Sunday, February 22, 2009

Taylor's clay art

Well, I posted a piece of art from Jack, thought I'd post one for Taylor.
She also does an excellent job...in my opinion :)...on her paintings, but she has a talent for clay art as well. I had 2 packets of modeling clay I hauled all the way to Alaska and back for something to do on the plane and never used it. However, we used it for a science experiment the other day and she's been playing with it ever since. I can't get over the detail she has. This creature, called "Little Tiny" is only 1 1/2 inches tall and 1 inch wide at the arms. Very tiny, yet she puts on a necklace and facial features. Anyway, had to brag :)


~L

Saturday, February 21, 2009

spelling bee

Taylor and I went to a Homeschool Expo today where there was a spelling bee and where homeschooled kids displayed what they've worked on this year. Taylor loved the spelling bee! I didn't know it, but several of her friends participated, but we got there too late and missed seeing them. I hope it is something she will try next year. She would be very good at it.

~L

Friday, February 20, 2009

Dossier, Jack, travel


I am sitting here making 7 copies of my newly received, certified birth certificate hoping my ink doesn't run out. One more document I can check off the list! Nathan and I have a psychologist appointment scheduled for next Thursday, so that will be good to get out of the way. I just hope the psychologist can figure out we're okay in just one session :)

Yesterday, while Taylor and I were doing school, Jack wanted to paint, so I gave him some paper and he gathered the paints and brushes. This is what he created and he calls it "The Sun". He put a star in the center because the sun is actually a star. He then changed what he wanted to be when he grows up to an artist and a daddy instead of a nurse and a daddy.
Jack is also into the human body. Bones, organs, everything. He loves reading books on any of that. We were at the book store a few weeks ago and he really wanted this model of the human brain. It comes apart so you can learn the different parts of the brain. It was $20, so I told him I would pay half since it's educational, but he's have to earn money for the rest. He cleaned and cleaned and earned money, but then spent it at Wal-mart on a Star Wars toy, so he started over and finally earned enough to go back to the store. He did, but got the 'body' instead of the 'brain'. He LOVES it. He put it all together today, organs and all. Next he wants the skeleton. Good news for me, I get more cleaning help :)
Last week while talking to Vera (gal associated with our adoption agency who travels to the orphanage frequently) said we could need to travel as soon as August. This was a shock to us and sooner than expected. Of course, that timeline could change at any time, so we'll see. Just to clarify, this is NOT to bring the child home. This is to meet with the child for the first time and meet with Haiti officials for the first time. In doing so, we save time on something else later on (visas?) I've emailed Vera to ask why that's important. We won't have a better timeline until our dossier (Haiti's required paperwork) is turned in. The dossier is what I'm working on now. My goal is to get all of this paperwork done and to the Secretary of State to sign off on it before I leave for Mexico on March 5th, but that may be stretching it. (The Secretary of State signs off that all notaries are real notaries and that they signed everything properly). From the Secretary of State, the paperwork will then be sent to be translated, then it will be sent to the Haiti Consulate in Chicago.
Anyway, I just finished making 21 copies of paperwork and it's "pert near" (as G'pa W. says) midnight, so better head to bed. Nathan has a terrible head/chest cold, so we all better stay rested.
~L




Saturday, February 14, 2009

Dossier, Valentine's Day

Well, we are full force in the dossier process and I have to admit, the week after homestudy paperwork was complete and the dossier paperwork began felt like a vacation!! This is exhausting work (mentally mostly), but oh so worth it. The homestudy paperwork was pretty fun...telling about ourselves, our relationship, our life, getting references and background checks. The paperwork for Haiti is a lot more extensive and very sensitive. All signatures have to be correct, all notaries have to be exact and not close to expiring. All wording on all documents has to be just so. Pressure. But, it will be okay. I've been given a list of documents I need to get and make several copies of and that's almost done.

I've been talking with Vera, the gal who actually goes to the orphanage and may be the one who will join us with our new baby! She has been excellent and very patient with me and my hundreds of questions. She thinks we'll need to travel this summer which is shocking to us. She gave us a general time-line and things seem to be moving faster than I anticipated, but it's Haiti. Things take forever there, so I'm still counting on 2 years start to finish. We are truly excited though. My guess is we'll know who our child is within the next 2-3 months, but again, just a wild guess!

We took the kids to the zoo today for Valentine's Day. It was 43 degrees with a slight wind, so we bundled up. We had a great time. Needless to say, not very many people were there, which is just how we like it! After we had walked a ways, Jack's feet were starting to hurt and he wanted to ride on Nathan's shoulders. That reminded me of our hike at Wilson's Creek last weekend. We had hiked for a bit when he said, "I'm not tired of hiking, just tired of walking" We weren't even hiking, it's walking on flat, gravel trails. It was hilarious!

At the zoo, there was a family there. There was a black girl who called her caucasian dad 'daddy'. Nathan saw that and said later that that made him so excited to get our new baby. It seemed like God reminding us of what our family is about to look like and it is truly wonderful.

~L

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Homestudy, dossier, life book, Jack

I just got an email from the adoption agency that she wants to talk on the phone next week about US CIS. I assume it's a good thing and it's to go over the process and what is all involved. I also got an email from a lady who will assist us with our dossier!

The last week I haven't heard from the agency or the social worker, so it's nice to hear we're so close to moving on to the next step. One step closer to meeting our new child!!!

We were hoping to get a rough draft of the home study by now, but are waiting on one reference letter to be turned in. Once that is turned in, then hopefully the homestudy can be completed in the next week or two. I enjoyed the homestudy process, but will be glad when it's over only so we can proceed.

All we have left to do for the homestudy is to complete several hours of adoption training within the next 6 months, which is fine because the agency requires 10 hours of training as well, so we'll kill 2 birds with one stone there. Need to get started on that though.

I went on another scrapbooking outing, only it was an all-dayer, not a long weekend. And guess what??? I found (by chance) 2 pages of adoption stickers and a page with adoption sayings on it. I was thrilled. That will probably be enough as I don't want every page of the life book to have adoption references splattered all over it, but these were really neat.

I need to get started on this child's life book, but of course, I want to read a couple of books on the best way to do it. Of course, I was going to make a scrapbook anyway, but I'm guessing there's some stuff that needs to go into a lifebook that I haven't thought of. Can't wait to learn more about that. Back to the library, I go...

Well, it's a beautiful day today and I'd like to go hiking. The problem is convincing Jack! He's having so much fun playing dinosaurs and star wars in his underwear today!

~L