No News Yet...

This whole adoption waiting thing is tough. We had been told one time frame, by 2 different people at the agency that had us waiting by the phone all week for news. When I finally broke down and called our consultant, she told us it would be another 3 months before we hear anything. Ugh. OK, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" so I can do this. So, no news yet.

However, the last time she gave us a 30 day time frame, that step took 2 days!! Am I wrong to hope that she is wrong again? Better to be prepared for the worst and hope for the best, I like to say.

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Today's Lots of Kids post...

Back to School:

This week the kids started back to school.

It hit me this summer pretty hard that I now have a middle school student! He is such a wonderful young man and I am incredibly proud of his accomplishments. The very first day of school, he came home to announce that he wanted to try out for the fall play. Oh my, I am so excited. I loved drama club as a student, and I am so happy that he is getting this opportunity. He can't decide if he wants to act or be on the lighting crew.... Haha, must be my kiddo alright.

Our oldest daughter is now the big kid of the family at the elementary school, and she takes her "responsibility" so seriously. She has taken it on herself to walk her kindergarten sister to her classroom. She is blossoming into a very responsible young lady. Somewhere a switch was flipped and she went from carefree little girl to being concerned about everyone around her and doing her part to help out on her own initiative. Wow!

Not to worry, we still have two carefree little ones... The younger two kids are kindergarten and first grade, and they just like school for snack time and recess.

I am enjoying each stage. Every year I think that this is the best stage for kids, but as they grow, it just keeps getting better. I guess sometimes it is good to be wrong. :-)

It's Not Right

It is not right that
...146 MILLION children are orphaned
...146 MILLION children sleep at night with uncertainty about tomorrow
...In a world where medical life saving break-throughs are phenomenal, children die for the lack of basic immunizations
...In order for a waiting family to be blessed with an adoption referral, that precious child must lose all they have ever known
...The number of world wide orphans increases faster than the number of adoptive families
...Loving, wonderful, potential parents are deterred from adopting because of the initial up front legal fees
...Millions are hungry
...Millions are oppressed
...A 3 year old is labeled "hard to place" because so many parents only want babies
...Sibling groups are split up because it is "hard to place" a set of 3 or more siblings
...We bicker about politics instead of setting aside the rhetoric to feed, clothe, and place those in need

It's Just Not Right.

Long time, No Blog

Yeah, I know. But, in a little way, I guess that means that we were too busy living life to sit and write about it, so I guess that is good. Anyway, here's the summer update...

Jackson turned 12. That in and of itself makes me stop and think, "Whoa, where did time go??" He is such a wonderful young man. He went through the Safe Sitter babysitting class at the local hospital last month, and he is very proud that he can earn his own money. So far, he has only watched his siblings, and only during daylight, with a neighbor on stand-by as his "available adult" and us attached to our cell phones. Go ahead and laugh, just wait until it's your turn and you will know what I mean. He babysat for the first time for 1 hour, and the second time for 3 hours. OK, that is all this mama can handle, and yes, we checked in several times during those times.

We had our 13th anniversary yesterday. WooHoo!! We had a lovely dinner at McCormick and Schmidt's. Yummy, yummy. And of course we spent the evening laughing about the past 13 years and how much we have changed.

We got our log in date with the CCAA for July 16, 2008. Now we are waiting for the seeking confirmation letter to arrive, hopefully this week or next. As far as the tentative timeline for our travel, we are hoping for October or November to bring home our precious little girl. We were able to send her a photo album, letter, and toy when we sent in the dossier, and she should have received it by now.

The two older kids had the well child doctor visits today, and they both were due for vaccines. Needless to say, they were quite comical trying to convince the doctor that they didn't need any more shots. Jackson went so far as to pull his arms into his t-shirt and say that he left his arms at home so he couldn't get any shots. Good for us, our family doc has a good sense of humor. He played along for a bit, but they got shots anyway.

Well, I guess that is the short version of the summer. Lots of sunshine and outside playtime, and splashing in the pool. School starts next Tuesday. If you need a little giggle for the day, picture sorting out school supplies for 5 kids in the middle of the floor, trying to keep track of the various lists with one kid or another saying, "Is that mine? How many do I get? Why does she get more than me?" with every item. Hehe. Makes me laugh anyway.

Until next time...