Yeah, a little disappointed....

I really thought we'd have a referral by now (how many times am I going to say that?). I e-mailed our case worker to see where thing were at and she said we are "getting closer." She said they got 2 little boy referrals this week but did not elaborate on their age or anything. I know we are after my friend in line for a baby boy so I don't understand why we are still waiting. Maybe those little boys were out of our age range or something. I e-mailed my case worker and told her about knowing I was next in line and asked her if I was indeed next. I have been watching every phone call like it could be "the one."

We are leaving in the morning for a family reunion in West Virginia. I am looking forward to it and it will be a good distraction from the waiting (I have been saying that all summer :)). We are taking our camper and I have been diligently baking, cleaning and canning the last couple days. It is good though because I have gotten a lot done and our camper is full of goodies for the weekend.

So, I just wanted to update on things. Later.

Julie

Our Life lately.....and "silly guy, boys don't wear earrings"

I had the 3 little ones at Walmart today looking for canning jars. Well, we were over there beside them and there was a guy there that had earrings in both ears. We were standing right beside him (he was chatting with some lady) and Maddie says as clear as day "Mommy, that guy is silly, boys don't wear earrings." I didn't even look to see if the guy heard her, I just walked off. Madeline, God love her little soul, is very good at loudly pointing things out like that. That is the second time this week she's done that. It's funny in hindsight, but at the time it is pretty embarrassing.

I am finding myself pretty busy these days. Actually, like extremely busy. My garden has been a lot of upkeep, between weeding, pruning, harvesting and processing, well its like an endless cycle. I will tell you though, I am enjoying it (most of the time). I like being out there in the dirt and I love building a stash of food for my family, that we grew. Yes, I am a little strange, but something just seems right about doing things this way.

This week we made the decision to say bye bye to junk food. Now I realize that blogging about this will hold me a little more accountable, but that's ok. In the last couple years I have felt increasingly convicted to teach my children to eat right. We have been making changes over time, but I have struggled quite a bit. For one, I am a coupon-aholic. I can clip with the best of them and it is very hard for me to say "no" to something that I can buy for practically free. So I buy it, even if it is processed crap with no nutritional value. Now let me say here, my kids eat pretty healthy anyways and normally if I buy junk I save it for something special. Or at least that was my theory. Here lately though, junk has been creeping in to our daily lives more and more. Another problem with switching to healthier stuff is the resistance I anticipate from Leah and Logan (the 3 little ones have never really gotten junk). They like their sweet snacks, they get two a day and they usually choose something with empty calories (that I bought dirt cheap for a "special occasion") and then they are starving an hour later. Well, no more. I had Leah and Logan make lists of healthy snacks that they would like to see around and I asked them to focus on whole and non processed foods. Well, after explaining to them exactly what that was, they were pretty cool with it all. They even seemed a little excited about it. Oh and for the record, we have no intentions of becoming so extreme with this that our kids can't enjoy a candy bar, there is a balance, but I am just happy knowing that their eating habits here at home are going to be much healthier. I want them to take this with them and grow up knowing how to eat right.

Ok, sorry, I didn't mean to get off on that tangent....... Here are some recent pics:

The kids made a choo choo out of their bilibo seats and begged me to take a picture.

This is Gee post hair buzzing. How cute it he???

Gee, pre hair buzzing (still totally cute).

Ryan and I celebrated 13 years of marriage on Monday. Actually we went out on a date last weekend, so on Monday we just had a nice dinner and a heart shaped brownie!

For some strange reason this cracked me up. It is a bird's nest build with chipboard slots. As you may or may not know, Ryan and his family own a interior packaging business and these slots are leftovers from processing the raw board. Well, Ryan brings slots home sometimes and we use them as chicken bedding. Apparently they make good nests also!

Got a little bit of discouraging adoption related news yesterday. The courts in Ethiopia will indeed close for 6 weeks (from mid August to the end of September). We were hoping they were going to stay open, but, nope. Truly though that probably doesn't affect us too much since we've yet to get a referral. At this point it takes 6 or so weeks after a referral to get a court date anyways. It stinks though because once we do get a referral, the courts are going to be seriously back logged because of the closings.

