We received a court date!

We got an email this week that we have been scheduled for court on September 14th.  Hopefully 6-8 weeks later we will be allowed to go and grab the girls and bring them home (our agency goes to court on our behalf so we won't be making a trip until it's time to bring them home.)  I like having a date.  I was bummed that we weren't able to sneak in before the courts close for their summer holiday but I didn't realize how much NOT knowing was bugging me.  I like having a timeline - even a hazy one so knowing when "we" are going to court gives me that.  I now know I need to have the bedroom switched from "8 year old boy" to "spunky little girls" by the beginning of October - wishful thinking that it would be needed that early but still...better to be prepared :)

Last visit

Yesterday during the girls' nap time we went to visit Rila Monastery.  This is the largest monastery in Bulgaria and they are rightfully proud of it.  It is beautiful, well maintained and in as wonderful a setting as you can imagine - high up in the mountains with a flowing river nearby.  Our driver visits here often and could tell us all about the area and the history.  It was a great way to spend the "waiting" time and our girls got a nice long nap since we got back to the orphanage a little bit later than normal.  It made for a very fun afternoon with them.  Have I told you how great they are? :)  
We had our last visit today. It was so hard to leave them, not knowing when we will be allowed to return to bring them home - my babies (although they will ADAMANTLY tell you that they are not babies!  We were only there in the morning today but we stayed a little longer than normal.  The kids were tired and hungry by the time we left but it made them more willing to snuggle so it wasn't all bad :)  "N" asked if we would be back tomorrow and our facilitator explained to her that we had to return to America to get their bedroom ready and do work before they could come home.  She took it well and told us as we were leaving that they would wait for us - break my heart.  We are really praying that we will be able to have court in July.  Our documents are all here, updated and ready to go so we'll pray that God intercedes and we get an early court date. 
After we returned to the city, our facilitator dropped us off in the city centre (aka downtown) and we walked around for awhile, ate a leisurely lunch and then took a cab back to our hotel.  The hotel is very nice (Hotel Geneva). It is slightly outside of the city centre and therefore about 1/2 the price but with all the amenities that we spoiled Americans expect in a hotel - even in Eastern Europe.  ;)  We took naps this afternoon and will be packing tonight for an early start in the morning.  Our flight leaves at 7:15.  I'm torn between my desire to stay and spend some more time hangin' out with my girls and the fact that I miss the other 4 yahoos who are waiting patiently for their parents to come home and show them pics and videos of their new sisters.  It won't be long and we'll be back in Bulgaria- ready to bring some more fun and laughter into our house in the form of 3 spunky sisters!

Visits 2 & 3

Every day looks the same for us on this trip.  We leave the apartment around 9:00.  Arrive at the girls' orphanage at 10:00.  Play until lunch.  Kill time until 3:00 (when they get up from their naps) and then play for another couple of hours before heading back to Sofia.  The kids have been very open to us and would be perfectly happy if we took them with home with us on Saturday.  Unfortunately for all of us, that is not allowed.  They will be traveling to the coast for a few weeks this summer so they are happy not to miss that.  They are such funny girls.  "N" is the oldest and very much in charge.  She is only 18 months older than "M" but she lords that difference over the other two.  "M" and "K" are 11 months apart and chatter at each other all the time.  "M" is very sweet and generous, "K" is the spoiled baby.  They all prefer to spend their days outside so today we sat outside and colored, climbed on the playground equipment, painted nails and played with play-doh.  That playdoh has caused so many arguments!  They each have 3 containers of it but they can't seem to keep from trying to steal their sisters' - especially "N" and "K".  "M" is very picky about hers and doesn't want her colors mixed together (a girl after my own heart) but the other two have smooshed pink, purple, green, and orange in all sorts of nasty fun ways.  "N" was quieter today and was obviously torn between spending time with us and playing with her friends.  We told her it was fine to play with her friends but she still stayed with us and looked longingly at them.  Eventually one of the girls came up to where we were and she and "N" played for awhile across the playground from us - still within yelling distance for "N" and Mama and Taty.  Tomorrow will be more of the same.  We only have about 6 more hours to spend with them - boooo.  We are praying that we are able to have court in July so that we can return hopefully in September.  It will go fast, yet feel like an eternity!!! 

