Need Advice

OK blogger buddies, we need advice.  A few weeks ago I mentioned how our home study agency was put on the dreaded "blacklist".  So our agency has been stalling with doing our update because they want to know what the issue actually is, but our home study expires April 14th and we have to do fingerprints etc.  So we finally called today to see what we need to do, switch, stay, or what.  They stated that they got a response back from Russia on what the issue is, problem is, it is in Russian!  Got to get it translated.  So they still don't know what the issue is.  So by the end of this week Randy and I need to decide if we need to switch agencies.  Even if they fix the problem, they will technically be on the "list" until the new one comes out, which could be six months or so.  With our wait it really doesn't matter much, but if it is something they can't fix, then we have to switch.  We either switch now, and risk that agency going on the blacklist and having to deal with that drama, or stick with our agency, pay for the update, and then possibly switching later if the problem can't be fix, which will cost us some money, not tons, but some.

What would you do if you were in our shoes??  All advice will be taken!

Fun Times in St. Louis

While I have no pictures, Randy took the camera with him to Daytona, my sister promised to make me copies of the pictures she took, we had an awesome time in St. Louis.  Friday my mom and I went to Jefferson City, to meet my sister and her boys.  Then Saturday morning we hit the road.  We went to the Big Foot museum, which was a little disappointing, they were having a monster truck show in downtown St. Louis so all the monster trucks were there, but we did get to see two.  Camden didn't care though, he found a Big Foot toy inside, picked it up and took it to the cashier, I guess this was my cue to dig out my wallet?

From there we went to Magic House.  This place was AWESOME!!! When you walk in there are two buildings, the Red building and the purple building.  We went to the red first, not age appropriate for Camden at all.  Way over his head.  But my nephews liked it.  Next we went to the purple building.  Jackpot!  Camden had a blast!  We were there for about 4 hours and I think they would of stayed longer, but they were getting close to closing time.  So off to the hotel we went.  Got checked in and the boys saw the indoor pool and our plans for City Museum went out the door.  So we ordered some pizza and off to the pool we went.  It was FREEZING!!!!!  Of course I had to get in, Camden can't swim by himself and after about 30 minutes, he was purple and I couldn't stand it anymore.  He cried about getting out, but he loved it when I stuck him in the very warm bath. 

Sunday was Arch day.  It was beautiful, no clouds, windy and warm.  We got up there and it was very windy.  If you have ever been up, when it is windy, you can feel the Arch swaying with the wind.  Camden did NOT like this feeling at all and was ready to go down.  Now to get to the top, you ride in a little capsule that seats 5.  Camden was free so he was a lap rider, so there was 6 of us in the pod going up and down.  But great views.  Then we started the trek home, with a quick stop in JC, to drop of my sister, and then to KC.  Then this morning I waved goodbye to my mom and Camden as they headed to Wichita for the week so I can work.  Already miss the little guy.

I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane!

Well, Randy is anyways!  He is leaving tomorrow to go to Daytona for the big race.  A Christmas gift from my parents to him.  He is pretty excited, while Camden and I are headed to St. Louis with my mom and sister.  It should be a pretty fun weekend.  Can't wait to take Camden up in the Arch!  Hopefully the lines aren't too long since it is suppose to cool off this weekend.  Then Camden is off to my mom's next week so I can work all week, we got some adoption costs we got to pay for!  Aka, home study update!

Have a great weekend all, and fun President's Day if you have the day off.

What's been going on....

Well for the past week, I have been potty training Camden.  Now this is an adventure that we have tried many times before.  All ending in disaster and Camden getting his way and the diapers back on.  One time I even made it 8 days before I caved in.  This time is different though, the advantage I have this time is.....

HOT WHEELS!

Oh yes, my son LOVES hot wheels.  He went with us to the store last week and we picked out 15 new hot wheels, or should I say my husband did.  Because we have to get cars that look "realistic." Boy did he ever want those cars!  So off on day 1, we put all the cars in the bathroom, and we had 1 success, though horribly dramatic, screaming the whole time.  The next day we went back to our old habit, holding it for hours.  8 hours to be exact, and somehow we did not have an accident though.  By Wednesday, he was starting to realize hey if I just sit down and go, I get a car.  By Thursday we have no accidents, and we can go in about 10 seconds!  So here we are a week later, we have had a few accidents, but these past few days have been great, he doesn't complain about going, he runs in, does his business and we are done.  We are down to M&M's though now, hot wheels can get pretty expensive at a $1 a shot.  So proud of my little man.

