Adoption Year in Review

I got knocked down with a viral infection that has had me in bed for the last 3 days. I don't do illness well. I have been laying in bed mad as a wet hen....thinking about everything I planned on getting done over this vacation. That is when I have not been sound asleep.( Yeah, that kind of illness.) Or watching "Colombo" reruns on DVD. (I like ole Colombo though. His attitude is so much better than mine under adversity.)

I have no profundity today. Maybe tomorrow, the first day of the New Year. I do have, however....

Our Photo Year In Review

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

No pictures this month.
But we did enter MOI on 7/23/08!

August

September

No photos this month

But we did have the birth parent interview, and no request for DNA!

October

November

(From the Dohrenwend Family)



December

Happy New Year, and for those of you still waiting may we all bring our babies home soon!

Traditions

As I was going thru the busy whirlwind of the last several days I spent alot of time thinking about traditions, and wondering what other families do. Every year is a little different, but some things are enduring. Here are a few of ours.

New Jammies on Christmas Eve

Giving and receiving (!) handmade gifts

(For more of this, go here)

Christmas table settings

Recycling

Seriously, I recycle all those fancy gift bags we get every year.

Is this tacky? Please say no.

Being from California, this is a must with dinner.

We usually go to a movie

We often go to world's busiest airport on December 26, someone is always traveling!

This time, we had to say good-bye again to our oldest

(I believe he was ready too. Enough of this family time!)

Perhaps next year we will have new tradition to put into place!

(I'm proud of her, last year she was not old enough, but that girl can dance!)

(New) Traditional posting of Haitian beauties!

What about you? What are your family traditions for the holidays? I would love to hear about them, don't be shy!

Merry Christmas Eve

One of Santa's Best Elves was up very late last night downloading photo's on Facebook. I *suspect* that this was a collaborative effort, and I also *suspect* that Ms. Santa is none other than the director of the Creche. I happen to know that she LOVES to give good surprises to people.(Lord knows she has to give enough 'bad surprises' and I KNOW she does not like that!)

It appears that they got multiple shots of every kid in both locations. Quite an undertaking! They also got multiple shots of sibling groups. It was difficult to chose a photo for this post, but when I saw this one it brought tears to my eyes. I fear my emotions are very close to the surface this Christmas season.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

Christmas @ The Creche

Thanks to our friend LH in Colorado, the packages made it safe and sound! She got some really great photos of the party. Here is what she said in an email to me after she got back:

"I hope you do get those girls home quickly, they seemed SO put together, I bet they will transistion nicely for you!"

Micro-braiding



Chillin'

Family Night

N is home until the 26th. I have not seen a whole of him and he has been busy catching up with his old friends as well as his dad and that side of the family. Last night the entire clan got together for dinner. I would have never imagined that we would be able to do that kind of thing and have it be enjoyable and no big deal, but that's the way it is. The little girl in the picture is PG and Em's (X and his wife's) little girl. She loves her brothers, and she thinks I'm OK, so she insisted on being in the picture. She turned 3 in October and wears the same size as my little birthday girl, who turned either 6 or 7 yesterday, according whether you believe the birth certificate or not.

Also, its freezing outside, but LG doesn't mind the cold at all. He as always been one tough kid. N is very thin and he gets cold. He has been a vegetarian for years, even a vegan for the last 2-3 years, but he finally gave it up this year. While I am proud of him for his convictions, I am not-so-secretly happy he is done with that, for a multitude of reasons. Hopefully he will put a little weight on. Anyway, the boys are very different in that N is pretty avaunt guard and loves to be edgy, and LG is very traditional and wants to join the military when he gets out of school. (I told him college first, and ROTC, so he can enter as an officer) That is just how they are.

I am trying still to talk N into going to school, and he is thinking about it. He really is only interested in Art, and I totally support that. He is good at it, and has alot of interesting ideas. I would like to see him take his talent and expand it at University. He loves living in San Francisco. I used to love the city life, but as I got older, I relished my country roots, and so that is what I have returned to, and I am happy with that. It will be interesting to see what happens with him, I don't expect him to get out of the urban life for quite awhile. Today I still have shopping to do. He asked me to take him so he can go get a new tattoo. LOL. Tomorrow we are painting the girl's room. Yes, on Christmas Eve. I'm taking advantage of him being home!!!

My Birthday Girl

Happy Birthday - The Song

Happy Birthday to my little girl who is so far away from home today. I hope you have a wonderful day, and I pray that you know somehow that you are loved.

Mommy