What we have been up to

End of July I went to Denver for an Aegis conference (insurance conference) for a few days. August 12th we closed on our new house
August 13th I started school at Westminster to get my bachelors in Business Administration
August 14th we started gradually moving with the big move on the 21st.
August 23rd the kids started at their new school
August 24th-25th I went to Houston to meet with underwriters for work
September 3-5 we went to the Sand Dunes and Jeremy was the unofficial king of the hill for four strokes (he built a new drag race bike)
September 7th-8th I went to New York to meet with underwriters for work
September 13th I went to Denver for work.
And every weekend in between we have slowly been moving things out of our house. We finally got the last thing out Sunday the 19th of September.
At the same time we have had:Our basement repainted, our garage painted and the garage floor got a beautiful coat of epoxy. We also got our driveway extended width and length wise and our patio extended with a beautiful stamp put in the middle.
So... busy, busy, busy. I can't wait to sit down and enjoy the new house (someday :))The kids LOVE their new school. They love no longer attending day care. We decided to stop day care this year and it has worked out great with this new neighborhood because all the kids walk to school so it's not uncommon and they have made lots of friends. They both love their new teachers and the school. So far (and I hope I don't jinx myself) this move has been wonderful for us.The house is coming along, but we still have some projects to do :) I am sure I have more to share, but my mind is going blank :) Jeremy and I still love the gym, the kids are doing great in Karate. Austin got a new rank recently. (Blue with a white stripe). Trinity should be getting a new rank soon. Work is slow but still existent for Jeremy. Although somehow slow means more work :( Work is chaotic for me, but hopefully it will mellow soon.

New Home!

We are so excited to move. Not looking forward to the move itself, but excited for the new home. Above are a few pictures of the new place.

St George

The kids are in St George right now visiting their Grammy and Papa down there. I am trying not to hover so I am limiting my phone calls :) It sounds like they are having a ton of fun though and swimming, swimming, swimming. What a great time for them. I am grateful they get these opportunities to spend time with grandparents. I didn't get that as a child, but Jeremy did and my regret is one of his fondest memories. So how wonderful for them.

Home for Sale?

So our house is up for sale. We put it up for sale about two weeks ago. We did that because we looked at a house in West Farmington and fell in love. We immediately drove to the store and bought a for sale sign. I called our broker the next day to get us a pre-aproved letter (thinking I needed that in order to make an offer). We took a week to get our ducks in a row and get the pre-approved letter. We were going to make an offer on the 21st, but apparently while we were in St. Anthony's (the 19th) someone else made an offer and the home owners accepted it. We are BUMMED! It was a great neighborhood, on .51 acres and 4900 square feet. It was a brick rambler with a walk out basement, a basketball court and best of all a 4 car garage up front and another 2 (more like 1 though) in back. So perfect for us. We are still bummed (and moping a bit :( ). So I don't know what we are doing now, other than keeping our eye out to find another one (although this one took me about 3 years to find).

Lava Hot Springs

What a great weekend with family. We went up to Lava Hot Springs with Jeremy's moms family this weekend. It was great to get to see everyone and to get to chat and it was great having Amy and Kerry come and spend the weekend with us. We went swimming all day Saturday and the kids did great. Austin went off the diving boards (low and high), I was so proud of him that he is getting confident enough in his swimming to do that. (We need to let them swim more often). We got to sit in the hot pots (hot, hot hot!!!) and we got to hang out with family. Almost all of Jeremy's family was there. His Aunt Dixie and Uncle Lane, his Aunt Diane and Uncle Lanny, His Aunt Kay, His cousin Brian and his family, his Cousin Val and her family and his cousins Marty (and her boy Brady), and Heidi. It was a full Strand weekend. The only people missing were his Uncle Randy and Family, and his uncle Emery. It was such a good time to hang out with them. I feel so at home with them, as do my kids. We took our dog though, and he got so spoiled he started whining and barking for attention when he didn't get it. That drove us a little nuts, but all in all I am glad we were able to bring him. As we said our goodbyes to everyone and drove away Jeremy and I both commented on what good people they all are and how blessed we feel to be able to have them in our lives. The Strands are a great group of people. I have always felt comfortable around them, probably because they remind me so much of my own family. I know Jeremy gets a lot of who he is from them and I am grateful.

