Adoption update

Yesterday was a milestone moment! I mailed off the I-800a application to the people in Chicago that will then send us one letter confirming they got the application...then they will send us another letter giving us an appointment to drive to Chicago to get our finger prints done again no matter that we have been finger printed for each of the last four girls adoption and no matter that we have been finger printed for each girls adoption at the local sheriffs office and no matter that we are registered already with the state as foster parents eligible for adoption....so once we get that appointment we will drive to Chicago and be first in line so we do not have to wait hours.
Then after they have the finger prints checked (I guess that is what they do with them?) then they will issue a new and improved 171 form. This form allows us to send all of the needed paperwork to China!
This time it will be a bit different for me to do the paperwork since we are adopting two little girls as I will have to send off two dossiers...so in the past when I carried a back pack holding all of these papers when I traveled to China and had room for a few extra things in the back pack, I imagine this trip that it will be full! Hopefully Eric won't mind lugging it occasionally! So current time line for the 171 form is averaging 50 days I hear, and if that holds true then I expect to be able to be dossier to China (DTC) by May 15th at the latest. Travel could be still in line for Aug to Sept if we can have both dossiers travel together and stay together! wonder if I tie them together with Red Thread if it would help?
We have not yet sent a package to the girls as we have not gotten pre-approval for the littlest girl...as soon as we get that we will send out a package. Claude and I would like them to get it the same time so hopefully if they know each other they can try to bond a bit as sisters and share together if nervous etc.....
This Friday is the re-adoption day for Penny and Vicky here in the U.S. and we will all attend this. We plan on eating out afterwards to celebrate. By doing this re-adoption we will have their citizenship done shortly afterwards and be able to apply for their passports too. Since the two are hoping to travel with me this fall to bring home the girls we have to stay on top of getting this done!

Construction lesson, and work

Another lesson learned about construction...that when you supply the materials to the labor, and when it won't work the first time and there is a solution offered and it does not work then to read the directions on the materials...who would have that that a floor tile could not be laid "below grade"? We supplied the floor tile as shown to the contractor and they laid it on the concrete floor in the lower level, it curled up, they suggested a different glue, they relaid the tile, it curled up...so then all of the girls, and I, picked up and hauled out the floor tile that Claude scraped up....what a mess!! Made for a nice fire...and prayers for this construction be done soon!

My Birthday-today!!!

Every year I look forward to my birthday as everyone should! It is your day....celebrate! So today is my birthday. 49 years ago my parents welcomed me (hopefully) into this world in Peoria, IL. I had red hair and the baby pictures I have seen shows a huge curl of hair on the top of my head...A few days later when my parents took me home from the hospital there was a huge snow storm, my dad says the worst he had ever drove in. Fast forward to today and my e-card from dad and mom said Happy Birthday, no snow in the forecast! I ask where are the tulips?
Yesterday was a very long day for me here at work, I was dealing with a rejected load of feed and it seemed as though the day would never end and it kept going thru my head that boy I feel old, and tomorrow I will be! But you know, am I old? Am I young? Am I medium? What I do know is I am a Christian, I am happy, I am a wife and a mom and my family loves me...that I have lived a wonderful life and pray that this continues. If not then I know that I will be with our heavenly Father, but right now this is where I am.
In the office we always celebrate birthdays with lunch out and a cake, gifts etc....I have been so busy with the house, the girls, and work that I really sort of blew off today and in fact last night felt bad that I "slighted" everyone out of a cake today since I did not ever answer the question of what kind of cake should we get? So last night I made a pan of chocolate chip bars and brought them in to share....to be totally 100% surprised that my favorite Lemon Cake was delivered!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! We are going out to lunch this Friday. Tonight the girls and Claude have gifts at home, Kate slipped and told me this morning that none of them liked the scarf that I had marked so Baba (Claude) bought it for me :) and Vicky was rolling her eyes that Kate told and I whispered it was o.k. she is only 6...so all was fine. Happy Birthday to me!

House construction update and pink paint-lots of it!

