A Place To Play

Our park is finally complete...kinda.  We can now play on it, but there are a few more things that need to be done.  Some kind of edging still needs to be taken care of, and the swings were the wrong ones, so the new ones should be in next week.  It wasn't done on Tuesday like we expected...surprise, surprise.  This is what it looked like Tuesday, they didn't have enough ground cover to finish it.

After talking to the installation crew on Tuesday, they said it still shouldn't be played on for a couple days because some of the posts were just cemented.  So, my neighbor and I caution taped it to death to attempt to keep kids off of it.  Lets just say this tape meant nothing to the middle schoolers.

Yesterday afternoon the tape was removed and the final ground cover added.  YAY!  We now have a park right across the street to play in!!!

Easter Pictures

all dressed up for church

love my family, so blessed to have them

aren't they the cutest =)

my beautiful sisters

Homestudy Update...Or Not

Last week I was under the impression that we needed to update our homestudy, or at least this is what our international agency told me.  They said since it's over a year old it's expired and we need to update it because we can't travel with an expired homestudy.

Well, our homestudy agency had a completely different take.  Our case worker was VERY adamant about the fact that our homestudy was still valid since nothing has changed in our lives.  She felt it would be better to update it as our USCIS stuff got closer to expiring (which is this summer).

Needless to say, these 2 differing views left me completely confused last week!  After many confusing conversations last week, both our case worker and family coordinator agreed that our homestudy is still currently valid since it does not actually have an expiration date.  Come to find our international agency likes to err on the cautious side, which is good.  I guess the point is, if we are to get our referral soon, we will be able to travel with our current homestudy.

Slow Progress

We are slowly gaining on the park.  As far as I'm concerned, these guys should have been done by now.  But they didn't work this weekend, and they don't seem to work full days ever.  But, despite their random hours,  it should be completely done tomorrow.  It will look done tonight but some of the concrete still has to set,  keeping people off this during the set could be interesting.  We (our neighbors included) have had to chase multiple people off the structure since construction started.  Does caution tape mean anything?!?!?!

Stay tuned for some complete and up close pictures of our new park!

No Greater Joy Than This

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.   Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."  John 3:16-18

Hello Park

I'm SO unbelievably excited because yesterday they started the construction of our new park.  All those months of meetings and many phone calls have paid off.  Nothing can burst this bubble of joy!!!

Stay tuned to see continued progress.

Adoption Update Clarification

I've received tons of questions since my last post about our adoption update earlier this week (click here to see it), so I thought I'd say a little more to clarify.  Or as much as I can possibly say since this blog is public.  First, I highly recommend you talk to your agency to truly clarify what's going on, and if you're independent talk with your POA.  Our agency has done an amazing job communicating with us about what they know.

It was confirmed from our agency (who's in constant contact with our POA who's in constant contact with the ministry) that there are few healthy kids available at the orphanage under the age of 3 because there have been so many referrals all at once.  We were given the option to change our request to older children, but didn't feel this was right for our family since our current children are 3 and 4, and not to mention we'd have to completely change our homestudy and USCIS 171-H.

I also truly believe that once all these currently referred children are brought home, those empty beds will be filled pretty quickly.  It's not like there's a shortage of orphans in Rwanda.  Please keep in mind that this is completely my own assumption.

I know this doesn't answer all your questions, but this is all I really know.  I trust the Nuns at the orphanage and the Ministry in their judgement for our family and what's best for the children at the Home of Hope.  I have no clue how long we will wait for our referral, I tried to ask our agency this question but they also have no clue.  We could still get a referral in the next few months, or it could be even longer.  Wish I knew, but in the mean time I'll continue to prepare for our travel there, and continue celebrating with the families hearing good news from the ministry, and enjoy watching those traveling to bring their children home.

