A Day at the Ballpark

My guys are BIG Red Sox fans. So, Saturday was nothing short of a fantastic for these two.

Started it out with a little league game...

Then a tour of Fenway Park...

B was lucky enough to get an official MLB baseball during batting practice...

Little rest in #9's red seat....

Some ice cream...

and the RED SOX WON!

Not a bad day huh?

Party-of-Gold - May 23rd!

This is a no brainer friends...

Come to my Party-of Gold party on Sunday, May 23rd at 5pm and EARN MONEY!

Yes, you heard right... come to a my house, eat some yummy food and walk away with a check in-hand made out to YOU!

AND (here's the big win-win friends).... As hosts for this party, we will earn a percentage of the total gold sold at the party. All proceeds benefitting the "Bring G Home Adoption Fund!"

It's a WIN-WIN!!! You make money AND you help raise money to bring our daughter home to her forever family. :)

Email me (click the button on the right side-bar) for more information and/or to confirm your attendance.

BRING FRIENDS!!! or bring your friends gold with you. You/they don't even need to present to get paid! Lots of options if you can't make it, so let me know if you have some gold to sell.

Don't forget the men in your life... they might have a big 'ole gold chain necklace laying around from the 80's... it's probably worth tons! Broken jewelry... SELL IT! That ugly necklace your high school boyfriend gave you... SELL IT! If you are like me you will say "I don't have much to sell", I brought a few small things to one of these parties and I walked away with over $200.

And remember, best of all... a percentage of the total gold sold at the party will go directly to our adoption fund.

Thanks everyone for being a part of this journey....and helping to bring G home to us!

Tag Sale Weekend

Whew.

Two days of tag sales - two visas paid for. Was it worth it? Absolutely! We now have a couple hundred dollars for the adoption fund that we didn't have on Friday morning. :-)

Special thanks to three great families that donated both time and stuff to the cause. One of those friends spent all day with me (and my kids) on Friday AND Saturday.... made us lunch, provided companionship and MOST IMPORTANTLY... provided the beautiful lawn to spread out our stuff and camp for two days.

THANK YOU FRIENDS!!!

Clever

Like most kids, ours really enjoy helping to bake.... especially chocolate chip cookies.

As a result of poor behavior at the park today, B lost the privilege of being able to help bake cookies with his Dad this afternoon. K and D happily measured and mixed and taste tested in his place.

B wasn't being banished to his room, he was just told he couldn't help bake. And he was NOT happy.

A few minutes into cookie baking, B's remote control car arrived in the kitchen with a note attached.

The note proclaimed... "I am in my room and I am never coming out!"

Lesson learned.

Now, can we all laugh? :-)

Bragging

There is this guy in our house... he goes by several names, Dad, Hun, Daddy, and S (to name a few).

He's pretty darn amazing.

I couldn't possible list all the reasons why... cooks, cleans, mows, fixes...you name it... he does it.

OH... and laundry. He does ALL the laundry. He sometimes jokes that I need a map to find the washing machine. I do.

But, what he does best... he LOVES his kids. He plays, helps with homework, goes to cub scout sleep overs, plays catch, hits golf balls, plays soccer, rides bikes, tickles, reads, wrestles, teaches, jokes, gives baths, nurses the sick, cooks special breakfasts, and cuddles.

Pretty much this guy DOES IT ALL... 365 days a year.

182 days a year we share him with three hundred 3rd - 6th grade kids. These 300 students are like his own. He cares for them and believes in them. He devotes countless hours finding ways of engaging, coaching and motivating them. He gets them involved in exercise and community service, he supports them in their extra-curricular activities, he shows up at soccer games, baseball games, and school plays to cheer on his students. Never, not once, does he complain about going to work... even on a Saturday morning or a Friday night. Probably because it's just not work to him.... he loves it THAT much.

I don't see him in action at school very often, but when I do I am reminded AGAIN how proud I am of the work he does.

Why am I bragging about my husband? Because I can. And because I want to shout it from the roof-tops (apparently this blog is my version of a roof-top)...

HE IS AMAZING and I am abundantly blessed to be married to him.

18 to 24

We KNOW that this wait is FAR from predictable and it will probably change every day, every week, every month that we receive an update from our agency. There are countless factors... many having to do with things happening in China that we cannot predict, understand or, obviously, control.

The latest...

There are 250 families currently "waiting" in our agency's waiting child program. Families who have recently been matched (desiring similar age range, gender and medical conditions as us) have waited 18-24 months.

18-24 months seems like a LONG time.

Especially since the hole in my heart seems to grow each day. And that feeling... OH that feeling... an ache...like when you MISS someone terribly...it just keeps getting worse. We've only be at this about a month... what's my heart going to feel like in 18 or 24?

Sigh.

The red thread

April or July?

Sunny and 85 degrees on this beautiful April day! Yup... April.

I'm not complaining. Neither are the kids.

Where's D you ask? The poor kid is sick and I wouldn't let him play in the water with a fever of 103. So, he looked longingly outside...

And yes, that IS chocolate around his mouth. I mean what Mom could resist a sick child, with those eyes, asking for a piece of Easter candy?

I'm sure next week we will be back to our typical New England spring weather. In fact, since I put away the snow boots, mittens, hats and coats on Monday... it will probably snow.

An inappropriate post about a three-year old

Three year olds are really amazing and really challenging.

They are developing their language and every day they say something super cute. They are fiercely independent wanting to do EVERYTHING themselves. But, the next minute they are still the babies that we still want them to be.... cuddled up with their blanket on your lap.

They say and do so many funny things in one week that you could write a book.

They are also learning self-control. We have a little guy in this house that isn't learning self-control easily (read: temper tantrums). He pushes the limits. He "forgets" to use his manners. One minute he wants to do something himself and then next minute he is demanding you do it for him. Testing what he can get away with, and what he cannot.

But, he wants SO much to be a big kid and trying to be the BIG kid he thinks he is, he sometimes gets himself into predicaments.

Today was one of those days.

I'm sitting downstairs working on our computer.

D had unusually dissappeared upstairs (warning!), K went up to get herself a drink of water, she comes back downstairs and full of the expression K is known for says....

"D is upstairs and just went to the bathroom, he has used A LITTLE BIT too much toilet paper"

Uh oh!

I run upstairs and find D standing on a stool, trying to clean himself with the BIGGEST wad of toilet paper I have ever seen. An entire toilet paper roll worth. The wad is about three times the size of his little toosh.

I tried to recreate in this picture...

It doesn't do it justice.

Anyway, it's a day in the life of a three year old. But this one made me laugh HARD and I since we can all use a laugh...I thought I'd share.

Inappropriate, maybe. But FUNNY!

Update: paperwork

I said I would focus... and focus we have. Here is an update on our paperwork process (I hope this doesn't scare anyone... if I can do it ANYONE can do it!)

Completed:

passports

homestudy application

background check forms

pediatrician statement for each of the kids

physical forms (x2)

education statement from B's teacher

reference letters (emailed out to our dear friends to complete)

fingerprints (x2)

police clearance reports from our town (x2)

new marriage certificate

new birth certificates (x2)

financial statement

adoption petition

salary verification (x2)

and various release forms for things (I stopped reading and just kept signing)

Our big task for the weekend is the completion of the parent questionnaire for the home study. We each need to do this individually. We also hope to get the questionnaires for the kids completed.

OH and clean the house for our first visit from the home study social worker on Monday.

Somehow, this is all sort of fun. I'm beginning to realize that the hardest part isn't going to be filling out all these forms... but the waiting that is going to occur after we're done.