Our International House of People

Decisions Decisions

2012-02-16T21:35:00.002-05:00

We are still waiting for our final court date for the big kiddos. While I am passing time I have been searching and looking over agencies to begin our China journey left and right. Wow looking at all of them could be so frustrating. Who does what, who will work with us with 5 kids already, who does not charge outrageous agency fees? Finally it seems that we are settling on an agency we are being drawn towards. Now we just need to have the big kids finished up so we can start the paper chase. Hopefully Paulding County won't fail us once our lawyer files the petition and we will have a quick court date for Heather, Logan, and Zach.
It is hard to believe that I am now truly getting excited about a new child because I was really taken back by Keith's desire for another child when he approached me with it. I know I always had a desire for another opportunity to raise another baby but I figured we were pretty full with 5 and was ruling the idea out in my mind. It is crazy how in such a short time we have managed to become a family of 2 to a family of 7 and then heading into becoming a family of 8. God works in mysterious ways. Geesh who would think when you think your opportunity to become a parent may not exist and then you are just flooded with the opportunity. I am blessed beyond belief.

Are We Done Yet?

2012-02-09T21:29:00.004-05:00

Mallorie, Lennah, Delylah, & Elana- A girls night

Happy Birthday Girls

Yes it has been a month and a half almost since my last post. I even missed posting on Delylah's birthday. It is so hard to believe my baby is 4 now. She has grown so much and becoming such a big kid. Gosh she says the funniest big kids things. You just have to love her. I also missed posting for the girls joint birthday party and Lennah's first sleep over so I am tremendouly behing.

The big kiddos are all doing well. We have Logan's birthday this month and his first sleep away trip with the science club at school. He is super excited. It is always great to watch the big kids get to do a lot of firsts that they never had the opportunity to do before.

But I am writing on another note we have decided to go for another baby. Yes it sounds crazy number 6 and no I was not planning on this until Keith brought it up. Yep it was his initial prompting that is leading us to this. But we have officially decided on adopting from China through their special needs program. We are still looking and comparing apples to apples when it comes to agencies. We are not in a rush so we do not have a child chosen already because we believe God will lead us when the time is right. But yes number 6.

Christmas

2011-12-28T20:18:00.012-05:00

Keith & I before his company Christmas party

Nanny & Big Ba with the kids before Christmas eve service

Our little dancer Delylah

Zach at Church singing

Happy 5th Birthday Lennah

Wow it has been a busy time around here. November was pretty simple and just a good old typical Thanksgiving but once December came we were in full swing Christmas mode. It was also Lennah's birthday on the 1st of December. Wow I still cannot believe that she is now 5. I hate that my little girl has grown up so fast. It seems like time is flying by. We only had a small cake with my parents since we are doing the joint birthday party in another week for both girls.

The kids had several Christmas parties; which kept us busy in December. The best parties are the ones that mommy and daddy get to attend and I was fortunate enough to be at Delylah's balled Christmas party. The little girls did a little performance for us; which of course was adorable. Logan and Heather got to attend Logan's karate class Christmas sleepover party; which was a first sleepover for both of them. That party also took place on my birthday so my mom watched the 3 youngest so Keith and I could finally have a night out that was so ever deserved. Zach also had a singing performance with all the kids in children's church. This was so out of his comfort zone but he got up the nerve to go up on stage to do it. We were super proud of him for going out there to do it.

Christmas has already come and gone and it really was a memorable holiday. I just wish it would have been a white christmas like last year. The kids had an awesome Christmas. Everyone got everything on their list; which we really did want to give the older kids a great Christmas and the little ones of course got everything they asked for as well. Logan got his ever so coveted new laptop, Heather and Ipod, Zach a 3ds, Delylah got her Kanani American girl doll, and Lennah got her bitty baby. It was wonderful to see the look on all their faces. Mommy was also super happy with her new kindle fire. So all the way around we had an awesome Christmas.

We do need some prayers for some friends and family right now. We have a family member whose baby was born with some problems and is having surgery this week. I am keeping them in prayers for their little girl and we also have a friend who has cancer. So far her outlook is very good but I am sure they are having a difficult time with this right now. I am just asking for prayers to go out to these people right now.

October

2011-11-03T20:46:00.006-04:00

Time flies when you are having fun and boy did we have a fun and busy October. I think we had something going on every weekend but the kids certainly had a blast. To start we went ahead and made a trip up to Ellijay and took the kids to an Apple Orchard. I think this may have been one of our best family outings yet. The kids loved getting to pick apples and I think they all had a blast shooting apples. I think the wait took longer than it did for each each of the kids to shoot their whole bucket of apples but they seemed to have a really fun time.They also had some really cool animals and we all loved chasing around the turkeys they had on the farm. I think this may become one of our new fall traditions with the kids.

We also took another day to head on down to the pumpkin patch. We always hit up the same pumpkin patch yearly but this year it was a first with all the kids. The kids all picked their pumpkins and all wanted face paintings and whole nine.

Another big day we had was Heather's birthday. It is hard to believe that I can actually say I have a 14 year old. Wow that makes me feel old. She was really great about actually sharing time on her birthday with our friends from adoption option. We had a blast at Donna's house and it made us happy that Heather said it was the best birthday she had ever had. I was actually worried about her not wanting to visit with friends on her birthday but she was actually super excited about it. Of course that was not the end of her birthday celebration because the next say we had my parents over to give her a family birthday cake. She loved all her gifts. Heather mentioned that she never had a robe before and that was one of the gifts we had gotten her and she absolutely thought it was the best gift ever.

WOW! the fun in October was still not over and the following weekend we had a fall festival in our neighborhood. It was actually really nice to have the kids meet more of the kids that live in the neighborhood. Logan met a girl in the neighborhood that he has now become smitten with. For the last 2 weeks all we have heard about has been Sarah.

We also had a party at Logan's karate school which was another fun night out for the kids. They got to play some cool games and just have fun with other kids. It really is nice seeing the kids finally start socializing more with kids their own age and finally taking the initiative to seek out friends.

This past weekend we also hit up the local trick or treat village at paulding meadows park. They had some really cool games this year and of course the kids got a ridiculous amount of candy.

Oh and before I forget Logan also moved up to a yellow belt this month. I think it was a huge boost for his confidence which he really needed. I don't think we have ever seen him gain so much confidence. Overall it was a great month. Now I am just getting ready for the christmas season. Yeah my favorite time of the year.

Disney Day 6

2011-09-23T21:27:00.002-04:00

Well it was our last day in Disney and of course we could not have left without visiting Magic Kingdom again. We started off the day at Chef Mickey's for breakfast. It's always a fun breakfast with Mickey Mouse so the kids of course had a good time. Plus it is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from Magic Kingdom. After breakfast we hit our destination and I was determined that we were going to get into see Rapunzel. Anyway I was hoping since it was still early the line would not be that long but unfortunately it still was. We decided to brave it out and it did take us an hour to get into see Tangled. It was definitely worth it since the little ones had not gotten to meet her before either. Since the girls have been to disney several times it was nice seeing them experience something for the first time as well.

After checking out Rapunzel we hit up some the rides we did not have time for on our first day. The kids loved almost all the rides in magic kingdom and since they are revamping some parts of magic kingdom it was nice that we got to ride a few before they are gone forever. We also took time to meet Tiana which was super cool; althought the last time we were there we did get to see Tiana and Naveen so that was a little disappointing. Anyway it was a great last day and of course I cannot wait to go back again.

Disney Day 5

2011-09-22T21:19:00.001-04:00

For Day 5 at Disney we started off our morning at breakfast with Alice in Wonderland and Mary Poppins. I think the kids weren't quite sure who Mary Poppins was so I think I may have to rent the movie so they know exactly who she is next time. We decided that this would also be a wind down day so we went to Epcot after breakfast for a little while. We hung out there for a little while and rode a few rides and we headed back to the room. It was time for the babies to get a real nap in since they basically just caught little cat naps in the stroller here and there. After they woke up and we had a little pool time we headed back over to Epcot.

While we were there we had dinner at the Garden Grill. It was our first time eating there and we loved it. That has to be one of the best places to get salad in Disneyworld so I highly recommend it. Anyway we also decided to check out all the countries we didn't have a chance to on our first day there and stick it out for the fireworks. Since the little ones cannot hang well it was the only night we chose to stay late for fireworks.

Disney Day 4

2011-09-21T22:01:00.001-04:00

For our 4th day at Disney we hit up Disney's Animal Kingdom. It was a great day overall. In the morning we took the kids over to Ohana at the polynesian resort to have breakfast with Lilo and Stitch. The kids totally loved this breakfast. I think this is one of the best breakfasts at Disney.

From there we headed over to animal kingdom. I really think the kids had such a good time at this park. They seemed to be really into the safari and loved the rapids ride. Delylah loved the fact that she got totaly soaked on this ride. She just giggled the whole entire time while she got splashed. Zach thought the safari was one of the coolest things ever because a giraffe basically came over to the truck and was amazingly close. I definitely think this was one of the best safari rides we had in Disney because so many animals were out.

Luckily Animal Kingdom closes early because I think the kids were ready for an early night off. They just couldn't wait to get back to the resort and hit the pools.

Disney Day 3

2011-09-20T21:43:00.001-04:00

The fun never ends at Disney. For our third day we went ahead and went to Hollywood Studios. We started off the day with having breakfast with Handy Manny, Agent Oso, and June and Leo from the little Einsteins. They kids had a blast and they were all dancing around and singing to this guy who hosts the playhouse Disney breakfast. I totally recommend this breakfast because they kids just love the energy; even the big kids.

In the past when we went to Disney, at least since the girls were little, we hadn't visited Hollywood Studios for longs periods of time. Now that the girls are a bit bigger we figured there would be more for them to do there and decided to spend a bit more time there. Anyway we went ahead and let them ride tower of terror. The boys refused to ride and we took all the girls. Well I think all of them, including Heather, will not be riding that ride again anytime soon. We got off and they all crying, it was not good. The boys are terrified of heights so they skipped out with Uncle Billy while we waited anyway.

The big attraction to hit at Hollywood studios was Buzz Lightyear and Woody coupled along with the toy story ride. The kids had a great time and totally loved this ride. r

Overall it was a fun day and luckily everyone had a great time but next time no more tower of terror for the kids.

Disney Day 2

2011-09-19T21:55:00.002-04:00

For the second day of our disney trip we hit up Epcot. Epcot is one of my favorite parks so I was excited to see the older kids experience it for the first time. To kick off our experience we had a lunch at Akerhaus, which is the Norweigan restaurant in Epcot. You also get to have lunch with the Princesses here. I really enjoy this lunch since the Castle in magic kingdom is more expensive and so difficult to get into. The lunch was awesome and the kids got to see Belle, Sleeping Beauty,Cinderella, Ariel, and Snow White. So it really is a great lunch if you are trying to give your kids the whole experience. Anyway we also spent a lot of time on the rides. Heather and Logan fell in love with the ride Soarin'. We couldn't get Zach to go on this ride because he is scared of heights but at least the big ones loved it. At least Zach fell in love with the finding Nemo ride.

For dinner that night we had dinner in Germany. I was worried about having a dinner like this because we figured the food might be a bit foreign to the kids and there would be no characters to compensate. The kids wound up having a blast at dinner. They had music and dancing so they all got out there and had a great time. The little ones even made a friend who happened to also live in Georgia.

We had another great day.

Disney Day 1

2011-09-18T22:41:00.001-04:00

5 Kids totally keeps me from blogging. We have been home from Disney for a week and a half and I am just now getting to update about our trip. Well Disney was awesome. We told the kids about a week and a half before we were going to get there. We felt that with the older kids they needed a heads up about the trip and we definitely think we made a wise decision. Anyway on day one we got to our resort and celebrated Zach's 10th birthday. I know being one vacation would not allow us the opportunity to throw him a birthday but I am sure being at Disney world would definitely trump a party. So we had a relaxing time at the pool and celebrating Zach.

