Finally...pictures and a NON-adoption post

Alright, after my last post (if you haven't read it scroll down and catch up. Your behind...almost a full day!) I realized that not only do I have a blog specifically for the adoption...but I have filled up my family blog with the adoption as well...yep, I'm adoption addicted!

SO...with that said, here are some pictures of the kids (yes, the kids I already have).

The Water Park

We recently discovered this wonderful little water place in a park near us ("near" being an hour away in the closest real city). At first they weren't sure but once they were totally wet they loved it!

Evan's Smile!

Ellie's Smile!

(Kids never seem to work together)

Mommy's BIG Eater!

When I took these pictures we had had Totino Pizza's for dinner. Evan ate a whole one by himself! PLUS, salad and a root beer float. Afterwards his stomach was hard...and huge. He lifted up his shirt for me, patted his tummy and acted so proud of himself!

The Sprinkler

It wasn't very warm, but Ellie still wanted to play in the water.

I just love that grin!

At first she wouldn't touch the water, but she had lots of fun running in circles!

You know you are adoption addicted when…

Your mail box has two messages, one from your grandmother and one from another adoptive mother who you only know through blogs and yahoo groups. However, since she fills that terrible need for adoption related material you exchange 5 emails with her in a day while your poor grandmother waits a month for you to say hi…yes, sadly, this really happens. Did you get my email Grandma? Sorry!!

Your dishes are overflowing in the sink, there are no clean clothes except the ones still waiting to be folded from last week, you are just beginning to think about dinner and it is 6 already (you only thought of it because the kids are crying), and yet you make time to check the adoption yahoo group (30 times), check your email (70 times), update your blog (the post is on adoption of course), check about 20 other adoption blogs…twice (ok, 5 times), and make yet another packing list for when you go to pick up your child (next year).

Speaking of being ready a head of time. You have baby furniture bought, the nursery decorated and even some baby outfits...2 years in advance! This one isn't quite as much me...but it happens! (I was just reading your blog yesterday...you know who you are!)

You have no motivation to clean up the mess previously mentioned…until, you realize how hard it would be to pack in all this chaos and how hard it would be to have yet another child running around in it. With the adoption in mind the house is clean in record time!

Your husband signs up to win a million dollars while thinking of a red Corvette, new computer, etc. You really want him to win because the money would help with…you guessed it, the adoption!

Every time the phone rings you jump and run (even when it is the toy phone). If you were to get a phone call informing you your husband had actually won the million dollars you would be tempted to be disappointed since it wasn’t “the call” (your adoption agency calling with a referral or travel dates).

When your mom calls and asks how the kids are and you go into depth about the adoption. When she informs you she meant the two you already have (you know, the ones currently pulling the phone away, yelling in your ear, asking for a cookie…yes, those) you answer “oh, yea…um, they’re fine…did I mention how excited they are about the ADOPTION!”

“I-600A, 171-H, dossier, DTV, LID, Referral, The Call, G&R, PAP”…you just understood that.

Well, I think that's enough writing for today. I need to make dinner...after I check my email again...and just a few blogs...

The Moon Festival

Yesterday was the Moon Festival in Vietnam. I have read someone that the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is considered a children's festival, at least in Vietnam. Sometimes the children parade around wearing masks. Children's Hope International put on a celebration for the children at Tam Binh 1 were Ethan is. I'm hoping to see some pictures. This is one of the holidays we will be celebrating as a family next year! Here is the article from the CHI blog:

Moon Festival Celebrations!

Whether you call it the Fifteenth of the Eighth Moon, August 14,
Year of the Pig or simply September 25, 2007—today marks one of the most
important dates on the Lunar Calendar: the Moon Festival, celebrated in both
China and Vietnam.

Families and Asian communities across the US began
celebrating this past weekend and many have celebrations today and into the
coming weekend. Eat the traditional moon cakes outside under the moon with your
family and friends, lead a parade of lit lanterns down your street, or plant a
tree in honor of the harvest to celebrate this great day of abundance.

Children’s Hope participated in many activities in orphanages and poor
communities within Vietnam yesterday (due to the time difference). In the Vinh
Long and Tam Binh 1 and 2 orphanages, the children enjoyed lanterns, a special
lunch and moon cakes for the festival. In Vinh Long two separate festivals were
planned for the areas poor children, one within the community and another in the
surrounding rural areas. Within the community, 480 children were presented with
small gifts in celebration. We hope to share pictures of these festivities in
the next E-news!