On the adoption front, our go-to region is still stalling, saying "soon."  But two regions that said heck no after the event last April have both given out a referral, so we are looking up.  Praying that some girl referrals go out so we move up the list.  Also praying that the adoption agreement is signed sometime soon also.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentines Day! I got one Valentine home with me, the other is working, we will get our Valentine's dinner another day!

So long for now!
Denise

Warning: Rant Ahead

I am not responsible if you are offended by my words after this line.  You have been warned.

So I am at church and volunteering in the nursery and one of the workers was asking about our adoption.  I said that things have been slowed down a lot by what has happened, aka. Torri Hansen and the latest mom on Dr. Phil.  Another lady working asked what was so wrong about Torri Hansen sending her son back, she DID have someone meet him at the airport.  Children fly alone all the time.  My mouth about hit the floor at this point.  I was like ARE YOU SERIOUS!  I said well first of all it was illegal, she lied to the airline about his age, plus it was not like a grandparent meeting him at the airport, a STRANGER!  Who knows what would of happened if this guy was not a good guy.  Then I said that if it was okay for her to do that, then it would be ok for me to put my bio. son on an airplane and send him to Washington D.C. with a note pinned on him saying I didn't want him any more.  She said no, that is different.  I asked why, and she was like well he was adopted.  I was about ready to LOSE it.  Luckily the director of the children's program came in and asked me to move rooms because they were short handed in another room.  That was a big move from God there because I don't think the next words out of my mouth would of been very christian like.

Adoption is hard, there are trials with raising a child that has been raised in an institution, no matter what age.  That by no means that they are NOT your children when you adopt them.  They get the same rights that your bio. children do.  If there is a problem you deal with it, if you can't you take the right channels to end the adoption.  You do NOT put a 7 year old on a Trans-Atlantic flight back to his home country with a note pinned to him saying you don't want him anymore.  People need to truly need to be educated on adoption and the trials that these children are going through.  They grieve when they come to America, we have taken them from what they know, we put them in a strange environment with a strange language.  We need to be advocates for these children. 

Ok, I am done now.  Sorry for the rant.
Denise

Trip 1 done!

Well we are funded for trip 1!  That is amazing to me, We are budgeting around $5000 for trip 1 and I really thought it would take us FOREVER to get it.  With Randy's overtime over and the amount that the school district took away from substitute pay this year I really thought that we would have to wait for our tax return to get this part done.  But thanks to a great  peanut brittle fundraiser and some amazing people who were very generous, trip one is done!  So our tax refund will go to our court trip fees.  We are getting there!  So happy.  On the adoption front, Court dates are going out like crazy, but only two first trips since the beginning of the year, neither of which were for girls, which is disheartening, but supposedly one region is going to be giving out referrals "soon."  If only we knew what soon was!

On another note, if you are a fan of Dr. Phil I am sorry, but the man is horrible.  He aired another mom who adopted Russian twins and showed her on air abusing one of the boys!  All for ratings.  I have been sitting on this for a few weeks but can't keep it in anymore.  He is a disgrace to the profession.  Yes, he did tell the mom that she was wrong, but he was wrong to air the abuse on T.V. and he has never had a parent of a Russian adoption on that has had a positive experience.  I have sent him my opinion.  I encourage others to do the same.

Snomageddon!

Yes, I know I am slow getting updated, but I wanted pictures and I can't upload pictures on my computer because it is 7 years old and everything on it is broken, so I can basically get on the Internet and that is it!  None of my usb ports work.  I need a new computer, but it will just have to wait.  I load all our pictures on Randy's computer and then email them to myself.  It gets rather annoying.  Why two computers, because when he is at the firestation, Randy like to have his computer for studying, or just for fun during the long 24 hour shift.  So last Tuesday we had what the weathermen called a blizzard.  From reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, I expected something a little more, but it was still impressive.  There were definitely white-out conditions and they shut down the airport and I-70 from Kansas City to St. Louis.  Here we got around 10 inches of snow, but the impressive thing happened on Thursday morning.  It got down to -14 degrees here.  In my 32 years I have never experienced conditions that cold!

Here are some pictures that I thought were pretty cool.

A view out our laundry room door!  I like the door imprints on the snow!

That pile is about 10 feet high there.

Father and son snow shoveling!

Our buried swing set. The entire side wall of our retaining wall is buried.

This is what it normally looks like!