I'm still here.

Neglecting the blog... I hate it when the blogs I follow don't post for weeks and here I am a culprit of not keeping up with my own blog... Last week I took the kids out to take their Christmas card photo. I'm usually a little more organized in that area too. I won't post their actual Christmas photos that made the cut on the card until later this week when friends and family get the cards... but here are some that didn't make the cut. I just got my cards that I ordered from snapfish on Sat. so the cards went out on Monday! All the kids are doing well. Jack is already done with school for the semester. She aced all her finals and has a 2 week interim at her school when she returns. She is taking a sewing class and a MAC class. I think that should be fun for her and then she returns to 4 new classes for Spring. Biology, Alg II, Spanish(3rd year) and Art. Jaymie begins basketball games after Christmas along with Will. It will be fun to see how they develop their game. It will be Will's 3rd Christmas with us. It is nice to still see the magic of Christmas through his eyes. Can't wait to see what Santa delivers to the kids this Christmas. I won't ever forget the pics I got of Will at Christmas when he was still at his orphanage, so as the tradition carries on, we won't forget the little ones left behind there and continue to sponsor so they can feel some Christmas love while they wait for their forever families.

Fav foto Friday!!! TGIF

Thanksgiving break took us on an adventure to FL. We drove there and it was not all that bad of a drive. Drove 11 hours straight on the way down and cut the ride in half on the way back. We were able to get in two trips to the beach while we were there. Jeffrey has family in FL so we were able to visit with all of them. Will and Jaymie had fun snorkeling with their dad. Will lasted a little bit longer than Jaymie. Jaymie and Jacklyn spent a lot of time combing the beaches for shells and seaglass and shark teeth. Nice to get away, but always good to get home!

Fav foto Friday!!! TGIF

Zootastic getaway!

Will getting cozy with the goats.

Jack and Jaymie feeding a few of the many goats that lived here!
This cutie was crawling up to Will to give him a kiss!!!
Always fun playing in the corn sandbox. I'm still finding kernels around the house!
This little fella was trying to escape!
Jaymie and Flower the skunk!!
Will crawled around with these cute little guys for a while. We learned they can feel when you pet their shell. They were not shy or slow at all! This one was only 8 years old.
My little angel!
Jaymie Claire feeding the Llama

We had a beautiful weekend here last weekend so we loaded up the kiddos and took them to a place called Zootastic. It was a really cute place and the kids got lots of "hands on" with all the animals there. They even got to hold a skunk. I loved the tortoises.

Fav foto Friday!!! TGIF

Be the Change

The 3 C’s of life are choices, chances, and changes. You’ve gotta make a choice to take a chance in order to change. (unknown)

We made a choice, took a chance and loved the change. November is National Adoption Month. Be the Change!

fav foto Friday!!! TGIF

13-0

Just have to post how proud we are of Jacklyn and her high school tennis career so far. She is shining out there in the HS tennis world. Even though I get very stressed watching her matches, I still enjoy it to some degree. The game builds her confidence and self esteem in herself and she carries herself well on the court. She has her daddy's calmness out there. Even during close matches she seems to keep her cool. Last night was one of those matches. 5-7, 7-5, 11-9 in the tiebreaker. She pulled it off after being on the court for a marathon 3 hours. CRAZY! She remains undefeated at playing #2 on the team along with the #1 player on the team. They are being interviewed on Monday by a reporter who wants to do a story on them and their undefeated singles records. I'll post a link when the story gets published. Go Jack!