The adventure begins

We are here and THEY ARE AWESOME!  I can't be too specific but today we met our new children.  We arrived in Bulgaria yesterday and spent the day with our dear friends Latcho and Lucy, in whose home we are staying. They took us to a church with a cloister of nuns about 30 minutes outside of Sofia and they fed us lots of yummy food and then sent us to bed early :)  This morning we stopped by the notary's office to sign paperwork before traveling to the kids' orphanage for our first meeting.  It went as well as we had hoped and leaving these sweeties in a few days is going to be very difficult.  Tomorrow we will visit in the morning and the afternoon.  It is supposed to rain so keeping busy hands and feet occupied when we can't go outside should be a trick.  Keep praying!

Good News!

I don't know if anyone still checks this (besides my sister - she is very loyal) but thought I would share just in case.  We received and accepted a referral for 3 little girls this week!  I can't give any more details than that right now but they are absolute darlings!  (I have never met them and they aren't officially my children yet so I'm not biased - right?)  Eric and I will make our first trip over there in about a month and then hopefully bring them home sometime in the fall.  The other kids are BEYOND excited and obviously it is all we can think about right now.  I completed and mailed off a huge stack of paperwork today and hopefully will have another stack to mail out tomorrow.  We are furiously trying to scrape together the funds for our next couple of payments so if you are reading this and have some extra cash lying around that you want to throw our way - contact me and I can set you up with a 501-c3 that you could donate to "for us".  Just kidding - kind of.  I hate fundraising!!! The kids also still have puzzle pieces that they are still trying to get sponsored.

Terrorizing the Neighbors aka Halloween

 I realized this year just how much I HATE Halloween!  The actual event itself is fun but it makes my blood boil as I buy hundreds of pieces of chocolate that I don’t even get to eat (880 this year) and rack my brain trying to come with costumes that my 10 year old boys will think are “cool” without being gory, satanic or expensive.   Charity is just as hard – I don’t want my darling daughter to look like a street walker!  Anyway – now that my little rant is over here are a few pics of last night’s romp around the ‘hood.  They had a great time and got enough candy to last for awhile.   I will be sorting through to pull out all the sticky/chewy stuff today – they all have sealants so none of that is allowed – but it looks like they will still have WAY more candy than any kid should eat in 6 months!  

 Let the sugar highs begin….

 

There goes the neighborhood....

Motley Crew

Our Egyptian Prince

Meets his Cleopatra

Every father's nightmare!

 

"Hello ladies."

Our Beautiful Bug

When 900 years you reach, look as good, you will not.

Joseph's (bat) and Jonathan's (cat) pumpkins

Michael's (spider) and Charity's (Larry the Cucumber) pumpkins.

 

Remember - Charity had that green pumpkin.  It never turned orange which she was very happy about so that her "vision" for it could be realized.

Okay – so I always have the best of intentions when it comes to this blog.  When I’m taking pictures I mentally compose entries – I just never seem to get around to actually doing anything with it. 

I commandeered my step-dad’s camera last weekend to grab some pics before our sports seasons were over. 

Michael is in his element every fall.  The kid eats, sleeps, breathes and eats again football.  He was super excited to be on a team again with his favorite coach this year.  

We spent the past three months cheering on the Cardinals and specifically "big" #80.

 

On offense Michael played center - a new position for him.  He did great, had a few bad snaps here and there but enjoyed the position and wasn't afraid of getting creamed by the other team.  He knew his mother had that fear covered.

Defense saw him on the line.  This is where my gentle giant really comes alive.  He is a very sweet kid in general but get the boy in pads and a helmet and he becomes a whole new child.  He LOVES to hit and takes great pride in every tackle credited to him.

Our season ended in a close playoff game on Sunday.  The boys were disappointed but as much as I love winning (and I really love winning) it is kind of a relief to have a little more down time in our calendar.

After two dismal seasons playing football, Joseph decided to give soccer another try this fall.  He loves all sports so we really weren't too concerned about him having a good time.  He is naturally athletic (which I can say in all modesty because he shares no genes with Eric or I) so his biggest challenge is keeping his ego in check (:  

Luckily he had (assistant) Coach Dad to keep him grounded.

