HAPPY NEW YEAR

Just a quick not to everyone out there......

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Curt, the kids and I enjoyed a family movie night watching the Incredibles and eating popcorn....yum!

First family movie night and popcorn for Kai and Nikaya...they seemed to really like it.

Tried to call Dr. B tonight to wish him Happy Birthday, but the lines were not working.....gotta call tomorrow and wish him a belated one.

Tomorrow is the day for taking down the Christmas tree and decorations and putting the house back to normal....whatever normal is...

Some Haiti Pictures

Curtis, Me, Kai, Nikaya with Grace. Grace is a sweety we recently placed with her new family, she is a DOLL!!

Here is us with Dr. Bernard and his wonderful wife Claudette in Haiti.

Same as above, but we added Amy.

Amy is my wonderful friend, loyal Assistant at Heritage and mom to Kerline (Haiti), Eva and Jolie (home).

Here is Kai and his buddy Kerline. Kerline is Amy's 15 year old daughter she is currently adopting....watch out modeling and sports world...girl wears women's size 9 and is drop dead gorgeous...and she is only a teen!

Kai the muscle man and Kerline watching tv at the guest house!

Were Great!!

We are all doing well here. The kids have settled in pretty well and it is starting to feel more like they have been here for a while. Nikaya is saying please, thank you and you're welcome in English.....at least, that is what she is TRYING to say...it is a little muffled with 2 year old speech! hehe

Kai is doing really well with English. He still talks 100 miles an hour in Creole, I know that will change and it makes me sad...I never want them to lose that...

I took the kids to Carl's Jr. last night. Oh my gosh, it was the best time ever!!! Kai finally got up the nerve to go down the slide. Here comes family friend Annie and then Demi Roo with Kai in front of her screaming the whole way like he was going to fall off the edge of the world. Once they hit the end of the slide Kai had a BIG smile on his face and told Demi Roo...AGAIN!!!

I am so glad they are home, and continue to pray for the families that are still waiting. In my job/calling, there will always be families waiting, but it is hard...I know it for a fact!

Good Christmas

Christmas was good for us this year. Not because there was an abundance of gifts under the tree or money was flowing freely, but because we had our children home. To show these little people a Christmas that they have never had was truely amazing.

Both kids are doing well and attaching wonderfully. They sleep thru the night and eat pretty much what you give them....except Kai Ceus, he is a little picky at times...he will learn! ;-)

Today we got to call Robinson, a Lawyer friend of ours from Haiti who I used to work with on adoptions. He is now in Atlanta and married to a wonderful woman....we are so happy for him. Kai was glad to hear his voice, he had made friends with Robinson and had not spoken to him since September....they talked for quite a while.

I also called Dr. Bernard in Haiti and wished him and Claudette a Merry Christmas. He talked to Kai for while and asked him about his new family and what he thought......we got the thumbs up from Kai and he told Dr. B he loved us and we were nice and he was happy to be home.
After talking to Kai Dr. B asked me again if I was ready for 4 more kids??? I told him he would be the 3rd to know if I was...1st Curtis, 2nd would be my Therapist...hehe :-)
All in good fun, but I think 4 may be my limit. It has not been as hard as I had thought, but it is a stretch to make 4 little people happy when there is only 1 of you. Like I told Curtis though, at least the fights are different....Hunter isn't ALWAYS fighting with Demi Roo, now he has options. hehe

I hope Christmas was good for everyone out there. We pray for the people of Haiti and the Birth families of the children that have been given up and been adopted. We also pray for the adoptive families that still wait for their children to come home as well.

Success...

Well, last night was the first night all kids slept in their own beds since being home! Kai and Nikaya went to their beds well, we had talked them up ALL day long and made it fun to sleep there. Hunter and Demi Roo slept in their beds as well. They were glad to finally have their siblings in their rooms with them, but sad that they could not cuddle with them as they had on the floor. I like that they all had their own space and I think they all liked that they had their own space since they all slept until 8:30am!!! ;-)
Hunter said he awoke to Kai singing in Creole...how cute. Demi Roo woke to Nikaya saying "me, me, me" something she does when she wants something.
A good night for all!