St. Anthonys

We had a TON of fun at St Anthony's in Idaho. We went up on the 17th and came back on the 20th. When we first got up there we were planning on meeting up with Scott Ellerbeck and family. We had James and Nicole following us, and Mike and Andrea coming up the next day. But as we went to turn into the campground James and Nicole got concerned. Come to find out, they and Mike and Andrea were booked at a different campground. What to do? We scrambled, made calls and did everything we could to get them out of their reservations, since Scott was already set up and we told him we would camp with him too. But it was all to no avail, so we packed our stuff back up (in the mean time we had set up camp with Scott for the night), and headed over to the campground Mike and Andrea had booked. It ended up being much further away from the big hills, but this one had grass and the kids could ride their four wheelers on the dunes right next to camp. So it worked out to be great. The kids had a ton of fun playing on the dunes, and riding four wheelers. The girls (me, myself and Nicole) had a good time hauling a** over the dunes in the Rhinos, it was a great time. The dunes up there are HUGE!!! It just goes forever and ever, it is like a 20 mile freeway of sand and hills. It was great, can't wait to go back.

New Day Care

As the school year winded down we were trying to decide what to do for summer. Most of the kids' friends at Kinder Care wouldn't be there for the summer, they were going elsewhere, and Kinder Cares summer rates were pretty expensive ($155 a kid per week). The only reason we go to Kinder Care is because they bus the kids to school, so they didn't have to go there for the summer if they didn't want to. The final thing was when we heard they weren't going to take the kids on ANY field trips all summer. They were going to bring something in each week (and charge us $16 a week for it), but the kids wouldn't be leaving the center. I don't like the idea of my kids spending all summer cooped up like that and neither did the kids. So for the summer they are going to one of their old day cares called "Ready Set Grow". So far they have made new friends, enjoy getting to watch a movie every day and have really enjoyed it. Today I got the June schedule and I am excited for them. According to the calendar they will be going swimming every Thursday, going to Tracy Aviary and lunch at Liberty Park, Visiting the Zoo, heading to Kangaroo Zoo (a huge inflatable play place), doing a Lagoon Walk, and going to the Capitol for a war memorial tour. Not to mention the art projects and things they do every other day.
Sounds like a fun summer for them.

Scuba Divers?

We took the kids with us to Neptune Divers so they could learn to Snorkel and so I could try out my BC. It took the kids some getting used to, to be able to breath out of the snorkel, and they had a hard time (especially Trinity) having something over there nose. But it didn't take them long and they were off swimming the distance of the pool. (Trinity had to stay close to the wall and get support occasionally, but Austin had no problem swimming back and forth). Looks like swimming lessons paid off.
It didn't take long before they wanted to try the scuba gear. So I let Trinity have my secondary air hose and the two of us went down. She loved it and took to it like a natural. Austin then wanted a turn, but before long he wanted the whole gear on. So I took mine off and strapped it all on him. It was obviously way to big, so the tank would make him flop on his side some near the surface. But he did great. Both he and Trinity mastered breathing and using the scuba gear. Unfortunately the scuba shop worker came out and said they couldn't use our gear :( (they weren't certified).
But he brought them out an "Aqua lung breathing assisted snorkel gear" which was essentially scuba gear for kids, but without the ability to go down to the bottom of the pool. So it kept them on the surface, but other than that it had a tank and everything, just like scuba gear. It was awesome. They loved it, and loved snorkeling.
I can't wait to get them out in the Ocean where they can see fish.

Fun Weekend!

We had a great weekend. We got the lawn mowed, the house cleaned, helped some friends move and then decided to have some fun. Jeremy's Aunt Kay watched the kids for us Saturday night and Jeremy and I went out. We started at Takashi's and had some fantastic Sushi. I love that place! Then we left there and walked to Keys On Main, it is a Piano bar downtown. It was fun and it is a really upbeat place. We enjoyed it, but I have to admit I was surprised to find so many gay couples. One after another kept pouring in. I figured it must be sort of a hang out for them or something (over half the people there that night was gay), not that it mattered, it was just surprising. (We found out at breakfast Sunday it was Gay Pride Celebration that night :)) Like I said though, lots of good music, we may have to take some friends/family members there, just cause you don't drink doesn't mean you can't appreciate some fun Piano Dueling :)
Then we left there and walked to the Red Door. They usually have fantastic Martini's but I have to admit, it wasn't very good this time (I didn't even drink half of mine). But the music there was good too.
What a night we loved it. Then we woke up the next morning and had brunch at Moxi Bistro in bountiful. It's a great place. I can't wait to take Amy and Kerry when they come in town. Infusion Yoga is attached to it as well, I am excited to go try out the Yoga (and maybe the Massage parlor upstairs :)). From there we headed to the Gym, then came home, grabbed the kids and headed to Neptune divers to try some scuba/snorkeling.