Sept 17th 2008

Yesterday marked the day that I got the call. Just like 9-11, I remember where I was and what I was doing the moment I got the call. The area code of the adoption agency in Washington was on my screen. I thought to myself that no way was this a call referring us our son. We had only had all our paperwork in for 3 and a half months. I was expecting at least a 9 month wait. But sure enough it was our agency calling to say they had a little 2 year old boy for us who was paper ready and were we willing to take a look at his medical file/paperwork report and see if we would like to accept the referral. Of course I really knew I didn't need to look at the paperwork or file as we were going to accept whatever child was referred to us. I wasn't at home at the time, but was on my way as I was picking up Jaymie from school. We drove home, opened the email and up popped the pic with the blue background. He looked so sad....broke my heart. I called the agency right back and said them to move forward and we would be privileged and thrilled to raise this little man as our son. We have been blessed through this adoption more than words can say. Although I hate the circumstances that lead to adoption...it is a wonderful way to build a family and I would do it again in a heartbeat....

Wordless Wednesday!!!!!!!!!!!

My dad drove 1100 miles with his dog for a little visit here this past weekend. I think it had been 2 years since I had seen my dad. He seems to always look the same every time I see him though. He sure liked "lightening" our golf cart and I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up getting one for himself now that he had so much fun cartin' around on ours. I had to get a pic of him with the grandkids on it. I think I will have to enlarge it and send him off his own copy!
Jacklyn likes to test her photography skills... and the above photo is one she took of Will the other night while he was laying down on our boat seat while we were taking a sunset cruise. I think it's pretty good. What gorgeous eyes you have little man!
Will and Scooter...my dad's dog enjoying time out on the lake.

Wordless Wednesday!!!!!!!!!!!

(Sorry Jeffrey, I know you hate it when Jaymie dresses up Will like a girl.... but this was just too cute to not share.....so much for wordless!!!)

Will's first day of Kindergarten

Yes, the dreaded day arrived. My baby started Kindergarten. This mama had tears flowing like you wouldn't believe. It was to a point I think Will was rather worried about me. He kept looking back from the line as it moved to the bus steps with a look of, maybe I better stay with mama, she looks pretty sad. But, I motioned him that I'd be alright and that big bad bus took my baby off to school. The beautiful part of the day is explained in the pic above. Will was the first off the bus and came running to me. The pic is priceless. I love it. Worth a thousand words. Today he stepped on the bus for the third day in a row. I sure get my walks in with Oscar early and go non stop accomplishing things without interruptions. A whole new chapter in my life. The first pic shows Jaymie and Will.....this will be the only year that they are at the same school. Jaymie sat with him on the bus the first day which I thought was very sweet. Shes lookin out for her little bro. Well, I'm off to take Oscar for a walk. Oscar is lovin the early am walks!!

The countdown is on

Well, it's official. Will has been assigned a classroom teacher, Mrs. Freshwater, and she officially gets to spend a good chunk of her day with him. sniff sniff. His teacher has been teaching for 30 years and she is just perfect for Will. Will didn't want to leave the open house as he was so excited to be in a real Kindergarten classroom. Today he informed me he will be on the bus going to school in 4 more days. He has actually been counting down for about 30 days. In addition to the days countdown, he wanted to calculate the hours this am. OK little Einstein, this countdown thing is making mommy very sad.....but happy too as he has come so far. Tuesday is the big day. At 645am I will have no children in the house. I'll admit I have a huge list of things I have been wanted to organize and accomplish without being interrupted, but I will miss the lazy mornings of letting Will wake up as he pleases and having no rush to get out the door. Jaymie started school on Thursday and really likes her teacher. That's always a good sign for her. She was put in the same class as her best friend here, so that was also a help. This is the only year that Will and her will be at the same school. I'm sure she will look out for her little brother! I believe we made a good choice in sending Jacklyn to the private school for HS. She really likes it and is enjoying being on the tennis team. So far, she is 5 for 5 in both singles and doubles. Another school year starting off in full gear... At least I'm not sending any off to college yet!

Visitors

We had some visitors from FL visit us last week. In two weeks we have visitors from CA, and the week after that my dad is visiting from MN. I guess when you move to a warmer climate, visitors flock. We don't mind though. The more the merrier. The pic is of Will and his Uncle George. Will loves his Uncle George.