I am not going to lie, I am hopeful we will see our little boy this week. I think that is very possible from what I am hearing. And, as much as I want to keep myself from getting my hopes up, they are up. I have been seriously daydreaming about the little guy and I really just want to see his face and start falling in love with my son.

Julie

And the plot thickens.....

I just found out today that my partner in crime with our agency got her referral (a HUGE congrats Leslie). She has been right in front of me with our agency for a baby boy. She accepted their referral as of Monday the 20th. All around this is excellent news, but I am finding myself anxious now. I feel like the wait has just gotten more intense. I should be next in line for a baby boy. Oiy. Lay it on, I am ready!

Julie

Some Adoption News

I e-mailed my case manager today because I really just wanted to know if we were days, weeks or months away from a referral. We got a bulk e-mail from our agency last week talking about clients wanting to know their place on "the list." They pretty much don't want to have to give that number anymore because referrals are so dependent on the individual couple and the child being referred. Plus, right now they are still experiencing big delays and have not yet caught up with itself. So, on the heels of "quit bugging us about where you are on the list" I e-mailed my case manager to, you know, ask where we were on "the list." Before I give her response, I feel the need to add that I feel somewhat entitled to an answer to this question considering our 2 to 3 months to wait for a referral has turned in to 4 months. Here was her response:

"Much of this is the paperwork we have been waiting on for weeks – so we’re hoping it will be like Christmas when it all finally arrives! I still suspect that your referral will be among those that we know are coming. And I hope it will be this week. Just can’t promise what I don’t know!"

I will take that response! I am certainly not counting on it happening this week (really I am not), but it is nice to know that they feel it will be happening soon. Yeah!!

Julie

Normal Stuff.....the way I like it.

Lately I have been feeling pretty domesticated. It is a good thing. I have found more joy in the simple things in life than I thought I ever would. I love my garden, I love canning our fresh stuff, etc., etc....... For a while I have been trying to get our family back to eating better. Less processed junk, more whole foods, etc. Well, we are still working toward that and my latest step in that direction is bread. It bothers me slightly that store bought bread can last for weeks without spoiling. Now don't get me wrong, it has it's place and I am not a bread snob, but since I am home and we love fresh bread I am trying to go without buying store bought bread. I only ever buy 100% whole wheat bread and I do not want to sacrifice the whole grain goodness there so I am trying to do whole wheat bread at home. I am made some good loaves, but they just haven't been 100% what I am looking for. A little too dense and dried out a little too quickly. This is what I baked today:

Pretty eh? It was 1/2 wheat and half all purpose flour. I think I might sacrifice the 100% whole wheat if I can get loaves this pretty. Oh and I haven't given up on pretty 100% whole wheat, but I think I need a few more props like wheat gluten and/or dough enhancer.

The garden has been thriving and I love finding "presents" out there every day. Lots of zucchini, cucumbers, peppers and green beans so far. Here's Flirt "helping" us pick!

We have gotten some massive zucchini's so far!

How cute are our little watermelons?

My studly husband made me some shelves out of old barn wood yesterday. They are for my canning jars and will hold 250 jars. Yeah! They look really cool also. Here are the kids pretending to sleep on their "bunk beds."

Julie

Small Adoption Update and Pictures!

First off there's no change in our adoption situation. We are still waiting for a referral (and waiting, and waiting.....). Today marks 16 weeks. I have no clue what number in line we are and if it is moving any better yet. I have bombarded my case manager over the last couple weeks and I am trying to give her a break (yes, I am one of "those" people). We have gotten, via e-mail, a couple Ethiopia Department updates. The first one was not so good. Pretty much the courts are closing out of the blue for two weeks. So, all those poor people that have court dates, well, they are just out of luck. No one knows if this two week closing will replace the 6 to 8 week closing due in a few weeks or if it will be in addition to it. This doesn't affect us, but I am sure their are some pretty frustrated adoptive families that have waiting months for a court date that at the last minute has been cancelled. The second e-mail sounded pretty good. I guess MOWA (Ministry of Woman's Affairs) is stating that they intend to finish all cases presented to them by the end of the year. That would be amazing because at this point that is seeming pretty far fetched, especially if the courts close for the additional 6 to 8 weeks.

