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!

More Christmas Pictures and Adoption Update

Well here are a few more Christmas pictures. I have been really busy this last weeksince I had to drive to Raleigh (3 hours away) for the 2nd time in a week! For international adoption documents you need to get a state seal called an apostille on the documents. This is done at your state capital's secretary of state's office. It is basically a state seal that says that the document has been verified by the state. (So they have checked out the notary or whomever certified it, etc.) Whatever state that was done in needs to apostille it. We have had to send some of them to Sacramento (like our marriage license) and this is the fourth time that one or both of us have made the trek to Raleigh. Once we mailed them, but that takes longer. I went up on the Friday before Christmas to get the (hopefully) last of our paperwork taken care of and unfortunately they made several errors in the apostilles and I had to go back as soon as they reopened after Christmas (Thursday) to get them redone. Luckily I was able to speak to the supervisor and we will get a reimbursement for all our troubles. (In about 6 weeks of course :D). Hey, you take what you can get.

I have also been really busy getting ready for our New Year's Eve party. We are hosting a murder mystery party for our church small group. It is a 20's theme and I think it will be really fun. I post pictures of Kev and I in our costumes soon.


The tree. I really need some drapes, don't I?


Kevin tries on his new beanie while opening his stocking. Can you believe that beanies are called toboggans in North Carolina? Where we come from a toboggan is something you ride in the snow... not that there is snow where we come from.


Me holding my favorite present. Well, the box my favorite present came in. My favorite present was taking the picture. Isn't it lovely? ;) Now we will have pictures of our kids that aren't blurry and/or yellow.


Some of the aftermath. Keaton really likes to tear up wrapping paper so it always looks like a tornado rolled through when we are done unwrapping.



It is really tiring though. Little dude takes a nap.


I will spare you most of the Christmas morning pictures since I am not a morning person and they are not very exciting anyway.

Here is one more though...

My village. I get a new piece or two every year and this year it kind of outgrew the space. I didn't get to use all my trees, lights, and bushes because it was just too crowded. I will have to find a larger space for it next year. I am thinking there will be more space for the cords on the air hockey table, but then it will be upstairs. We'll see.



Doing dishes after Christmas dinner.


Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!