First Day of Kindergarten

Well, my little girl went off to kindergarten this year. I never thought I'd see the day. Really! I expected to homeschool, so I never anticipated her getting up and going on the bus to school. Well, circumstances arose that prevented us from beginning this year, so, off she went. I must say it has actually been very good for her. She loves school and looks forward to doing her homework!!! The hardest part was sending her on the bus and on day three one of my worst fears took place. My little guy and I were at the bus stop just like the two days before. We watched the bus approach and stop, but, my big girl didn't get off the bus. Okay, I climbed up the steps and searched all the little faces looking back at me. My baby was not one of them! I told the bus driver she was not there and her reply was, "Well, I guess she wasn't at school today." Say WHAT!??!!! I put her on the bus that morning I think I'd know if she was at school. Long story short, they put her on the wrong bus to go home. Forty five minutes later my baby was safely back in my arms again. Not something I ever want to go through again. She wasn't scared when she got off the bus at the school but, she definitely didn't act like it was no big deal either. However, that very night when another Mom asked her what her favorite part of school was she didn't hesitate and said, "Riding the school bus!" So, my big girl is growing up and this Mom is learning she has to let go a little.

Happy Birthday Baby Doll!

Okay, so I'm several weeks late, but, I didn't want to update the blog without recognizing my sweet baby girl's birthday. Although, she wouldn't like me calling her my baby girl. She's my big girl! But, as any parent knows she'll always be my baby!

Summer Fun

What could be better than a week at the beach? It was a much needed break and we had a wonderful time! J wasn't so thrilled with the ocean but really enjoyed the great big sandbox. By the end of the week H was body surfing like a pro. Memories that stick out in my mind; 1 - my little girl looking up to see me after I took a break at the house, she immediately put down the boogie board and came running to her Mommy 2 - the excitment she had running back to me from a walk with the shell she had found, because she knew it was Mommy's favorite kind. 3 - standing in the rain waiting for the husbands to light the fireworks, then dashing back to the house in the downpour 4 - J falling asleep on my back as we were taking a walk on the beach 5 - sharing the beachhouse with a wonderful family

Priceless

Two children, two grandchildren, one aunt, one uncle, two nieces = one proud Daddy/Papa

Meet us in St Louis

For a spectacular Fourth of July celebration. Independence Day is by far Mark's favorite holiday and he always tells me there's no better place to celebrate than St Louis. He has so many great memories from his childhood of celebrating in small town America. He just wanted the kids to experience that small town feel. So, last Thurs we loaded up the car for the 13 hour drive west. We also took our 4 year old granddaughter with us. Three carseats side by side in the back seat is a little cramped, but, they were all three great travelers. We got to spend lots of time with family and we returned to the hotel exhausted each night from the days activities. On the 3rd we had great food at a local fish fry and when we were done they started talking about heading out to a Picnic. Say what?! We just ate, why would we go to a Picnic?? But, when in St Louis.... Turns out it's what we Northerner's call a Fireman's Carnival. This was a highlight of the trip. The kids had a blast. Then on the 4th we went to Aunt Marcia's house. A wonderful place to celebrate! The kids had fun playing with their cousins and going for hayrides all day long. It was just the vacation we had planned. Here are some pics to enjoy.

Wordless Wednesday

A Vote for Love

I don't watch reality shows, and the only show I vote on is American Idol. But, there is an exception to everything and for me it's “I’m a Celebrity, get me out of here.” I will be voting for Stephen Baldwin. His charity is LOVE146. I became aware of LOVE146 during our adoption of Josiah through one of the other families adopting from his province. Their work is to end child sex slavery and exploitation. So, please vote for Stephen and help put an end to the exploitation of children! For more info you can check out the following blog
http://withhonour.blogspot.com/2009/06/real-reality.html
or LOVE146 website http://love146.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=21460