Here are a few photos of the interior of the great room/dining room....the 4 girls and I went today and got 5 gallons of pink paint and one gallon of light lime paint for the two bedrooms....we even managed to find a pink ceiling fan for the one bedroom, go figure! To give you an idea of the size of the room, the one photo that has all the windows in it, between the sets of window's there is 15 feet, and that wall I have figured as my photo wall. There are even spot lights set up that I can use to high light the photos. We have planned an 18 foot long dining table that Claude is building that will go on the end of the room where the tile is and then the other end is for the t.v. and living room furniture. We hope to figure out how to have one of the pianos in that area also but have not gotten that floor plan figured out. I am still hoping my friend Vickie will be up to help me figure out some of this...she did such a great job for her sister and her own home is so nicely decorated (hint hint) I love the ceiling fans, Claude found them and suggested them. They really fit the style of our home. We look forward to being done soon and getting the t.v back out of storage!!! Please keep checking back for updates...oh, grandma and grandpa if you are checking out this update Addie had the cell phone in her hand taking photos the same as I was. She leaves for school every morning handing me the phone asking if I will charge it up while she is gone. It is the best gift ever. I cannot imagine if it were hooked up to call a real call how many minutes she would have racked up. She is "on" it all the time!

Addie turned 7- and Grandma Betty

Addie has asked for months when her birthday was going to be, and then the count down began. She would give great sighs of disappointment saying "IT" was never going to get here. Friday night she had two friends in, Jessica and Lauren, and she invited her sister Kate to attend just a small party. Fun was had by all as they ate tacos and decorated cupcakes, played a couple games and enjoyed the evening. Addie loved the gifts the girls gave her. Then Sunday morning, 3:30 a.m. I felt a nudge next to my head and I opened my eyes to have Addie ask me if I was awake, I said come on get in bed so she crawled over me to very happily say "it is tomorrow, it is my birthday, now I am 7". And then giggles! She did not go back to sleep! Thankfully Claude loves naps and they laid down latter in the day and she did nap.

We had grandpa Tom and grandma Bev in along with A. Carrie and U. Randy, brother Eric and brother Andy also came and we all enjoyed breakfast along with birthday cake! Claude and I got Addie a new bike and an adding machine that has a roll of paper in it...she loves anything to do with numbers, cash registers, money...and we were on the A list with the gifts...then grandma and grandpa gave her their gifts, along with a cell phone that is not activated but you can still use it with the lights on and to take pictures and boy they were on the AAA list! The phone has not left Addie's hands! Total delight!!!

On a different note our sons Grandma Betty passed away Sunday morning. Just about the same time Addie and I were awake and she was excited that she was 7 finally. When Betty first got sick and Addie and I were saying bed time prayers Addie would always interrupt me and say don't forget to pray for Grandma Betty to walk faster...at that time Betty was very ill, yet was able to still get around just a bit and I know Addie meant for her to get better so she could walk faster...but for me I prayed that Betty would not suffer this the end of her time here, that she would be able to "walk faster" to God and be thru with the physical pain she had. As her cancer progressed I was able to sit and hold her hand and pray for her, to care for her, to offer her daughter in-law Leanna time to sleep. (Betty is a former mother in-law of mine). Betty was a Christian from a very young age, and one day she even told me with a sigh, please tell my boys I am going to God. I promised I would and that I would sit and hold her hand while she took that journey. As days, weeks, even months built up she hung on. She shared bits of stories with her family, Alex and Eric went and sat with their grandma when Leanna and Keith would leave....they were so good with her. Alex telling her one night Grandma it is time to go to sleep and until you do I am just going to sit here beside you...I think he sat there all night as she never went to sleep. Eric sat with his grandma again last Thursday night and I waited until 7 pm to text him and say are you doing ok? He said yes, just sitting here reading my book and holding Grandma's hand, she is sleeping and is calm. What good grandsons they were to her. I am so glad that one of my memories of Betty is when she traveled to Germany with Claude and I and the boys to visit Alex when he was stationed there. She said so many times that she had never thought she would ever get to travel like that. Precious memories! Please hold her family all in your prayers. Betty told me one night that her hardest job ever, and here she started weeping, was being a mother to her sons. I told her that she was a model to us all, not only as a mother but as a lady and that she should have her hand in the air cheering her success. Betty Williams was a very good lady, mother, grandmother, sister and a friend. We will all miss her and her lessons of baking, painting and being gentle.