Like Mother - Like Daughter

This weekend James went up north to his annual "golfer guys" reunion. This is a trek that James started organizing and includes about 6-7 of the closest golf buddies from Santa Maria Country Club. They played on the high school and some of them on the college golf team together - so it is a fun weekend of golf, bbq's and old memories! I am so glad he gets to have this special time!

I, on the other hand, spent a lot of extra mother-daughter time with my mom. Since I have been helping James in the office (and didn't get the usual "teacher summer vacation") we haven't had as much time together as we usually do each summer!

We were talking about getting the kids and mom remarked that I was born so close to her birthday that she always thought of me as her birthday present. Well, I had just been thinking that myself . . . my birthday is next month and I all I want is my two children. Like mother - like daughter!

I told James that and he said that is all he wants for my birthday,too!

ADOPTION UPDATE!

Yes . . . everything is still moving forward. It just takes so much time! Of course we would have gone to get the kids the day we were matched - but social workers have their own time table - and it is none to speedy.
It seems that the children's social worker has had a family emergency and so the scheduled meetings have been delayed until next week. After those meetings we will begin frequent visits with the kids over a two to four week period. Depending on how comfortable they are determines when they come home!
They have been told that we are planning to adopt them -
Justin asked if we knew they had a young adult sister to which the social worker said yes and that we looked forward to meeting her and having her be a part of our extended family. He responded with "Good, I've been worried about that - now I am ready to be adopted!". Andrea just wanted to know how many pets we had- as she is an animal lover! Both of them are excited about being adopted!
I am so happy and already love them! James has been carrying their picture around in his briefcase and keeps talking about all of the places we can take them.
We'll keep you posted!

Waiting No More

For those of you who got a quick look at our blog from yesterday I did remove it temporarily.
Nothing has changed - but I may have blabbed more information than I was supposed to!
(So what's new . . .)
I will put that blog entry back up as soon as I get the go ahead from our social worker.
Until then keep us and our two little ones in your prayers, and know that your wait to see their pictures won't be that long - I promise!

WAITING!

Us at Legoland!

It seems like in life there a lot of waiting! Right now we are in a wait mode . . . and it is a hard place to be. It seems like waiting is the last thing we ever want to do from birth on.


Babies hate to wait for their bottles or to have their diaper changed...

Moms and Dads can't wait until their baby takes their first step or says their first word . . .

Later they can't wait for them to sit down and be quiet . . .

Toddlers can't wait for their toys . . .

Preschoolers can't wait for their turn on the swing . . .

Kindergarteners can't wait until they can read . . .

Kids can't wait for birthdays, Christmas and to spend the night at Grandma's . . .

Teenagers can't wait to drive, go to college, or get to vote . . .

Young adults can't wait to get their first big job and get married . . .

Then we can't wait to buy our first home and decorate it . . .

We can't wait to go to Europe and all the other vacations places we long for . . .

We can't wait for that nice luxury car . . .

We can't wait til the Angels are the World Series again . . .

Now here we are when others can't wait to have grandchildren and . . .

We can't wait to bring our kids home!

One of my good friends said that we should just enjoy right now because once we have children not only will our life never be the same but - it also will always be about them.

So . . . we are trying hard to take her good advice. Last weekend we got away to San Diego for a night to a very nice resort where we could behave like adults and what did we do? We decided it would be fun to check out Legoland. This weekend we went to Redondo Beach and Manhatten Beach and checked out the Redondo Beach Aquarium. I even checked on birthday parties there.

Tonight is our Monthiversary - that is the 8th of each month when we celebrate our marriage by going out to a very grown up restaurant, having wine and a nice dinner and maybe doing a grown up activity afterwards. It's my turn to pick the restaurant . . .hmmmm . . . should I pick Chuck E. Cheese or the McDonald's with a playland?

Lynn . . we are trying hard to take your advise - but I am sorry to say we are not doing such a hot job at it. We'll try harder tonight.

Bittersweet!

We had our adoption support get-together last night! What a great evening as our closest friends and family gathered for dinner and to meet our social worker. We had lots of laughs while we reminisced about our friendships and relived some of our fondest memories.

Our dear social worker explained to everyone the process which we have gone through, and what else we have to look forward to . . . it was such a wonderful evening where we felt the love and support of all of those there.
We know there were others that wanted to be there and we truly appreciate you as well!

On the sad note for the evening . . .
we learned that the two children we were interested in will be going to a different family -
and although we were very disappointed we are happy that they will have a forever family and we know that there are two children out there waiting for us . . .
Know this . . . between us and our great social worker we will find them!
We'll keep you posted!

Getting the Kids!

Adopting the kids is kind of like having a baby or in this case a couple of babies!

When you are pregnant, friends and relatives call every few minutes to find out if labor has started or if you have headed to the hospital, however . . . in our case we get the calls to find out if the kids have "come home" yet.

Here's the update . . .

We have . . .
Turned in absolutely all of our information . . .
Finished all of our classes . . .
Had our last interviews and home inspections . . .
Sent our photos in . . .
Our worker has finished the all important "HOME STUDY" . . .
We are having our adoption support meeting tomorrow night . . .
Have found 2 adorable kiddos . . .
and now . . .
we are waiting for the matching coordinator to tell us - it is a match!

We'll keep you posted!

VACATIONS!

Vacations are a funny animal and I love them . . .
however I haven't decided what part of the vacation I love so much!


I spend an enormous amount of time planning each detail of our trips - even driving trips like the one we just returned from to Colorado.


I pack food, clothes for every imaginable kind of weather, print out driving instructions for places we plan to go to (and some we only might go to), call friends and family we might see, write up detailed itineraries and give a copy to everyone we know, and of course I make reservations for hotels, etc. months ahead with a print out of all the amentities and things to do in the area . . .

I just love doing all of that and makes me so look forward to the trip!


Then we head out . . . when I was a kid my dad would start out on a driving trip about 4:00am ( he always said it was to beat the heat, but I think it was because in our excitement to begin the vacation we couldn't sleep later than 3:00am), however James is not quite the morning person I am so we usually get out by 8:00am or so. The drive is soooooo beautiful! I even enjoy the desert (for about 10 miles or so) then we break out our favorite music - full blast, open a couple of Cokes and sing at the top of our lungs! The energy expended with all that singing usually requires a snack, of which I pack many. So . . . we break open the chips, cookies,or trail mix and start munching. Of course by now it is about 10:00am and we are begnning to think where we might stop for lunch and so it goes that most of our drive time is spent planning the next eating event.


When we finally arrive at our destination we carefully review all of my plans for the area and determine that what we really want to do are things other than I had planned for - so . . . we always have to ask for directions, ask for recommendations, and revamp my carefully designed plans!

This time we stayed in Avon, Colorado, just three hours from our good friends in Colorado Springs. We made the trek to their house for a couple of days and then one of them visited us in Avon. We had a great time except for the altitude adjustment that I did not plan for! No one told us that at 12,000 ft above sea level that you cannot breathe and get tremendous headaches. So, the hikes we had planned were out of the question and the good sturdy hiking shoes stayed in the closet the whole week. We did hit the pool and spa a few times . . .but then the thunder and lightening storms began. I personally have an aversion to getting electricuted - especially this close to becoming a mom. Maybe next year I will feel differently . . .

All in all it was a very nice trip with the highlight being the time we spent with our good friends and the beauty of the mountains! We miss them so much since they moved to Colorado.

So is it the planning, actually getting there, or getting home that is the best part of the vacation?? I don't know . . .I think I love it all!