Starting HS

Well, it has happened. Our oldest starts HS today. She didn't want me to take her pic, so you see here a pic of her taken a few weeks ago after she placed second in a tennis tourney. Jack is attending a private school for HS. It just felt right for her for now. She only has 24 in her whole 9th grade class. Not sure what the boy/girl ratio is. She is playing on their tennis team and has already played her first match and won in both singles and doubles. The team won as a whole too. Hononrs Geometry, New Testament, American History and Literature are the classes she is tackling this sem. Jeffrey and I are very proud of our firstborn. I hope she comes home from school today saying she loved it.

It is amazing to me, but obviously not surprising how adopted children respond so differently to attachment related issues. I follow several blogs where some struggle with attachment, even when they adopt their children younger than 12 months. I can remember the struggles we had with Will by reading some of the social workers reports, but they really were very minimal. I have been mulling over what Will thinks of certain things. He will sometimes make comments to me like "How old was Jacklyn when you got Jaymie?" Almost as if he believes we all go "pick up " our children. But other times he will say he was in my belly, or I came to get him in Africa. Some children who were adopted at the same age as Will have said they miss their family. Never have I heard Will mention anything of another mother or father or something similar in that matter. I hesitate if I should ask...? Has he suppressed memories? Or do I just let him figure it out with his own timing. I wonder if he has family left behind? This whole topic breaks my heart. Am I doing him a dis service by not sitting him down and saying "hey, you were adopted and you had another mommy /or daddy that loved you very much." Or is his little mind too young to take that? He is off to Kindergarten in 27 days. Is he going to hear others say to him, why is your mommy white and you are brown? So many unknowns just mull in my head as I let this little man go out into the world. I'm going to be a wreck when he gets on that bus! And Jeffrey isn't even going to be around to be my shoulder as he will be in Washington at Bankers school again. For today, I will let Will open up when he is ready to. I just want to be prepared to say the right thing for the questions he may have.

Fav foto Friday!!! TGIF

Sometimes I catch a photo of one of my kids that just touches me. For some reason, this one of Will touches me. He is waiting for water to spray up from a fountain at a park. He wanted to catch it in his hands!

Fun at the Lazy 5 Ranch!

We have a fun ranch about 20 miles from our house that we like to visit. The kids have fun feeding the animals and I have fun taking pics! Will sure has come a long way from being afraid of anything that had 4 legs when he first came home with us! Now I think he would jump on the backs of all these animals and ride them if I let him.

Wordless Wednesday!!!!!!!!!!!

WE had a busy 4th of July. I am always amazed by how a few hours out on the Lake can be so exhausting. The kids had fun swimming and tubing and wearing their life vests like diapers. Will tubed by himself for the first time. He kept moving his fingers in circles while I was pulling him. When he got out I asked him what he was trying to tell me by his hand gestures. He said he wanted me to do donuts with the boat? What? Yeah mom like spin the boat in circles so he can fly out of the wake? Yeah right Will. Dare-devil!

Numbers

Out of the blue today will tells me it is 10:04 then goes on to tell me that he has swim lessons in 56 minutes. A little glimpse into the mathematical mind of our just turned, not even in Kindergarten yet, 5 year old! ( And yes his swim lessons are at 11:00)

Hot Springs, VIrginia!

Just because I like this pic of Jaymie! We went to Virginia a few weeks ago and stayed in a town called Hot Springs. They had natural springs there that we were told had healing powers! They have been around so long that even Thomas Jefferson sat in them! Crazy. Anyhoo, Jaymie, Jacklyn and I all sat in them to heal what pains us! I think it worked.......my pains are gone!

Martha moment

Just call me Martha! Will had a tball game the night of his bday, so I made cupcakes that looked like little baseballs! Jaymie did the stitching on the baseballs and did a great job. Her brother was so excited to hand them out to his team mates. Will had a fun day and was very spoiled by all those who love him! Now, when he wakes up in the am and I say "good morning baby" he announces to me he is not a baby, he is FIVE. snif snif!