Children’s Hope wishes you and your family a happy Moon
Festival!

Post #100!

We have pictures...thank you Jessica! :) I was hoping to use my 100th post to tell you I got the call...but pictures will have to work instead. The wait is becoming much more difficult since we have now entered the time frame in which we could receive the call with our travel dates at any time.

He looks so deep in thought here

Ethan with his friend and the spoon again!!
Wow, he really looks different in this picture

I can almost see what he'll look like when he's

a little older and his hair grows in!Big Bite!

Any time now!

Wednesday night was our first night of Awana. Things were a little less organized then I would have liked, but overall it went pretty well. We had 25-30 kids and quite a few of them were new to our church. Tyler was in charge of the older group and went over time. He said he could have easily used another half hour. I, on the other hand, was in charge of the Cubbies (preschool) and ran out of things to do in the first half hour (we had 1.5 hours)! I have a lot more planning to do for next time. :) Saturday is our Awana basic training so I need to get ready for that as well. For the most part things are calming down a bit and I'm feeling much less stressed.

With that said...I'M READY GOD!! SEND ME TO VIETNAM!!!! :)

Today we went to Salina and got clothes for the boys. I was doing ok with shirts but all of Evan's jeans were getting short. I figured with two boys (the same size), and winter coming on, one pair of khakis, two pairs of overalls, and lots of shorts just wouldn't cut it. So we got two sets of matching jeans and a set of matching foot pajamas. I need to buy them some soft cozy pants as well, but I couldn't find two in the right size. I had so much fun buying double (even if I spent twice as much). I have always wanted twins!!

Blessings in Disguise

I would have LOVED to get the call last week and be traveling with the other 7 families leaving for Vietnam on Friday. Two of my friends are in that group and I wanted to be with them.

BUT...as usual, God knew better! If you read my last VERY lengthy post you know Tyler, Evan and I were sick last week. Well, it last until Sunday night! Then, just when we thought we were feeling better Ellie got it! She was sick Monday morning. She's feeling fine now but is still running to the bathroom every once in a while. Then on top of that, we have our first day of Awana club tomorrow. Oh, and Awana Basic training was cancelled last Saturday and rescheduled for this coming one so we would have missed it...and we are the directors of our Awana program.

What would I have done if I had been trying to pack for Vietnam and prepare for a third kid in the house!! It would have been crazy. I probably would have tried calling my mom (who lives 8 hours away), but my Dad is just getting back from Kyrgyzstan and I'm guessing she'd want to be with him after his long deployment. So I would have been one sick over stressed mama! God really looks out for me. :)

Sick...

Last night and today have been...interesting. Yesterday after the kids were in bed I began to feel very sick to my stomach. I decided to go to bed early but soon got up and throw up my entire lunch (I hadn't felt like eating dinner). Now for me this is unheard of. If a cold or sinus infection is going around I will always catch it, but I never get the stomach stuff, that's Tyler's job. Even when pregnant I only threw up once (this is if you combine both pregnancies), and that was in the hospital. I then drank a lot of water because my throat hurt so badly. After throwing that up too I took Tylenol and tried to sleep.

Next thing I remember is Evan knocking on the inside of his door and crying. When I opened the door he was standing in a room covered in...you guessed it, his dinner! He had obviously walked through it several times. It was tracked all over the room, on the bed, even on the wall! He looked at me and pointed at the mess, he then pointed at his stomach to tell me where it had come from, then began to cry. Poor kid.

Well, Tyler bathed and cuddled with Evan while I cleaned up the mess. My stomach hurt so bad and I was amazed I didn't add my own mess to his. Later that night he woke up again having thrown up some water. Oh, did I mention he had diarrhea too that was leaking as well?

This post is becoming much longer then I had realized...sorry. Anyway, this morning I had intended on letting Tyler take care of the kids because I felt terrible and hadn't slept much. It has been a VERY long time since I'd been sick and I almost never take time off from the kids when I AM sick. So I deserved it right? Well, I woke up to the sound of Tyler in the bathroom...yes, it was his turn. So, once again, we are all sick and I'M the one taking care of every one...a mommy's life I guess.

