Oh the joys...the blessings...

As I look back at the week, I think about the joyful and memorable moments with the boys.

Over the last few weeks, Brian's Sunday school class has been working on a notebook. This past Sunday they finished them. Doing the great that he did on it, he showed it off so proudly and carried it under his arm around church that morning.

On Tuesdays, Bill & I take turns taking Lucas to Awana. This past Tuesday was my turn and this week, Lucas received his the patch for his vest and a blue jewel for his first quarter attendance. To be able to see the excitement in his face when he received them and then to hear the excitement in his voice as he told told his Daddy about it, brings such joy to my heart.

Flu shot time... Thursday I took the boys to get flu shots, no joy in that, but it is done and over with. I also took to them to Build A Bear Workshop. They had such a fun time. Both of them picked the penguin from the movie "Happy Feet". Each of them helped the worker fill the penguin. They did the heart ceremony together (this is where they rub the heart on their heart to always be love, on their head to be intelligent, and on their tummy to never be hungry, then it is put into the animal and closed up). Lucas got a Superman outfit and Brian got Batman.

Friday evening as Lucas started to take a drink from his juice cup, Brian decided he wanted the light off. Thus, causing Lucas to hit himself in the mouth with it. No I don't find any joy in that. As a result of hitting his mouth, Lucas lost his first tooth. It had been loose for a while. Unfortunately, the tooth got lost some where in the living room and we have yet to find it. I think I was more excited than he was, though. The picture is of him with his first lost tooth.

There have been other things that I seem to have notice lately...like they way Lucas walks around counting or trying to spelling...or their compassion for others that are hurt (just not for each other yet)...or that they whine about missing their Daddy when he is away, not actually hearing the whining, but knowing that they love him and miss him...or hearing "I love you" or "I'm sorry" when they have misbehaved...or the fairly new "yesss muder (mother)"

Obviously, these are not the first happenings in our children's lifes that have warmed my heart. However, I pray, not that they will continue because I know they will, but that I continue to see them as the blessings they are.

Adoption Status

Waiting, waiting, and more waiting. When we started this process we were told from the time our dossier was logged in at the CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) it would be 6-8 months until we received our referral. So that would have meant any time between 2 weeks ago and mid December. However, since about October 2005, there has been a continual slowdown. At this point the wait is about 15 months. There is constant talk in the China adoption community about whether the wait will speed up or continue to get longer. There are agencies all over the world that are on both sides. At this point we are not even out of the "Review Room" (this is where they review our dossier). They have finish reviewing up to the end of January 2006. It is to my understanding though, that 2 months are in the review room at one time. They have matched parent dossiers with baby dossier (referrals) for those who are logged in on and before August 25, 2005. They send out referrals about once every month, give or take a few days. There has been speculation about why the wait is taking so long, but no one knows for sure. So we will continue to wait.

Where are we now...

Bill is still owner/broker of a real estate company. (Actually has been for about 10 years now. I forgot to include that in the time line). I am still at home with Brian...no school this year...still working on the potting training thing. Matt started his first year of college working on a business degree. Tom is a sophmore and will be getting his driver's license soon. Lucas started kindergarden this year. He is loving it, but having a hard time sitting still all day. And the adoption...well that is another entry.

History of Us

Here is a time line of the big moments since Bill and I met.

10/16/93 Bill & Renay met
5/27?/95 We got engaged
Late Spring 1996 Bill started in Real Estate
7/27/96 Married
6/8/94 Bought our FIRST peice of real estate(sold and bought a number of them since)
5/24/01 Lucas was born
1/23/03 Brian was born
2/22/05 Renay stopped working outside the home
July 2005 Made the decision to adopt
7/31/2005 Signed and mailed adoption application(the journey begans)
8/19/05 Bought our camp
4/7/06 Moved to our current home
4/9/06 Adoption paperwork finished and sent to China
4/17/06 Adoption paperwork logged in in China(known as LID, will be used alot)


Also, because they are such a huge part of our lives I must list a few events that happened before we met.

Bill:
7/30/1987 Matt was born
10/21/1990 Tom was born

Renay:
6/10/1990 Moved to Maine from Louisiana
1/19/1993 Was adopted