Why?

This just keeps getting worse...
Today, we found out that our little girl has been in the hospital for a week with bacterial meningitis. There is nothing I can do for her but pray.
I had already given up all hope that we would travel this summer, but now I may have to give up hope that we ever get to meet her? I realize that may be being a tad dramatic, but people do die from this and it's not like she's here, in the States, receiving top of the line medical care. I mean, she's already been in the hospital, on IV fluids for a week! Is that normal?
Well, pray with us that she will survive and that we will get to meet her someday and give her the family that she deserves. We know that she is a fighter and has survived a lot already, so maybe this will be no big thing to her. Just pray! (for my sanity, too)

Haircuts

It was time...I have never cut Reily's hair short. I was always a little afriad to. When I cut Gavin's really short, it never grew back the same and I loved Reily's baby thin, baby soft hair, but the kid is going to be 4 in a few months, so it was time. As you can see, Reily couldn't care less about the haircut. Gavin, on the other hand, looks like his world has just ended. They are SOOOOOOOO different! I assure you, it only took Gavin about 10 minutes to get over losing his long, messy mop of curls, but they were a miserable 10 minutes. He has now decided that he likes his short hair and I think he looks rather handsome.

I was a little afraid we'd lose the redness in Reily's hair after cutting it, but I actually think it looks more red this short.

Beach Day

Cute Kids

Here they are, as promised.

Eating giant suckers from their aunties. Sooooo sticky.
The boys love painting.

My baby

I want my baby! The good news is that we have been told that they are very close to submitting our case to the courts. The bad news is that we were told the same thing 5 weeks ago. This time, though, they gave specific information about what was needed for our case to be ready and what's left to gather is pretty minimal. So, there's still a chance we'll get that court date before closures.

And, the really good news, we were awarded an adoption grant by a wonderful agency. God truly is providing for the additional cost of this second trip--we're getting closer. Did anyone doubt that He would? :) It's a nice little affirmation that we are, indeed, following His plans for our lives.

It's raining again, really raining. I'm wondering if our yard will ever dry out this year, but then I think maybe the more rain we get here, the less they'll get in Ethiopia and then their closures for rainy season will be shorter. Makes sense, right? Funny how all my thoughts end up in Ethiopia these days. I haven't yet figured out if "pregnancy brain" or "adoption brain" is worse.

I will do my best to post some pictures of the boys this weekend. I know that is what most everyone wants to see anyway. Who can blame you? They are awfully cute.

3 kids?

There are definitely some things I'm going to miss once we have 3 kids...

-each parent only having one kid at a time (I figure the opportunity for this will decrease A LOT)
-"date nights" with my boys (Chris is working most nights--I am NOT taking all 3 out by myself)
-being evenly matched--1 parent for each kid
-having enough hands to grab all children
-having enough room for other people in our vehicle
-having all self-sufficient kids (they can dress, feed and go potty themselves--she will not)

I am sure there are more, but this is what I thought of tonight as I was out on a "date" with my sweet Reily. I will just have to make the most of the time I have with only 2 kids.

Of course, there will be many things that I am going to love about having 3 kids, too...

-I'll have my girl (yes, I am excited to have a girl!)
-I like odd numbers (just a warning, if we get a #4, we won't be stopping there, 5 sounds better)
-the middle row in the van won't be empty anymore
-the hole in my heart should finally be filled after 10+ years of dreaming of this moment
-I'll have 3 children that will all get along perfectly and play well together (positive thinking)
-everyone will just expect my life to be out of control and won't ask why I'm frazzled

Of course, all of this only matters IF WE EVER GET HER HOME!!!!!!!

Still no news on the adoption front to report and I am getting a little tired of saying that. We do, however, have a phone interview for an adoption grant tonight. So, if you think of us, say a little prayer about that. I don't know when we'll receive a decision, but even being considered is encouraging.

I so wish I could post her picture here so that you could all see her. She is beautiful! If you could see her sweet face, you would understand why I long for her.

A New Day

It's a new day and I'm already fine--not over it, certainly--but fine. Thanks for all the concern expressed. It was my choice to be crabby and now I choose not to be. It's going to be a beautiful day. (I think the chocolate covered, custard filled long-john helped last night!)

Poopy!

The title just describes my attitude today (and this is a word I hear often since it is Reily's new favorite!). We received notice that our Visa approval--to bring our baby girl home--is in Ethiopia. Woo-freakin'-hoo, is all I have to say. Typically, people get very excited about this because it means that if they've already passed court, they can now bring their kiddos home. We don't even have a court date assigned to us yet and court closures are coming up very quickly. Other agencies have been able to give court dates to families that have to travel twice, but not ours. They promise that it's coming soon, but then they promised that 4 weeks ago, too, and we still have no court date. As far as we know, they haven't even presented our case to the courts so that we can be assigned a court date. Needless to say, I am feeling poopy about the whole situation right now. I'll be fine, I always pull out of it, but today is just not my day. I should be excited about our Visa approval making it's way to Ethiopia, but instead, it just reminded me that we're still so far away. (I know, it'll be over before we know it and she'll be ours forever, God's timing is perfect and all that, but right now it feels like it'll be FOREVER until she's ours--just let me have one poopy day. I think I've earned that right.)

Birthdays

Today, Gavin turned 5! We celebrated with Happy Meals from McDonald's and a trip to the park. It actually wasn't raining today, so other than the mud everywhere, it was fun.

Sunday was my birthday, but we had Gavin's birthday party. It worked out quite well as I was surrounded by everyone I would have wanted around anyway, the food was great and my kids were the center of attention (Gavin because we were celebrating him and Reily because we weren't celebrating him).

Chris made a sandbox for the boys as part of Gavin's birthday gifts. They love it.

Donations!

We have a great little consignment store in town and they always give people the choice to take back their clothes that the store doesn't buy or to just donate them. I have already purchased nearly every decent item that they had on clearance for kids 5-10, so I decided to ask what they do with the items that people don't want back. They just donate them--no tax deduction or anything like that. So, I asked if I could have the stuff. They told me I'd have to sort it since they don't have the time to do that, but I don't care. Free clothes for Ethiopia is worth a little sorting! I wonder if we'll have enough suitcase space for all the donations we'll accumulate before we go. Maybe it's a good thing we have to go twice...maybe.

On that note, we've now received information that possibly only one of us will have to go the first time. I don't know what we'll decide to do, but it's definitely a tough call. On the one had, we'd save a lot of money and the boys would get to stay with one parent. On the other hand, going alone could be very tough and coming home alone--after meeting my baby girl and having to leave her--could be even tougher. Anyone just dying to go to Ethiopia with me for a few days? Tickets are a mere $2600, or so. :)

Birthday Bouquet

Camping

We planned to go camping this weekend and then we got the dreaded forecast of constant rain. My decided it would be best to just take Gavin in case the trip was a royal disaster. It wasn't. We had a great time! It sprinkled a few times, but never really rained, so that was nice. I think next time we'll take Reily, too. Once we have 3 kids, who knows how long it'll be before we try camping again.

Garage Sale

We had a garage sale this weekend--to raise funds for our 2nd trip to Ethiopia. Lots of friends donated great items for us to sell and even though it was a ton of work, it was very worth it.

The grand total was $1546.50. I'm amazed!

Setting up...it was a little overwhelming, to say the least!
The garage didn't even come close to containing everything on Thursday, thank goodness it was a beautiful day. By Friday, it all fit in the garage--good thing because it poured all morning.

This little pile is all that's left--St. Vincent's is picking it up on Monday.

Thanks again everyone!

Pacifiers

For the past few weeks, I've found myself very detached from this little girl that will eventually be ours, but who knows when! I think it's just my coping mechanism. While we were in Minnesota, we stopped at a Babies R Us, just so I could see if there was anything we needed. There wasn't...but I did decide to buy her some pacifiers and this little clip to keep it on her clothes. I have no idea why, but this little purchase made all of my love for her come rushing back. It's silly really, I have a whole dresser full of clothes for her, but pacifiers made me miss her. No explanation for that. We still have no idea when we'll first travel for her court date, but we're still praying for July. For now, we're just loving our boys and trying to raise some money to ease the financial pain of this surprise 2nd trip.

Minnesota

We spent last weekend in the Twin Cities--visiting family and enjoying all the free things that there are to do.

Sculpture Garden

MN Science Museum. Reily's doing a puppet show and Kacey is reading.

Downtown St. Paul

Swimming at Grandpa Rick's

Como Zoo/Conservatory

Preschool Graduation

Gavin graduated from his preschool class at the end of May. He did a great job singing songs and doing all the actions. He was very proud and so were we!