My little man is 5!!!!

It seems like just yesterday I was seeing pictures of my sweet youngest son for the first time...

And here he is March 19th on his 5th birthday. What a big boy!

We had his birthday party at the Children's Museum that he LOVES and he invited a bunch of his buddies. We had a blast! First we filled the kids full of sugar...

Lightening McQueen...of course!!

Then, we set them loose to run like wild animals all through the museum.

5 things (of so many) that I love about my 5 year old boy:

1)You are always so sweet...running up to give me kisses on my back, hands, legs, cheek, at all times of the day.

2) The way your HUGE eyes and dimples light up when you are smiling and being mischeivious.

3) How you love and hug on your brother and sister and are always willing to share whatever you have with them.

4) Your infectious giggle...it's hard not to laugh with you...even when I'm supposed to be disciplining you.

5)The way you always ask me to pray for whoever may be in trouble or hurt when you hear a siren.

My J, you are the sweetest and cutest little stinker, ever! I love you with all my heart and I pray that God continues to bless you your entire life. I know He has blessed me with allowing me to be your mother.

On a side note...birthdays always make me so sad for my childrens' birth mothers. Erika, I pray for you daily, and I pray you have peace. There are not adequate words to thank you for this amazing little boy that you brought into this world and that I am priveleged to call my son. God bless you always.

Orientation Call : )

T and I had our "orientation" call with our agency Tuesday night. This is our fourth adoption with this agency, but times have changed and so has alot of the paperwork/contracts, etc. from the agency. It's totally necessary and always good to be informed and able to ask lots of questions. We are all for doing it all "by the book" and I certainly am all for adoption agencies really making sure that parents are informed and ready for what adoption and the process entails. I do have to share though, how funny it was to us, that when our "orientation" packet came in the mail, there was a one-sheet highlighting one of the families that had adopted through our agency as a sort-of "intro" piece....and it was US!!! Ha ha. Totally unexpected. We got a good chuckle and a warm feeling from that.

And, yes, our bed is unmade...I'm not exactly a domestic diva when it comes to that stuff : )

So, anyway, we have signed contracts and will soon begin even more paperchasing. I just can't wait to see pictures of our future daughter...but that may take a while. In the meantime, we are loving life with the kids and just so grateful for this opportunity. I am also "stealing" a stolen post from my fellow adoption buddy that shows in a humorous way how this all goes...enjoy!

Here's a thumbnail sketch:

1 Fill out questionnaire.

2 Send check.

3 Fill out big questionnaire.

4 Send another check.

5 Get interviewed.

6 Get fingerprinted twice.

7 Write check.

8 Apply for Visa.

9 Write big check.

10 Get more fingerprints.

11 Get copies of every official certified thing ever written about you or files on your behalf.

12 Get your friends to write nice things about you.

13 Get them to write more and different nice things about you to put into the file.

14 Wait forever for the INS to figure out you aren't a terrorist training camp for toddlers.

15 Send another check with your completed file you've copied 9 times because you want to be sure.

16 Send everything to the agency and hope that this is NOT the one package they lose today.

17 Wait.

18 Wait some more.

19 Cruise the boards to find out who's getting referrals.

20 Worry that maybe you picked the wrong agency. (not a worry at all for us!)

21 Wait some more.

22 Get Referral!

23 Send last check.

24 Wait

25 Wait.

26 Check prices for airline tickets.

27 Get shots.

28 Check Passports.

29 Check on Visas for Ethiopia.

30 Wait.

31 Get a court date!

32 Worry you won't pass court.

33 Blame everyone and everything for anyone not passing court.

34 Panic.

35 Pass Court (or not, skip back to 32).

36 Panic some more.

37 Finish the kid's room. (which in our case is two rooms because we are switching out L's room with J2's room)

38 Buy more toys.

39 Panic some more.

40 Wait.

41 Get second round of shots.

42 Wonder why there are 6 pages of things you MUST pack for a 10 day trip.

43 Wonder if ANYONE ever packed that much.

44 Wonder how anyone did and STILL brought things over to donate to the program (feel guilty you couldn't bring more).

45 Meet your child.

46 Joy, mixed with panic because all of the your fears and doubts and everything else are staring you down and sizing you up.

47 More bureaucracy.

48 Travel back to the USA with a child that thinks he's just been kidnapped.

49 Kick yourself for not test installing the car seat before you left.

50 Home. Sleep. Panic.

51 Read your child his first bedtime story (that he still can't understand because he doesn't speak English).

52 Realize that it was all worth it.

Simple

Why Yes, we are insane!!!!

Yep, here we go again...T and I are paperchasing for our fourth child! We are going to adopt another Ethiopian princess, hopefully between the ages of 12 and 24 months. I am so excited I can hardly stand it! You would think after doing this three times I would be an old pro, but I am completely overwhelmed with all the paperwork and stuff still to do. There is much more to do since the Hague treaty was radified in the U.S., but just like before, we'll get through it and our family will be so blessed! We are currently working on our homestudy documents because that can be the most time-consuming part of the process. We will also begin our quest for the almight I-171H...the government's blessing on our adoption and allowing us to bring our child home....which means we have to be fingerprinted twice (again). We will be prodded in any state we have lived in to assure that we are not child abusers (not a bad thing, I think), and have to prove about 3,459 times that we are who we say we are...crazy, huh?

Today, T and I spent my lunch hour downtown at the lovely smelling Sherriff's office in the basement of the city/county building trying to get a criminal background check done. For those of you wondering, neither of us was arrested : ) The woman behind the window though should definitely be cuffed for rudeness. Man, I can't believe how rude this lady was to us and how bitchy (sorry, but that's the most fitting word) she got when we asked for our docs to be notarized. You would think that we asked her to saw off her arm and hand it through the window! Well, I'm proud to say that I stayed calm and sicklingly sweet to her and finally got the requested documents (after 2 hours and 60 dollars).

And, as my wonderful husband reminded me...there are alot of bumps in this road, but the ride is so well worth it! Thanks to all of you who are praying for us and to all the awesome friends we have made in the adoption community. We are blessed beyond belief and so honored to parent these children. I can't wait to have even more chaos in the casa!!!!