Lots of STUFF

I have so many thoughts going thru my head it makes it hard to sleep...I will pour them out here in no certain order so maybe I can sleep. hehe

Our kids are adjusting well. They are still sleeping in our room...well, they are ALL sleeping in our room...one big happy family of 6 in one bedroom. It is nice to know that when we are broke we only need a one bedroom apartment. :-P

While we were gone our beloved bird Animal passed away. I am not sure of the cause other than he was getting up in years and may have been stressed by different people being in the house for so long.
I will miss the little guy; not cleaning up after him, but his chirp and his following his mirror bird buddy from one end of the cage to the other. I love you Animal...I will miss you!

Having 4 kids is not as hard as I thought, at least not yet. I don't want to say much to jinx myself. I am wondering if it is going well, or if I have lost my mind.

I do find it harder to find time to clean the house to my mind warped ability. Being Obsessive Compulsive in a house with 4 kids is quite difficult. I am to tired to clean and frankly wonder if I even care anymore....is lived in an ok clean?? ;-P

When will my laundry fold itself and out itself away? Probably about the same time the dishes do right?

It looks like we may end up with Christmas Eve at our house again this year. I don't mind, it allows us to invite Curt's Aunt and her hubby Don over for the evening. We don't get to see family enough...and it isn't like we live so far away.

My cousin Travis wont be home for Christmas. He has not been scheduled to leave Cottonwood Detention Center until maybe January. This is sad, he completed all of his required classes and more and is still doomed to sit there and think about how to be bad again. I wish they would let him come back home and live what he has tried to learn. I pray that he keeps his eyes ahead and the same old bad people will stay away from him and he has the ability to pass them by of he sees them on the street. I am praying for you and love you Travis.

I cannot believe that my two are finally home from Haiti....I still look at them at night and cannot believe that I have FOUR (4) kids.....when did that happen??!!

My bio. dad was supposedly sentenced to one year in Blackfoot Mental Institute. I was very happy and sad to hear it. He needs so much help in his Bi Polar brain, and a short stay will not do it for him.

I found out earlier this week that my Bio. Dad may be getting out after only a month at the most....hey, thanks for the help..

Well, tomorrow is my 35th birthday....YEAH! I got what I wanted the most...my kids home!

Love to all...
Me

Our Homecoming Photos

When we first arrived

Mama and Nikaya

Kai is all smiles, even at 11:30pm

HOME!!!!

Hello to all, we are finally home from Haiti with our two newest Haitian Sensations! ;-P

We ended up spending 5 extra days in Haiti than we planned. INS/Dept. of Homeland Security took longer to complete our papers than anticipated and previosuly promised. We had scehduled to meet them Monday Dec. 4th and interview at the US Embassy Wed. to get the kids Visa's. WELL, INS decided to not sign our papers until FRIDAY...so, we had to wait over the weekend and meet the Embassy Monday. Now, they were wonderful and squeezed us in and got stuff done quick for our meeting....it took them forever to get the Visa to us (we waited from 7:30am to 3:30pm) but we left with it in hand.

I will write more in the next couple of days. We just arrived home last night at 11:30pm and I am still dragging hiney!

It is Almost Time!!!

Yes, the time stamp is right...it is 1:20am Mountain time and I am still up. My parents will be here to pick Curtis and I up at 4:45am and I have had no sleep. All I can do is dream about the moment I see my kids faces again, and how much I will miss the ones here at home. I know they will be ok...they are in loving capable hands of Aunt Heather and Uncle Kevin.....but still....they are mine.

I am anxious to see how Curtis reacts to Haiti, to introduce him to our children, to meet birth parents and hug them and thank them for their selflessness.....it will only be a pitance for what they have done, the gift they have given us and their children....a life in America and us 2 more blessings.