We returned from camping yesterday and we really had a good time. The weather we really nice, especially considering we are in the middle of July. As always, the kids had lots of fun and we enjoyed having an extra kid along, Leah's good friend Olivia.

Here are some pics of the last couple weeks:

We went to the trails at John Bryant park on the 4th. Here are the kids on the bridge (minus Anna, who's on my back).

On July 3rd, we met some of my family in Columbus to watch Red, White and Boom. It is an amazing fireworks display. Here are my boys enjoying them!

Here's Anna, almost watching the fireworks.

This is how she "watched" them at first. :)

Some of the crew watching the parade.

Mario Lopez lead the parade. Yes, I was slightly impressed by that, but not because I think he's gorgeous or anything, I just remember his "Saved by the Bell" days and I think he makes me feel not so old.

Daddy with Anna and Gee (you can see downtown Columbus in the background).

Madeline and my niece Ava, camping.

Anna at the camping lodge pool. That pool was great and it had a whole section for just the little kids.

Mommy and Gee Chill-lax'in.

All the kids at one of the trails (the angel was a memorial for a 14 yr old girl that passed away a few years back. She fell off one of the cliffs. Very sad.).

Fun with chalk.

Gideon "chalking" Olivia's feet. Olivia was very patient with our brood.

My beautiful niece Naomi.

My beautiful niece Ava.

My adorable nephew Coleson.

Part of the crew enjoying smores.

Julie

Off we go to camp!

Well, we are leaving to go camping in an hour or so. Yeah! We will be gone until Sunday, but I just wanted drop a little note to let cha know that I have not forgotten about you. :)

The camper is packed (pretty much every nook and cranny is full) and we are just waiting on Ryan to get home. I did some baking for this trip and made fresh raspberry scones, blueberry muffins, no knead pumpkin yeast bread and zucchini bread (yes, with our fresh zucchini). I also prepared a dinner for the whole crew (10 adults and 13 kids). I made homemade meatballs and sauce for meatball hoagies and I am going to make an italian potato bake and a cucumber salad when we get there. I also made a bunch of cheesecake. I made a New York style cheesecake and 4 mini cheescakes (oreo, peanut butter cup, lemon and german chocolate). I also did cheesecake pops for the kids (although I think I might have to fight off the adults...including myself). They are homemade cheescake scooped into balls, chilled, then dipped in chocolate and sprinkle. They look like suckers because I put them on sticks. Yummy! (I think I will probably be coming back 5 lbs heavier....).

So, off I go. I will post with pics when I get back.

Julie

CatholicVote.org

This video is wonderful. Check it out!

CatholicVote.org

Posted using ShareThis

Julie

Our Adoption...

Tomorrow marks 15 weeks that we have been waiting for little bean. Our estimated wait time was 2 to 3 months. To be honest, I very surprised we have had to wait this long. I really thought going in to this that there would be no doubt we'd have a referral by now. While I am frustrated with our lack of referral, I am even more frustrated with the fact that we are still 4 or 5 spots away from getting a referral. Referrals with our agency have changed to a small trickle (if any) because of a number of issues going on in Ethiopia. It is anticipated that these issues will be resolved any time, but for now it appears that we will have to continue to wait. For some reason I am really struggling with this. I am sure in part this is hard because I am super impatient, but I am pretty frustrated with our agency right now and that bothers me. Our case worker is really a sweet lady and she always takes the time to respond to my e-mails, but she is the queen of avoiding questions. I also feel like she doesn't take Ryan and I real seriously. She made the comment to me in my last e-mail that she couldn't understand how a busy mom of 5 could possibly have the time to worry about when #6 would arrive. You know because what's another kid?? If I were too busy to worry and wonder about #6, why the heck would we be adopting? How would we possibly have time for another child? Ugh. It is just so irritating.

Not only is this whole part of the process proving to be frustrating, but now the length of time from referral to travel has gotten significantly longer due to some new regulations. You know, you'd think since we've done this before we'd be use to all this, but we are not. Especially me. I kind of feel like this adoption at this point is not real. I hesitate to sound too pessimistic because I know it will reflect poorly upon myself, but I feel like this is never going to happen. There, I said it, my big whine. I haven't lost sight of the main goal in all this and I still know that God has this all planned out, but man this part is tough.

Come on little dude, your family is waiting.......

Julie