The keys to Joseph's game?





1) Focus





2) Hustle





3) Throw in a little fancy footwork for good measure!

So, how did the season go?  Let's just say- the boys had a great time but Coach Don had a full head of hair at the beginning of the season....




Charity's game has always been soccer and she absolutely loves to play it.   

She broke her ankle this summer and had to sit out the first couple of games.  It has taken awhile to come back from her injury but she got 3 goals in the last 2 games and ended the season well.  It’s hard for her to choose her favorite part of the game.  Is it:

The snacks?

  

The medal?

Or the friends?

Whatever the choice - she can't wait until spring soccer starts!

So what does Jonathan do while all these games and practices are going on?  Unfortunately the answer to that is - a whole lot of sitting around and hoping that someone else's sibling will be there to play with.  He has been having some behavior issues and so part of the discipline process has been a fall season devoid of extra activities for him - bummer.

But our little charmer is absolutely impossible not to love :)

At long last I’m posting on my blog – mostly because my cousin guilted me into it. So, here you go Julie.  As we speak I should be packing to go to Ukraine.  Charity and I are leaving on Sunday to go with my neighbor to finish up their adoption.  It should be a good trip and we are all really excited.  Mostly just to get this little girl home to her family – she’s absolutely WONDERFUL and we all love her.  We had a big day in our house today and while nothing will physically change for us – it does change the dynamics in our household a bit.  We moved a year ago out of the little bitty house we were renting:

Into a bigger house to rent.  Today we signed the mortgage/purchase agreement to buy the house we’ve been living in and after 5 or so years – we are homeowners once again.  Pictures are below.  (Thanks to my friend Senda for the pics of the outside – I am blatantly stealing them!)  The house was built in the 1890’s or so and is so much fun.  Like any other old house, there will always be upgrades to do but we really love it and are very excited.

No post would be complete without at least one pic of the kids.  It’s been so long since I posted that I have tons to choose from.  This one is from the Homecoming parade in October.  The older boys were in the parade.  They all have blue hair because their little league football team was the Lions.  

The final picture is of the hand-off of our dossier by our adoption guru at the airport as it made it’s way to Bulgaria with another adoptive couple who was kind enough to hand deliver it. We are officially a waiting family.  And while we anticipate a long wait – we are VERY excited!  “Dear Lord, protect my “babies” until we can get there to bring them home.” 

Merry Christmas!

We ARE still here and I DO intend to post regularly again soon.  In the meantime - Merry Christmas from our whole clan! 

Do you know their mom and dad?

Or are you their mom and dad?  The Ukrainian government maintains a website of waiting children.  Saturday morning Eric was browsing the pictures and ran across one of the boys we know.  He also has an older brother who we spent quite a bit of time with.  We met these boys when we were hanging out at Joseph's orphanage.  They were wonderful boys - sweet, but not too sweet and good, but not too good.  They were fun to hang out with and the older one would come down to spend time in Joseph's room often - the room where his little brother slept.  He appeared to be a good influence on the younger boys and they loved playing with him.  The younger boy is 9 and his older brother is 15 years old - about to age out.  It terrifies me and makes me so sad that this sweet boy/young man is about to be denied the chance at a family.  So here is my plea - help me find these boys a home - FAST!  Please post the link and share it with anyone you know who might be able to help them.  Pray for them and let's get them home.

http://www.sirotstvy.net/ua/child_needs_family/2708.html?pg=31 

Adoption Disruptions....

I didn't intend for this to be my first post after my hiatus but I just got done reading it and thought it made some excellent points (and ranted in a constructive fashion - an art I have yet to master!)

http://minichfamilyblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/for-as-long-as-we-all-shall-live.html

Read it.  Ponder it.  Pass it on.

VBS Week

Last week was VBS at our church.  They brought in a BMX/FMX team and had all kinds of stunts each night.  The kickoff was Sunday and it has so HOT outside.  But the blow-ups were fun (our church loves blow-ups) and the tricks were pretty spectacular and hopefully it brought some new faces to our church and ultimately to their Savior.