The next morning we hit Magic Kingdom. We decided to give the kids the ultimate Disney experience and we decided to start them off with breakfast with Winnie the Pooh and friends since Heather, Logan, and Zach had never been to Disney before. The kids loved getting autographs and taking a ton of pictures. Even the big ones through getting autographs was cool. I was really surprised at how kids at any age are willing to run up to the characters with their autograph books waiting to be signed. Honestly, I thought they were more excited than the little ones.

I also had the boys get pirate make overs and all the girls got a bibbiddi boutique make over. I think this might have been the best part of the trip for the kids. The boys totally got into the make overs and we could hardly keep all the pirate get up away from Logan throughout the trip. The girls just loved being pampered and getting all princessed out. I think for Heather this was especially an awesome experience since she loves doing make up at home and here someone took over and did it for her. Heather and Lennah went for the Diva princess look and Delylah got into the classic princess look. It was such a cute experience and as expensive as it was it was totally worth it watching the kids get all that attention.

For dinner on the first night of Disney we had dinner at 1900 park fare. It was with Cinderella, Prince Charming, the wicked step mother and the step sisters. The dinner was totally awesome and this was the first time we had ever gotten to see Prince Charming.

Overall it was a great day one.

School Days

2011-08-22T21:34:00.004-04:00

It has been a busy few weeks around here. As of today all of the kids have started school; well Delylah is enrolled in full-time day care but everyone else has started school. Heather, Logan, and Zach have had a relatively smooth transition going from Ohio to Georgia. They are adapting well and hopefully going to keep up the good work. I think the hardest part has just been trying to get into everyday routines. It is homework at night and that alone has kept all the kids busy. Then to boot Logan has started karate while Heather and Zach are still going strong with gymnastics.

As for Lennah today we had her first day of pre-k. We went to open house on Thursday and they already gave Lennah a poster project that was going to be all about her. It was fun to watch her do some homework over the weekend and for me to get in there and help her. As much fun as that was Lennah starting school gives me such mixed emotions because I want to watch my little girl grow up but I am so sad that time has flown by. I feel like I have not gotten enough time with her to enjoy the little years. I am also sad because it means that next year Delylah starts pre-k and all my babies have grown up. Because of Keith's work schedule we have also decided to put Delylah in full time day care. I didn't realize how sad it made him. He said he was lonely today because the kids weren't home to keep him on his toes. As much as a loud house could drive us nuts a silent does as well.

Beyond school it is just a busy life here and we are off to a busy vacation in a few weeks that hopefully we will all enjoy. The kids still have not figured out the big secret and hopefully they will be estatic once they get to Disney. Well let me re-phrase I know Lennah and Delylah will be thrilled but I hope that Heather, Logan, and Zach will be too.

Princess Camp

2011-08-02T21:35:00.005-04:00

The kids have kept us pretty busy this summer between camp, gymnastics, and ballet. So the final soiree was princess camp for the little ones before school goes back. The girls had a blast and I was so excited this year that both Lennah and Delylah got to participate since you have to be 3 and Delylah was only 2 last year. It is a great camp they have here inb our county that gives the girls time to play games, be creative, and just have a great time. To end camp there is a princess gala which was held on Saturday night. To honor our Vietnamese and Ethiopian princesses we dressed them in their traditional outfits. I think it was great to see them wear their heritage proudly rather than in the trypical princess girly stuff. Lennah was so cute saying she was a Vietnamese princess.

Vacation and Happy Adoption Day

2011-07-25T22:38:00.009-04:00

Hope the Dolphin

Zach showing off his moves

Heather, Logan, and Zach on the Dolphin tour

A picture of just mommy and daddy (yes it's rare since I always take the pictures)

Grandma showing off her talents

Last week we packed up the troops and headed to the beach. We had been planning on heading down to the Clearwater, FL area for a while to go and visit Keith's grandmother and dad. We decided to stay a little further south in a condo on Indian Shores beach and absolutely loved it. This was our first vacation as a family of 7 and it went way better than someone would have expected. When we first got to the beach and unpacked a bit the kids wanted to hit the beach. It was Heather, Zach, and Logan's first trip to the ocean so they had to check it out right away. Well as soon as they hit the water they did not want to leave. We had to practically drag them out of the water in order to get everyone ready for dinner.

On day 2 we went to visit Keith's dad and grandmother so they could meet Heather, Logan and Zach for the first time. Grandma and dad did great meeting the kids and getting to know them. I was amazed because all the kids were well behaved and took the time to spend with grandma watching her play the piano and organ (she has a talent of playing both at the same time).

On day 3 we took the kids to try out another first. The kids had never been on a boat before so we took them on a dolphin tour boat. They thought it was the coolest thing ever. After that we headed over to Pier 60in clearwater. At night they have a bunch of vendors and just local music and stuff for the kids. Delylah got picked to do a little dance contest. She looked so cute waiting to get up there and do her little dance and then the last minute she got scared and they picked Zach to step in. He went up there and did an awesome job dancing his little tail off.

On day 4 we headed over to clearwater aquarium which is actually a marine rescue. It is an awesome place to visit so I definitely highly recommend it to anyone visiting that area. Anyway while we were there the kids got the opportunity to feed stingrays; another first.

Day 5 was a pretty low key day since we just decided to stay at the condo and lounge at the pool and beach all day. I think by this day the kids were over sand and just wanted to spend more time by the pool diving in.

Day 6 we decided to take the kids on another adventure and took a pirate cruise. They had some fun water games, face painting and all sorts of activities for the kids.

By the last day we were all ready to unwind and pack up and head home that we just stayed by the condo to have fun. The kids would have been more than happy to stay in Florida if we would have let them but unfortunately we had to go back home.

The trip home fell on Lennah and Delylah's adoption day. It is so hard to believe that only 4 years ago we were in Vietnam and became parents for the first time. So much has changed in that time since they placed a beautiful little girl in our arms who would forever be ours. She changed our lives in so many ways for the better. Then to be blessed again exactly one year later with another beautiful little girl whom we never met is also such an incredible thing. Delylah has grown into such a such an awesome little girl whom I could never imagine being without. She has been such a blessing to us. Now we are hear only a few short years later and we are now a family with 5 blessings. Yes in this time it has been hard adjusting to having such a large family but it has been an amazing journey 4 years in the making.

Busy Busy

2011-07-07T22:51:00.006-04:00

Last Night of the Boys Surge Camp

Welcome Party

Gavin and Zach making friends

Heather at gymnastics

It has been a busy past few weeks getting the kids settled in. You always figure that balancing 5 kids is going to be work but I have to say I have become a taxi driver in addition to the role of mom. The boys had camp for a week at church, Heather decided she wanted to do gymnastics, Lennah is in gymnastics, and Delylah has ballet and all of that = one tired chauffeur.It has all been worth it though. I have to say for the most part things have gone extremely well adjustment wise and we are so thankful for that. We really expected that the kids would have a lot of behavior issues when they moved here being that they are older. We thought there would be a lot of acting out it has been minimal and mostly pre-teen normal kid stuff.

Heather has really gotten into gymnastics which I think is great for her. It is giving her an opportunity to hang out with kids her age while school is out and it has been a great resource to just get some energy out since she is a high energy kid. And of course Lennah and Delylah couldn't been doing any better in ballet and gymnastics so we are so pleased that all of the girls have found something to do that they love.

This weekend we also finally had a small celebration to welcome the kids and give our friends a chance to meet them. We are so thankful for all our friends and family that came. It was a wonderful celebration.

A little more than a week

2011-06-22T22:39:00.005-04:00

Lennah at gymnastics

The kids with mom on Father's day

Happy Father's Day Daddy of 5

Delylah at ballet

Nanny and her 5 grandkids

The kids at Michaels making key chains

So it has been over a week and overall things have gone exceptionally well. I think when you adopt older kids you expect the worst but hope for the best when it comes to adjusting. The kids have done so well. The kids have just fit right in and they are great siblings to Lennah and Delylah and Delylah and Lennah have become great siblings to them. They play together, laugh together, and have the typical sibling squabbles together already (althought those haven't been bad at all).

The past week here has been totally busy. The day before Father's day I took the kids to Michael's to make key chains for Keith. They totally got into it and were all excited to give Keith their gifts. It was great to see them so excited after only a short time here. For Father's day we also took the kids to church for the first time with us. Zach went to the kids classes and loved it. Lennah has been working on her gymnastics classes and luckily she found an activity that she wants to stick with. Heather came with me to Lennah's gymnastics class this past week and now she too wants to give the it a try so tomorrow night she gets her trial class. Delylah also started her first attempt at the county dance class and she also is in love with dance now. To keep the boys busy and to give them an opportunity to meet other kids we put the boys in surge camp through our church. As you can tell this week mom has played taxi driver to our family. seems like everyday there is something different to do and the days are flying by.

Home and Settling In

2011-06-15T21:14:00.004-04:00

Unity candle ceremony bringing our family together

The cermony at the Giving Tree

The kids with their workers Kalee and Lindsey

Well it has been an eventful few days. Keith and I went solo to bring the kids back from Ohio. We got in early Sunday night and then Monday morning took care of all the paperwork and then headed to load up the car with the kids. Overall everything went really smooth and the kids were all ready to go and check out their new house. Well as we were getting close to home a warning light went on and now the van is in the shop. Obviously this is not good when you have a family of 7 and that is the only vehicle that fits the whole family. Thank goodness my parents have let me borrow their truck that at least fits all the kids and myself while the van gets fixed. Anyway, Monday night we got home around 915 pm and the little ones were up waiting for us to arrive. It became chaos at our house. The little ones thought it was play time and I had a real hard time convincing them that they could play with their brothers and sister tomorrow.

The second day was really just getting settled in and into some sort of normal daily life. Keith took Logan, Zach, and Delylah to the movies and I took Lennah and Heather with me to run errands and to take Lennah to gymnastics. Heather watched Lennah and now she wants to try it out. I also decided to be brazen and take all the kids to publix. I was actually amazed at how well behaved everyone was. Honestly it is almost easier with a large family because the babies are so preoccupied with playing with the older kids they aren't fighting with each other and doing any of the usual crazy stuff like chasing each other around the house (I am sure that sooner or later this novelty will wear off and the little ones will be back to their usual selves).

Today we also had a busy day since they had a cermony down at the giving tree, our adoption agency, for the kids. It was very nice and unexpected. They had a cake and read a great poem about the bonds of family and had a wonderful prayer for us. It was a great celebration of bringing us all together. Tonight the kids all said different prayers at dinner and Zach really said a wonderful prayer thanking God for giving him a forever family. I just hope and pray that we can always be those patient, loving, and caring parents that these children need. I am sure at times we are going to have challenges but we are definitely in this for the long haul to give these kids everything they need.

Almost here

2011-06-08T22:31:00.006-04:00

Heather's room

Zach and Logan's room

Lennah and Delylah's room

Well we are going to head up and get the kids this weekend. We have been working so hard at getting the house ready, the girls prepared, and just ourselves prepared. It is crazy that we will be a family of 7 in just a few days.

I have finally gotten all the rooms ready. It was a lot of work to consolidate, get rid of stuff, and just about reorganize most of the house but I am very proud of how it came out.

Lennah and Delylah now share a room and I am so happy with the finished product. We used Delylah's dressers which were French white and we had gotten really lucky and found bunk beds that matched that color wonderfully. I also did the room up really girly and went with pink and blue. I repainted the letters on their walls from when they were babies and just picked up some really cute girly decor. They are loving there new room.

Heather has a very girly tween room. I had Lennah's black furniture and I had this vision of hot pink, black, and white so I just went with it. I found some great bedding and thank goodness for hobby lobby because they had the cutest accents that just went so well with everything.

The boys have a superhero lovers dream room. Keith collected comic books when he was younger so I had found some marvel comic bedding and had an idea. I found some comic book photo frames and wound up using what we had as wall art. I also decided I wanted the boys to have book shelves since I am an avid reader and their furniture didn't have any shelving. I decided to paint some wood to match the bunk beds and what do you know it came out great. We were also lucky because we didn't have to buy dressers since we had re-furnished some old furnture years ago and it just goes with the room.

