How to choose

I was going to wait until everything was done and we had our pre-approval, but I have so much to share that I thought I'd do it now.
Last Thurs. we got a call from Jill, our social worker, that we had recieved our LID (Log In Date). This is what we've been working towards this whole time. It's the holy grale of the adoption process becuase once you get it, it means you are finally eligible for a referral. We didn't expect it until Oct. so this was a welcome surprise. The timing on it could not have been better because the new shared list for China's Special Needs that comes out once a month, was coming out that next Monday, Sept. 20th. Monday morning in China is Sunday evening in America so Jill was at the computer ready to go Sunday night as the kids started to come up on the list. Ya see, the whole process is a bit of a game....a race, really. One by one, new kids get added to the list. As they pop up, it's up to the social worker to lock in a child for their client....but, every social worker around the country is doing the same thing at the same time....so, she has about 30 seconds to read male or female, birthdate, and a one/two word description of their special need before having to lock them. If they don't do it fast, the child will be locked out by someone else first and they lose them.
On Sunday night, Jay and I had to go to a Couples In Christ function at church. We had our cell phone close by hoping she would be calling us. She did. At 8pm she called to quick ask us if we would be interested in a little one yr. old girl with bad scarring on her feet, ankles, and thighs. She said it looked like burns. I said yes and we hung up. An hour later, she called again to say that she had not got that little one locked in on time for us, but that she had gotten 2 others. She was sending the emails with their records to us and we would have to chose. We quick finished up at church and headed home. We both pulled up a chair to the computer and opened the files.
The first one.....girl, age 22 mos., unrepaired cleft lip/palate, loves to play on her swinging car, loves to eat meat congee, bone soup, and cake, loves to imitate, understands what "No" means, abandoned at a post office at a day old, and the most beautiful eyes you've ever seen.
The second....girl, age 2 yr.4 mos old, repaired cleft lip/palate, loves to eat sweet foods and fruits, can point to her eyes, ears, and nose, abandoned at a police station at 3 days old, and a totally sweet little face.
Talk about making a tough decision. We weighed all the factors and made a choice based on something very obscure and something most people would probably not even consider when making a decision like this. It came down to personality. The personality of the second little one was listed as timid, shy, like's quietness, introverted. The first one's personality? Restless, active, like's to imitate, outgoing, extroverted, talkative. Um...I wonder which one would have an easier time getting used to our home, our boys, and our craziness? We didn't care either way, but we considered her. What would be easiest for her. And so we picked the first little baby girl we saw that night. And we are so happy we did because each time I look at her face, which is often, I just fall in love with those beautiful eyes and sweet chubby arms a little bit more.

And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me.

Matthew 18:5

Our News

Sunday night, for the first time, Jason and I saw the sweet face of the child that we hope will be our daughter. We recieved our Log In Date (LID) on Thurs. just a few days before the new Special Needs list came out for Sept. We weren't expecting it so soon, we were hopeful for October so this was a great surprise.
I can't share too much about her yet because we technically do not have a permanent lock on her. She is temporarily locked in to us, but we will need to submit a Letter Of Intent (LOI) to China first thing tomorrow morning so that they can give us our Pre-Approval (PA). It's then that we can truly call her ours and I can share all the details. Until then, I am only allowed to disclose very minimal information about her.
So, here's what I will say.
She will be 2 in November.
She has an unrepaired cleft lip and palate.
She sounds like a fun, feisty little thing.
She is absolutely beautiful.
We are over the moon to have 'met' her and can't wait to start our journey to bring her home.

Sunday Snapshot: Missing Pink

Pink is not a good color on me, so I don't wear it.
Because I don't wear it, it is basically non-existant in our house.
After all, with 5 boys and a former Marine living here, you don't see many pink shirts, bows, socks, or even toys.

Lately though, I've been really achin' for some pink around here. Maybe it's because I know it's coming soon....or it could be that I'm just tired of camoflauge and blue. Maybe if we weren't going through this adoption, the thought of pink wouldn't even enter my mind. But...we are...so...it is.