To vote:
Each contestant has been assigned a toll-free number which they will keep for however long they remain in the jungle. To vote, when prompted during the show, dial the phone number assigned to vote for Stephen. Stephen’s number is: 1-(877)5 KEEP 10 or 1-(877)553-3710.
Or log on to www.nbc.com to vote online. Voting will open at the start of the East Coast airing of the show. You can vote up to 10 times per originating telephone number via the toll-free vote method or up to 10 times per e-mail address when voting online. Calls are toll free from landlines.
For more on voting see: http://www.nbc.com/im-a-celebrity/vote/elimination/faq-rules.shtml#faq
Website to vote: http://www.nbc.com/im-a-celebrity/

It's a Girl!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday afternoon we welcomed our second granddaughter into the world! She's a beauty just like her big sister. Mommy, baby and big sister are doing great! Aunt Hannah and Uncle Josiah are too. The three of us will be staying with them for a few more days since their Daddy is deployed. The proud grandpa (pa pa) went home today.

I'll write more later. There's two crying babies right now.

First Haircut

BEFORE:



















AFTER:






















This was back in February but, it's an experience I wanted to share. See for yourself if he liked it....

Back in Motion

So, where have we been you might ask? Good question. In the last couple of days I've been told a good analogy that will explain it all. "Adding a child to a family is like putting a new object on the mobile that hangs over a baby crib - it throws the whole thing off kilter for a while until it eventually stabilizes. May not look like what it did before but it still works." Thanks Mary Li for sharing the wisdom Rob shared with you. That explains perfectly what's been going on in our home for the last seven months. I remember when we first got home and began to experience the instability a dear friend of mine said it took their family about nine months to feel normal again. At that time I looked at her like she was crazy, I couldn't imagine nine weeks, forget nine months. Well here we are well over seven months later and I feel like we're back in motion again. Thanks for being patient with me. I'm hoping to blog much more. We have so much to post about!

GO STEELERS!!!

Can you tell we're Steeler Fans?! Yes, we're rooting for our team to win today, even expecting them to win. Now how can I say this without upsetting the die hard Steeler fans in our family? Well, I guess just say it. We rooting for the Steelers to win, but, we won't be devastated if they don't. I mean how can you be when the opposing quarterback is Kurt Warner? We became huge Warner fans when we lived in Iowa (his home state) and he led the St. Louis (Mark's hometown) Rams to win the Super Bowl. So, if Arizona wins we will be happy to see Kurt Warner give all the credit to our Creator. And maybe it will put an end to the debate of whether he should be in the Hall of Fame or not.

So, what I'm hoping for is a really great football game today. One where both teams show up and play good hard football. Then tonight I'll be happy no matter which team holds the Lombardi trophy.

Adoption Granted/ Pray On

The second U.S. family in a little over a week heard those words yesterday, Adoption Granted. This family like the other family waited over four years to hear those two words. Unlike other countries in Russia you must appear before a judge in court to petition for the adoption to be granted. Going in to court you hope and pray at the end of the day the adoption will be granted. But, that has not always happened. So, when you hear those two words followed by your child's name with your last name it is a wonderful moment. You're told not to cry but, who can stop those tears of joy from forming? So today we rejoice with these two families who waited so long.

This also brings us renewed hope for all the waiting families. There are still families waiting to receive court dates in Irkutsk, waiting for four years now. And there are still families waiting for approvals in Dong Nai, waiting close to two years now. Please continue to pray for these families and the children who wait for them.

For our friends who are waiting know we are continuing to pray for you and we will continue until all the children are home. Please Pray On...

Answered Prayers

Praise God!!! In a small courtroom in Irkutsk Russia prayers were answered last week. After over four years of waiting and five court hearings the family I posted about back in November had their prayers and those of many others answered when their adoption was approved. This was the first American adoption from this region since August 2005. Another family goes before the judge Friday morning(Thursday evening our time) please pray that their prayers too will be answered.

Happy 2009!!!

Hey, we're still here and looking forward to 2009 with all the hope and possibilities of what's to come. I'll be posting more later!