Westminster

Well, I got the word yesterday. I have been accepted into Westminsters Business Administration Program. I start in August and will work towards completing my Bachelors. I am psyched to get in and get my degree from such a well respected school.
I had planned on going to the U of U, but there schedule was horrible and made my degree impossible to get anytime soon (soon as in within 10 years :)).

Wet T-shirt contest?

So I showed up at work yesterday, in my dress pants and white suit shirt. I head over to the break area to empty my mug from yesterdays water, and fill it with fresh ice. But when I took off the lid apparently I jerked it and "SPLASH" all over the front of my white shirt.
My shirt immediately went see through, and my friend at the break room declared I had won the "wet t-shirt contest". Talk about embarrassing. Luckily I have a jacket in my office, so I ran back (hoping not to see anyone) and threw my jacket over my now pointless shirt.
I must have office apparel bad Karma, I swear something is always happening :)

Memorial Day Weekend

I wish I had pictures to post, but unfortunately we were having too much fun and forgot to take pictures. We headed down to the Sand Dunes Friday morning (May 28th), when we got there it was PACKED!!! Luckily we were able to find a spot (last one there was unless you wanted to be parked right at the hill). We got set up and Austin and Nick (friend of ours) took off on the four wheelers. They spent almost the entire weekend on the four wheelers. They had a riot. Unfortunately Austin's four wheeler doesn't turn as easily as Nicks and over where we were parked it was tight turns and hard pack for the boys. So we had a few problems (getting stuck, rolling it on it's side) and since Austin couldn't see the logic of why he was having problems he just got upset (at his bike, at Nick, at everything :)) But once I took them over to the dunes his bike tore it up and he understood a little better. Trinity rides less and less, her and the other girls have gotten more interested in playing in the sand (we usually go down with the Garner family that has Nick and two girls, and the Serveys which have two little, little girls, and an older girl). Jeremy was excited to get his YFZ out and see how it runs. I think he was happy with it, but ended up on the Raptor most the weekend.
On Saturday Jeremy was headed back from the race hill, and apparently found one more four wheeler he just had to race, so off they went, but apparently something went wrong, Jeremys tire caught, and going about 45mph he rolled the Raptor. I wasn't there at the time, but my friends were. They said it scared the crap out of them, but by the time they got up to him he was up and flipping the bike over. Luckily the bike and rider were both fine. He broke the front left tire and got a little road rash on his forearm, but luckily no other damage. Other than that it was business as usual, just riding rhinos and hanging out. I got my best speed on both my bikes up the face of Sand Mountain. I hit 43 mph on my Suzuki, and 60 on the raptor. I am finally starting to get a little better at shifting and taking off. I was excited.
So all in all a good weekend at the dunes. Though I admit, I am ready for a change of scenery for our next trip.