I will write more when I am back from Haiti...until then..Bon Nuit...Good Night!

2 More Sleeps, 3 More Sleeps

We officially have 2 more nights before we leave for Miami and 3 nights until we arrive in Haiti to see our kids! This will be the first trip to Haiti for Curt....he has also only seen our kids in pictures. He is so wired he cannot stand himself....I am so wired I cannot stand myself. :-) Do biological children cause this much adrenaline??? When you go to have a planned C-section do you feel all tingly inside knowing that soon you will be holding your child???
Airline tickets are made, hotels are reserved, shopping will be done tomorrow....all I have left is cleaning the house, packing and running around like a chicken with my head cut off from the craziness!
I will write more after we return home and tell everyone about our trip and post new pic's of the kids in Haiti AND HOME!!!

BIG FREAK OUT!!!!!

I got an email today stating that our Birth Parent interview has been scheduled for Dec. 4th at 11am. In that same email I got a request to appear before INS to sign papers as well. WHAT? You do that afterwards...I mean hey, I do these adoptions for a living (meager one at that) and I should know how things work right?! Anyway, with USCIS being the governmental agency that they are, they have decided to change the rules on us and Curtis and I must appear before them Monday December 4th 11am to sign the Immigration forms requested in order for our birth parents to meet INS. SO, Curtis and I are leaving for on SATURDAY!!!
Our flights look something like this:

United Airlines Boise to Miami Sat. Dec. 2nd
American Airlines Miami to Port-au-Prince, Haiti Sunday Dec. 3rd

Birth parent interview Monday Dec. 4th

Leave Port-au-Prince Friday Dec. 8th for Miami
Leave Miami Saturday Dec. 9th and arrive in Boise!!

Our kiddos will be home for Christmas!!!

Macey's Home

I am happy to report that my Macey kittie is home from the vet.
They said it appears that she has some infection possibly in her bladder. Of course, they told me to begin with that she didn't and that she had a fatty liver, feline anorexia (WHAT?? my cat is a supermodel! hehe)

Anyway, she is home now and seems to be feeling ok. Of course, the bill was a wonderful $318...YIKES! I am luckily going to be making payments. I told them that as much as I love her, they were either going to have to take payments or keep the cat as collateral..I think Curtis would have preferred they kept her!:-P

When I was at the vet they told me that Macey was so loving and sweet. She was a dream to work with. This is good considering when I went to pick up Skittles from them they told me she was mean and quite possibly the cat version of Cujo..hehe I told them it was nice that I had a good cat since they weren't to fond of my other one. When they wanted to know who my other cat was and I said "skittles" the two vet techs shook their heads and said they remembered her. hehehe

Well, off to feed Neurotic Norman, Cujo Skittle and Sweet Macey!

Ah, Thanksgiving!!

We had a wonderful time and meal at my parents house. Attending were my brother Eric, his wife Lyndsay, his kids Addisyn and Ariya. My Granny and Papa, and my parents and us of course. ;-P

Every year my parents make a gluten free holiday meal with turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy, and all the fixin's. This is something I wait for all year...gluten free Thanksgiving dinner. If I had nothing else to be thankful for, that would be enough.
Gluten free is free of all wheat, rye, oats, barley, malt etc. and anything that came in contact with those things to cause contamination. If I eat them I become extremely ill and it causes damage to the intestines. The fact that they take on this feat is something else...but at least I get a regular thanksgiving meal!!! ;-)

Anywhoo...I was SUPPOSED to go shopping at 4:15am today. WELL, we got home from Curt's parents house at 12:30am and by the time we got the kids in bed and ourselves in bed it was 1 am. Now, 2.5 hours is better than nothing, so I set my alarm and tried to rest. A little later my little Skittles kittie climbed up on me and purred...I pettted her and reached up to look at my alarm clock....5:15 am.....WHAT??? I had missed my alarm, or it never went off (more my idea becuase it wasn't blinking like I snoozed it 500 times). I felt so bad because Tracey was not going to go but we decieded to because there was a couple of gifts I wanted for the kids there....so she sat outside my house for 1/2 an hour waiting for me to come out...I slept. I called her this morning and apologized. She had some satisfaciton that after I woke up at 5:15 I was unable to go back to sleep due to GUILT! ;-P

