Happy Father's Day!

We had the nicest weekend for Fathers Day. We went to Sebring for J's triathlon and stayed at Brian's parents place. My dad drove up to spend the weekend with us and cheer J on. We celebrated the dad's, had great food, celebrated J placing 2nd in her age group, let daddy do lots of work :(, swam a bunch, played some golf or at least tried to, reached our 7 month anniversary of being DTE, and moved up a spot in line. Did you catch the last one? We moved up to number:

Come on referral!!!!! Although we are number two, the number one is only requesting to 18 months and we are requesting to 30 months. We could be next......

summer vacation

I have been slacking big time on updating my blog. Life has been crazy and there has been no news on the adoption. There have been slow downs, but such is life in the adoption front. The good news is that amidst the slowdowns, more families have been passing court the 1st time around, or so it seems. I have come to be content in all circumstances and have felt God's peace big time. My hope is that my relinquishment of control lasts. While I have been resting in peace, I have had a clearer mind to enjoy all the other wonderful things going on around me. J began summer vacation on May 26th and is now officially a 2nd grader (YIKES) and our little guy will go back for his 3rd and last year of preschool. I decided that since Brian was going camping with a group from the church, I would seize the opportunity to visit my family in Miami with the kids. We arrived on my dad's birthday and celebrated with some yummy bbq and ice cream cake. The rest of the time was filled with lots of pool swimming, a trip to the movie theater, an afternoon at one of those bounce house centers, lots of cuban food, and a trip to the science museum where the kids were asked to help feed these huge tortoises in their habitat (so cool). Other plans for the summer include a couple weeks of day camps, swim team four days a week, Vacation Bible Schools, play dates with friends, working in the garden, some more triathlons for Brian and J, birthday parties, and other fun stuff around town (zoo, beach, bounce house centers, park, free summer movies, etc) . Finally, I will close with great adoption news. Although there have been few referrals, many families have met their children, passed court, and cleared embassy (opening up space in the transition homes for more precious children. Isn't that fantastic? Well, even more fantastic is that one of the families who was just in Ethiopia mentioned that they saw 5 children who are new to the transition home being sent in one of the vans, probably to have their medicals done. This usually happens 3 weeks before they are referred to a family. The person said they believed 2 were infants and 3 were toddlers. Here's to hoping for more referrals in the near future, more families to pass court and more families to be cleared with embassy to bring their children home.

Brian's triathlon

Congratulations Brian on a new PR! You did awesome and looked great too!

Triathlons

Wow, I have been putting this off for so long, but finally got around to uploading my pictures since Christmas last year. Yikes. Some of my favorites were of J's 1st triathlon. She was such a trooper and we are so proud of her. She went into the race with possibly the worst bike, but there were no complaints from her. We explained that we would be happy to get her a new bike, but she would have to prove herself first. The old bike was too small, but nicer bikes can be pricey and we wanted to be sure she would take things seriously first. She was so excited race morning and was sizing up all her competitors. She also was completely wired. My favorite was when she had me feel how fast her heart was beating. I told her that was adrenalin and that was good. Anyways, she did great on her swim, but I wouldn't know that since I completely missed it. uhhhh. I am still wondering how I did that. Brian was with her and somehow her group of followers all got separated. Well they all found each other and saw her awesome performance, but I who went ahead to get an awesome spot in the front row of spectators, completely missed it. I saw her in line one minute and the next minute saw 5 people left in line, none of them J. I almost burst into tears I was so upset. When I realized I missed her in the water, I went to transition to find someone else from the group and there they all were. When she passed by on her bike, the poor girl was moving so slowly. Apparently, her chain had come off twice and both times she had to wait by the side of the road for one of the police officers to help her get it back on. The chain had become loose when we cleaned it and came off anytime she sped up. oops. To be honest I thought she was going to throw a small fit or burst into tears, but she finished it and shrugged it off. Brian and I knew she had most certainly earned that new bike. After all, she handled it way better than her father or I would have. Maybe we have a thing or two to learn from her. Finally, her run was lightning fast since she had lots of time to rest on the bike. Go J!!!!! Enjoy the pics. Thank you uncle Lowell for flying in to see her and to her 1st grade teacher for waking up early on your day off to cheer her on. WOW!

transition home needs

Not much has happened along the referral front, but am looking forward to seeing movement soon. Someone posted on the yahoo group that if all families submitted to Embassy (trip 2) in May pass, that will open up room for 20 more children in the transition home. No doubt we would see a referral flood then. In the meantime, we will wait on God's timing. We are getting a little better at this; however, there are times where I am completely over the wait. I know it will probably be a while before we travel to Ethiopia, but one of the families posted needs for the transition home as of 4/14/2011. As you can see, most of these will be recurring needs. I will do what I can to be mindful of these and search for deals and coupons to collect as much as I can.

These needs include:

Priority Transition Home Needs (4/14/2011)
1. Board books for toddlers
2. Bath towels for children
3. DVD players (2 needed)
4. Children's DVD's, especially educational or spiritually based movies.
5. Children's devotional books and books with a character-building, spiritual
focus.
6. Devotional type books for older children
7. Puzzles for young children
8. Toy cars and trucks appropriate for toddler aged children

Orphanage and Transitional Home Donation Needs
o Iron drops
o Diaper rash ointment (A+D preferred)
o Paper towels
o Children's clothing (new or slightly used); Boys and Girls; sizes 0-8 years.
Clothing needs include day clothes (especially pants), pajamas, underwear, and
shoes.
o Diapers for up to 30 pounds
o Toys to stimulate babies such as colorful objects, rattles, etc. that are
appropriate for babies up to 2 years
o Unscented baby wipes
o Powder formula with DHA/RHA
o A + D Original Ointment, Diaper Rash and All-Purpose Skincare Formula
o Hand Sanitizer
o Candles
o Children's Notebooks

o Enfamil or Similar Lactose free formula*
*the following Generic Brands with identical nutritional value to Enfamil &
Similac are also acceptable:
1. Parents Choice formula from Wal-Mart
2. Target's generic Formula
3. Kirkland formula from Costco
Soy based or other special formulas are also acceptable as long as they are one
of the brands listed above.

Medications/Medical Donation Needs**
o Multivitamins
o Tri-vi-sol (o to 6 months)
o Poly-vi-sol (6 months to 2 years)
o Chewable multi-vitamin (2 years to 9 years)
o Adult multivitamin (9 years plus)
o Tylenol (acetaminophen)
o Infants
o Children's
o Suppository
o Syringes for giving medicines (5mL)
o Plastic and Latex disposable gloves
o Baby nose saline spray
o Neosporin
o Mouth and nose masks
o Benadryl liquid/elixir
o Permetherin for scabies
o Lice kits
o Toothbrushes, toothpaste and dental floss
**Please check the expiration date on all donation items as expired items will
be discarded upon receipt and cannot be used.

Blog Giveaway!

I am super excited about this. One of the other families adopting from Ethiopia is doing a blog giveaway for these really cute Africa shaped magnets. I am including the link for those of you interested in entering the giveaway. I am going to enter for number 2 (shown below), but also like number 1 (giraffe print).

Check it out here: http://ethiopianadoptionspot.blogspot.com/2011/04/blog-giveaway.html

Good Luck!

climbing the ladder

I am not exactly sure how I missed this, but I just checked "the list" and we are now number: