The past week!

We have been so busy this past week! Jake had his Pre -K graduation this past Thursday.In the program he was asked to do the hula hoop.Wow ,he did a great job! He bid a sad farewell to his friends and teachers from this year.But he is filled with excitement about attending elementary school this Fall. We live in a great area filled with tons of kid's! Not to mention the security he feels that the elementary school's playground boarders our backyard fence! It is always great to know that Mom is just on the other side of that fence!

Over the Memorial holiday we went to my Aunt's bayhouse.Bret and I are horrible about photographing various events as they unfold. We always have great intentions but the camera rarely makes it out of the car!!! As for this weekend ... no exception! You will have to take my word for it that we had a great time fishing and swimming. I will leave you with the only evidence that the weekend was a blast! This is Jake in the car on the way home. I was forbidden to post the photo of Nick but I will say ...Lots of snoring and drooling was going on!

N

A wonderful suprise!

We started this journey to adopt last year at our home in Dallas. We had research agencies and countries and prayed that there would be a clear sign of where we were supposed to go. We truly believe that this adoption was planned for us long ago. Our hearts are filled with the love for a child we have never seen or met . So the lengthy research began.Along the way ,we encountered some wonderful people who shared their knowledge of the adoption process and their love for these children. One such agency ,that deals with placing special needs children , had a referral of a very special little girl.This child was far from "special needs "in our book but just incredibly special. I studied that little photo for weeks as we started gathering the necessary documents.It is amazing how emotionally invested you can become to a little photo. We received a call that another family was paper ready and officially had accepted the referral. As hard as it was to hear,We were truly happy for that little girl. She now would have a family to call her own.
Today,I was looking through some various adoption blogs when I came across a title that just caught my eye. To my surprise ...it was her! She looked amazing! How great that is to see that she received a wonderful family . She is with the family that God had chosen for her long ago.It just made my day! He certainly does work in mysterious ways!I believe that this is one of those moments sent our way to renew our patience and faith in this long journey.I take great comfort in trusting in his plan for us and faith that the daughter that he has chosen for us will be revealed soon! Now... I will return to decorating my daughters room! I sure hope she likes pink!!!!I will reveal photos soon!
Until then,
N

My baby is growing up!

This past Friday night my oldest son,Nicholas,attended his first dance.We went out shopping that afternoon for some clothes. Of course he headed straight for the Kenneth Cole Store( thank the lord that it is an outlet!)Thanks Kevin for planting that seed of fashion in my 13 year old! Anyway he had a great time at the dance. At this age there was not a lot of dancing.I imagine the girls were on one side and boys grouped on the other!Like a group of animals evading a predator! Wow, I feel old! It seems like yesterday Nick was just a little baby and wanted to be carried around.Now, he could carry me ! Anyway I will leave you all with some photos of the big event!Next year he will be in high school. I imagine that the next dance photo will have a girl standing next to him! I am way to young for this!!!

The Wait

Yes, We are still here! Sorry I have not posted in a while but there has not been any new news on the adoption front. We have been patiently waiting for the Russian holiday to be over . We are really hoping that there will be some new activity this approaching week as they all return back to work! So...in the meantime we have been keeping busy trying not to think about how much longer till we receive "The Call"!!! This week a friend traveled for her 1st trip to met her daughter. She was so kind and generous to share such a special time with all of her fellow PAP's. I know that hearing her thoughts and experiences helped renew my hope that this will one day be a reality for us as well.Thank you O! These past few weeks I have reflected about the waiting portion of my paper pregnancy and how difficult it has been.But what has been on my mind this week is how difficult it must be for those children that are waiting.These children see some of the other children in their group leave with their new families. As time goes by they probably ask themselves when is it going to be my turn or why haven't I been chosen.For some, they will be lucky and get wonderful families that will show them the love of a Mom and Dad.For the others,they will wait... forever.I hope and pray that each child will know the love of someone in their life, whether it be a family or a devoted caregiver.These thoughts have put my waiting in perspective.It has been over a year since we first started on this journey ,in comparison some children have been waiting their whole life.
I will leave you with some projects that we have completed .One image is of the putting green( with a dry creek w/a bridge!) for the kid's and the other is the drapes in Bret's office.Yes MO,I really finished them!These projects really have helped the time go by . I will not say faster but have helped me cut back on the number of times I check the caller i.d.,emails and blog stalking!I do believe that Dr. Phil could devote a whole show to the additions of PAP's!!!!!
Nicole

Oh Yes Michelle... More shopping!!!!!!

I have to admit I am not a person that goes to the mall on a regular basis. I know alot of you might find that hard to believe! I went back to the mall to pick up two items that I had on hold . After reading Michelles blog about her shopping extravganza at the Children's Place, I felt compelled to see if there was anything that I had missed for the orphange. Well ... I walked out with five huge bags full to the rim! They had a sale that I could not pass up! there was not one item that I purchased that was more than .99 ! Their hats and gloves were only .49! I had missed a sale rack the day before that had all heavy coats that were just .99! I was only able to find 2 left. As soon as I got home, I found two sales associates in other states that might have some in boxes. Keep your fingers crossed that they find some! How great would those coats be for those children.
This shopping trip yielded:

2 heavy coats
42 pj's
15 pairs of gloves
23 sweaters
11 fleece pullovers
6 hat
________________
Grand Total:$ 86.00!!!! I will leave some photos of all of my treasures ! Enjoy! N

The benefits of retail therapy!!!

Just what the doctor ordered! There is something about shopping that just makes you feel better! I set out on a mission today to stretch the dollar bill as far as I could! I set a budget(which I totally ignored) and got tons of clothes for the children in the orphanage.The girl at Gymboree went in the back and pulled out a box of hats and gloves for .99 each!I also hit Carters and made out like a bandit there too. I figured this was a productive way to kill time while waiting for the call. I will leave you guy's with a few photos of some of the goodies !Enjoy!

N

Granny

One week ago today ,we received a call that Bret's mother had passed away. She had brief but no less courageous fight against the cancer that ravaged her body. This passed week has been spent reflecting back on happier times spent together as a family. Nancy was above all else a wonderful grandmother.She lived her life through each one of her four grandchildren.Where most women first learn the news that they are moving into "grandma" status,they thought of being labeled with one of the traditional names, accompanied by the stereotypical images, really horrifies them. Not Nancy! She relished in the fact that her two boys had each entered fatherhood and gave her the greatest gift of all...Grandchildren. She was then referred to as Granny. She picked the title out that to most brought images of a elderly women with a cane sporting a grey bun. She was far from that .I regret that our daughter will not ever know her and miss out on the love that Granny would have showered her with. Nancy would have provided this child with the understanding and perspective that someone who was adopted themselves could provide. We love and will continue to miss her everyday.We take comfort in knowing that she is not suffering anymore and that she is finally home.
N