Personally, I think that a little pink around here will be a nice change of pace. Maybe having some pink will calm the place down a bit. Maybe?
Maybe the hint of girliness in the house will be just what we need to stop breaking bones and breaking things.

A pair of pink sunglasses on the table (right next to the spiderman ones). Some little pink shoes in the foyer (beside the pairs of football cleats). Some pink heeled socks (amongst the dozens with holey toes). A little pink sweater in the laundry (next to all the grass stained jeans).

And a little black haired, brown eyed sweetie smack dab in the middle of this.....

and of course......wearing PINK

1st Day of School

It's here....It happened.....the first day of the new school year. Oh.My.Gosh! Is it wrong for me to be this excited?! Okay, maybe it is just a bit....I'll tone it down. But c'mon...can ya blame me? I have these 5 crazy boys that are so sick of each other by the end of the summer, they can't even walk by each other without nudging or just outright pushing the other. Then the other one pushes back, then the other one hits him, then the next one yells, then the first one cries, then mom steps in and smacks them both on the head......that never helps, but it makes me feel a little better.
I think in light of the fact that the above scenario and similar ones happen several times daily.....I am very reasonable in my excitement about them being back in school.
So, that's the mom in me that is tired and ready for some peace during the day. The other mom in me is feeling a little nostalgic about having my youngest start kindergarten. Is he really 5 yrs. old? How and when the heck did that happen? It really is true about these days flying by. I think my mom puts it best when she says that time goes by so fast, but a day can last forever. Very true.


I realized that I forgot to spike the boys' hair, so I ran in to get the paste and took care of that before the bus came.....so we needed a new picture. Love the smile.

Labor Day Camping

This past weekend we went camping at a new campground. It was at Helen's parents place. Okay, so that's not a campground, but it was probably one of the funnest places we stayed at. They have a huge yard and lots of property covered in woods and a pond. The boys just love being able to walk the trails through the woods. They find all these boy treasures....like frogs, catepillars, and a turtle shell with no turtle inside. The shell was cracked and broken on one side so someone said it must have gotten attacked by another animal....to which Timmy said (totally serious) 'oh, that must be why he left'. Ha...I am picturing this shell-less turtle walking around the woods cold and afraid looking for a new shell to call home.
We had a really nice time though. They were so nice and kept inviting us in to eat and Helen's mom cooked some great breakfasts and lunches for us. We told her she didn't have to do that, but she insisted and I think she enjoys it. We teased them all weekend about their "campground" saying things like "what kind of a place is this, there's no electrical post out here or water" They just said "you get what you pay for" Haha....too cute.
We spent the day at the fair on Sunday and got them each a gift for letting us stay there. We got Peggy an ornament that was a chef and had it personalized, and we gave Frank a wooden thing to hang that said...."I childproofed the house, but they're still getting in". They really got a kick outta that.
Here is just a part of their yard....you can see why the boys love it so much.





We did some fishing on Saturday at White Bear Lake....

....and bonfires every night

Baby shower

Recently we had a baby shower for Lindsey and baby Ben. I love showers that are given after the baby is born because then the guest of honor can be there and everyone can see him. He got passed around for about 3 hours straight and did great. He's done really well with all the times that he's been around a group and everyone is in line to hold him.....kinda have to be in this big family.
Amy had it at her house and then us sisters all hosted. We had a really yummy brunch and played some dorky shower games. The dice game, of course, and then a game where we asked Lindsey a bunch of questions about Ben that we had asked Pat earlier that day. If she didn't match Pat's answer, she would have to eat a piece of gum....and not just Trident....Hubba Bubba gum. Well, she didn't do so hot on matching, so she probably ending up eating about 8 pieces of gum. She could hardly talk by the end of the game, it was very cute.
We opened gifts and ate some cake and had a very nice time visiting and laughing.
I think the biggest laugh of the day came when one of Lindsey's questions was "Who's idea was it to bring mom on the trip to Texas?"
and the very next question.....
"At what point did you regret that idea?"
Lindsey didn't seem to hesistate long enough for mom's liking and quickly decided they regretted it when "Rita took over driving and was flying 90mph down the highway"
They didn't get a match on that one.
Pat's answer......Lakeville.