Overall Keith and I have worked really hard making a home for the kids; we just hope they love it when they get here. Now for the drive on Sunday and then packing the kids up in the car on Monday. The babies are staying home with my parents. Hopefully my mom won't pull her hair out of her head too bad while we are gone.

I am sure next week I will have lots to post.

A long Wait

2011-05-24T21:14:00.010-04:00

Happy Birthday Sheridan

Lennah loves ribs and literally cleaned the bone

You think international adoption takes long and that domestic adoption would be a breeze but of course not; nothing is simple in adoption. We feel as if we are waiting forever to bring the kids home and every time we turn around they keep pushing back the date on when the kids will be here. AHHHH! It is so frustrating. Well now they are telling us the end of June the kids should definitely be here by; which is not what I hoped for since our goal was to be able to have as much of a summer with the kids as possible once they got here. We are also frustrated because we knew some paperwork would have to be renewed but we keep getting emails in waves and I am just frustrated because it would be nice to be told everything at once. I guess I just need to vent. Well now that I am done with that I could get to the past month.
So for the past month our house has been hit by a redecorating tornado for all the kids. We have finished up the boys room for the most part. They have marvel superhero bedding in a vintage print so we thought it would look super cool with their new chrome bunk beds and blue walls. Overall I think we have done a good job. But now I have to rearrange the toy room in order to accomodate a guest bed for when we have visitors. Now that we are also looking at not getting the kids for a few extra weeks we now have extra time for working on the girls rooms. We hopefully will get to Lennah's and Delylah's room this weekend and then work on Heather's the following weekend.
This past weekend we did have an adoption option get together which was great. It was nice seeing some people we haven't seen in a while. We also were able to meet Elise who just came home from China a few weeks ago (what a cutie). It was also Sheridan's 6th birthday so we were also fortunate to spend time with him. I just love watching all the kids get together and just hang with other adopted kids. It is great that there are groups around so our kids can see that there are so many other families out there like ours and it is also great to just have that support from other people who feel as strongly as we do about adoption.

Easter and other events

2011-04-25T21:30:00.012-04:00

The Girls' Easter Potraits

She knows she is beautiful

Easter Sunday Best

Delylah scored tons of eggs on the hunt

Lennah hunting easter eggs

Coloring Easter eggs

Tangled Movie night with Evie, Elana, and Allie

We have been very busy the past two weekends and they are most likely going to become more jammed packed since I have to get the house ready for a family of 7. Last weekend we went on an Easter egg hunt at my parents church. The girls always love doing stuff like this and just had a fun old time. But this time of year we always seem packed with parties and other events and on the same day the girls had the neighbors birthday party and a tangled movie party planned. We really enjoy when any princess movie comes out so we planned to have some of our friends over to watch tangled to have some mommy and girl time. The girls had a good time catching up with Allie, Evie, and Elana and of course it is always nice when mommy gets to have some adult conversation. But I have to say all good things must come to an end and by 8 o'clock that night from all the partying earlier the girls were done in. This past weekend we had more parties and of course Easter sunday so again it was just another busy weekend celebrating Jesus and all the other things in our lives we are so fortunate for.

We did however find out last night that the kids will be getting here a few days later than planned because the school system they are in have to make up some snow days at the end of the year. This is both a good and bad thing; good because it gives me more time to prepare but bad because I want to maximize the summer and spending time with the kids before we all go back to work and school.

As for prepping we got some paint for the boys room which means this weekend we will be working on painting. Luckily we never painted our guest bedroom beyond the contractor paint that was here so it will be an easy job. I am still driving myself crazy trying to find bedding for the boys that is versatile enough for a 9 and 12 year old. I think that is such an in between age because you don't want to make it too kiddie or too teen. AHHH! dilemmas. I am waiting to decorate Heather's room until she gets here since she has seemed indecisive on what colors she likes and stuff. I am also having problems getting the girls to agree on comforters since they are going to be sharing a room. If Delylah likes it Lennah doesn't and vice versa.

To top off all the happenings we have also been planning our trip to go visit Keith's grandmother and Dad in Florida for July so the kids will be bombarded with 2 trips in their first few months here. We are so excited to get to share these experiences with them for the first time since they have never been to the beach. Of course I am still super excited about our trip to Disney and have definitely gone overboard on booking character meals and such for the kids. We figure we might as well splurge on our Disney trip since it is a special occasion and we have been talking about doing a Disney cruise next year with friends that we know for sure if we spend that kind of money a Disney world trip will be off the table next year for sure. We both just cannot wait to see the kids' faces when they see that castle for the first time.

Shhhh It's a Secret

2011-04-18T21:15:00.002-04:00

We are super excited and the kids will not know our surprise until the time is a lot closer. We booked a trip to Disney for September. We really had no plans on going to Disney this year but Heather, Logan, and Zach have never been outside of Ohio and the more we talked about it the more we wanted to give them an unforgetable vacation. We aren't staying on Disney property because a family of seven would be crazy expensive but we traded a timeshare to stay at a resort that we have been to before and absolutely love. Even better it can accommodate all 7 of us. So we are going to Disney. We are going to wait until the last possible minute and then tell of the kids together. We haven't said a word to Lennah and Delylah and I am going to have such a hard time keeping quiet once Heather, Logan, and Zach get here but we are going to try. I am thinking it might be really cool to videotape the announcement when we tell the kids.

Backing up, Back Home and Feeling Good

2011-04-12T20:49:00.005-04:00

On Saturday we spent almost the entire day with our new children. It was another great day. On Saturday we went with all the kids to a museum called Boonshoft in Dayton. I think it was a great place for the little kids since most of the exhibits were geared towards young children. It was also great for the big kids because they just loved going there and spending time with the girls and us. The kids all played and chased each other around the museum. I have to say they all occupy each other and I actually feel that having 5 will be almost easier than just 2 kids because they all keep each other entertained. We then went to lunch with all the kids and the some of the foster family. The foster family had spent time with us and the kids. I have to say at first I thought it was strange that you spend the time with the foster family but talking to the foster mom really gave me insight into the children, what they have been through, and how far they have come so I am greatful for that time we have spent with them. I also was put at ease on her feelings about the children moving onto a permanent home. She assured me that they wanted the children to be adopted and they got into foster care to help kids and had no intentions of adopting. She shared with me that this was always there goal and as much as they will miss the kids she is at peace with them coming to live with us. It made us feel so much better because you are thinking gosh I am taking these kids from the home they have known for the past several years and the foster family is going to be agonizing over them leaving. So Sunday we visited with the children for the last time before they come live with us. When we got to the house they came out and were just so excited to see us. After spending the weekend with the kids and getting to know them we just feel so at peace with our decision to adopt older children. Yes we have heard horror stories and the stories of challenges people who adopt older children face but these kids are so loving and sweet that we know it was meant to be. Our goal when we decided to adopt was to ensure the saftey of both Lennah and Delylah and we feel that God has matched us with children who not only will love us as we will them but also love the girls and be great big brothers and big sister to Lennah and Delylah. I have absolutely no fears about the girls being harmed in any way. God has truly blessed us soon to be 5 times over and we could not be any happier. Now we just have the 8 week wait until they get to come home.

Goodbye Virginia, Hello Ohio

2011-04-08T21:01:00.002-04:00

Yesterday we spent the last little bit of time we had left at the resort before heading to Ohio. To end our trip we took the girls on pony rides and to the petting zoo at our resort. It was a great way to end the trip and the girls had a blast riding the horses. Honestly the horses was well worth it but the petting zoo could have been a little better. Then again kids enjoy anything. It took all day to get to Ohio because we head to head through West Virginia which was completely unenjoyable. The mountains were horrible to drive through because we had to go so slow which really just made the trip dreadful. But we made it here.

As for Ohio. Today we woke up, ate breakfast, wasted some time, and then headed to meet the kids social worker. That was just usual going over paperwork. THen from there we got to meet the kids. The kids came right up to us and were super excited. Honestly we are still shocked at how well they took to us. It was totally unexpected. Keith and I kept joking yesterday that we might encounter a scene like in the movie Problem CHild where the kid kicks John Ritter in the shins and runs away. Nothing like that happened. Zach was cute because he referred to Keith and his dad when he was talking to his foster sister. Heather just started rambling on to me about all the things she likes to do. Target is her favorite store which made me estatic. Logan took to the girls right away and went into full big brother mode. Honestly we could not have asked for it to go any better and the kids seem pretty excited as well. Logan is a little skeptical about moving so far away but the worker and foster mom assured us that he is getting more used to the idea and we should have nothing to worry about. I don't know what I am allowed to do legally so I am not posting pictures of the kids just yet.

Thanks to all who have kept us in your prayers.

Virginia and just 2 days away

2011-04-06T20:31:00.013-04:00

For Spring break Keith and I took the kids to Virginia for vacation. Tonight is our last night here and I have to say we have certainly have had a good time. We are in the Shenandoah Valley and have thoroughly enjoyed our trip. We got here Saturday night and of course the kids had to hit the indoor pool. Both of our girls are like fish and love being in the pool so being at a resort with an indoor pool is a bonus to the kids. Also at our resort there is an indoor waterpark which of course the kids have loved. We spent all day Sunday and Monday there. I have to say it was definitely a good waterpark for the kids and it was a lot like the waterpark we visited last July when we visited Wilderness in the Smokies. We also have lots of lakes, ponds, mountains, and just about everything else here. We figured we would take advantage of the surroundings and take the girls to feed the animals while we were here. The girls loved feeding the ducks and the geese and also managed to feed some fish they had in the pond near our condo. Anyway yesterday we took the kids to visit the Luray caverns and an antique car museum. Lennah was not really into the caverns plus she totally needed a nap. She may not have been into the caverns but she instantly found a friend that happens to be staying at the same resort as us and lives in the Atlanta area. Lennah just has that personality where she can make instant friends. Today was the best day of the trip (at least for mommy and daddy it was). We took the girls to see Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and visited Michie's Tavern. Monticello was wonderful and an all day adventure. Luckily they have kids activities there. The girls had a blast pretend cooking and playing with some of the replicas of writing utensils and other stuff. I have to say the grounds to Monticello are beautiful and the view of the mountains incredible. It was also a great history lesson and I really hope that Keith and I can instill a love of history in the girls that we both have.

Unfortunately tomorrow afternoon we have to leave Virginia but we are cutting our trip short to go meet Heather, Logan, and Zack. We are nervous and excited all at the same time. I think it was be a totally different experience from what we had when we adopted the girls because these children are so much older and will already have developed strong personalities. We are just praying that everything goes well and we have a great meeting with our new children.

Just thinking

2011-03-21T20:51:00.003-04:00

So I need to become more diligent about posting especially documenting our newest adoption journey. So Wednesday we are going into the office and having a conference regarding everything that will take place with the placement of our new children. This is a totally different ball game for us compared to adopting internationally. We need to also iron out details with the agency on traveling to meet the kids. So as of now the plans are to cut our trip short to Virginia and head to Ohio to meet the kids. Unfortunately we will not get to take them home with us since they will need time to get to know us. So far the plans for them to be placed with us in June; which works out perfectly since I will be home from work for the summer.
Since we made the announcement that we are adopting we have had so many mixed responses from people (I think this is important to share). When adopting Lennah we got the questions why not just adopt a US baby or why pay for Invitro so you can have your own baby. When adopting Delylah we got the questions about why we were adopting a baby that was African and not white. Now we have had the responses like you don't know what you are getting into and these kids are going to be crazy.
The truth is no one knows what to expect when they adopt or have biological kids. We know not everything will be roses and we will have major stress and battles ahead of us. But we definitely know that we will try our best to parent these children as best as we can and show them the love that we can. Of course our biggest concern is Lennah and Delylah's safety so from everything we know these kids are not violent so we are not putting our girls at risk and nor would we so we truely believe we are making the right decision and following the path God has chosen for us. We feel that with every direction God has led us down the path we are supposed to be down. I guess what I am trying to express is that people who have little to no clue about adoption really don;t think about the comments they make to us or about our families. I really wish more people would think before they make these comments and be more supportive of people who choose the life we have chosen. I also wish they could understand that millions upon millions of children go to sleep at night without someone to tuck them in, kiss them goodnight, say prayers, or even read to them.