Jonathan loves the blow-ups too.  He would play in these things 24/7 - even when it's over 90 degrees outside!

Michael loves this human wrecking ball game.  He has surprisingly good balance and didn't get beat by the 3 girls that were playing against him!

Best friends and best neighbors!

I DID NOT need anyone giving Joseph any more ideas on how to inflict bodily harm on himself (but they were super cool)!

Family fun at Summer FX - did I mention it was really hot!

"Puzzling" news...aka "Every Piece Counts"

So my darling children want to do something to help raise money to bring home their next siblings.  They have talked about a lemonade stand and an ice-cream stand.  I said no to both of those because - let's face it, I'm going to have to do most of the work and will probably watch them literally eat up all the profits.  Not too long after one of these discussions I noticed Charity and Joseph standing out by the street trying to sell their "artwork" as a fundraiser.  It simultaneously made me laugh out loud and touched/broke my heart.  They want to DO something!  That same day I was reading a new blog and saw a fundraiser that her kids were doing - I knew it was one my kids would LOVE and was something they could actually do and that hasn't been done by every adopting family we know.  So, today I ordered a 500 piece puzzle by my favorite artist.  The kids will get "sponsors" for each of the 500 pieces.  We will then write the name of the "sponsor" on the back of the puzzle piece.  The goal is for them to be able to see 500 people give a little bit (minimum of $1) to help them meet their goal.  500 people who will have a part in something bigger than themselves.  We will eventually frame the puzzle with glass on both sides so that our family - and especially the new ones will have that reminder of God's faithfulness and the kindness of our friends and family (after the adoption is over - since framing isn't cheap and one of the main goals is for them to raise some money :)!  I love this for many reasons but also because most kids can scrounge up a dollar or two and so I won't care when they hit up their friends to be a "sponsor".   This should be fun!

This will be the finished product:

July is gone :(

Which means school is just around the corner (7 days to be exact - booo!)  The kids got their "teacher" letters in the mail this week and we bought school supplies last Monday so I guess technically we are ready to go back - that being said, I'm never ready to go back. I'll drown my back to school blues by reliving some of the fun from this summer!

The 3 older kids spent a week at camp in the middle of July.  They were placed in "family" groups for the week.  They had a great week learning all about the Creation and having their lives touched by the missionary from Haiti.  (I don't have any pics of Charity yet but I'm sure she looked just as "campy" as the girls in this group!)

 Joseph loves mini-golf....

Especially when he sinks his putt!

I'm not sure what the deal with the bandanna's was but they wore them all week apparently, and have continued to sport them at home every now and then!

While the kids were at camp, I was here:

With them:

This isn't the most flattering picture of all of us but riding the bikes was one of our favorite parts of the trip so...it makes the blog!  It was a great week with some great friends and proof that we all married great men who allowed/urged us to go.

The day after we all got back it was time once again for the county fair.  

Tell me this isn't the quintessential 4-H kid picture!  On the way to the fair!

 Okay, this one is pretty good too!

Joseph and his bff - these two are so stinkin cute.  They passed the football ALL WEEK outside of the dairy barn.  Kind of annoying to people trying to pass through but it was nice for the moms - we knew exactly where to find them!

 Not a great picture but it's the only one I've got right now - and he did SUCH a good job showing his pig.  It sounds silly to those who haven't done it but it takes a lot of work to do it right.  He surprised us all with how well he did.  He really loved it and had a great time!

One of the best parts of the fair is hanging out with our cousins.  Charity is in the white shirt - I'm not sure what these crazies were discussing but my guess is - if we could implement it - it would CHANGE THE WORLD!

This might be my favorite picture of the week - Michael and Alida giving pep talks to their "girls" before going in the ring.

The week pretty much revolved around Michael but this proves that the others were all there supporting him and having a grand ol' time in the process.

It was a great couple of weeks.  VBS was last week - pics to come but for now I'm off to sleep - hoping for a fun day tomorrow and maybe a spare half hour to post some more.  I DO miss you lovely little blog.

Oh- quick what's cooking (I always forget):

We had baked potato bar tonight with homemade buttermilk biscuits.  Not sure why we were carbo-loading but boy was it good!!!