April catch up

Sorry for being so lax in posting...a bit busy and a sore throat has kept me from doing as much.

The new adoption first-we have our finger print appt set for 4-14 and will leave about 4 am to drive to Chicago for that so we can be back at a decent time. I hope that everything keeps moving along as I am figuring it to and possible travel as early as August. So far Penny and Vicky are still going with me. I am still waiting for some papers to come back so we can apply for their passports but everything else should go ok. I have bought two different accordion files so I can keep two complete dossiers separate and organized (yes I said organized) and since they are different print designs I should be able to manage this.

Penny is still developing her sense of language and how to use it..she is experimenting with her tone in the family also...Claude and I were addressing the girls about being sloppy in the tv room and Claude said how about mama and baba go upstairs to your rooms and make a big mess and she said "bye-bye" to him and smiled....hmm, time out! Her English is very good, still a lot she does not understand but she does well. She is reading a lot, still enjoying the piano and has really moved up in her talents there. And she has gained 20 pounds that she needed.

Vicky has really went to town on A.R. points. She loves the Little House on the Prairie series and has read a ton of them....She is trying so hard to not bite her nails. This is a huge thing for her if she gets it done...she has started painting them to help her. Right now Vicky is sharing the sore throat seat with me too and has a bit of a cough....Vicky spends every waking moment thinking about the trip to China, but at the same time is a bit worried about it. She knows she can decide to not go....I believe I have never experienced a child more interested in biographies, and seeking information then this little girl...amazing sponge that she is. Vicky is also taking piano lessons and is doing so well. Vicky asked me if I believed that prayers worked....and I said yes and went on to explain what i feel and believe about God and how when I say a prayer I have proof that they work...well then I have her eyes looking at me with a bit of a challenge and also a desire for proof...so I said remember last week you were very upset about not being able to play the recorder and get more ribbons/levels like Penny and so every morning on the way to school we would say a prayer asking God to show your mind and fingers how to play so you could get the levels? And look you have moved up three levels in less than two weeks.....or how I pray every night for God to let my daughters as they go to sleep so beautiful, healthy and smart to still wake the same in the morning??? and how each day everyone is....and she just relaxes against me and said hmm, oh. She continues to ask me to remember things in my prayers and in our night time prayers for her....

Addie-this little girl is just such a Jewel...She has excelled at reading this year and is doing so well in school. She is such a caring little thing and is always so willing to help anyone. Her hair is growing again and she says she is not going to cut it ever again...every morning she asks me to put it up in a pony tail to always grumble that I don"t have it at the right level on the back of her head..so the other day I showed her what level it was on her back so we have a marker of sorts...why did I not think of that several weeks ago when I had gritted my teeth when redoing the pony tail for the 4th time? She still loves her desk and writing, and playing babies....and getting up every morning and laying on the register in the kitchen that her Grandpa Tom cut in the floor when we built this house...who would have ever thought when dad made those templates to router out the plank flooring so the grates would sit flush that we would have all these little girls laying over the top of them every morning? God and His ways! Addie has made me think that we should either buy stock in the potato chip market or learn how to make our own...she loves chips!

Kate-as she holds out to keep her status as the baby of the family, but yet wants to give up some of those things that mean being a baby, she is a bit in a limbo state...she went with Claude and got tired and he said go ahead and take a nap Kate on the ride home and she looked at him, pulled her thumb out of her mouth to say you know I can't take a nap without THE YELLOW THING oh yea she had left her blanket at home trying to leave it a bit....the other day Claude found that she was trying to not loose it again (she is always loosing her blanket, as much as she looses it you would think she did not need it) and he found it thumb tacked to her bulletin board..pretty smart! Kate is in kindergarten this year and she is reading first grade books so is doing so well. Kate settles in with all the girls and yet can be just as happy by herself. She and the other girls planted about 5 trays of garden seeds and they have great plans of summer flowers and veggies. She is also counting the days til the baby chicks arrive.

Our house...the people we contracted to lay about 800 sq feet of hardwood flooring returned to tear all of it up and replace it..neither one of us felt that the 2 1/4 inch curve they had put in it belonged there...but that is fixed now. the painter is putting the last coat of pink on the two bedrooms and then carpet comes in a week...my friend Vickie is coming up Friday and hopefully giving me some suggestions on some decorating and the contractors are almost done with the outside too. they keep teasing me they are on a four year plan...great.