Horrible day already

So I started out the day with a 6:45 am flight to Denver. A horrible time to begin with, but with it pouring rain all morning it meant I had to leave even earlier to get to the airport on time. This was for a business meeting, so in my stiletto heels I got to walk through the airport, down to the furthest boarding area possible. Once I got there I discovered we were walking out to the plane and walking up stairs to board. Now normally this isn't a big deal, but as I said earlier it was dumping rain, and there wasn't a cover over the stairs (good thing I spent a while getting my hair and appearance just right for the meeting). From there I got sat next to a 2 year old, no actually he was a full grown adult, but he acted like a 2 year old. He talked and talked, asking what the attendant button was, why they call it deplaning not exiting, making comments about the landing gear noise, on and on and on he went. It was an hour and a half of torture. Now this flight is one my boss booked for me and him, but I noticed as I got on and as I deplaned that he wasn't on it. YIKES!!! So I tried calling him, no answer, I tried calling the office, no answer. Luckily after searching the airport for the exit (new airport) and looking for my boss (all while still wearing my stilettos) I got on my phone and pulled up my work e-mail (not linked to my phone, so kind of a hassle.) There I found an e-mail from my boss saying he missed the flight and would see me later, so go ahead and head to the Denver office (the office I don't have the address for, because I was counting on my boss to get us there). Yeah, a phone call might have been nice. Anyway, so I catch a cab ($64 fare) and get into the office. My feet are KILLING me, my hair is pretty much flat, I am hungry and just want a break. So I decided to head to Starbucks, get a Chai and relax for a minute. That would have been nice, but then I had the coup de gras of my whole adventure, as I am walking back from Starbucks my heel gets stuck in a crack, I walked right out of it, then had to go unwedge it out of the crack (surprisingly not easy). A couple guys were apparently watching and informed me how funny they thought it was "Lost your shoe huh (ha,ha,ha) I wish I had a camera, that was hilarious." A bum asks me for money, I told her no, so she made fun of me as well for "losing my shoe". Needless to say, I can't imagine what the rest of the day holds for me since it's only 10 am now.

Kids Programs

Yesterday was the Trinity's "Patriotic program". The week before was her "moms and muffins program". In both she sang wonderful upbeat songs. The moms and muffins programs sang some funny, heart warming and very creative songs about moms. It was so cute, and melted my heart. The patriotic program sang all about how proud they were to be an American and how thankful they are.
I don't know who creates these songs, but they have done the world a favor, by creating them. I have yet to hear music as wonderful as these songs, and that mean as much. To hear my little first grader (and Austin when he did it in first grade) made me cry and reminded me of the GREAT, GREAT joys of having these little kids.
All of the homework, all of the headache, all of it is worth it. I feel SO blessed!

Graduation

Well I did it!!! I finally made it. I know to some it may not seem like a huge accomplishment, but for me, to be able to do it while working, and with kids and everything else it is a huge hurdle and I am so glad to have achieved it. I took my last final on Monday and this Friday I will graduate with my Associates of Science in Business. But better yet, I will graduate with Honors. I was so excited to see the little star next to my name on the commencement schedule showing I was graduating with honors. I didn't have very good grades in high school (from lack of attending :)) so this was a nice little bonus. I had told myself when I started college that my goal was to finish my associates before I was 30. Well I did.

I am going to take the summer off and then attend either the U, or Westminster to complete a Bachelors in Business Administration. (My goal is to have it before I am 35, but we shall see :))
But for now I am just going to enjoy knowing I accomplished this degree (and did it with honors).

Austins Lego Collection

Austin had me rolling this weekend, on his plans for his Lego collection when he dies....
We were talking about his legos, and he explains to me that "One day I will have to find a woman, because well, you can't marry your sister, so I will find her and get married, and then we will have boys, and I will give them my Legos." So, I said (after I was done laughing about the, not marrying my sister comment) "your going to have boys, huh? Why boys, why not girls?"
He looked at me then like I was rather daft to have asked such a silly question and said "I can't leave my Legos to girls!!!", "So I have to have boys, so I have someone to give my Legos to." He was rather pleased with his explanation and has now found a use for eventually getting married and having kids. (I mean "boys").
Jeremy and I laughed and laughed as we thought of his obviously well thought out explanation throughout the weekend..

Austin Silly Hair - Trinity Gloves

Austin and Trinity were silly while we went riding on the backside. Austin took off his helmet and said "Look at my HAIR" the helmet had done a number on it. It was funny.

Trinity put on Jeremy's gloves and pretended she was a monster while we were driving. They were hilarious.

I told Trinity our Rhino was like a horse, when it goes up and down (when we go over bumps) it is like a horse, so you need to try and ride with it.

So by the end of the ride we were laughing at the Rhino and saying "Getty up horsey". We now have a sleek black stallion named "Rhino" :)

Whatever it takes to make the ride seem fun, and not just bumpy. :)

More Sand Dunes Pics

Sand Dunes

We just had a FUN weekend trip down at the Sand Dunes. Austin tore it up on his Motorcycle. We all had a great time, with lots of sand and sun. (Lots of Sun, I am burnt :))

Austin, Birthday - Bike

More Easter Pics

We had a ton of fun this Easter. We stayed at the White Sands campground down at the Sand Dunes. We also celebrated Austins birthday down there.