Lots to Share

2011-03-15T21:26:00.009-04:00

Mother Daughter Tea at the Southern Museum

So it has been a long time since I have blogged. That was because my laptop was in the shop for a month (yes a long time) so I haven't been able to upload photos and all that fun stuff so I figured I would hibernate while I waited. Since the last time I blogged we have just been having some good family fun. Last month my mom, myself, and the girls went to a mother daughter tea. It was a fun gathering and the girls had a blast playing dress up, making crafts, and meeting new friends. We have also had some great weather the past several weeks and that gave us the opportunity to head to the park and have some fun with the girls. For some reason the kids cannot get enough time at the park. For some reason the past few weekends we have also had a lot of birthday parties to hit. We even have one this coming weekend. So every weekend has been jammed packed with stuff to do.

And finally today we got the phone call we have been waiting for since January. Back in January our agency called us and shared with us that we were sort of selected for a sibling group of 3. Well they had to wait for the other worker to have a matching meeting before we were officially selected. So today we got word that the meeting took place this morning and we will officially be becoming a family of 7. Yes you read correctly a family of 7. We are going to meet the kids next month after we head to Virginia for vacation. They will then hopefully come here for a visit in May and then June they will be placed with us. It's hard to image that soon we are going to go from two little girls to having two boys and another girl running around the house.

Happenings

2011-01-27T20:49:00.011-05:00

Happy Birthday Delylah

A hug goodbye

Lennah, Delylah, & Sheridan

So we have been busy in January and actually had some snow here in GA. Yes! Snow which caused me to be out of work for a week and now I have lost my February break because of it but I did get to spend some great time with the kids so all is well. The kids loved the opportunity to play in the snow and just have a good time. So we had a lot of girls nights and did make your own pizzas which the girls loved to do, have movie night and hot cocoa, and just have fun. We were lucky because we were able to get out of our neighborhood so by the end of the week when most had lost their minds from being stuck in the house we were lucky enough to have a play date with our friend Sheridan. The girls had not seen their friend for a while so we headed to jump for joey's so the girls could exert some energy from being stuck in the house. They had a great time and were super excited to see their friend.

Delylah also had her official birthday on January 20th so my parents came over and we just had a small cake like we had done for Lennah back in December. It is a lot easier since we combined birthday parties but we still want to have a little something special for each of them on their birthdays.

Last weekend we also had a good time at the Disney store. They had a garden party for little girls and they got to come dressed up as their favorite princesses. They had games, crafts, and just a good time. Luckily for Christmas Uncle Billy got the girls princess costumes so Lennah went as Mulan and Delylah as Tiana. They loved it and lucky from me they were very good waiting in line and waiting for their turn to participate because Daddy had to work.

Lastly for news we have been matched with a sibling group. We do not want to get too excited because we had a potential match last month and it feel apart quickly so we have kept all of that info low key. But our social worker said that yes this is a match and the other social worker wants us for this group of kids. We know that whatever is meant to happen is truly in God's hands and he will expand our family when he sees fit. So hopefully we will have more to come on that as the process progresses and we know that nothing is going to fizzle out. For now just enjoy some pics of the kids from this past month.

Oh and I had the girls 3rd and 4th birthday pictures done. I don't know what happened to Delylah but it was like getting teeth pulled that day because she barely smiled and we only got 3 smiles our of like 20 shots. Oh well at least she did great for her Christmas photos. Enjoy.

Birthday Party and Snow

2011-01-12T20:14:00.014-05:00

Lennah and Daddy on the ice

Our 2 Birthday Princesses

The Birthday Cake

Saturday we had the girls birthday party. It was the second year in a row that we combined the girls birthday parties. They decided they wanted an ice skating party. Lennah has been asking to do this for a while especially since her Big Ba is famous for watching the NY Rangers on TV. Mind you the girls had never been ice skating before but still wanted to forge ahead with this choice. Anyway it started out as a lovely party a lot of great friends showed up and we had pizza and cake. Then came time for the open skating session. I grabbed Delylah and Keith grabbed Lennah. Delylah had a hard time and freaked out. She counted figure out how to hunch a bit forward so her time on the ice was cut very short. Lennah also freaked out and gladly dashed off the ice. Low and behold Lennah got a little brazen and ventured back out with Keith and my friend Nicole holding her up on each side. Well she loved it. She wants to go back and go ice skating again. I am thinking that if we could go with another couple then Delylah would be able to be held up on both sides like Lennah did and she may actually like it. Which brings me as to why she never got to go back out and give the ice another whirl. Anyway we had about another half hour left on the ice and all of a our friend Lisa took a tumble on the ice. Well it was pretty bad and she had to get rushed to the ER for stitches. So it cut our party time a bit short. You always think it is a kid that is going to wind up having an accident and it turns out to be the adults. All was ok and she just wound up with a few stitches. She felt so bad that it happened but we are just glad she is ok. Good thing open skating was after the pizza and cake (just trying to look on the bright side). Overall we are still thankful the girls had a great party with family and friends.

Anyway, the day after the party we got hit with snow for the second time this winter season. It started Sunday night and stopped sometime during the night. Anyway, I have not had to work since which has been nice. The kids have enjoyed playing in the snow and spending some extra time with us. Keith's job even shut down for two days which is an anomaly. But it was great just spending quiet time together as a family since on the weekend's we have to go go go between errands, church, and whatever else it taking place.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-27T20:25:00.010-05:00

Our house in the snow

The girls all ready to go out and play in the snow

Lennah and her giant rapunzel doll

Delylah jamming on her new barbie guitar

Keith ate way too much

Christmas was a wonderful and crazy event at our house. To start off Keith worked late the night before Christmas Eve since he was going to have a 3 day weekend so I had to deliver a cheesecake (occasionally I still take an order or 2) rather than have Keith take it as I originally planned. Anyway so after I deliver the cheesecake I head to the bank and to Kroger to put the check in the bank and whack of course the car got rear-ended in the parking lot of Kroger on the morning of Christmas Eve. No one was hurt but the kids were scared because when the cops had to come they thought they were in trouble for something. So I thought that was going to be the start of a crazy Christmas but all ended well. We headed to church which was a beautiful service and came home and had the annual Christmas eve seafood dinner.

So after dinner it was time to get ready for Santa and get the kids in bed. It was amazing that we were able to get them to sleep. Everyone finished their last touches on gifts and whatever else needed to be done for the morning.

So the race for gifts began at 6:20 am when the kids woke up. They wanted to wake my parents up and begin opening gifts. So there we were at 630 in the morning opening up presents. All that time wrapping and it was over by 7:15 for the kids. After we had a great breakfast and low and behold a miracle in the south happened (one that has not occured for 128 years) it began to snow. Yep! we had a white Christmas. It was truly a beautiful day. The kids were able to go out and make snowballs on Christmas day so what an extra special present. I was shocked that they didn't want to stay in and play with their toys.

Overall it was a great Christmas and the kids cannot wait for it to happen all over again next year. Delylah has been so cute and asking about when Santa is coming back and how our family celebrated the holidays. I think what made it extra special is the fact that both the girls are old enough to get the idea of Christmas this year.

Pictures with Santa

2010-11-23T21:49:00.004-05:00

Well to complete our holiday season photos we had the annual visit to Target to meet Santa. The girls did great and of course were too cute. This year they get Christmas which will make it awesome. They also are getting into the real meaning of Christmas and that we celebrate Baby Jesus's birthday. I just wish they would leave him alone under the tree. LOL.

I guess to just also drop a note about where we are in the adoption is NOWHERE. Honestly, I am more and more frustrated each day because our agency said that we would be very quick to get a match. Yeah! Not happening. I am not sure what to expect at all when adopting through the state foster care system but we have inquired about quite a few sets of siblings and we hear nothing back. The system is so frustrating because there are so many kids in the US that need homes but honestly the system does not seem to work fast enough. We had Delylah's referral quicker and we were out of country. I know everything is in God's hands and timing so we will still wait but who knows when we are going to expand our family. Either way I am very Thankful this upcoming Thanksgiving because I have the most wonderful husband, two beautiful little girls, and great family and friends.

Anyway, my rant is over but enjoy the Santa photos.

It's that time of Year

2010-11-15T22:06:00.003-05:00

Yep! Christmas is coming and we get super excited over here. I have the trees up, the outside got decorated yesterday, and we even found time to get the girls formal holiday pictures done yesterday. It is a good thing I got them done yesterday since Lennah and I are both nursing colds. Anyway, we have had a busy past few weeks. Unfortunately the transmission went out in my car (no I was not happy about that large expense so close to the holidays and the girls birthdays), Keith has been working a lot since his company got bought up by another and they have a massive amount of business right now, and I have been plagued with massive school work. But overall I love this time of year and best of all I think the kids get it this year. Lennah has been creating a very long Santa list and Delylah just keeps telling me how much she wants Barbie fashion fairytale from Santa. It is so cute watching them get excited as we talk about Christmas. Anyway, I am keeping it short since I am sick but here are the girls latest photos. This weekend is pictures with Santa so there are more to come so Stay Tuned.

Fall Photos

2010-10-05T22:04:00.005-04:00

My babies are growing up way too quick. I had some photos done at Target for fall recently. The girls looked so beautiful and so grown up. Where have my babies gone. Delylah is 2 and looks like a big kids already. It is hard to believe she doesn't turn 3 until January. My goodness Lennah looked liked a kid and not a baby. Hard to believe my big girl turns 4 in December. Time is flying by.

Disney

2010-09-30T21:17:00.005-04:00

I was fortunate enough to have a break built into September for our new school calendar. Being a teacher does not pay great but I do enjoy the breaks that so many others out in the work force do not enjoy. Unfortunately Keith is one of these people who doesn't get as much time off but that did not deter me from taking the kids to Disney. So off we headed with my parents and brother to take a much anticipated trip.

The first day my brother and I took the kids to Epcot for several hours. The girls love the finding nemo ride and the boat ride in Mexico. They just wanted to keep going on the rides. Luckily for us it was not too crowded.

The next morning we took the kids back to Epcot and had breakfast in Norway with the Princesses. Every time a princess came to our table the girls were just thrilled.

The next day was the highlight of the girl's week since we hit majoc kingdom. We had breakfast with Winnie the Pooh and just had a blast watching the girls get excited from each ride. THey both loved Dumbo, Magic carpets of Aladdin, and any other ride we stuck them on.

We also hit up animal kingdom which Delylah really enjoyed. She is my museum, zoo, any sort of learning place type kid. She just loves watching animals and seeing new stuff.

We also had a chance to visit Seaworld while we were in Florida. Delylah had a blast feeding the dolphins, Lennah however got a little freaked out and was nervous that a dolphin would bite her. Delylah absolutely loved the shows and Lennah really enjoyed the rides that they had for kids. Overall it was a fun trip.

My little speller

2010-09-09T20:34:00.002-04:00

So we have worked very hard with Lennah to get her to know her alphabet (both upper and lower case) and to get numbers and counting down. So since she has mastered her whole alphabet I have been working on words and spelling. Here is Lennah spelling her first 4 words she learned for us in a video. Mind you Delylah has a long name so we are proud of our 3 year old.

Soccer

2010-08-30T20:37:00.005-04:00

So it has been a month since my last post and in that time Lennah has started soccer. We gave up Karate and dance, well basically because I don't think either was high energy enough for Lennah. She has been asking about doing hockey and living in GA hockey is not an option to play, especially for a little girl (She got the idea for hockey since my dad was watching it in front of her one day). Anyway, we figured soccer might be a good fit. So she had her first practice almost two weeks ago and this past Saturday was her first game. Needless to say Lennah did not want to play at her first practice but last week she started getting into it. So thank goodness she got to play in her first game. Granted it is only a bunch of three year olds but they were so cute to watch. Her team, the Rockets, lost but hopefully this coming Saturday they will get a few more goals.