But I realized something very important while cleaning puck off the floor at 1 o'clock in the morning. I would be willing to do this for the rest of my life it would keep my precious children little and sweet. I think someday I will miss these years.

Well, now that you have endured this very long post I will let you go and I will check on my chicken noodle soup which is probably burning by now...

Travel...?

I want to go!! Well, one of my friends has a son in Vietnam. They were about a month behind us in the wait to travel. They just got the call and are going in just over a week! This wasn't too surprising since their little guy is in an orphanage that is known for getting the paperwork done quickly. However, I have another friend whose child is at the same orphanage as Ethan and whose dossier reached step 2 (The point at which we start counting the "4-5 month" wait to travel) on the same day as mine. I just found out that she got the call today and is traveling as well!

I thought for sure I had another month to wait but maybe, just maybe, we'll get to travel sooner then I thought! I would love for this to be true!! However, realistically, I have SO much to do before I'm ready to go!

These are just my rambling thoughts. Please pray for us as we wait, and prepare, and wait...

Fun Meetings and Pictures

Yesterday we had our first get together with the other Village Missionaries in the area. We all met in Red Cloud, NE (about 1.5 hours form us) and had lunch. There was one girl there who we had met at conference this summer and Ellie was so happy to see her. They played so well.

After that we drove 5 hours to Kansas City for our agencies parent educational meeting. We got to meet the newly arrived children or two or friends and show off Ethan's referral. We had a wonderful time.

The way home was interesting. Both kids went to sleep and I was talking with Tyler. Suddenly I heard a familiar sound. I spun around and sure enough, every inch or Evan's body from shoulder to hips, was covered in throw up. The poor little guy was whimpering but doing it all with his eyes shut and kept falling back asleep. We finally pulled over and had to clean it all up with baby wipes. I was glad we'd brought extra clothes. We finally got home around 2am.

Also, we got pictures today!! Here are a few of them. You'll have to check out Ethan's Story for the others.

Happy Birthday Ethan!!!

Happy Birthday Ethan!!! It's the big 2!

Just as a reminder, I also have a blog strictly for Ethan. Sometimes, like today, the entries are slightly different.

Anyway, it is so strange to think that Ethan's birthday had just begun when I went to bed and now, when I'm first getting up, is already over! I've been think back to two years ago. I was 7.5 months pregnant with Evan and babysitting two little girls. I never would have dreamed my first son had just been born! What's even more interesting is that Evan and Ethan are a month and a half apart but both came home (home being the orphanage for Ethan) from the hospital on the same day.

After his birth his mother left the hospital. I've also been thinking of her today. I wonder if she is grieving the loss, wishing she knew where he was, or perhaps not even alive anymore. I suppose we'll never know. But this I do know, she will always be a part of who Ethan is and we will never forget her.

Tagged...twice

I'm afraid I have now been tagged twice and almost every other adoption blog I know is already doing it, SO...I'll give in and respond!

You have to post these rules before you give the facts.

1. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don't have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.

2. When you are tagged, you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name game facts.

3. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged & to read your blog!

A-affectionate

N-neat. Ok, this is what I would LIKE to be. My house is almost always a total and complete disaster with dishes undone, clothes on the bed room floor, toys covering the rest of the floor and paper work on almost every surface. With that said. I love things to be neat and I have a VERY high standard of clean...unfortunately, I just can't accomplish it. (probably because I spend to much time doing things like tag games on the Internet...hmm)

N-noisy!!! Yes, sadly it is true. I am quite noisy around the house. I tend to run around, jump, talk, yell, talk, sing, talk...you get the impression.

Well, now I have to tag 3 people. However, I have waited so long to reply that everyone I can think of has been tagged (Kelly, I was going to tag you and didn't finish my post before you got me). So, I guess I'll tag my cousin Heidi and anyone else who hasn't done it (is that cheating?)

Bringing home Ethan...One T-shirt at a time!

I am now selling t-shirts, mugs, and bags through cafepress.com. I have a couple of adoption related designs and I get a percentage of every sale. I hope to add more shirts in the future so tell me if you have any creative ideas (they don't have to be adoption related).

I have pictures of two of the shirts below. You can see the rest HERE so take a look and please tell me what you think!