Monday, December 29, 2008

Christmas Pictures




















Momma J and Pickles....gotta love this enormous stuffed puppy (probably the only dog we'll ever have....................)















Don't ya just love those matching PJs...Squeeker said: "Mom...this is embarrassing....."




















Drama Girl having a "moment." Seriously, she was in sensory overload and right after this picture was taken, picked up her little pocketbook from Auntie Ann and walked out of the living room......




















Our tree.
















Big Brother Shawn reading to Drama Girl.
















Drama Girl in her most favorite position....feet on the table!




Seriously...we had a wonderful Christmas! Although there were two missing, we hope they know by now that they have a new family that is anxiously waiting to bring them home!

Happy New Year!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas........a few days early....I'm preparing for our annual "Misfit" Christmas Eve dinner and took a break to wish all my family and friends a very Merry Christmas! Last evening, David and I took some pictures of our current family, and some of the pics of our newest, and posted them in a picture frame called "Our Family." Ironically, I've had this frame FOREVER and never felt the nudge to put it all together. I'd love to share some of my favorite photos with you now, but I promise I'll post it after our court date (still waiting,,,by the way......).

We've been working out the travel details for our next trip to Ethiopia. I originally was going to stay home and just David was going to go. But after much prayer, and patience on my part (and a thumbs up from my chiropractor on the 17 hour flight!) it looks like I'll be definitely going with David and possibly Squeeker, if we swing the airfare for him!

Saturday was my 40something birthday! It was a great day! We bought a new car..well not a new car, a year old used car to haul 4 children and two adults!!! It's a big BOAT!!!! It's taking some practice parking the "boat" as I affectionately call it! But I like it.....it's definitely growing on me. We also had lunch with my brother-in-law and his wife, and my sister-in-law and her family! It was sooooo great to spend time with them again! Sometimes the death of a loved one causes separation in families....but in this case,,,it brought them together...and it's soooooooooooo good to see them together. I'm sure Rosie was smiling down from heaven at us!

The holidays are always a little bittersweet........it's really hard getting my arms around the fact that I am now the matriarch of my family. Geez...I'm way too young for that. It's been a hard transition putting on that hat, and after a few years now of my mom being gone.....the hat is getting a little more comfortable.

Below are two pictures...one of Pickles that I absolutely love. The other is a sunrise taken from our back deck this morning......No snow here in beautiful North Carolina.......but the sunrises are spectacular coming up over the trees!




Have a merry everyone!




Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Week One -- Post Referral

Wow....our feet are just starting to land on the ground. The reality of going from two children in the home, to four is starting to sink in. We have to buy a bigger car; so we've been researching that this week and finally made a decision on a Ford Expedition with the extra 15" of cargo space in the rear. Now that's going to be an adjustment for me to get used to! It'll be like driving a tank!

And tonight, I am pleased to say that we completed the last of our required training!!! Whoeee......what a relief that is!

Also, I had minor procedure done on my eyelid --No...not plastic surgery, but something I needed to get done before the end of the insurance year!

So, Post Referral - Week One has flown by.....Next week is Christmas,,,which seems unbelievable. I'd love to have a court date by then, but it's probably very unrealistic!

I know tomorrow is a big day for 12 Gladney families who have their court dates. Please know that I've been praying fervently for all of you. I'd love to see all twelve of them pass through! Now wouldn't that be something to celebrate!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

REFERRAL...WE GOT OUR REFERRAL TODAY! UPDATED

Part II

I was lying in bed, trying to get my feet back on the ground, tossing and turning, to no avail. I knew I had to capture the raw emotions of today before it became just a memory.

Today was like any other day -- running late for school and didn't have time to go to the gym before my eye doctor appointment. So, I came back home, took a shower, loaded PIckles in the car and we went back to town for my appt. Pretty normal for one of my day's...pretty routine.

Anyway, then I went to the shop (we own our own company and usually have Tuesday and Thursday's day off, but I had some bookkeeping stuff I just had to get done) with Pickles and the day was pretty uneventful. I left a little late to pick up Squeeker from school, went home with the kids to work on homework instead of going back to the shop. UPS had left a Christmas package on my front porch, so I was in living room when I heard my cell phone ring from the kitchen.

I do need to back up a bit -- over the weekend I was reviewing a lot of blogs, stalking the FBI list with exact referral timelines and decided I needed to review some of our critical adoption paperwork, specifically the I171H. I pulled out the lockbox and discovered that our fingerprints expires in June 09. I started counting from September 16th -- our wait list date and figured we were not going to make it and made a mental note to call Mary at Gladney and get her input on when I needed to resubmit the request for new fingerprints.