Adoption drama

Oh my goodness adoption is a VERY long, VERY hard road. You would think adopting an older child in the foster care system would be much easier then adopting internationally, adopting a baby, or even giving birth. You would be dead wrong.
After getting out hearts set on adopting a little boy we just don't seem to be able to give up on the process. I asked Jeremy the other day how he felt about it, how often he thought about it and where his mind-set was concerning adopting. He looked at me and said "I just feel that something is missing, I don't feel we are complete." "We are either adopting another child, or we are having one naturally."
Well that decided that for me, if he feels that strongly, then we will do what it takes.
We were still considering adopting from Ukraine, but our adoption agency was only able to come up with two kids, one that is emotionally and educationally okay, but nothing clicked with him, and I just don't see a fit.
The other one, seems like a cute boy, and my heart goes out to him, but he was diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, has a learning disability. They think his learning disability is because of his mildly crossed eyes and that glasses and eye therapy may help improve that.
I don't think I am prepared to take that one, along with the language barriers and other country issues.
So now we are looking at adopting domestically.
In order to adopt an older child domestically they have to be in state custody. We have to complete a brand new home study, (our international one isn't good enough?) There is only one agency in all of Utah that is approved to do foster care adoptions (can we say "monopoly") and there is only one group that can approve you for a foster child to come into your home. This one group requires 32 hours of on site in classroom hours. These classes are only provided Tuesday and Thursdays from 5:30-9:30 so flexibility in schedule is not allowed. This also means the kids I currently have get to go without parents during these times (not fair to them). But then to top it off, that is only good for six months. So hope you get matched up quickly.
In international adoptions you don't have to do any of that. In baby adoptions you don't have to do any of that.
I understand that older foster children come with more baggage and they want you to be fully prepared for the kids sake, but not having any flexibility in the training and only one agency in Utah is ridiculous. Oh and I get to pay for the training, the new home study and all of that. Yippee...
What a joke.

California

We went to California this past weekend and had a great time seeing family. We saw Jeremy's dad on the way down and got to see their new home in St. George. Then we continued on the next day to Amy and Kerry's. While we were there we went to see the Queen Mary and the Russian Submarine they have docked there, called the Scorpion. We had a great time laughing and spending time with family. The kids swam and swam and swam. Unfortunately the camera went dead after only a few pictures of the trip were taken. (poor planning on my part).

Crazy Day at School

Trinity got to dress up Crazy the first of February for school. At first she just looked a little homeless, so I figured if we were going to do this we were going to do it such that you knew it was done on purpose.

She loved it and was so excited. We took a few pics, but this was my favorite.

Zhenia is gone

Wednesday the 10th we received a phone call from our adoption agency. They called to tell us that a Ukrainian Family had adopted Zhenia's half brothers. In the process they found out about Zhenia and came and adopted him as well. Zhenia is gone. He has a family now and while we thought it was going to be ours that apparently was not meant to be. Apparently he told them no at first, that he had a family in America. But one way or another they convinced him and he eventually agreed to go and live with them.

Right now our hearts are breaking. We thought for sure that Zhenia was meant to be ours. We knew we ran the risk that a Ukrainian family could come and adopt him while we were in the process, but we thought the odds were fairly low, and with us being just two months away we thought that even more. We truly believed he was ours and now we are left to wonder and hurt, because he never will be.

I have his pictures, his clothes, his sweet little voice on my phone calling me Mom and telling me he loves me. But I will never have him. I can't begin to tell you the emotions running through us right now. I lost a little piece of my heart and I can't do anything about it.

We have invested a lot of time, money and emotions in this process and I don't know what we will do now. We are at a loss.

Thank you for all of your love and support as we went through this process.

Zhenia's Birthday

I wish I could post on here that I called Zhenia and wished him a happy birthday. But I called and called this morning and the call never went through. I practiced and practiced so I would say it just right ( S Dnem Rozhdeniya) but I never got to say it. We sent him a birthday/Easter present but I doubt he will receive it any time soon. Last time I talked to him he sounded bummed like he was giving up hope. I kept telling him I miss him and I want to see him, but all he would say is uh huh. When I told him we would come soon, he said "no". I am sure it has to be hard for him to wait and not know. I call as often as I can, but for a kid I am sure that isn't enough. We were really disappointed we couldn't tell him happy birthday and let him know we were thinking about him. Hopefully this process picks up and we can go get him and assure him in person he is coming home with us.

