Woo Hoo, We have a referral...

I wanted to update you all with the adoption of our son. As you know, we started the process again in January. At the time we did not know for sure where our son would be and if we would use an agency again or what agency if we did. I wanted to keep my options open and see where my heart took us...

Through our agency, I heard of two boys and was able to see pictures of them from other families that have traveled to bring their children home. One boy was totally adorable. He looked big and healthy. And the other, well he appeared a little more malnourished. His head seemed kind of big for his body and he obviously had ringworm of the scalp. There was something about his eyes and the sweet way he always smiles with his mouth shut- I immediately fell in love with the second boy. On a side note, my friend who lives in a few minutes away just adopted a nine year old boy, Akwesi, who came home about a month ago. These boys and Akwesi were very good friends and played soccer together daily. Knowing this, we felt that we had to hurry and do every thing we could to adopt one of these boys. As it turned out, the second boy, Kwame was the one meant to be our son.

Over the past month have gotten lots of information about him and his personality. He is said to be a wonderful sweet boy who cares about and helps the younger children before rushing off to play soccer. He will be six years old in May and is an only child. He is three months younger than Cater who turned six on Friday.

Our homestudy was completed and we were considered referral ready last Thursday. That happened to be the very day that Kwame's reports and medicals were all done and he also was considered referral ready. So last Thursday and Friday we received the information on him and are excited to announce that we have accepted the referral of Kwame....

The next step is that documents are prepared by us and our agency so that they can go to court in Ghana and we will hopefully be granted the adoption. Coincidentally, we were referred Selina a year ago last Friday. For Selina we went to court in April and I went to Ghana in May. We anticipate this adoption to take a little longer and so we hope to travel in the summer or early fall. We are required to make two short trips to Ghana or one long trip. We plan to make two short trips. If finances allow, I plan to make the first trip for a week (during which I am required to report to the embassy in Ghana to file paperwork) and TR and Kman would go back when all the paperwork is done about a month or two later to bring Kwame home.

I will continue to provide updates on Kwame. I am not allowed to show pictures of him as he is not legally our son yet. Kwame has blossomed since arriving at our adoption center in September and is looking much healthier and happier than the quiet thin child that arrived. He is a very healthy, adorable and happy boy who is looking very forward to having a family.

We would appreciate if you kept Kwame in your prayers over the coming months that he will continue to do well in the adoption center and that God will watch over him.

My Girls....

Today is a special day. A day to celebrate my girls...

To my Cater... Happy Birthday....

My beautiful baby girl...

Oh how I loved those sweet curls...


What a personality!...


I am so proud of the young lady you are becoming...




And to my daughter Selina... a year ago today we were blessed with the referral of a little girl who came into the adoption center looking so weak...






But you quickly learned to walk...although it appeared you weren't crazy about the idea at first!



Leaving everything you knew behind to become part of our family...




I am amazed at how far you have come this year as I look back to the sweet girl I was referred a year ago today.

Hardly a day goes by when I am not reminded what a blessing you are to me and to each other...

Yesterday, Cater had her first softball practice while Selina and I hung out watching. The coach asked the parents to play catch for a few moments with the girls so Selina and I went over and tossed the ball with Cater...

At the end of practice the coach sat all the girls in a circle to talk about what they learned that day. She asked each girl what their favorite part of practice was and got answers like...

When we ran the bases.
When I got to play catch with my mom.
Throwing the ball.
Exercising.

Then she gets to Cater.

What was your favorite part of practice Cater?
Cater simply said, "When I hugged my sister."

I am so proud of you both...I love you...love mom

The many faces of Selina...

I love the faces Selina makes and so a few weeks ago, we had a little fun with the camera...

We've adopted two boys....

And without further ado, here they are....

Meet Batman.... (eating an orange)



and Snickerdoodle/Cookie/Taylor/Joker or whatever Cater is calling him at the moment.

Sorry, I couldn't resist teasing you with the title of the post!!

