Monday, June 25, 2007

2 Wheeling Kai

Today was a big day for Kai Ceus. He broke one of his training wheels and was very sad. Daddy took off the broken one and he worked on balancing with Kai. Within 30 mintues time that little turkey had the other training wheel off and was 2 wheeling around the Cul-de-Sac like a pro BMX racer. He had a HUGE smile on his face he was so excited.
WAY TO GO MY BOY!!!!

Friday, June 22, 2007

FAMILY PHOTO OPS....






RACHEL....SHE GETS ALL THE BOYS THIS WAY










BIRTHDAY BALLOON EARS




















BIRTHDAY BALLOON EARS WITH A CUTE WAITER



















RACHEL PLANNING MY DEMISE LATER ON....














SEAN AND THE CRAZY ARM















ALEX AND THE CONTORTUNIST CONVENTION

PIC POST




NIKAYA WITH COUSIN ISABELLA...THE SALT AND PEPPER OF LIFE














COUSIN KYM IN THE TURTLE













HUNTER AND THE JACKASS PENGUIN....SO GLAD HE LEARNED TO READ












DEMI, NIKAYA AND KAI ON THE KOMODO DRAGON


FAMILY PHOTOS #2




MY FAVORITE PICTURE OF MY SISTER RACHEL AND HUNTER...GETTY UP HORSE















DEMI, KAI, NIKAYA AND ALYSIA ON THE TURTLE



















COUSIN KYM AND THE GIRLS















CODY, COURTNEY, ALYSIA ON THE KOMODO DRAGON

FAMILY VISIT PHOTOS....FINALLY





BIG BUNCH OF CRAZIES......














BELLA FEEDING GRANDMA PAM WITH AUNT COURTNEY BY HER SIDE
















ALYSIA THE TURTLE













ALEX, CHRISTINA, BABY ISABELLA

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Summer Vacation

Well, summer vacation is in full swing, and so are my patience. hehe
The kids are staying up late, but most are sleeping in well enough to give me some good rest. Kai is the only one I struggle with on sleep. He will go to bed OK, but does not want to stay in bed much past dawn. He is slowly adapting......I will make him if it is the last thing I do. :-)

Kai has been home long enough that the honeymoon is over and the true Kai Ceus has arrived. He is a friendly, sweet, loving kid who wants to help all the time. The bad part is, well, quasi bad part, is that he has an ornery streak 100 miles long. He can give and take with the rest of us, as we a re a teasing and playful family. However, Kai has no end to his torturing and his skill to annoy is keen. He can raise the hackles of anyone by grating his teeth, making faces or simply copying every mother loving thing you say or do.
He has been getting into stuff a lot lately, and I am not sure if he is doing it because he is curious, or he doesn't have the "no, no that is naughty" button that most have. Demi Roo had this problem for a while....we are now making strides on her not getting into things that don't belong to her and she is doing better with accepting responsibility for her actions most days.
So, I struggle with the every days of being a mom to 4 kids at home. To some, it is a lot of kids, to others it is a drop in the bucket. All I know, is it is enough for me. :-)
I hate to complain, because I am not really complaining...they are home, healthy and doing well, and that is what I wanted. It is just that sometimes, I am overwhelmed at the responsibility I have as 'THE MOM'.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Closing a Door...Opening Another....

The good Lord has closed some doors and opened some others. I was told May 23rd during a trip to Portland, that Heritage felt that the NLL (New Life Link) adoption program was not bringing in as much revenue as they had hoped and they had decided to pretty much close the program to new families, thus ending my stint as the Haiti Lady for Heritage Adoption. I was so sad, frustrated and overwhelmed with the thought that my calling was coming to an end.

I began to search the possibilities of working on my own company doing Dossier consultation prep work, but decided that with "The Hague" coming I would be treading on spooky ground for lawsuits and facilitation charges. In many states, adoption facilitation is illegal and can open you up for lawsuits, jail time and failure of the families adoptions...something I did not want to do. I was still trying to figure it out since I was working with a foreign country that was not a Hague country, and I would not be matching families with children, which is facilitation. I got a call from a gal in Kentucky that was looking into starting her own Haiti program with their own Creche, Promises of Hope in Jolivert, Haiti. After speaking to her, she and I had a revelation.....why can't I do their Haiti program for them?? My fear, along with Curt's was that I would not longer be working with Dr. Bernard's orphanage as I had in the past. After talking to Dr. B he encouraged me to take some risks in this life and go for it. Well, longer story short, I am going to work for this new agency and bringing Dr. Bernard along with me to include his program as an option for families. Once it is all said and done, I will be working with 2 to 3 orphanages in Haiti!!!

Now, for most that don't know me well, they are unsure of my religious beliefs since I do not fit a typical mold of a 'christian' that many have. I have short spikey hair, a tattoo, my ears are pierced multiple times and my nose is also pierced. I listen to Hard Rock and am considered a 'head banger' by most peoples standards.
This agency I am going to work for is a Christian agency in the bible belt of Kentucky....KENTUCKY ADOPTION SERVICES. www.kentuckyadoptionservices.org Boy, are they going to be surprised...hehehe

I am so excited to be hooking up with a group of people that are Christian, have a desire for Humanitarian Aid and a desire to go to Haiti and place these kids no matter how slow, corrupt and time consuming it is!!!! I have been blessed!

Friday, June 08, 2007

May 31st

Ah, May 31st was turned from a possible crappy trip in to a wonderful outing for me.
I got to visit ALL of my Portland families and have dinner!!!

I got to meet Julie and her girls (minus daddy David), Sean and Jamie and their kids, Becky (minus her hubby and son...enjoying mama time I think hehe), Vanessa and her sons (minus daddy Aaron), Josh and Kim and their son, and Kim and Sarah (sarah is Nikaya's sister and Kim is adopting the older brother Mansanto).
It was a wonderful time at the Spagetti Factory, a cool restaurant that is now opening in Boise as well! I was able to get a meal with Gluten Free noodles!!!

I had a blast getting to meet the fmailies face to face, something I don't often get to do when they are out of state. I enjoyed their company and hope they enjoyed mine as well. I am hoping that after meeting, they can visit with each other to help ease the fears and frustration of the wait that is upon them. It isn't that I don't like being there for them, it is just that after a while, you need someone who isn't a 'worker' in adoption to give you the reassurance that you are feeling the same thing as them and you are normal.

I hope I can get back and see them all soon, and that after the process I can be a little part of their lives and watch the chidlren grow!

Family Photos....

Still working on getting pictures from the family visit posted. Every time I post them, my blog eats them and they disappear...really, it isn't MY fault!!!