As for the adoption front. We did not realize what a different ball game adopting from the US is in comparison to international. Our agency never heard back from the social worker when she told them she had a family interested in the group so we are still waiting for a match. We are okay with that because we do have our trip to Disney planned in a few weeks and were worried that we did not plan on having a few new kids to take since we never thought the process would have been that fast. All we can say it is in God's hands for now.

We are also very thankful that we abandon our journey to Rwanda since we read that they are not accepting any new dossiers until all the Hague stuff is settled. I am not quite sure how that will slow down the people waiting but I now know 100% that we were never meant to be in Rwanda it just was a detour that took us to where we were supposed to be.

Princess Gala

2010-07-30T21:28:00.002-04:00

Tonight was a fun night. Lennah has been attending Princess camp through the local parks and recreation this past week. Tonight, they ended the week of camp with a princess gala. All the little girls were crowned as honorary princesses. Keith took the night off work so he could escort Lennah to her crowning. It was such a cute event. I cannot wait until next year when both girls can go to Princess camp. Delylah wanted to join so bad. Lennah was a little too over excited about the event but all in all it was a fun and really cute night.

Happenings

2010-07-26T20:29:00.006-04:00

Happy Adoption Day Girls

3rd Gotcha Day

I have been so backed up I have not had a chance to post. I am especially angry with myself because I needed to post two important days and hadn't gotten around to them yet. Anyway, on July 21st we hit our 3rd gotcha day for Lennah. It is just so amazing that she has been with us for 3 years and also so sad that time is going by so quickly and our beautiful little girl is growing up on us. We don't do big celebrations but being that she has a grasp of her adoption we showed her pictures and talked to her that three years ago to that very day Mommy and Daddy got to meet her for the first time in Vietnam. Honestly, I never thought a three year old could understand her adoption so well. Several weeks ago we were in a doctors office and there was a huge wall map and I showed her where we live, where she is from, and where her sister is from (we are really trying to get her into geography being that we are an international family and mommy does teach it) and she asked if she could go visit her other mommy in Vietnam. Yes she gets it that she had another mommy that could not take care of her because she was sick. When I told her that I wouldn't not know where to find her she told me that it was sad. Lennah could be so sweet sometimes. Don't get me wrong everyone knows our little Lennah could be a hyper wild child but she just amazes me sometimes.

Of course two days after gotcha day is the big day in our home because it was adoption day for both the girls. Delylah hit the 2 year mark as our little girl and obviously for Lennah it was her 3rd. Delylah still has her gotcha day to come but I just can still remember praying that we would get to be Delylah's parents and really hitting a low point where we thought we would lose her since there were problems with her orphanage. It was just a miracle that two years ago we got the call saying the court granted the adoption.

We did have a mini celebration because Keith had to work. Each girl got a little present. Lennah got a little scooter and Delylah has been into her toy kitchen so she got a whole big toy food set. Oh and we got a beta fish now named Eleanor. The girls were so excited and we talked about how it is a special day just for both of them.

Since all those happenings last week we have been busy. Lennah has been going to Princess camp this week so I have been lucky to have some one on one time with Delylah. I also had a yard sale thanks to Starbucks. They hosted one for free and you just had to sign up and bring all your stuff there to sell this past Sunday. We figured we needed to do some major cleaning out since we know we will be having additions to the family soon.

ON that note, we sort of have a referral. Once we know more we will update everyone but we are trying not to get too excited since this is totally different than our other adoptions. We still have to get the profile for the kids (yes kids more than one) so we should hopefully know more by Friday.

One last note. For all my fellow Vietnamese adoptive moms. I am in the middle of reading a book called If you lived here by Dana Sachs. It is a fictional novel based on a women adopting from Vietnam. So far it is a good read so take a look at this book. I picked it up I think for a few dollars used on amazon.

Vacation

2010-07-15T20:18:00.006-04:00

One of My Fav Pics of Delylah taken before vacation with Charlie (her cribmate)

THe kids on the Staten Island Ferry

The Fourth of July

Point Pleasant NJ

The Presidents Museum with Ronald Reagan(No it is not a great likeness)

Building their bears

Working on pottery at the Wilderness Lodge

We just finally got back from vacation several days ago. It was almost a ten day trip if you want to count travel time. Anyway, we have had this trip planned for a while to go see one my friend Jaime up in NJ. Anyway, we drove straight through up to NJ and was quite surprised the the 16 hour trip (thanks for the traffic in Maryland turning it into 16 hours) were really good. I thought the girls would give us such a hard time being cooped up in a car for so long but everything was great. We got in Friday night and obviously we were tired. The next day we decided to hit NYC. We spent the day at the American Museum of Natural History. Delylah really loved this place. It is amazing to see a 2 year old get excited about places like this. She loved seeing the animal exhibits and the dinosaurs. We were also fortunate enough to visit an exhibit that I had really wanted to see on the Silk Road.

Over the next few days we spent time in her pool and took a trip to the beach at Point Pleasant, NJ. Delylah did not dig the waves but eventually Lennah really got into the beach and the girls had a great time. After that we hit up one of the kiddie amusement parks and the girls spent some time riding the kiddie rides.

We spent a bit more time visiting family and friends in the NY/ NJ area and then headed to Hershey Park, PA on Thursday. This was the perfect theme park for kids. There were so many rides that the little ones could do and we also spent part of the day in the water park they have that is also included in admission. Gosh I sound like a commercial but I have to say it was a great place for the little ones since so many theme parks are not kid friendly and are more focused on the adult type thrill rides. The next day we took a trip to Gettysburg, PA. I wish we would have had more time there but trying to do educational historical stuff with little ones is not really the best idea. So we opted to visit the Museum of Presidents for an hour and then walk around the battlefield before we did something in the area more kid friendly. We stopped at a place called Boyd's Bear country. Basically it is a tourist version of build a bear out in the middle of nowhere. It was pretty cool and the prices were actually a little cheaper than build a bear so the kids had a good time in Gettysburg after all.

On Saturday we made it to the Smokey Moutains and took the girls to the Wilderness Lodge that they had begged to go to. It was a great place for the little ones because they had several kiddie areas in the water parks that the kids could play around in. Delylah loves water parks and it was so hard trying to get her to come out of the water. She may not have enjoyed the beach this trip but she definitely is a pool person.

Finally on Sunday we headed home but not before we made one last stop for the girls to visit Santa Claus. Yep that is right in the middle of July in Pigeon Forge you can visit Santa Claus. Hopefully, this gives me a little leverage with the kids because I have been telling Lennah that is she is a good girl I will call Santa and let him know.

So that was the end of our trip. It has been nice being home and trying to get my house in tip top shape before I head back to work in less than 3 weeks. Gosh this summer has went quickly. But I would like to get rid of a lot of stuff that just takes up space before we have a referral and then I am scrambling to get everything going to accommodate our new children. So it is going to be crazy around here while I get organized and get rid of useless items taking up space.

Summer and Passing Time

2010-06-25T21:34:00.007-04:00

Lennah and Gavin on the way to the circus

Movie in the Park with Zubin (too bad we didn't stay for the movie)

Delylah riding a camel and the circus

Lennah at Karate class

Making Daddy and Big Ba's Father's Day Gifts

Daddy where the shirt the girls made him

Sam, Jack, Lennah, and Seth

So summer is officially here and I have been out of work for several weeks. I have been keeping the girls busy with playdates, classes, and hanging out in the pool. Lennah is loving her little explorers class. Karate she comes around to after she has been there for about 10 minutes and dance I think is probably not going to be around much longer. Delylah is loving her music class and I think she is going to be the musicial kid in the house since she loves singing and dancing so much. We have been fortunate enough to also have some playdates that were long over due with some wonderful friends. I have to admit our weekends were pretty boring for the kids while we were going through our adoption classes. Lennah and Delylah missed their friends and have been so happy to spend time with other kids. We also have some other playdates coming up in the next several days before we head out of town. Which of course is the highlight of the summer since we have a 9 day vacation planned. We originally planned to go up to Jersey and NY to visit friends and family but Lennah and Delylah decided to beg to add some other fun stuff to the trip and we couldn't resist their pleas. Actually we got a flyer in the mail for the Wilderness in the Smokies lodge which has 3 waterparks. The girls got a hold of the flyer and begged to go there. We were thinking about taking them for their adoption day which is coming up next month. Then we realized it be a lot easier to head back through Pennsylvania and Tennessee and hit it up on the way back. So in turn we are shortening our NY/NJ trip to 6 days and taking three days to head back so we could visit Hershey Park, Gettysburg, and then go to the Wilderness Lodge. The girls are super excited because we were going to take them to NYC which they cannot wait to see where mommy is from and go to the Jersey shore. It is so funny because Lennah tells people mommy is from Ork. She for some reason keeps leaving out the New and Y.

On that note I have to say the kids say some funny stuff these days and nothing gets past them. Tonight someone was passing by the house and the dogs started barking insanely. I told them to shut up and Delylah turns to me and says mommy no say that that is bad. I had to crack up. They just say wild things lately and it just shows how much they are growing up.

As for the adoption front we are just waiting patiently. We also heard that the boys we were interested in had been placed with a family so we are just waiting for a match from our agency. I am in so much wonder as to who our children are and when they will be here.

I had a lot of great photos I took from the past few weeks. So I am posting a bunch. Enjoy all.

Officially waiting

2010-06-09T20:18:00.011-04:00

Juanita and Taylor (Taylor is our newest social worker)

Juanita and Lennah (She lead our impact classes)

Our impact class on the day of our completion ceremony

Our little princess

Corn on the Cob is one of Lennah's favorites

We are done with everything for our domestic state adoption. Yipppeeee! On Saturday we had our last impact training which was sort of like a cermony where you receive a certificate that you have completed training. Yesterday we had our homestudy visit and we are now done. By next week they will have everything typed out and they will be sending our paperwork out there to find our children. Domestic adoption through the foster care system is nothing like international in the sense that we don't go on a wait list for a child and have to wait until it is our turn. Based on our preferences and what ages we are willing to accept we could be matched at any time. They said that we have a very good chance of receiving profiles of small children and we will be selected very quickly because of our experience with adoption in the past. So now all we do is sit back and wait.

In the mean time we are just enjoying the girls and have been busy with school and work. Well at least I have the next two months off of work so we plan on having a lot of family time and hanging out by the pool time since the girls are like little fishes. In a few weeks we have a trip planned to head up to NY and NJ. We have gotten a lot accomplished these last few weeks so it will definitely be nice to just have some quality family time. We managed to put in our new flooring in our living room, kitchen, and dining room, complete our adoption training, I finished a class that kicked my butt and never gave me a free night off of school.

I am also trying to keep the girls busy for the summer and have them enrolled in several activities so they don't get bored sitting around the house with mommy while I go on cleaning rampages. Tonight was Lennah's first night of karate and Tuesday Delylah had a music class. The girls are loving having some time to make new friends and learn new things. Lennah starts a dance class next week ( now she has been saying she wanted to go back to dance) and a little explorers class where she will be learning about science and nature type stuff.

General Update

2010-05-04T20:17:00.002-04:00

It has been a very busy past few weeks. Every Saturday we have been going to our impact classes for our domestic state adoption, putting in our beautiful new floors, school work, and of course our two beautiful girls are keeping us busy.

On the adoption front we are rolling along. It appears that our international homestudy for Rwanda is being put to good use and our agency can use most of it so we will only have two meetings with them to be finished. We also have all our paperwork in so we should be paperwork ready in a few more weeks; just about the same time that we finish up classes. We are open to siblings and have found two boys who we are going to ask about as soon as our paperwork is done. For some reason we feel drawn to these two so who knows maybe the Paulsen clan will be expanding really soon.

The girls are doing wonderful and growing like weeds. We have spent a lot of time at the park since the weather has warmed up. At least on the sunny days. Delylah is really starting to hit the terrible twos. Apparently, she is finding it very amusing to tease Lennah and take away her stuff in addition to starting to talk back. Hopefully, enough trips to time out will help her move on from that.