These two little guys are guinea pigs (or cavies if you are being more correct since they aren't pigs at all). There is a long story about how we aquired our little cavies which I will save for another day as it involves old pictures, stories and me apologizing/admitting I may have been wrong. I have to be in the right mood for all that humbleness!!LOL

So in a nutshell, Selina had a cavy in her class. We brought it home for the weekend. I realized it is not as much like a rodent as other rodents. Cavies are actually very, very social animals that like people, and eating and are pretty low maintanence. They make little noises like purring and squaking. The squaking is done so you will feed them and once you do, they stop so in that regard, they have trained me already. They don't have long tails and are hearty enough for the kids to carry around. If you put it on your lap to pet, it just sits there. Pretty cool huh?

So over the weekend, the kids did great with our little visitor. Cater loves animals and wants a puppy really bad. I slowly realized that a cavy is like a puppy that never gets bigger (like our two big labrador retrievers) and lives in a cage with a much shorter life span. Cater- meet your new "puppy"!!JK


Actually I loved having a hamster growing up and I think it is good for kids to have the experience to love a smaller animal like that. I didn't want to get a hamster as they are too small. I had heard of guinea pigs but did not know anything about them until recently. The more I learned the more perfect they seemed for our family. Then TR made the mistake of saying, "I know I will regret saying this, it is only a matter of when, but I am okay with us having guinea pigs" Fast forward one week later (I am so fast it can be scary for him) and we have two new family members!!LOL

I thought Kman's little cavy possessed some genetic mishaps as he has this wild mohawk like hair that goes every which way. Apparantly, he is a different kind of cavy that has these "rosettes" in his hair and this condition that I thought was the result of a poor gene pool is actually pretty cool in the cavy world. Kman loved his hair and wanted to name him Travis Barker (who I guess is a musician in Blink 182- this is what Guitar Hero does to kids- they start to know bands and singers better than their parents). I guess this Barker character has wild hair like our cavy. Thankfully he decided to keep his name Batman.


Someone from my school district had these two little guys and did not want them anymore because they got a dog (a total PET peeve of mine). So their lack of commitment to the natural conclusion of their pet's life is our gain. They came with their cage, balls to let them roll around in, a portable fence for outdoors and all the starter supplies I needed and best of all, they are used to kiddos!!


Our little boys are doing great. The kids will bring them out and have them sit with them when they do things. We have only had them a few days so we are trying not to overwhelm them.

PS...Selina was not in the pics above as she was sleeping when I took them all. She also loves the boys. She has had practice with the one in her class. She pets them gently as she yells, "mom,look,Batman, mom, Batman, look, mom, Batman, Batman, oh, Batman". We are working on trying to curb a little of her enthusiasm as cavies have sensitive ears according to "The Guinea Pig Handbook".

Just so Selina is not left out of the post, here is a recent pic I took of her at school last week! She is getting so big and doing so awesome!

Blog meet Facebook, Facebook meet Blog...

I have been having fun on Facebook lately and have been a little neglectful of my blog. On FB several of us have done tagged each other to share 25 random things about ourselves. I thought I would share my 25 random things here and tag a few of my friends to do the same.

25 Random Things About Me...

1. I love the sound of falling water, it calms me- on that note a good chardonnay calms me too.

2. I don't like to put myself in danger. I am not the type to want to take random walks in desert (snakes), swim out in ocean (sharks), go in hot air balloons (too many dangers to list), go out alone late at night (crazy criminals). You get the picture. If you hang with me we play it safe.

3. My sixth grade teacher called me "naggy wife". I think TR would have liked to have known this before we got married.

4. I am into hosting and making sure my guests are fed, comfortable and happy. I made my special trail mix for those attending the birth of Kman before leaving for the hospital. As I was pushing him out, I remembered that I had it and had not offered it to those in the room. I made my sister and TR take it out and when they wouldn't eat it, I yelled at them to. They did but only because I had been up all night and was slightly psycho by then! You should have seen their faces as they slowly munched on the trail mix.

5. I am analytical and detail oriented. I drive myself crazy thinking things through. On that note, if you have one of those puzzles that have seven different soups to serve on seven different days with all those little details that make it hard to figure out when to serve them, call me- I am your woman to help you figure it all out.

6. I like sales. TR's favorite quote about me was innocently said by Kman who was 7 at the time, "They were on sale so mom bought 28 of them!"

