Thankful November 20

I'm thankful for all the adoption professionals we've worked with. There are so many, but I'm making an attempt to name those that have helped us along the way with our adoptions: Kate, Ruthann, Cary, Kia, Randy, David, LuAnn, Linda, Pam, Carla, Linda, Cate, Kiki, Pierre, Natalie, Kim, Deb, Dixie, Jean, Melissa Kim, ...

I'm sure I'm missing some, being on our third adoption process over a course of 6 years. There are a lot of people invovled - agencies, training, home studies, facilitators, lawyers, case workers, liaisons, translators, directors, etc... There are also undoubtedly many behind-the-scenes professionals that I don't even know, nor can name, that have been involved along the way. I'm so grateful for each one of them.

If you're reading this, and you are listed above, named, or not named, please know you are appreciated for your tireless work for our children and MANY, MANY others!

Thankful November 19

I'm thankful for the weekend! :)

(And not much going on this weekend, so hopefully there's a nap in store for me!)

Happy Adoption Day, Kaylen!

We love you, and can't imagine our family without you. We're so glad you joined our family 5 years ago today! :)We finalized Kaylen's adoption on National Adoption Day, Saturday, November 18, 2006. It was such a great day. We had lots of family and friends celebrate with us that day.

To learn more about Adoption Saturday, visit the National Adoption Day website.

Thankful November 18

I'm thankful that the adoption process in Haiti has sped up post-earthquake. Here (the part in red ink) is what Dixie, director of GLA, wrote about it earlier this week on her blog:

"GUESS WHAT! We got our first dossier “post-earthquake” for Canada done today! It took 8 months from the time the dossier went into IBESR until the visa was issued! Is that not the most amazing thing? We are all very excited and I know Berline’s family in New Brunswick must be floating on clouds tonight as they prepare to come to Haiti to take her home! Congratulations!"

We know from past experience, that things can always change with international adoption. But we're hopeful that our adoption wil move along smoothly as well, and we can have our child(ren) home in relatively short order as well. But first, we're praying for our referral. We're thankful that God has a hand in us growing our family, and know that He knows the child for our family.

Thankful November 17

I'm thankful for Turducken! If you don't know what that is, here is a website that will tell you.

The last couple of years we've (and by we, I mean mostly Jock) have prepared one for our "small"-group Bible study. Our group grew over the last couple of years, then split into two groups about last February, and then grew some more. So, this year, Jock has prepared 2 turduckens, and we've invited a few extra families from our church that don't have a small-group, or a couple families who do not have a church family.

They'll be baking all day today - one in our oven and one in another family's oven. The other families in our groups are providing side dishes and desserts. We'll be meeting at the church tonight for supper, fellowship, and some volleyball. It should be a fun night!

Thankful November 16

I'm thankful we survived another Parent Teacher Conference yesterday. Just our 3rd grader this time - the end of the first trimester has come and she's doing well. She's awesome at all the academic stuff, just has a little trouble talking too much. No surprises there, and we talked through some strategies.

I'm thankful that Kaylen has a teacher that totally and completely "gets" her this year. Not that she hasn't before, just I think this one sees through some of her antics more than some others have. I'm grateful that there's more and more accountability for her responsibilities this year, and also that the teacher seems to read our minds some days. :)

Overall, I'm glad Kaylen's doing so well in school yet again, and so proud of all her hard work!

We'll meet with her teacher again for conferences in February. We'll have our conferences at daycare with Elijah & Josephine's preschool teachers in late January, so we have the information we need to sign them up for kindergarten next year - aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!

Thankful November 15

I'm thankful for an awesome friend that I walk with regularly. We've been friends since before kindergarten and went to school together from K-12. We went different directions in college, but now live in the same town and have children similar ages. We have a standing date Tuesday nights after our kids are in bed (unless one of us cancels because of other things going on, illnesses, or really bad weather) to walk a couple miles and chat.

Thankful November 14

I'm thankful for Dancing with the Stars. I know... thankful for TV shows... kind of trivial. But we all love watching it! (OK - maybe Daddy just goes along with the rest of it, but we watch it together most Monday nights.) Sometimes we not only watch it, we dance along with it. We LOVE watching Elijah & Josephine dance together (in their PJs & Cinderella dress), trying to mimic the dancers on TV - too funny!



If you want to watch DWTS, they're down to the semi-finals - only 4 stars (Ricki Lake, Rob Kardashian, Hope Solo, and JR Martinez) & their partners remaining. It's on tonight at 7 pm our time. Then results from tonight's show are on tomorrow evening (where one couple will get voted off), then the finals next week with the last 3 couples.

Thankful November 13

I'm thankful that this past week was "Parent Watch Week" at the girls' dance studio. It was so fun to see what they've been working on, how much fun they're having, and how much they've learned already, after only 9 weeks of class so far. Even the little girls in the preschool class are fairly together on their very short (8-count) tap routine they've learned. And so cute the little analogies the instructor uses for the preschoolers to get them to put their feet and hands in the right places - butterflies, sandwiches, etc. :)

I'm sad I couldn't get photos of Kaylen's class though. I had to sit near the corner instead of in the middle because most of the parents were already there and just stayed after their girls' Hip Hop class - while Kaylen just does the Tap-Ballet-Jazz. She happened to choose a spot on the opposite side of the room, and I couldn't get her with my phone's camera. Also, when they practiced their chasse/leaps pass (yes, I learned a new word!), they started in the corner I was sitting and the girls lined up were standing in front of me. :(

Here are a couple photos of Josephine's class though:

Thankful November 12

I am thankful for this bunch of 8 girls. This is Kaylen's soccer team. Most of these girls have been playing together for several seasons, plus or minus a couple. This was Kaylen's 3rd season with this team, and she really enjoys it. They are a great bunch of girls, a great group of families, and an excellent coach! They had their end-of-season party Thursday night - all the families got together for pizza. :)