Translation

Well the paperwork was handed over to the Fed Ex man today to go to Canada where our adoption agency will have it translated and ready to go for our March 17th submission date in Ukraine. It felt great (and a little scary) handing it over and knowing that unless something pops up on us our paperwork is done until we head over. Now we just wait (which is a lot of what we have been doing anyway). I am glad to know that part is done.

Overwhelmed

I don't know if I am overwhelmed, losing my mind or what. A few weeks ago I showed up for my second consultation for Lasik. I took off work and headed up only to find out I was a week early. It was SO embarrassing, especially after I realized it was my mistake not theirs. Plus I had taken time off work and everything. Then today I had Jeremy take off work and take Austin to his orthodontist appt. (not to mention Austin is missing school). Jeremy called me about ten minutes after the appointment, in a not so very happy mood to inform me that the appointment wasn't until tomorrow. He wasn't happy and I am embarrassed and remorseful. But more than that I am wondering what is wrong with me. I never used to have this problem. I know I have a lot going on, but really, mistaking doctors appts. twice? Not only that but inconveniencing others as well. What's even worse is I got a reminder notice for both appointments stating the exact date. I am losing it!!!

Lasik

I got Lasik done on Thursday and today my eyes feel fine. I can see perfectly and other than some dryness, no side effects today. The procedure itself sucked. But once it was done it wasn't too bad. I am SO excited to be able to see well.

Jeremy talks to Zhenia

Jeremy hadn't been able to talk to Zhenia yet. For some reason whenever I would conference him in Zhenia wouldn't answer or we would have a problem. But on today (Feb 19th) Jeremy and I were able to get a hold of him and man was Zhenia excited! He kept saying "papa" really loud and he talked ninety miles an hour. It was the most excited I have heard him since the first time I talked to him. Jeremy and Zhenia had no clue what each other was saying, but they laughed at each other a lot. It was an awesome conversation. Even if no one understood it.

More Zhenia Info

Well, I just got of the phone with Zhenia. He told me in Russian he is good. He told me in Russian that he loves me and then his nanny/teacher told him how to say I love you in English and then he just said that lots of times. I asked him if he still had the bear we gave him, and he said yes, but it was a hesitant yes, so I'm not sure. It was good to hear him gain.
I also got word from Ellie (our adoption agency) that the employment letter we have isn't good enough and they want another one. What a pain, the first one was extremely hard to get from Jeremy's accountant. I am not looking forward to trying to get that done again.

Got a date

Well we got our I7I-H form. 02/05/10 our form showed up. This is (as I have heard it referred to in other blog posts) the Holy Grail of the adoption process. This is the one form that you wait, and wait and wait on and have no control whatsoever over. This is a form from our government essentially saying our government is okay with us adopting internationally. This form has been what we have been waiting on since December. So we have, it we will get the rest of paperwork done this week and then send it off for translation. We also got a date to be able to submit our paperwork in Ukraine. Our date for Submission is March 17th. Once we submit it (on the 17th of March) it takes (according to Internet searches) about a month to two months for them to invite us to come over and a month to two months for us to actually go over. So best case scenario May 17th but most likely later. Still that gives us a ball park. We are super excited!!!

Friday

WoW!!! I managed to get SO much done Friday. It's amazing what you can do when you have the day off work and your husband is out of town.
I got up, made the kids breakfast, took them to school, drove to sandy and filed a small claims court case against Hollywood Body (horrible place, don't go there!!!), got safety and emissions done on my car and registered it. Hit blockbuster to get a chick flick for the husbandless weekend. Picked Austin up from school and took him to the ortho to get his expansion appliance put in. Took Austin back to school and then went to the gym. At the gym I had almost a two hour arm workout that felt great (although now painful :)). From there I hit the store to pick up some drinks. I then picked the kids up, took them to Target to get valentines cards and supplies. We headed home after that and I scraped the caulk out of the shower to I could re-caulk it all later. Then we changed and went to gateway where we made a return and did a little shopping. We went to sky box for dinner and then played arcades for about an hour or two. Went home and crashed.
Talk about a VERY successful day. I was SO happy with all I got done.