Curt and I went to Boise with the kids while I bought a few things for my mom to give the kids since she wasn't going to be here for the shopping day. Toys R Us was a NIGHTMARE! We ordered what I wanted to get the kids from Ebay and saved A LOT of money. It was amazing that God gave me that llittle bit of oversleeping to save us some money huh? At least, that is my story and I am sticking to it!!

Passports

As of today we have Kai AND Nikaya's passports in hand in Haiti!!! I have contacted the US Embassy to let them know that we will have our papers to them soon, they said they would do them as quickly as possible as soon as birth parent interviews are completed. Now, off to make Birth parent interviews with USCIS (Immigration)!!! It is actually going to happen, our kids could really be home by CHRISTMAS!!!

GOD IS GOOD!!!!!

Dinner Out and Sleepovers...

Well, last night was a wonderful night out with family.
Curt's Aunt Peggy and Uncle Don took us to dinner for chinese food....yummy! A good meal, especially when you have leftovers! ;-P
Thank you so much for the great meal and wonderful conversation, we love you guys so much!

Demi Roo had a princess sleepover with the neighbor girls... a lot of fun there. She came home about noon today tired, but happy after all the fun. Hunter had a sleepover here with his friend Marcos. Marcos is new in the school and his family doesn't speak much English. They are a wonderful family, and seem to really like Hunter as well. The family was surprised when they saw me for the first time....I would like to think it is because I am so stunningly good looking, but I think it was because I was white. hehe
Marcos' mother had to ask me if Hunter was mine or was I his step mother. I explained that Hunter and his sister and upcoming siblings are all adopted. She laughed a little, I am not sure if she completly 'got' what I was saying, but she seemed ok with the answer I guess. :-)
Regardless, they all had a lot of fun and our weekend was spent with friends and family. I would not have it any other way!

Passport Progress!

I got the word from Haiti today that we have Kai's passport in hand. Nikaya's did not come in yet, but they were told it would be early this next week, Monday or Tuesday. Once the passports are in hand, the dossier goes to the US Embassy for checking over...hoping we can make this go faster by speaking to the the Embassy ourselves. With the US Embassy being a United States entity it is possible to have Senator's help out etc. and we have a little leeway where we do not with Haitian governments!!
So, hoping that all will go well with passports for Nikaya and we can get the Embassy to speed us thru so we can get a birth parent interview soon and have the kids by Christmas.
Pray for us as we are coming up on black out dates for flying due to holidays!!

Cowboy Night

Tonight was cowboy/pioneer night at AWANA's (Baptist Church Acitivty).

Hunter and Demi Roo dressed up to the best of their head banging ability (with accessory help from Mammy and Pappy) to pretend to be cowboys and cowgirls! Aren't they CUTE?!

Afternoon Basketball

Here is Demi Roo going in for the free
Throw...Great shot~
















In, out, around and In!!













He shoots, He scores!!!












Dribble power..
watch out WNBA!!













Perfect lay up and
the ball goes in~
SWISH!!

The Fight Was Lost....

What happens when you are so tired but you don't want to give up the fight? You do what Demi Roo does, you climbs into your toy box and watch TV....... (snore, snore...) :-P

Quick Update

Well, yesterday was one of those days I pushed it to far. I dorve all over doing errands and made myself sore in teh belly area...never said I was to smart. ;-)
Still waiting to hear from Haiti about passports for us. Now it seeks like it is taking about 2 weeks to hear back from the US Consulate in order for them to pass the dossier off to USCIS(Immigration) to make the Birth prent interviews....aarrgghh! I am hoping things will move a little smoother as time goes on, but it is Haiti after all. We are still praying hard for the kids to be here before Christmas.