First Kiss & Signs

Do you remember the first time you kissed you significant other? I do, ten years later and I still remember our first kiss. Yesterday I recieved another special kiss that I'll not forget. We've been trying to teach Josiah to kiss for a couple weeks now. He's certainly been getting his share of them. Well yesterday I was sitting at the table with him sitting on the table looking at me. I asked him for a kiss and for the first time he puckered up and leaned toward me. When I asked him again he put his hand on my chin and leaned in again. Sweet, sweet memory.

Yesterday was also the day he's put together some signs. His first sign was all done and now he is quite good at signing more. In fact he does it a lot! He loves to eat and he readily tells me he wants More. Too cute!

Here are some recent photos.

HOME

We're home! Exhausted....sleep deprived, but, so happy to be home! Forty eight hours after we checked out of our hotel in Hanoi we arrived at our doorstep! Thank you all for your prayers, posts, emails and well wishes during our journey! I will post more later. We are all doing well and will be even better once we get some sleep.

Love,
Mark,Carol,Hannah & Josiah

Favorite Pics of Josiah

I found him sleeping like this one night. It doesn't look comfortable to me.






I love this one. Mark has taught him not to go in the kitchen. So, he stands there and waits for him. He knows something yummy is coming. The boy loves to eat!

Adventures in the Old Quarter

It's Saturday before we leave Hanoi and because we've been tied to the hotel room we have not ventured out very much and have not done any souvenior shopping. Well, after being down there in our moments of wellness, we realized we didn't want to take the children there. So, in the morning Mark made his trek. Then finally pain and fever free I went out in the afternoon for an adventure of my own. Mark told me that the Old Quarter was like Itaewon in Seoul only better prices, but, after almost three hours I think it was more like Itaewon, Namdaemun and the fish market all rolled into one. I did get nabbed by the banana lady. You can see the picture below. While you have the bananas on your shoulder all her friends show up to sell you something. I think it is all a part of the adventure and I just went with it and had some fun. There were some things I was looking for that they had anyway.
After I finally got away I went down one alley where all the fish were out. It was like the fish market in Korea only smaller. I was just glad I caught myself before I fell on the slippery floor. I couldn't believe the size of the prawns. Then on to the meats. Uncle Stan would be busy! Then on to do the shopping I came for. I found a few things I wanted but had to leave without seeing everything or even making much of a dent on my list because I was missing my babies.

These baskets were all ontop of a bicycle that the guy rode around on.







power lines









The real banana lady









me









city at night

We're Coming Home

TOGETHER!!!!!!!!!! Friday morning we had our visa interview at the Embassy. I couldn't believe how easy it was, Mark was just asked if everything in the application was true and then we signed the form. Then the three Dad's went back and picked up the visas in the afternoon. I don't know about the other Mom's but, I was on the phone with the airline trying to change tickets. At first we were told by one of the other families that all the flights were booked for the weekend. Then Mark called and he was told the same. I called back in the afternoon and Success!!!! Persistence really does pay off.

So, the four of us will leave here Sunday night (Sun morning EST)then fly to Seoul for our 13 hour layover. We will arrive back at BWI midnight Monday!

Hopefully we'll be able to get out today and do some sightseeing. I really want to see some of Hanoi before we have to leave.

Doctors Visits X 2

Thursday Josiah had his adoption medical checkup. He screamed the entire time. He did not want anyone else touching him. When we went in to see the nurse he probably thought that was it. Then we went to see the doctor and the screams just got louder, for a little guy he can make a lot of noise. I think he was a little upset with me afterwards.

I don't know if it's something about the clinic or if these visits just have to come in two's for us. But, that evening I started feeling ill again. We went and had a great dinner with the other two Holt families here and by the time I got home my head was pounding. I couldn't sleep all night with headache and the fever was back. This time when Mark asked me if I wanted to go to the clinic I didn't hesitate to say YES! I'm now on a new antibiodic. The doctor thinks I have a sinus infection. I really didn't think I'd say this but, I really want to go home.