Monday, June 29, 2009

HOME!






We are home! I don't have much time to go into many details right now-- I have to take both Big & Little S for a routine appointment with the pediatrician this morning.

All is well, considering we were travelling for 36 hours. The flight was brutal, but we kind of expected that. Fortunately, we were all able to stay up to regular bedtime last night and the kids woke up around 5:45 this morning! Not sure if we'll be that lucky tomorrow!

The kids are beautiful.....and wonderful...and we are so in love with them! The transition with PIckles is going as good as can be expected.....what can I say for a 2 year old that hasn't seen her mommy, daddy or big brother in 10 days! We have some rough days ahead of us for sure!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Less than 48 Hours.......

And I'm feeling a mix of emotions. Excitement; of course. That is the obvious emotion. I am beyond excited. Yet part of me is really struggling with some other emotions that I didn't quite anticipate.

I thought I'd be OK leaving Sweet Pickles home. I rationalized how taking a 2 year old on a 17 hour flight was nothing short of insane. And I still believe that. We really need that time in country to bond to Big & Little S. But I'm really not OK leaving her. I have an enormous amount of peace with whom we chose to watch her while we are gone, yet we'll be gone SOOOO long. Wow..I've never left her overnight before and now I'm starting to freak out a bit. I remember the first time Squeeker stayed overnight with my ex. I was a total wreck, but at least in the same State! A million things are running through my head at once. I know I'll be OK once we are in the air, but between now and then my emotions are getting the best of me. For instance, Sweet Pickles is very verbal for her age. She said this to me this morning: "Momma....I love you." I responded: "I love you too!" Then she says: "I love you MORE!" with this big grin on her face. I just melted. Then, later, she threw a banana at her brother in the car on the way to summer camp. So sweet one moment, and then so TWO the next!

Thankfully, I spoke to Amy at Gladney this morning, and she gave me some great suggestions on how to make it easier for her while we are gone. I'd be delusional to think this separation will be EASY....I'm just trying to make it as easy on her as I can. I'm a big girl...I can work through my issues of being away from her that long. She's little.....and will probably be confused, regardless of how much prep work we've done to prepare her for our departure.

Maybe I'm just worrying about nothing.....she could have SOOOO much fun at Uncle Curtis & Aunt Adrienne's house that she won't even know we are gone!

We are as prepared as we can be for this emotional journey. Leaving our youngest behind, returning again to Africa, where I left a piece of my heart in Nov. 2007, and meeting Big & Little S's birth parent. All so very overwhelming at the moment.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

House Update.....






Just a handful of days left to go before we depart for Ethiopia, and I'm afriad that yes, we are still working on the house. I haven't updated in awhile, because honestly, not much visible (electrical work, etc.) stuff was happening. The rain delayed the mason from coming back and finishing up the stairs to the front porch and closing in the garage. This week, the weather cleared long enough for the mason to get the work done.

David is now outside, working furiously, to finish up closing in that wall! The garage door came down last night.......Bye-bye garage. I'm sad....I really loved parking my car in the garage, especially when it rained. But.....next year, when we'll have enough $$$ to finish the inside, we'll have a beautiful and BIG family room!!!

On the packing front: I would have thought 6 suitcases would have been enough space to take all that we needed! Well, we have 4 bags packed, and only one of them has clothes in it. I still have to pack everyones clothes, but Big S's. I'm starting to worry that I'm not going to have enough room. I contacted Mary T. this week and asked her if Gladney could use all of the baby clothes that no longer fit Pickles -- those clothes alone took up an entire suitcase!
I'll post more pictures of the garage/turned family room as the day progresses.
And finally, at 7pm, we installed both windows and the door. Tomorrow's job: buy a lockset for the door and put up the siding.......more pictures to come.

































Although we aren't quite ready for our Cert of Occupancy, we are very, very close!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Celebration is in Order....

Today, the blog world, is celebrating with the Fournet family. 13 months post their referral date, and a year and one day from their first court date (they've had 9 court dates), they passed court today! Wow...I am so incredibly happy, relieved and overflowed with joy for this incredible family that has been a testament of faith to all of us along the way.

Fournet Family: we are celebrating with you today! Congratulations!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Do You Believe in Miracles???? **Updated**





Today, we do! We got an amazing phone call from Mary, our caseworker at 12:38 EST today. We were in a truck wash in Pennsylvania giving our new 5th wheel camper a bath when the call came in. It's a funny story about how that all happened. I'll update this post in a day or so when the reality of it all sinks in!

Today,,,,we are officially the proud parents of:
"S" Faith and "S" David.





























And the rest of the story goes something like this:
My Uncle Joe was at the shop when we received the call on May 22nd from Mary that we did not pass court. My Uncle came bearing some interesting news: my aunt, who lives in Rhode Island, who believe it or not, her husband had a massive heart attack and died 4 days before my mother passed away 4 years ago, had a 5th wheel camper she really wanted to sell. A few years back, she offered it to us at a price we couldn't afford, so we said no. The news Uncle Joe had for us regarding the reduced price of the camper was really too good to pass up. So, David and I, along with Pickles, headed up to Rhode Island on Sunday morning. We stopped in Connecticut, saw some old friends from high school, and then headed to Rhode Island early Tuesday morning to meet the ferry (did I mention my aunt lives on an island...just to complicate things further). After a tortuous 3 hours at the Rhode Island Department of Motor Vehicles, and then driving all around Rhode Island to pick up the camper, and backtracking almost an hour to get her back to the ferry by 5:00, the last ferry of the day, we headed home. We made it about 4 hours, into NE Pennsylvania before we stopped for the night.
Wednesday morning we got up and start heading home. We were stuck in road construction traffic for about an hour and a half and were sitting in a truck wash getting the camper washed when Mary called. Let me back up a minute. Earlier Wednesday am, David asked if we heard from Mary. I checked my email briefly that morning at the hotel, received an incredible update on the kids, then quickly logged off. So, I told David, no news is good news right now, thinking about how I was going to get through the next 8 or 9 days agonizing over whether we were able to get back through local court.
At 12:38 pm, Mary called. She asked how our vacation was going. I laughed and told her it wasn't a vacation..we travelled to Rhode Island to pick my aunt's camper and had no trailer brakes (the people that put the 5th wheel hitch in didn't hook up the brakes). She asked if David was with me, and I said, yep, he's out talking to the guy who's washing the camper. Then she tells me she has some news for me, and I immediately pleaded with her that it be good news because I didn't think I could handle any more bad news. She then went on to explain to me that we had an Appeal to Court, the Judge heard the appeal, brought the birth dad back in, questioned him again. He did admit to being really nervous. The Judge asked him a series of other questions, and through a miracle only God can achieve, the Judge granted our adoption of Big and Little S! Shocked, stunned, flabbergasted, at a loss for words........We had NO IDEA about the appeal. We quickly contacted the travel agent (already had tix on hold), booked our flights and in a few short weeks are heading to Africa!
We are so incredibly happy......and thrilled. We've started to run around in a frenzy trying to get everything done before we leave! Thankfully, we already had the arrangements for Pickles worked out. And I have to start my lists again, and pull out all the stuff to pack that I put back a few weeks ago! Our humanitarian aid is already packed and dropped off at my girlfriend's house in Connecticut who is travelling with us and was only using one of her two suitcase allocations. How perfect is that? Our trip to Connecticut/Rhode Island was just meant to be!