No News is Good News

Well this is the time in the adoption process when we sit and wait. (It is one of the many times actually.) There is nothing to blog about adoption wise but I wanted everyone (all four of you who read this blog ;) ) to know that all is well. We did have a really fun Super Bowl Party on Sunday and our friend Joe (who is a chef) made us an awesome spread of food!

This is my first post from our new laptop. The good news about getting the laptop is that we will be able to take it to Ukraine with us so we can update our blog, email, send pictures, etc. And we will be able to watch DVDs and play with it in the downtime. The funny/ironic thing is that our other computer died within a day or two of bringing the laptop home. We have been joking that it took one look at the competition and gave up. Actually it isn't that old. It's an iMac G5 and it is just over 3 years old. So we have to take it in to get fixed because we still plan on using it. The guys came today to install our wireless connection for the new computer and I must say that it is kind of fun to be able to get online from anywhere in the house. I also have to say that I am currently sitting where the old computer is, so I guess it isn't that fun! :D

The family in our neighborhood who adopted three kids from Ukraine two years ago emailed me to say that their is another couple somewhere in the neighborhood who is just starting the process of adopting from Ukraine. I can't wait to meet them! I think we will try to have everyone over for dinner sometime soon to share stories and get to know each other.

That's all for now. I leave you with a picture of Keaton the Wonder Dog, taken with Photo Booth. That is s fun toy, I must say.

Trip Pictures #2

There is no adoption news and probably won't be until March, but here are some more vacation pictures.

By the way, can any of you more experiences blogspotters clue me in on how to add a cool heading and background to our blog? It seems like all the other sites I visit have custom ones that involve more computer know-how than I have.

Loading pictures takes some time and I'm not very patient. But here are some more

from the trip:


One "casual night" before dinner.

These were all taken in Puerto Rico. We went to the only U.S. rainforest. We opted to do the easy hike so we wouldn't get really muddy. (We saw some really muddy people.) By the way, is it really a hike if the path is paved? It was pretty anyway and though we saw rain in the distance it wasn't raining where we were. (Thank God.)





Playing around in the rain forest.


Melissa uses her hand to give some perspective on how big the snails are.


And Jeff's finger to show how tiny the gecko is. We were surpised I caught this picture because the gecko jumped as soon as Jeff put his finger there. Trusty new camera. ;)

Vacation Pictures #1 Pre-Cruise

I downloaded all the pictures from my camera onto the computer, but I still have to weed through them.

Two days before we left for Florida was Kevin's 32nd birthday. We went to a basketball game that night and he opened his presents before we left. Happy birthday Kev!






New shoes for the trip! :)


A quick picture at Downtown Disney. We ate lunch at Rainforest Cafe and walked through some of the shops but we didn't have much time before we had to get down to Fort Lauderdale to pick our friends up from the airport. We met up with our good friends Jeff and Melissa who flew in from California and then we were all leaving on the cruise the next day.


The girls, waiting to get on the ship.


And the guys.

Snow Pictures

The snow did end up sticking and hung around most of today, melting slowly in the rain. I didn't take any more pictures this morning but these ones I took after it started to stick last night.








Keaton was actually begging to get back into the house after a few minutes outside.

Good News!

Two things actually.

1. It is snowing! It isn't sticking, but it is snowing and it is supposed to be snow/icy rain all night. This is really fun for us because it is rare here. Most people would probably laugh at my excitement of "ice" that is melting when it hits the ground but I am a California girl. Keaton and I went outside at 11 p.m. (when it started) to inspect and take a few pictures. It is really pretty. It is supposed to rain and be icy tomorrow. Kevin will probably have to take my SUV to work so this means I have a good excuse to stay home and do things around here. I am guessing my day will involve sleeping in, staying in my pj's until noon, drinking cocoa, cleaning house while watching a movie I have seen 1,000 times, and possibly downloading the hundreds of pictures that are on my camera. Sounds perfect to me!

2. This is actually the more exciting news.... We got our dossier submission date. March 3! This is a real blessing because we have paperwork that would need to be immediately updated if it were even one week later. We may still have to update somethings, but not until we need them for traveling. So it is looking like if all goes well that we will travel to Ukraine in summer to get our kids! God is good. :)

Happy New Year!

We just got home on Sunday night from Florida. We were on a cruise the week before and played a little bit in Florida too. We stayed the first night in Orlando but only had a few hours there the next day so we just did Downtown Disney and not the Magic Kingdom. :( Boo! I love Disney and it is no fun to be so close, yet so far away.

On the adoption front, there is now a list at the SDA (State Department of Adoption...) that lists dates for families to turn in their dossiers. Our facilitator is there now finding out when our date is. The SDA will start to accept dossiers again in February. We are wishing, hoping, and praying for a February submission date because a March (or later) date will mean that we have more paperwork to update. I spent several days before and after Christmas working on updating paperwork and driving to and from Raleigh. In the meantime, things seem to be constantly changing (as always) in the world of international adoptions in Ukraine. As usual we are hoping the changes mean a better system for the orphans of Ukraine and the parents who want to adopt them. As long as more children will benefit, and the system is fair then I am happy.

I'll let you know when I find out about our date and paperwork. I will also post some vacation pictures as soon as I get them uploaded. I have taken an embarrassing amount of pictures since I got my new camera. It is so fun and quick!

New Year's Eve

We had a really good time throwing our New Year's Eve party for our small group. The murder mystery was fun and some of us got really into our parts. If you have never done one you should give it a try!


The invitations/instructions that we gave to everyone. I think they turned out cute!

Some funny pictures that Kevin and I took of each other just before everyone arrived:




Some of the party action:







Playing games after the game was over and waiting until midnight. Of course we were too busy popping our poppers at midnight to take pictures. I actually forgot to get out the apple cider for toasting too!

We had some little gangersters at the party too, but I don't feel comfortable posting pictures of other other people's children without their permission.

Happy New Year! Hope you had a good one too!