"Warheads" War

Warheads are known to be one of the most sour candies EVER made.  And... well... you never really know what kind of crazy things we will do over here. So, last night Luke and I had a contest to see who could keep one in our mouths the longest with a straight face.  I of course lost and bit the candy after only a few seconds, I just couldn't take it.  But then our kids insisted on trying a warhead, and this is what was really surprising.  Kade spit it out immediately, but Kristin ate the whole candy and few more without any sour facial expressions.  She said they were really good?!?  I guess I shouldn't be surprised by this, she has loved lemons since she was a very young age.

So Much More

Before we even officially started the adoption process, this journey was about caring for orphans.  The Bible commands us over and over to care for the fatherless, of course many people choose to ignore this.  As we dove into the process of adoption it started to become so much more than caring for orphans.  It was about 2 more beautiful children that God created just to be a part of our family.  As this journey has continued God continues to reveal to us a much bigger picture than we could have ever imagined for this process.  It's about building close relationships and sharing the journey with other families in the same process.  It's about making others aware of the huge need in our world, over 147 million orphans, and there are so many simple ways to make a difference.  Most importantly, God has really taught us the importance of waiting on Him and trusting His timing and plan for our family.  This adoption is not about who will get their children first or trying to bring our children home as fast as we can.  It's about waiting on Him and trusting His plan for us, even through bumps that seem as huge as mountains some days.

Random Updates

Vacation:
After a long day of flying Saturday, we made it home safely.  I'm attempting to get back into the swing of things here, but not having much luck so far.  If you've never been to Myrtle Beach, I highly recommend you go.  We had such a great time and there is SO much to do there, we didn't even do 1/4 of what we could have done.  On another random note, the Chicago (O'Hare) Airport is now my new favorite airport.  Click here to see why I love this airport.  I've never seen these automatic toilets that change out the seat covers.  Lets just say I'm easily impressed, especially with things that meet my OCD needs.

Park:
I am very excited to announce that the construction of our park will start this week, Thursday to be exact and should be done by next Monday at the latest.  YAY!  Just in time for warmer weather (wishful thinking, I know).  Below is a picture of the excavation that was done last week while I was gone.

Adoption:
And for the final update that you've all been waiting for, a lot has been happening in Rwanda recently.  The last couple weeks there have been referrals like crazy, most people with numbers below us have received their referral (our dossier is #42).  We have also heard of many people with much higher dossier numbers receiving approvals.  6 families from our agency arrived home with their new children (11 of them) last week.  8 more families from our agency will be traveling at the end of this month/early May to bring home their children (10 of them).  This movement is so exciting to see, God has definitely been moving some great mountains in the last month.

As for us, we found out last week that in March they tried matching (referring) us but weren't able to do so because their are currently few children under the age of 3 available (we are requesting a boy & girl 0-18 months).  This makes sense since there have been so many referrals for children under the age of 3 and they currently only allow adoptions from 1 orphanage in Kigali.  I also think this is a good thing because all these children will no longer be orphans!!!  What does this mean for us, 1st WE'VE BEEN APPROVED!!!  We never actually received our approval because they had the wrong email address and the email we received was actually sent to another friend adopting and she saw our name on it.  Definitely a God thing!!!  So we now continue to wait for our referral, we knew we could possibly wait longer just because so many people are requesting children under the age of 3, or at least this is what we have heard from other people.  We are trusting God's timing with our family and when we will bring our babies homes.

I also found out last week that we aren't allowed to travel with an expired homestudy, not sure how I overlooked this bit of information, but now I'm frantically trying to get our homestudy updated in case we do get our referral soon.  Another God thing as far as I'm concerned because if we had received our referral last month like the ministry planned, we wouldn't be able to travel.

Finally, travel has changed a bit in Rwanda and now families need to be present to sign The Act of Adoption which is needed for court.  This means instead of traveling for 2 weeks, we will be gone for 3-4 weeks trying to get the necessary paperwork to bring our children home.  The advantage of this is that we will get to spend more time getting to know our children's birth country.  It also means that since we will see our children before passing court, they can come home on an IR3 visa which makes them automatic US citizens once we get home (this also means we can apply for the tax credit next year without re-finalizing 1st).  The one down fall about being gone this long is leaving our other children home.  We've never been away from them for more than a long weekend, so this will be difficult for all of us, but I also know they will be in great hands with my parents.