Well, I never, ever get to everything on my to-do list, so when the phone rang with an 817 area code instead of the famous "unknown caller," I didn't think anything of it. I went on to tell Mary that I was doing OK, but I was tired from having my eyes dialated at the eye dr this morning. Then it hit me that she wasn't returning my phone call...because I never called her. I never did get around to calling her and leaving her a message about our fingerprints expiring. I started hyperventilating.......and told her I needed to go the shop where David was so that we could call her back together. So, I loaded up the kids in the car, and less than 10 minutes later we were at the shop calling Mary. But...before I hung up, Mary did tell me that our referral was for two children.......I swear my heart stopped right in my chest.......I had to remember to breathe.....the moment is so surreal. You wait and wait for this moment, then rationalize that you've got another 3 months of waiting, and you put it in the back of your mind and get on with life. That's EXACTLY when you get the phone call --- now that we've received two of these phone calls,,,I can tell those of you that are still waiting that it NEVER comes when you are thinking about it, or expect it!

So, you all probably want the details. Our referral was for a sibling group -- one girl age 2.75, and one boy, age 5. They are beautiful......and have captured my heart in just a few moments. Their eyes sparkle.......the love and bond they share is so evident in their pictures. I can't wait to bring them home!

For those of you that are still waiting...I am so sorry........but I truly believe that God's timing is perfect. I never dreamed that the road we've been on this year would end this way.....God is so good......all the time! Today, I am so grateful and believe with all my heart that God's plan is perfect,,,for each and every one of us!

Much love,
Robin


Part I

Oh my gosh......I'm still somewhere out in space. Today marks exactly 12 weeks we've been on the wait list for siblings or a single girl. We got a referral today for siblings.......a boy and a girl.

I'll write more when I come down to earth!

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Coming Out of the Closet

Ok...the title of this post might throw you off a bit...but it's not what it seems. We've been keeping a little secret under our hat for awhile now. Some of you know, some of you don't. But most of you know of the rollercoaster year we've had. During all of the commotion, we started the adoption process back in January. Through the bumps of 2008, we ended up putting our 2nd adoption on hold twice; one after David's mom passed away and second, later in the summer as we struggled (really struggled) with grief issues. With an incredible feeling of peace this time around, we are excited to announcde that we are adopting again. We changed our child preference somewhere between the first and second "hold" to an older child. At first the thought of adopting an older child was more than I could deal with. We had a foster child a few years back, an adorable three year old boy that stole my heart. Unbeknownst to us, he unofficially had RAD - Reactive Attachment Disorder. I won't go into any details, except to say there were months of very trying circumstances where we realized we were not cut out for a child with such great emotional need. It was devastating, yet humbling, but did not leave us without scars. It took me a long time before I was comfortable even talking about bringing another child into our home.

So, it's offical now. We've been on the wait list since September 16th -- almost 3 months. It's hard to fathom that our first referral came in a mere 5 weeks. This time around, with the increasing popularity of Ethiopian adoptions, the wait time is between 4-6 months -- the trend leaning towards the 6 month or more mark. We are not expecting a referral until sometime in March.

My dear mother-in-law passed away May 3rd of this year.....the night before she died, my husband asked her what we should name this next child we were waiting for. Without hesitation, she said "Faith." Pickles middle name is Grace, so "Faith" will be our newest little girl's middle name. We are on the wait list for either a girl between the ages of 3-4, OR a sibling group between the ages of 36-72 months. Whew.....if this referral is for two, I'm not sure what we'll do for names -- I'll guess we'll just cross that bridge when we come to it!

Monday, December 1, 2008

Putting Up The Christmas Tree

If you look real close, you can see Squeeker under the tree against the wall. Pickles definitely wanted in on the fun!






Squeeker hanging an ornament -- notice most of the ornaments are all in the same place!!!!


I just love the inspi(RED) ornaments -- we have two of these! They look so pretty when the light reflects off of them.




The next bunch of pictures were take for our Christmas cards. I usually take the kids to Sears, pay a fortune..blah, blah, blah. This year, thanks to a blog friend, saved me time, money, but more importantly, sanity in getting to stay away from the mall with the kids! Whew...I'm thankful I escaped that!

The instrument Pickles is holding is a traditional Ethiopian string instrument, called a Kerar. We bought two or three of them when we were in Ethiopia last year.


















Whew....we did it. The tree was up and decorated before December 1st. I think this was an all time record in our house. I'm not a fan of putting up the tree on Thanksgiving weekend, but...... past Christmas' seasons passed through my head over the weekend and I soon realized that if we procrastinated as we usually do, I get really stressed about the tree not being up. So,,,,,we took the plunge, pulled out enough of the Christmas stuff to get the tree up and decorated -- it took about 2 hours total. I'm so grateful for lighted trees. Although a fan of real trees, last year we succumbed to the pressure and bought a pre-lit tree. With kids, it's just easier, not to mention that we supplement our heat with wood and a real tree dries out too quickly!
There were a few pictures of me that David took -- but honestly, I was in my jammies, and didn't feel they were decent enough to post!
I'm starting to get excited about Christmas this year.....the holidays have been tough since my mom passed 3 1/2 years ago.....This year, I just might be able to get out her box of ornaments and put them on the tree.........I hope she's looking down at me from heaven and smiling...........