7. Not only do I clip coupons but I belong to a society of coupon clipping people (coupon sense). They track sales at the grocery store and the location of coupons so I can put the two together and get the best deals out there. On that note- you should all go to Safeway as 93% lean meat is $1.88 a lb- the fresh stuff- not the gross chubs.

8. My favorite indulgence is ice cream. My favorite ice cream is Gold Medal Ribbon from Baskin Robbins with their Peanut Butter and Chocolate coming in a close second.

9. I don't like TR to buy me flowers unless he gets them at Costco- otherwise he paid too much-they just die anyway!

10. I have only been on a trip out of state alone twice (see #2). The first time was a hair accessory convention in Seattle (home of Starbucks), the second time I headed for a month to Ghana, Africa to bring home our daughter. Thankfully my friend Molly came with me the first two weeks but after that I was on my own.

11. I have done the 60 mile walk for Breast Cancer twice.

12. If I was a man, I would have loved to be a detective. Since I wanted to be a mom I married a detective. I thought he would like it if I helped him solve crimes. He doesn't appreciate the advice I give him as much as I think he should. He is no longer a detective- my crime solving days are over, sigh.

13. I like to collect things. Once I decide I like something, I have to start a collection and make sure I have all I will ever need. If YOU need tupperware or Longaberger- see me, I have extras. Don't worry though, I became a consultant to save money (so I could buy 28 of them)!

14. I feel it is more important to have common sense and be socially gifted than to know where each of the 50 states are therefore I can't get one answer right in Jeopardy but I know my way around a party.

15. I like to organize things. This includes closest and people. I start groups, plan showers and buy lots of things at organization stores.

16. When going to restaurants, I look at the items on the menu as a suggestion as to how it should be and I feel free to add, substitute or delete ingredients to make it just right- like Meg Ryan on When Harry Met Sally. Mostly this is based in my unwillingness to try anything new and to want things without the sauce or items I am not familiar with.

17. When I laugh hard I cry. Not just a few tears but a river flows from my eyeballs.

18. I use laughter a lot in my parenting. I try to not sweat the small stuff and focus on the bigger things. Sometimes when the kids are angry, I say something really funny. Sometimes I am the only one laughing but most of the time they laugh too.

19. I love Washington and if I could live there I would. Mostly because I love the rain (see #1) although now I know so many cool people that live there that it only looks better all the time.

20. I love terriyaki chicken sandwiches, the color brown, labrador retrievers, iced tea from Wildflower Bread Company, and going to the grocery store alone.

21. I always thought I would have only boys so I am surprised I have two girls and only one boy. We just started the process to adopt again so I will have another boy soon.

22. I love to scrapbook and have just started digitally scrapping so I am in the process of collecting free scrapbooking kits online. See my sidebar for my fav links.

23. I have a passion for Ghana, the people there and helping orphans there. I want all the adoption agencies there to do well and for families interested in adopting to be able to do so. That is why I now moderate the yahoo group adoptingfromghana. I hope that I can help keep our group a place where families and agencies work together with the common goal of helping Ghana's orphans because that is what it is all about...

24. We are on my fav number. Why is 24 my fav? Because it is such an agreeable number. It is divisible by so many numbers and is so even, I just love it!!

25. I tend to talk a lot and am wordy- see above! I love having my own blog to talk about things. I tend to ramble on on it.

Okay, so this is my tag and I will make up my rules. Hmm, how about I tag five people since 5x5 is 25 (now do you people see how my brain works?!!). If I tag you, please do this too. It is fun to learn more about each other!


Robin

Ginny

Heather S since you have not updated your blog since last year and your peeps miss you!:-)

Heather A

Harmony

Smokin out the "no" girl...

Lately we have been playing hide n seek around the house before going to bed. The other night, Cater was looking for dad, Selina and Kman and couldn't find them. She was starting to get a little frustrated when I said,
"Cater, you can find Selina easily, just say loudly 'Selina, time to go night, night'".
So Cater does and from under the kitchen table you hear this little voice say, "No, Cater, no night night no!"
We all laughed so hard and Selina thought she was so funny and just kept saying it over and over again!
She loves saying "no" now that she has finally learned it. It is such an empowering word to a two year old. She is funny as she will say "no" but do exactly what you want her to do anyway. The speech therapist in me isn't focused on the "no" but instead gets so excited at all the words she can string together in her statement of opposition! My little "no" girl has come so far!