Zhenia update

Well, we have been able to talk to Zhenia almost every other day. He is loving having the cell phone we got him and his Nannies and care takers call him to keep him company as well. Austin and Trinity got to talk to him Friday and they loved it. Zhenia let his friend Vlad get on the phone and talk to us too. He asked (in Russian) if Zhenia was coming to live with us in America. Luckily I had recently asked Zhenia a similar question in Russian so I was able to understand Vlad and answer, Da (yes). It was good to hear Zhenia laugh and play. We can't wait to see him again.

Live with us?

Got off the phone with Zhenia. We had a good conversation, but he laughed at me when he asked me something and I told him for the third time Papa was at work (obviously not what he was looking for, but I only know so many phrases in Russian :) ). However, I asked him if he wanted to come to America and live with us (in Russian) and he said “DA” (yes). He said I love you a couple times and someone even told him how to say it in English.
He said Mom lots. I got it all recorded too! Great conversation!

Zhenia - call

Zhenia got out of the Hospital last week and got his phone. I called him Saturday and talked to him and called him again on Monday. I couldn’t understand a word he said, but I understood momma and American and his teacher was able to speak enough English to tell me he keeps asking “where is papa?” He was excited and cute. I am going to try calling him again Tomorrow with either a translator on the line or Jeremy. It was wonderful to be able to hear his voice and his excitement.

Zhenia - Christmas

We haven't gotten any further with the process of getting Zhenia. We are still waiting to hear back from immigration. We did send him a package for Christmas though. We sent him a package of 3 transformers, a blanket, a spinning light toy, jelly beans, two different lego cars and a book. We hope he got them but we can't be sure. We also got him a cell phone so we can call him, but he doesn't have that yet. So we sit and wait and fill out any form we can in hoped to speed the process along. It's a very slow process but well worth it I am sure.

December

December is my favorite month. If only it would slow down! I love Christmas, the songs, the lights, the snowfall. All of it, I just love the season. But more than anything I LOVED watching the kids' faces Christmas morning. They were SO cute. They were so surprised and so happy that Santa came and brought them just what they wanted. Or as Trinity said, he brought me just what I didn't even know I wanted and needed. They were so impressed. They had a great time up at their Grammy and Papa's opening presents a week earlier and they had a great time Christmas day opening them with their other Grandma and Grandpas. I have pictures of both, so I will post those later. What a great month.

November

November was without a doubt a "game changer" month for us. We met a little boy named Zhenia at the end of October. He came over from the Ukraine with about 32 other Ukrainian children and were hosted by families here in Utah. My sister Julie and her family hosted him and my family met and fell in love with him. Long story short (or shorter) we have always tossed around the idea of another child but with the age gap between a baby and Trinity decided adoption might be a good alternative. Also we wanted to be able to offer a family to a child that needed one. Anyway, so we met Zhenia, we fell in love and decided to start the paperwork to make him part of our family. Man is there a lot of work. We got our home study done this month and sent in our paperwork to immigration. We will keep plugging away at this until I can post that we have brought our son home.

October

October was great. We all went to visit my sister in Maryland. While we were there we saw Washington D.C. and drove up and hit New York. We had a blast. Susan was fantastic about driving us all around D.C. it definitely made the trip a lot easier and we couldn't be more grateful. They are such wonderful places to visit and it was great getting to show Austin and Trinity all of the monuments and statues and fun sites.

Later that month we had our annual Halloween party at our house. Jeremy and I were Vampires (rather good looking ones if I do say so myself :))

We had a great time and loved having all of friends with us. I don't have any pictures of it on this computer so I will have to come back and post.

September

September was a great fast paced month. Mid-month we took my neice and nephew with us and the kids down to Disneyland. They had been once before but they couldn't remember it so this was kindof their first time. They had a blast and so did we. Disneyland was awesome, but I think the beach won the award for favorite place. Amy and Kerry were great about letting us stay at their place and the kids LOVED their pool.

Catch Up

Wow, did I get behind or what. I thought about posting, I really did, but well you can tell school started in August because I haven't posted since then. I had a heavy school load and focused on that instead (Calculus, Statistics, Business Law, and Philosophy). But that is over so hopefully I can do a little catching up now before Spring semester starts.