I finished a class that had me under a lot of stress so I can now for sure focus on the adoption and other ways that we plan on expanding our family. I am still not done with school but done with the hellacious class.

Orientation

2010-04-17T22:11:00.003-04:00

I am so at peace with all our decisions right now. Today, we had our orientation with the local agency to adopt domestically (kids up for state adoption). Yes we know we are taking big risks with kids from the US because we know a lot of their issues are different from what we see in the IA world but we are up for the challenge. Our homestudy from the Rwandan adoption is actually going to be quite useful and that will limit the paperchase and such. We should finish classes by June and the homestudy for this as well by then since we already have so much from before. They are thinking by the fall they will present us with matches. The girls are very excited about the expansion potential in our family. We are open to a sibling group and most likely they have told us that we should prepare for that.

We did not get the news from the doctor and it was not the news we hoped for. Keith's damage is worse now than it was years ago but we are proceeding to try to a have a baby as well. We are going to work on this for a few months and if it seems fruitless well than it was not meant to be. The agency did tell us that being open to a sibling group under the age of 8 does give us the possible opportunity to be presented with a group with a baby so that will also meet our desires to have another little one in addition to an older child as well.

Easter and More

2010-04-09T23:01:00.007-04:00

We had a great Easter last week and were fortunate enough to have Keith's family come to visit. His Grandmother and dad came for a visit that was long over due. Keith's grandmother lives in Florida and we do see her from time to time but this was her first opportunity to see Delylah and since his Dad lives in California this was the first time he had seen the girls. It was a good visit that allowed Keith the opportunity to catch up with his Dad and spend some time with his grandmother who is turning 91 this year. I took the girls to an Easter egg hunt on Saturday and they had a blast. I did want to take them to a local Easter egg hunt that was supposed to be huge but that seemed to be the popular place to be so we headed to the egg hunt at my Dad's church and it was perfect for the little ones. I have had to hide the candy since Lennah has found ways to climb the counters to get a whole of whatever sweet treats she can find.

We have also come to some final decisions. We are officially not persuing a Rwanda adoption. We know we were meant to start on that path because it has taken us in a new direction that we did not even think possible but we do not regret the decision to abandon that journey. We are awaiting some test results to see if it is possible to proceed with IUI and we should have those results Monday. When we first started trying for a family and we discovered that the mumps caused Keith damage and would make it difficult to have a baby biologically they said go to IVF. We knew parenting was more important and did not want to spend the money to go down a path that may prove fruitless. I know if IUI was presented earlier we would have waited to adopt because my plan was to have a biological child first and then adopt but I think God's plan maybe reversed for us. We are leaving all of that in his hands and hopefully we will have the go ahead that we want to hear.

Adoption is still on the horizon for us for sure. We start classes next week to go through the state and I was so hesitant long ago but for some reason I think this was the decision we are meant for. Our official stance is that we will accept two kids under the age of 8 obviously we will carefully have to examine their background and how they will fit into the girls lives.

So maybe by this time next year the mini-van will be full. That will make for some very loud road trips.

Decisions

2010-03-24T21:49:00.005-04:00

Well, I guess our last post left a lot of people stumped as to what we are going to do. Needless to say we are still stumped. Our social worker has been wonderful and made calls and according to the embassy we should proceed with the adoption. We are still waiting on our approval from USCIS and figure we still have several weeks before that even gets here. Right now we are hestitant to proceed with Rwanda. We are thinking we would be fine on the adoption end but proceeding without an agency when changes may be coming is a little scary because of the risk of getting stuck in country. This would be an extreme burden to us because we have two little girls at home. So we are going to wait, pray, and in the mean time work on some other options of how to expand our family. We are seriously weighing going to infertility treatment options (Oh No the I word) and also going through a local agency to work on a possible state adoption. A state adoption is something we have always kicked around and will not enter one without serious consideration. We know there are many issues with adopting a child in foster care but we want to explore our options and have doors open for us. Who knows maybe we will wind up with more than just one, or more than we could even bargain for but basically we are going to leave everything up to the man upstairs and see which direction he leads us in. We are not necessarily closing the door to Rwanda but just going to hold onto the work we have done and move further along if we feel like it is meant to be.

The past week and a half or so has brought a lot of sleepless nights and fun days with it. Delylah is in a big girl bed after trying to climb out a week and a half ago. Let's just say that was a rough transition with two toddlers up half the night. Finally, she has settled into her bed and for the past two nights has slept straight through. WHEWWWW!

This past weekend was a great one. We had two birthday parties to celebrate. One with Lynn Marie who just turned two and one with Zubin who turned 3. It is great to see all these children growing up. We also had a Princess and Frog movie night with Lennah and Delylah's little friends. It was a great night and the girls had a blast. Delylah's old cribmate Meron came for the fun and it was so cute watching them hug each other like they are just age old friends. I hope these two little girls will always share this bond and be joined for life. So many do not realize that adoption not only helps build families but it brings so many other people into your life and we are so thankful for all the relationships we have formed throughout our journeys.

Not Good News

2010-03-17T21:46:00.002-04:00

Today we heard some potentially bad news for independent adoptions from Rwanda. It appears that they will be ratifying the Hague treaty. This is great because it strives to ensure that all adoptions are completely ethical however, one requirement is that you must use an approved adoption services provider. We are not quite sure where this leaves families like us who are working on independent adoptions. We chose this route for financial reasons, because we have experienced IA before and felt like we could handle flying solo, and lastly because that is what the Rwandan government preferred. We are still waiting for confirmation on all of this but if this happens it will more than double our expenses which realistically we cannot afford right now. Going solo still was a ball park 12,000 with travel and expenses but having to switch to an agengy would be more around 25,000. Right now we are in limbo and of course it is not a great feeling.

Homestudy done and spring is coming

2010-03-08T20:40:00.010-05:00

Lennah and Delylah giving Charlie a big hug

Cribmates Delylah and Meron

Delylah and Emebet

Last week we met with our social worker and finished our homestudy. It should be approaching the USCIS office any day now. We also had our fingerprints done a week and a half ago so hopefully it will be about 2 more months until we get our approval. From there we will finish off our dossier and go through the several rounds of state, country, and embassy seals we need. We also made another change and decided to leave our gender open. As much as we think a son would be great another girl would also bring joy to our lives (plus the cost would be less since we are a house full of girls with lots of girly things). So we are excited. We are still thinking that we will have our paperwork to Rwanda by the summer, wait about 5 months for approval, another two months for a referral, then a court date two months later, and travel a few weeks after that. Hopefully, it will correlate with the end of the school year so I would just roll into summer next year. Plus we need this adoption to happen after January next year in terms of travel because I will have more paid time off accummulated and Keith will finally be at 3 weeks vacation time paid.

On the homefront we have had some great times recently. The weekend before last Emebet our lawyer from our Ethiopian adoption was in town. It was wonderful seeing her again and getting together with the other Illien families who are locals. She helped bring our family together and just to see how much she still loves all our children was wonderful.

I took the girls to have their Easter pictures this weekend and meet the Easter bunny. Lennah was very cooperative but Delylah was not having any part of the Easter bunny. She did not want to take one single photo with him. Oh well there is always next Easter.

It was also a beautiful weekend here in Georgia and we had a nice day outside with the kids yesterday. This year we have had some crazy weather here in GA and I am kind of sick of it. THe fall was full of rain and the winter was cold and for this part of the country a lot of snow. I am ready for spring.

Wisconsin Dells

2010-02-22T20:33:00.007-05:00

Last week I was fortunate enough to have the week off of work. So of course we planned a trip. This time we headed to Wisconsin Dells. It was a great trip. The girls had a blast going to water parks, horseback riding, and getting to play in the snow. We traveled with some people from work so I think that made the trip all the better because the girls had some other kids to play with. It was actually funny watching Lennah get up in the morning on knocking on our connecting doors yelling friends get up, open door please. She just wanted to play every chance she got. Delylah was addicted to the water slides and had fits whenever we had to take her away from the pool or from the water park. I am just amazed at what a little daredevil she was just running up the steps to get to the slides. Lennah enjoyed the pool but was not fond of going to the water park and getting splashed by the other kids. The best part of the trip for me was horseback riding in the snow. It was absolutely beautiful. Too bad Delylah fell asleep on Keith's horse and missed the whole ride. It was a wonderful trip and it was great having time to spend with Keith and the kids. We did however, have to cut our trip a little short because Lennah came down with a fever on Thursday. We decided it was time to pack up and head home. I would up taking her to the immediate med and it turned out she had a double ear infection.

I guess the last thing to report is that I had my medical today for the homestudy and Keith has his tomorrow. I guess we are one step closer to bringing home baby Paulsen. We should have our homestudy completed in about two more weeks and this Friday we have our fingerprint appointment with USCIS. We were shocked that we got our notice on Saturday and have an appointment so quick.

Homestudy and Wild Night

2010-02-07T20:47:00.002-05:00

Delylah at the ER

Yesterday we met with our new social worker for our first homestudy visit. Things went really well and smooth. I guess it helps that this is the 3rd time around. We really liked the new social worker and it is a blessing that we met her to help facilitate this adoption.
Last night turned into a little bit of chaos. We were eating at a friend's house and of course Delylah decided it was her night to get into some stuff. Needless to say we think she swallowed some nicotine lozenges and wind up in the ER for several hours. All is I know she came up to me with something minty in her mouth and that is what we are thinking she got into. Considering having to take her to the ER on a Saturday night she was a real trooper. She listened and did everything the nurse and doctor told her. However she did not do so well with the charcoal they give you to bind up whatever may be in your system. Anyway, that it it for now. She is home and doing great and back to her chipper little self.

Update

2010-02-03T22:41:00.002-05:00

I guess it has been a few weeks since my last post and you think with baby number 3 I would be updating more often. Well our first homestudy visit is this upcoming Saturday. We have a new social worker so we are a bit nervous being we do not have an established relationship with her left. We were sad about not being able to work with our former social worker but everything happens for a reason and this is just another person entering our lives through the journey of adoption. We also sent off our I-600 A application so at least that is checked off our list. The big hurdle in our journey is California. I guess since all their budget issues their government is extremely slow in processing birth certificates. However, thanks to my friend Nicole's mom this process should be a little quicker since she is being so wonderful and going to have our certificate state certified for us when we get it. I don't know what I would do without her.

I also had Delylah's second birthday photos taken last week. I was quite shocked that she was not her usual happy to be the center of attention self. She was a little scared of the camera guy. But one amazing thing was that lennah was excited and jumped into the photo shoot to get some shots of herself take.

Happy Birthday Girls/ Dossier Progress

2010-01-11T19:59:00.003-05:00

This weekend we had one big birthday bash for our girls. It was a great day at Jump for Joeys. We figured since the holidays make it hard to plan parties and for people to attend we just just join the birthdays together. I know as the girls get older this probably won't happen since they will want special days with their own friends but for now it turned out great. We had a lot of friends join which made the day even better. It was a princess themed birthday which the girls have been into a lot lately. Publix made a special cake for us since each of the girls like different princesses. Lennah has really been into snow white since our disney trip and the little mermaid and Delylah likes cinderella and belle. I still cannot get over that Lennah is now three and Delylah turns two in just a little over a week. The girls are growing so fast and it seems like yesterday they were little babies. I am also amazed at how smart they are for their ages and how quickly they progressed from these little babies who experienced so little. Delylah is talking in complete sentences. Lennah is learning letters and writing letters. We are still working on counting but Lennah does not like the number 3; kind of unfortunate since she tells people she is still 2 or skipping 3 and shooting up to 4. Delylah is also into being stubborn lately. Whenever Delylah doesn't get her way she crosses her arms and stomps away. They are acting like teenagers already.

As for baby Paulsen number 3- we are making progress. Since I was out of work for ice today Keith and I went on a dossier/ homestudy rampage. We got our GBI, FBI, police clearances, etc. done today. I also set up our meeting for our social worker. It seems like we are one step closer to our son. Lennah has already given her input on his possible names either Dora or Marie the Cat. They are both so good maybe we will just name him both. LOL.