Not my EYES!!

The other day I realized I did not have extra contacts for my right eye so I had to quickly order and get more. For some reason I have 10 left contacts but no right ones even though I bought the same amount of each. That is what happens when your life is a little crazy!LOL

I call to tell TR about my little contact errand and that I must have 10 right contact somewhere in the house. He once again asks me if I have considered having Lasik surgery lately.

TR had lasik about two years ago. He used to be pretty blind and now he can see. He was so excited the morning after surgery when he woke up and could see the clock immediately. I think he actually did a happy dance and this giddy excitement he had at seeing the clock happened every day for a few weeks or so.

So now that TR can see well 24/7 he wants the same for me. It is sweet that he is willing to make this happen for me but I have to be honest with you...

I have this thing about my eyeballs...
It dates back to childhood. In elementary school we dissected an eyeball. At some point in the dissection a pocket of liquid in the eye kind of squirts out across the room. It is supposed to do that. It was obviously unforgettable for me.
It affected me even as a young adult in that when I went to get my driver's license and signed up to be an organ donor, I asked them to note that I wanted to keep my eyeballs. Just didn't want them removed even though I believe that I wouldn't be aware it was being done!
So I am not up for lasik. I don't really want my eyeballs being touched and manipulated with machines and such. Aren't your eyes held open with toothpicks or something while this is done? I don't think I can live through that. TR assures me that they give me something to relax me but if I am conscious, I don't think it will be possible to relax.
So I choose to continue to wear my contacts and glasses. I just can't do it. I can rattle off a list of about 20 things that I don't want to do that I would before lasik.

I know it lasts only a few moments. Believe me, I do know that. When I took TR to get his done, they told me that I could leave and come back (since I obviously did not want to watch the procedure). The eye doctor happened to be less than a block from Last Chance, which is a Nordstroms outlet. It is an hour away from our home so I never go there. Last Chance is a crazy place with crazy ladies that go there to stalk the employees as they bring out loads of things and then grab all the good things immediately. When we first got married, we went there a dozen times or so to grab some fun things but I hadn't been in years.

So on the day of TR's lasik I waited for him to go back for the procedure and then took off for Last Chance after being assured that with the people there and such, I had at least an hour before I could see him. I gave them my number just in case and then took off like a woman that just got paid that day with a little money burning a hole in her pocket.

I stopped quickly and grabbed myself an iced tea and headed into Last Chance. It was crazy like I remembered. I walked around for a moment and spotted a crowd gathering and knew I better head over to the shoe area to see what was coming out.

Just as I get up there someone steps away and I get a good spot at a table full of UGG Boots. I know it is Arizona and I'd be lucky to get to legitimately be able to wear them three days a year but UGG Boots- how fun is that?

So the rule is you can't touch anything until they say "Ok"

At this point, I have been gone 20 minutes. The phone rings and it is the nurse at the eye doctor.

Nurse-"Your husband is done."
Me- "What do you mean he is done. It is over, he is ready for me to come and get him?"
Nurse- "Yes, we had a cancellation and someone else came in late and so your husband got moved up and done right away"
Me- Inner voice- this is BS! I was supposed to have an hour, I can't believe he is done already, unbelievable!
Outer voice "Thank you so much, I am tied up on an errand and will be there very soon?"

Just as I hang up, they say "OK" and the grabbing for the UGGS begins. I luckily grab the first pair that caught my eye and they happened to by my size. I also grabbed a pair for Cater. While the items at Last Chance are often imperfect, the boots looked great. For those wondering, the UGGS were under $20 each.
So I quickly pay and go pick up TR.

I digressed but wanted to illustrate how I do understand that the procedure is over so quickly that you can't even grab a drink and some UGG boots in the amount of time it takes to supposedly correct your vision forever. It doesn't make a difference to me.

So my question (to those still reading) is this.. Am I being ridiculous? Have you had this surgery or are you like me and would rather wear a bikini on Times Square?