New Life

Many of my tulips and daffodils are blooming, and I think they are absolutely beautiful. Hello spring.

I can very honestly tell you that I love each season.  Growing up in California I really only got to experience 2 seasons, I didn't really feel like there was an in between.  Here, we have all 4 seasons and I love something about each of them.  In spring, I love all the new life.  Flowers and trees blooming, everything turning green again from the dead of winter.  This got me to thinking how perfect it is that we celebrate Easter in the spring.  The spring is filled with new life and that's what Easter is all about.  Celebrating the new life we have through the death of Jesus Christ.  What a great reminder!

Out With A Bang

Our final day was full of fun.  Luke's goal was to wear the kids out for our flights today, but instead it just wore me out.  Many people say this is known as the mini-golf capital of the U.S.  I totally get that too, I've never seen so many miniature golf courses in one place.  There are also over 100 golf courses here.

We enjoyed my favorite meal last night at Margaritaville.  I thought this was the best meal we had all week (Luke disagrees).  It was also the most entertaining dinner as well.  We got to experience an indoor hurricane, margarita style.  The kids also got crazy balloon hats from a man on stilts.

Of course we did a little more shopping after this.  Had to buy some thank you gifts for those who helped us out on the home front.  We also got to watch fudge be made, these guys were hilarious, so it was tons of fun!

Finally we went to see "Rio" in the theater.  It was super cute and I think that the 3-D quality of this movie was MUCH better than the IMAX.  These glasses also weren't goofy looking.

Poor little guy was exhausted after a busy day.  He slept the 1st part of the movie. =)  Please pray that we have a safe trip home today.  Our 1st flight looks like it could be going through storms the whole time.

Another Lazy Beach Day

I'm a bit saddened as this vacation is coming to an end, but I am also truly blessed.  This trip was kinda a last minute decision and I'm so glad we decided to do this.  We have really just enjoyed spending time together with each other and have been reminded at how truly blessed are with such amazing kids.  I've definitely been enjoying the warmer weather and really could get used to this lazy life on the beach.

10:26

Today's adventure: deep sea fishing.  We caught lots of fish, but nothing really exotic, mostly sea bass.  I caught 10 fish and Luke caught 26.  In my defense, most of my fish were larger than Luke's, he caught a lot of little ones. =)  The kids enjoyed helping reel fish in and sharing their love by kissing the fish.

Nothing like a good swim to wear out the kids before bed.

Of course, no day is complete without Kade whining a bit and sharing his pouty lip.

SHARK ATTACK

Okay, so there wasn't a shark attack, but our day was definitely themed around sharks today.  1st, we woke up to a beautiful sunny day, so of course we had to take advantage of the sun and go for a swim.

As the clouds started to roll in (more thunderstorms) we thought we'd check out the indoor lazy river.  Luke could have spent hours in here, but the kids and I got a little bored after a while.

After that we took a trip to the aquarium (since it was a bit rainy), it was awesome.  The 2 largest attractions were the sting rays and sharks.  Everyone else obviously had the same idea as us because the place was packed.  It was tons of fun though and cool to see lots of aquatic life up close.  I could have watched the sting rays for hours, they are very graceful creatures.

We thought we'd continue with our aquatic theme and see a movie about sharks playing at the IMAX.  This was fun since the movie was 3D.  It was entertaining watching all the kids in the theater trying to reach out and touch the fish.

You'd think they'd make the 3D glasses a little more fashionable. =)  This is what I learned about sharks today: people have negative and fearful views of them, but really they play an important part in our oceans life cycle, if people don't change their ways they soon will be endangered.

We enjoyed a WAY yummy dinner at Joe's Crab Shack.  It was some good cajun boil.  This was of course followed by some more random shopping.  Good thing I don't shop like this at home, or we'd be broke!

Just a bit of randomness I thought you might enjoy. =)  Not something you see everyday, it's a museum in case you were wondering.