Enjoy the pics of the girls birthday party.

Christmas and More

2010-01-03T20:42:00.002-05:00

Christmas Eve with Nanny and Big Ba waiting for Santa

Christmas was great in our house. I think this is the first year where Lennah really got it. SHe couldn't wait for Santa to get here but we had to explain to her that Santa only comes while you are asleep. Of course between family and Santa the girls were totally spoiled. I think next year Santa needs to make some cutbacks on the volume of presents delivered to our house. My parents stayed for the holiday so the girls loved waking up to have nanny and big ba here. The biggest issue with having two girls so close in age is the fighting over presents. Lennah wanted Delylah's presents and vice versa. It really makes no difference what gift is labled to who because inevitably they just wind up sharing in the long run. The big hit with Lennah this year seems to be games. She loves the game don't break the ice and candy land. Delylah is just in love with her new baby dolls. She is such a loving kid and always wants to feed, change, hug, and kiss her baby dolls.

As for baby number 3. Keith and I are working on our dossier check list. I have already gotten our marriage certificate, ordered birth certificates, and contacted our social worker for our homestudy. We are on our way. The girls are so excited about getting a brother. Delylah saw a baby the other day and she asked if it was a baby brother. Lennah also asked me if he is going to take a bath with the girls. The girls will be bunking together when baby paulsen #3 arrives and this is another thing Lennah is extremely excited about. It is just hard for them to grasp the concept of time and explaining how he won't be here for a while. I think in the long run this may be the longest adoption to complete since we are trying to make sure that he doesn't come home until early in 2011 but preferrably closer to the summer that year so it works out for my job and having time off.

Overall we are looking forward to a wonderful and exciting 2010 since our family is expanding once again and most likely for the last time (I won't say never because most likely it would come back to bite us). But I think having a boy and two girls will complete our family.

Big News

2009-12-22T20:36:00.008-05:00

Happy 3rd Birthday Lennah

The girls at Halloween

I have been the world's worst blogger. I know it has been more than two months, Halloween gone, Thanksgiving gone, and no posts. Life has been busy with two little ones, school (still working on my doctorate), and work. The girls are doing great and growing like weeds. Delylah is certainly developing a little temper. Last week she told me I was mean because I wouldn't let her do something. Lennah continues to be my wild child but just as loveable as ever. Lennah also had her third birthday but we are not celebrating officially until January 9th since we decided to have both girls birthday parties together this year. Delylah is almost at two although she tells everyone she is two now. These two just continue to bring such joy to our lives.

On that note we are excited to announce that we are about to begin another journey. We have decided to pursue an adoption in Rwanda. This time things will be handled so differently because we are not using an agency since that is what the Rwandan government prefers. We are also looking to adopt a son this time since we have two daughters. It will definitely be a journey. I am sure the process will not go as quickly as last because it will be trial and error but I have become an expert at paperwork at this point so it is a feat we are willing to undertake. I guess with another impending adoption I will be posting more since so much of the blog was decidated to the wait of the girls. Too bad I have been so bad about blogging since Delylah has come home.

Almost 2 months

2009-10-13T20:38:00.007-04:00

Wow! I cannot believe I have not made a post in almost two months. We have had some wonderful times in the past several weeks. A few weeks ago we met up with two other families with children from Vietnam. This was a wonderful experience. It was also amazing how we run into people as well since one of the families we had actually met in Vietnam at the airport in Hanoi while we were waiting to return home. The girls had a great time and it was wonderful to see Lennah get to hang out with other children who have found their forever families who are from Vietnam.
We have also had an Ethiopian get together at a local restaurant to celebrate Delylah's heritage. It was wonderful to see so many families together with all their children. The girls had a great time playing but were not so into the Ethiopian food. Next time I think we will be packing a lunch for the girls. We also had a cribmate reunion while we were there. It is amazing to watch three beautiful children who were together in Ethiopia, in a crib, growing up together in Atlanta.
With Halloween approaching we also took a family day and headed to a pumpkin patch. I have to say this was one of the best ones that we had been to. The kids loved playing with the animals and just running around. These are the best times when Keith and I could take the kids out for the day and just spend some time hanging out watching the kids enjoy themselves.
As for the girls in general they are growing like weeds. Delylah is talking up a storm and is so cute when she strings her words together. Today when my dad was leaving she said Bye Bye Big Ba. It was too cute. Lennah is learning away learning letters and numbers and not to mention that Delylah is learning along with her. When we count with Lennah, Delylah will yell out the numbers she knows. When we say five she says six.
Lennah has also become the little helper. She helps me bake cookies and even tries to help with the laundry. Other than that the girls are doing great and it has been a fun past two months.

Gotcha Day Delylah

2009-08-15T20:00:00.004-04:00

What a smile
That is one happy baby

Delylah trying on her Halloween costume

It is amazing that Delylah has been in our arms for a year. This day last year I landed in Addis Ababa alone because Keith stayed home with Lennah and was petrified; I was in a strange country and would have to get to know our new baby alone. Little did I know that a year later we would love this baby more than we ever dreamed. Delylah has been a blessing to our family. Lennah will not have to grow up an only child and we have been blessed twice over. In the past year we have seen Delylah go from a baby that was delayed from being in an orphanage into a brillant child and energetic child. She couldn't sit on her own but within a few weeks she was sitting, soon crawling, and walked a week shy of 11 months old. Now she runs all over the house but does have two left feet and trips a lot, she talks up a storm, and has learned how to hold her own when her sister does not feel like being cooperative. I could not have asked from a better gift from God than to be the mommy to two beautiful girls.
My only wish as I look back on this day is that Keith and Lennah could have been there to share in the joy of gotcha day. Adoption is not a cheap route to have a family and two babies back to back made the decision difficult to chose to go meet Delylah alone. However, a week later we were united as a family of four and it was like a second gotcha day all over.
Here are some then and now pictures of our little princess. Gosh she has grown.

Happy Adoption Day Girls

2009-07-23T20:29:00.008-04:00

Today is the most wonderful day of the year. We have so much to celebrate on July 23rd every year the adoption miracle of both our girls. Things are laid out in our lives that we truly have no control over because God is in charge and want a wonderful thing he did for us when he made us parents to our girls exactly one year apart. This very day two years ago was the day we were in Vietnam and signed our names on the official documents to become Lennah's mommy and daddy. It was a quick sign here and there and that was it but it is a day that we will never forgot. Last year we were in agony believing that Delylah would never come home when I checked my email in the morning and received an email from our agency to call them and be near a computer when I phoned them. I immediately called them and they sent the email saying that the Ethiopian courts accepted the police report and did not need to present the birth mom since she was untraceable and that Delylah was officially our daughter because the courts granted her adoption. What a miracle day it will always be for us. Delylah was not able to be covered in hugs and kisses on that day since the adoption was final because I got her home but I assure you that she gets kisses and hugs every day to make up for it.

Today we celebrated this day by giving the girls each a little present. Lennah has really been wanting trains so we got her a little Thomas the train set and Delylah is into music so we got her and adorable disney princess book that comes with a music player. The girls were so excited to unwrap their presents. We took the girls out for the entire day to celebrate. We went to Meskerem in Atlanta for lunch. Unfortunately the girls are not to crazy about Ethiopian food but hopefully it will grow on them. Delylah just chowed down on injera and Lennah just wanted potatoes and carrots. From there we took the girls to Atlanta Puppetry arts since on Thursday afternoons they were having a free museum exhibit but unfortunately Lennah was terrified of the puppets and we had to leave. We spent the rest of the day shopping with the girls and went to a Veitnamese restuarant for dinner which the girls both loved. They can certainly eat a lot of rice. It was a great day spent as a family.

Here are our pics from the day and a look back at Lennah's adoption day. I wish I had pictures of Delylah's adoption day but again we weren't in Ethiopia yet but she was in our heart this very day last year.

Lennah on her adoption day July 23, 2007

Today

Happy Gotcha Day

2009-07-21T20:49:00.005-04:00

Two Years Later

Lennah's Gotcha Day Photos

It was two years ago today that we met our beautiful oldest daughter. It is hard to believe that it has only been two years that we have been Lennah's mommy and daddy because it seems like she has been apart of our family forever. Recently we have been watching videos of our time in Vietnam and sharing with lennah her story and how mommy and daddy came to get her in Vietnam. This is something that is still hard for her to grasp but she will tell you that she is from Nam and wants to watch the baby in Nam on TV. She has truly been a blessing in our lives and in many ways she paved the way for us to become parents twice.

I think back to that first day and being so in awe on becoming a mommy. She was a cheerful little baby and still is today. As a matter of fact she has always been full of energy and for those of you who know her can attest to that fact. She has grown so much in so many ways and so have we as a family because of her. We just want her to know that we love her more than words can express and we are so thankful that God chose us to raise this beautiful little girl. We also thank her other mommy who gave her to us. We know it was a hard decision to make and because of her love we were able to become parents and for that we will be eternally greatful.

In two years we have seen Lennah go from being a 7 1/2 month old who could already hold herself up and walk around furniture into an almost 32 month old who has a serious mind of her own. She likes to pick out her outfits for the day, likes to help mommy on some days, gets into mischief on others, can recognize letters of the alphabet, shapes, sizes, colors, etc. All in all we have one smart little girl. She also never forgets anything so don't try to pull a fast one on her.

On a second note it was one year ago today that we were waiting for decision from the Ethiopian courts granting Delylah's adoption. We received a devastating phone call saying that the courts wanted the birth mother produced to grant the adoption and we were told that this would not happen because she was homeless and untraceable. It was devestating news and we thought Delylah would never be brought home but miracles do happen (More to follow on this story coming up Thursday).

Jamie's Visit

2009-07-09T21:08:00.005-04:00

Lennah's adoption not only touched out lives by making us parents but also by bringing a special person into my life who hopefully will be a life long friend. After we found out about Lennah some how ( I cannot remember how) but we got in contact with another family who on the same day accepted the referral of a little girl. Shortly after they got her referral we got in contact with each other and quickly hit it off as friends. This has been a wonderful friendship for us because her daughterLilly comes from the same orphanage as Lennah and hopefully the two girls will grow in a friendship that because of Jamie and my friendship they will be able to maintain. After we adopted our girls we went through our second adoptions together and she brought home a spirited little boy named Abel and I adopted Delylah who are both from the same orphanage. We hope that they might have a life long bond as well. Even though we live hundreds of miles apart our friendship is one that is based on the love of our children and she is a friend that hopefully we will stay connected and keep bringing our families together. Recently we were blessed with a visit from Jamie and her family and it was a great one. We started off her visit with a get together from the other Illien families who have adopted from Ethiopia and had a wonderful time. We also took all the kids to the American Girl store. WE had some other fun times bringing the kids to the museum and waterpark and watching their friendships develop (Lennah was not very social in the beginning of their visit being the selfish that toy is mine child that she is). We had a great time and hopefully this pictures will do her visit justice. We loved getting to know her older girls Chloe and Wesleigh. We are just so fortunate for her friendship. I have loved having such a great friend to turn too when we need advice on anything.

Disney and Re-adopt

2009-06-25T20:10:00.012-04:00

We got back from Disney several days ago and took a few days to unwind before I updated the blog and talked about the great vacation we had. I also have become slack about posting even more so because I figure I don't even know if people still read this stuff or not. Either way at least we know the girls could read this when they get older and remember some of the experiences they had.
Disney was a great trip. Lennah is at that age where she gets things and loved going on rides and meeting the characters. She became fixated on the Dumbo ride which of course is one of the longest waits in Disney but we sucked it up and did it.
The first part of our trip was spent with me catching up with family that I had not seen in many years since they had moved to Florida quite some time ago and we all lost touch so that was nice getting to see them. We also spent our first day at Disney at Blizzard Beach. This first day was interesting because I guess I should rebuke the claim that no one reads our blog because at the kiddie area a lady approaches me and tells me she reads our blog. It turns out that her little girl was from an orphanage called Kien Gang in Vietnam and she had read our blog because she read the Crow Family's blog who traveled with us. I thought that was pretty cool. You never know who you may run into or meet hundreds of miles from home.
Everyday we had some sort of character meal which Delylah was not fond of at first. She would shake her head and yell no when the characters approached her. She eventually got over her shyness and fear and by the end of the trip was hugging them good-bye like her big sister was doing.
We had a great trip the only problem with going with little ones is bed time. Try being cramped in one room at night and trying to get both kids to bed (not an enjoyable part of traveling).
We cannot wait to take a trip like this again when the kids are bigger and will actually remember the trip. We know when all was said and spent it was so worth it to see the big grin on Lennah's face when she experienced a ride or met a new character.

