thank you for reading this if you made it all the way through. I am sorry that I started rambling. Of course, if you found this to be true, you could have simply stopped reading. Hee, hee. :) See I am feeling better already. (My heart still aches though, of course.) However, I have a beautiful daughter waiting to play a game with me. That alone puts a smile on my face and puts sunshine in this cloudy day. May you find a bit of sunshine today too.

Welcome warm weather!!!!

First it was this...


Here is Max shoveling our patio. Yes, that is the dog house buried in the snow back there. Do not worry..."Zeus the Dog" does not sleep out there in the winter. :)












Sydney was extremely frustrated because she had a difficult time moving around.












Veronica was even more frustrated. She simply came inside. Apparently, she takes after Mommy on not being a cold weather person.










Now, this is more like it...







Doesn't she look happier?














She is having more fun too!














He is pretty happy as well. Climbing trees beats shoveling any day!









Oh, another sure sign of spring...our pond is full and pretty. That will change soon as many of you know.

We are ready to welcome spring with open arms around here. :)

Bittersweet moment and Leprechaun Mischief

Have you ever made one of those little choices in life where you know you are going to pay for it later? Of course you have! We all have. Yesterday, our dear sweet little Veronica fell asleep on my lap. She was so adorable just snoozing away. It was so bittersweet though because I knew the longer I held her the more I would pay later. She is no longer able to take even short naps without it causing her to stay awake at night which in turn leads to a rough following day. So, yesterday, when she was looking all cute and just totally wiped out, I convinced myself 15 minutes would be all I would let your sleep. What is a few minutes more after that, right? When I finally decided I had to wake her up, I lifted her up and she remained asleep against my chest. Ugg! How could I wake such a precious little being from the sleep she obviously needed. Even me taking pictures of her with my cell phone did not wake her! Alrighty, she ended up staying awake until about 10 last night which is not good when I have to wake the kids up at 6 to get ready for school. I let her sleep in a little later today, but not by much. To top it off she ended up sleeping on our bedroom floor. There is quality sleep. Not! Oh, and yes, I am paying for it all today. Foul mood? Oh, yes. Was it worth it? Oh, yes. Would I do it again? Definitely. Nothing compares to having those quiet cuddly moments with your child.

As far as the "Leprechaun Mischief" part of the title, did anyone else get a visit from a leprechaun this fine St. Patty's Day? Imagine the kiddos surprised looks when they came downstairs to find their clothes hanging all over the place. They thought it was hilarious that their underwear were hanging up high. Pants were hanging from the entertainment center. Tights were hanging from the kitchen cabinet. Max's socks were missing. Of course, he figured he could just go ahead and wear the pair he had worn yesterday and through the night...such a boy! I nixed that idea. Luckily, the leprechaun had simply hidden them in his pants and he found them upon getting dressed. Sneaky little guys...so mischievous. :P

Ni Hao everyone

It has been a while since I've updated the blog so figured I'd pop in and write something. Another crazy week is coming to a close, only to be followed by a fun and crazy weekend ahead. The kids have their final basketball games tomorrow and then we have the season ending awards ceremony - all conveniently spread across the day 9AM, 1PM and 4PM. LOL! The kids really seemed to enjoy basketball and the people at Upwards do a great job. Even with some of a refs being a bit zealous they had fun and that is what is important.
Sunday Julie has PSR, time to dash home pick the rest of us up and go back for mass since we'll miss it on our usual Saturday night. After mass we'll head over to my mom's house for a birthday lunch with the family, so that will be fun. We'll come home in time to start getting ready for the work week ahead. Oh yeah - don't forget to set the clocks forward! The F1 racing season starts this weekend so that is cool, too!
I completed (finally) my contributions to a technology book I have been working on for the last year or so. I know I told Julie the last time I did this that it'd never happen again, but the offer was too good to resist. I can't thank her or the kids enough for their patience and understanding while I worked nights and weekends (as well as days!) to wrap this up. What an endeavor, but we're done - until the 2nd edition! Hehehehehehe
I fly out Monday to take an all day exam on Tuesday. This will be my 2nd attempt so hopefully I fare better than the last time. The only comfort is that there are less than 30 people world-wide who have passed it and a few hundred who have tried, including many of the smartest people I know or have worked with. Be nice to get that behind me, too.
Finally, Chinese is HARD! I have been taking time during the day to hit the Rosetta Stone and try to get conversational Chinese, but man, it is TOUGH. So many sounds we don't use in English that can be real tongue twisters. At least it feels like I'm doing something to keep preparing for Lil Bubba. Anyways, time to go get caught up on "24". Have a great weekend!

and we wait...

Good is the Lord to one who waits for him,
to the soul that seeks him

Lamentations 3:25

We know good will come from this waiting; but, boy is it hard! All in His time...

What should we ask?

Hi Everyone,
As we wait and pray and wait and pray (you get the idea), questions keep forming in our minds about our youngest son. We are trying to come up with a list of questions to ask the orphanage. This being our first adoption, we are unsure as to what we should ask; but, we certainly do not want to miss out on the opportunity to find out as much as we possibly can about him and his two years there. What did/would you ask? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

On a funny note, our 3 year old has been running around the house in her underwear pretty much all day as only 3 year olds can get away with. I came inside to find her with her pink snow boots on (boots and underwear only). She told me that she put her boots on because her feet were cold. Too funny!

Do not forget to hop on over to Drew's site and enter their raffle! Let's bring him home to his family. Thanks!!!!
http://bringingdrewhome.blogspot.com/