Today was a big day because we officially re-adopted Delylah. In Ethiopia the adoption of your child takes place before you actually meet them so you have to re-adopt in order for them to become a citizen and to change their name. So today we had our day in court and Delylah officially because Delylah Aviella Paulsen.

Wedding and Get Togethers

2009-05-24T20:25:00.007-04:00

We have been super busy the past few days. On Thursday we were fortunate enough to get together with our adoption agency from Delylah's adoption and the other Illien families. It was a great night and I actually enjoyed an Ethiopian dinner (food wise) for the first time. The girls had a blast playing with the other kids and it was great getting to meet some people for the first time and seeing old friends. It is a blessing that so many families are so near that have also experienced an adoption from Ethiopia. I wish there were more local Vietnamese families and right now with the shut down it does not look like there will be many more families in our area any time soon.

Secondly we had a wedding yesterday and Lennah was the flower girl or at least supposed to be the flower girl. Friday night we went to the rehearsal dinner and Lennah did a great job of walking down the aisle so I assumed all would go off without a hitch last night. Well, Lennah skipped her nap and that made her cranky and super tired from all the excitement the past few days. She started crying when it was time to make her grand appearance and mommy had to come and at least try to save the day. Well needless to say she never walked the aisle and I missed the whole ceremony at one of my best friend's weddings. Ahhh the joys of the terrible twos. All was not a total loss because Lennah looked absolutely adorable and everyone loved seeing her all dressed up. Since she was so tired she didn't even make it through dinner and feel asleep through the whole reception.

Sisters

2009-05-16T21:40:00.002-04:00

I usually just don't throw up random posts any more because our lives are hectic but I have just been so happy at the way Lennah and Delylah have been playing together lately I thought I would share. They now play together by chasing each other around the house. Lennah demands that she gives Delylah a hug and kiss before Delylah goes to bed. Occassionally Lennah will share that is something we still have to work on here and there but they have finally gotten the hang of being sisters. Yesterday I was in Kohl's with the kids and Lennah and Delylah were in the double stroller and Lennah kept pointing at Delylah and telling everyone in the store that she was her sister. It was too cute. It is just so much fun to watch them playing together.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T19:27:00.006-04:00

My Mother's Day present

What a Princess

Driving in Style

Me and my ice cream

Happy Mother's Day to all our friends out there. Today was a grand day. I have so much to be thankful for this Mother's day; two beautiful girls. We had a great family breakfast and my dad and Keith cooked dinner. I also got a beautiful family necklace for mother's day. Yesterday we took my mom to have portraits taken with the girls since that is what she wanted for Mother's day. As soon as I get the pics back I will be sure to post since the girls look absolutely adorable. To back track a bit we raised $131 dollars for our fundraiser for AHOPE orphanage on Thursday. I plan on doing this every year so hopefully next year we will gain more support but every little bit helps. We also hit the taste of Marietta fair two weeks ago and had a great time. Things have been business as usualy around here and now we are just waiting for our big trip. Enjoy the photos.

Important Happenings

2009-05-06T21:09:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow is a very important day in the world. It is World AIDS Orphans Day. This is so important because millions of children are living with this disease throughout the world who do not have access to vital meds that can help them live long and full lives. I am proud that I have encouraged my school to have a fundraiser tomorrow and donate to AHOPE. AHOPE is a orphanage in Ethiopia for children with HIV.
Another important adoption happening is the fact that the adoption tax credit it set to expire in 2010. This allows families to receive a tax credit for almost 12,000 after completing their adoptions. So many people want to adopt and this tax credit enables many to afford adoption. Without support the credit will be reduced and so many children many not find forever families. We are fortunate that this has helped us with the adoption of our girls. We also would like to adopt again (it will be several years) and without this credit we may find it difficult to proceed with bringing home another child. Please show your support for this tax credit by visiting and finding out more information how you can get legislative support for this bill.

Easter and Catching Up

2009-04-20T20:09:00.005-04:00

A Very tired Lennah

The past few weeks have been fun and very busy. Easter came and went and the girls has a spectacular Easter. Between my parents and us the girls have way more candy than they could possibly eat so it is stashed away for mommy and daddy but they got lots of stuffed bunnies and goodies in their baskets that they are actually allowed to have. We also bought the girls a playhouse and slide for the outside that they are thoroughly enjoying it. Mommy has been super busy since I had to go to Atlanta four days in a row for my doctorate residency. In between my Atlanta trips we had several birthday parties this past weekend. Overall it has been a very busy time. We also have a lot planned with the nice weather coming like heading to the taste of marietta fair next week and getting together with friends. Nothing is looking as exciting as heading to Disney in less than two months. Enjoy the pictures all.

One Year Ago

2009-04-07T22:27:00.003-04:00

One Year Ago
Today

One year ago we were blessed with wonderful news for the second time around. While on vacation in Disney we received the news that we were going to be parents again to a beautiful 2 month old baby girl. Time has gone so fast and Delylah has brought so much joy to our lives within the past year. We had a rocky road to travel to get her with many ups and downs and at points we were unsure if her adoption would come to be with the freeze on adoptions from her orphanage for a brief period of time but when all was said and done God had a plan. His plan was for us to be her parents and for her to be our daughter. This time last year I was so shocked beyond belief when we received that phone call. It was one of the biggest surprises of our lives. Surprise because we did not expect a referral so quick. We are truly thankful that God has blessed us with two beautiful and smart daughters and today we celebrate what he has given us. Delylah is growing into a smart and vivacious little girl who has a whole world ahead of her with us there to guide her.

Easter Pictures

2009-04-02T20:18:00.005-04:00

Life has been the usual around here. Recently we had the girls Spring/ Easter pictures done. I try to take advantage of every holiday and have photos of the girls (I can't complain that target does such a good job at an affordable price). Lennah is just getting over the flu and she was the most miserable sick child I have ever been around. She took full advantage of getting to sleep in mommy and daddy's bed since she was sick. We also have a lot to look forward to in the next few weeks Spring Break is coming. YEAH!!! I feel like I need a vacation and extra time with the girls. Over the summer I am also looking forward to my friend Jamie coming for a visit with her kiddos. Her daughter Lilly was in the same orphanage as Lennah and her son Abel was in the same orphanage with Delylah so it is going to be a grand reunion. We also have some close friends getting married in the next several weeks and Lennah is the flower girl. She looks too precious in her outfit. I guess that is all to report for now enjoy the pics.

Lennah's Dance Pics

2009-03-20T22:16:00.003-04:00

14 Months

2009-03-20T21:55:00.007-04:00

Lennah in her recital costume

Delylah in her dance attire

We told Delylah to put her coat on and here's what she did LOL

Sharing my snacks with Jesse

What a face!

Delylah diapering her baby

This is what happens when Daddy picks out the outfits

It is hard to believe but Delylah is 14 months old today. She is progressing so fast. Delylah just started dance class several weeks ago and she loves it. She is the youngest in her class but she started learning all the dances from going and watching Lennah so they said even though she is young we might as well enroll her since she knows a lot of the dances. She is also talking a lot. I guess a lot of it comes from having a big sister to keep up with. She follows Lennah around and tries to do whatever Lennah does. This does also cause major problems because they are constantly fighting over toys but Delylah can hold her own. Actually Delylah now can really instigate some fights. Several weeks ago we were in target and they have there carts where the kids can face each other and it became a hair pulling fest in the store that Delylah started. I can laugh about it now but boy was that incident embarassing. Other than the occasional hair pulling and fighting the girls are doing really good. Lennah now hugs and kisses Delylah good night which is so cute.
We are also getting ready for our Disney trip which is really exciting. We leave in less than 3 months and Lennah is really excited. We talk about how she is going to Disney to see the Princesses and she gets all happy and yells YEAHHH! Hopefully Delylah will have a good time like Lennah did last year even though she is so young.

Catching up from Vacation

2009-02-23T19:37:00.011-05:00

So I have been home a few days and had not had much time to catch up this blog on what's been going on. We went to Myrtle Beach for several days with my parents and unfortunately I have brought back some stomach ailment that keeps coming back. It has not been enjoyable. Everytime I think I am getting better it returns. I guess now I can catch you up on our trip. We headed to Myrtle Beach, yes, I know it is cold this time of year but it was a chance to take a cheap trip. Also it was Delylah's first vacation so it will be a memorable one. Even though it was chilly the trip was enjoyable. We had a great resort right on the beach with an indoor pool which is a perk with kids. We also had a chance to visit Ripley's aquarium which we had a hard time prying Lennah away from the shark slide they had there. I think we spent an hour at the slide alone. We had some great food and best yet the kids were pretty good in the car. I have to say they did really good going and coming. Which eases my worries about our upcoming travels to Disney in a few short months. I think the trip back was pretty good because no one but Keith was feeling well so the kids slept a lot. Lennah was so cute and kept asking to go to the beach and the pool. She had a hard time understanding that the beach was cold and we couldn't spend too much time there. Delylah was a little freaked over the pool the first time. She had never had the opportunity to go swimming before because Ethiopia was cold and it was late in the summer when we got back. She finally adjusted and did much better the next time we took her to the pool. Enjoy the photos for now, I am adding so photos since the last time I posted and our trip photos.

Special Day

2009-02-15T20:00:00.008-05:00

Today is a very special day because of two reasons. Two years ago to this very day Keith and I became parents ffor the first time. It was today that we accepted Lennah's referral. Just for that one reason we have a lot to celebrate. Today also marks the six month anniversary for gotcha day of Delylah. It was six months ago that our baby girl was placed in my arms. Unfortunately Keith did not come to Ethiopia but it has been a wonderful six months of two times the chaos. We are so thankful in so many ways for these two little girls because we would not have Delylah without Lennah. It is just so amazing that one turn in life brings you somewhere that affects so much later on without realizing it. Because of Lennah we have made friends who in turn brought us to our second daughter so we are twice blessed. Who knows where life will take us next but we are thrilled and hopefully at some point will expand our family again. For now I am cutting this post short because we are on vacation in Myrtle Beach and will post more once we return home but for now enjoy the few photos of then and now of our girls.

Birthday Party

2009-01-26T19:11:00.006-05:00

Some of her first birthday portraits

In her traditional Ethiopian outfit

Delylah is loving her birthday gift "Thanks Mommy and Daddy"

Yep all my balloons

The second cake. Looks much more appetizing than the first

All is well that ends well. I guess I must explain that statement. Delylah's party started off with many hitches. To begin we purposely planned her party after MLK weekend thinking many people would be out of town because of the holiday weekend and unfortunately many of our friends could not join us in her celebration but the party must go on. Keith went to go pick up the cake and I guess did not inspect the cake because it was completely melted (the whipped topping) when he arrived home. Of course, this is not something that should happen in 15 minutes. We had to call publix and see how they were going to remedy the situation. They said they would remake the cake. We worried that this would not happen in time because the party was 30 minutes away. At the same time of the cake commotion the dog stole a cookie from Lennah and that turned into chaos because Lennah got upset. Well all turned out AOK. Publix remade the cake which luckily my friend Chasity lives right near them and offered to pick it up on her way here since she was running behind. They also gave us all our money back a nice perk to going through worry that my baby's first birthday cake was going to be ruined. The party was a hit especially the food. Delylah had a great time playing with some friends and has loved her gifts. Mommy and Daddy bought Delylah a Little Tikes Princess Coupe and that toy has become a hot commodity in our house between her and Lennah.

Enjoy all the photos and thanks to all who made her birthday a success.