Picnics

As we inch closer to summer vacation I am feeling the need to get outside. So, with Daddy working Memorial day and pretty much all weeknights and Saturdays, we have become picnic experts. Since Drew is already out of school for the summer we have managed 5 picnics in the last 10 days.

I could do this all summer long...

I love where I live

I am a California girl. Born and raised. I have wondered before what it would be like to live somewhere else. I often get lost in pictures or movies taking place in other states or even countries. Our experience in Russia was even one that made me wonder, "What would it be like?" Sometimes I get caught up in the photographed appearance of other locations and think there are so many beauties to see. 

But today I saw this video and was reminded just how spectacular my very own town is.

The original video (with better music) can be viewed here: http://vimeo.com/90509954

Sacramento is our nearest City and the creator of the video said, "California's capital may not be best known for scenic beauty, but you may beg to differ after seeing this video." It is true, I have never considered the city of Sacramento from the perspective this video gives.

Once I stopped to think about it the video doesn't even "dress up" the beauty. It is all there. The sunsets, the agricultural beauty, the natural wooded areas and waterways, and even the city all look that great. I just had never thought of them as one group package like the video seems to do. Put it all together and I am reminded how in love I am with where I live.

We are blessed to live in such an amazingly beautiful area.

So when do you travel?

My friends: if I knew the answer to that question you would already know too.

EVERYONE wants to know when we will travel. Believe me, I know. These last couple weeks have been an excellent exercise for me in patience and self control. Many of you know I am a planner. I want to have all of my ducks in a row. I saw this on Facebook the other day and just about died laughing:

This is such an accurate description of what is happening with our travel dates. We have known from the very beginning that travel confirmation will come at the last minute. Some agencies do things differently but ours is able to get us in country within 1-3 weeks of receiving our travel approval. We have known for months that we may receive as little as a few days notice. We would likely know a few weeks in advance what dates the group would be going. But we may not necessarily know we can be a part of that group until just a few days before we fly.

So here's what's really going on with our travel: The last group to go left May 7. We knew we would not make that group. But we did know at the beginning of May there would be another group going either June or July and we have a chance at that group. AS SOON AS that group has a travel date we will plan to join the group. BUT until we have our Travel Approval in hand we cannot buy airline tickets.

So when you hear me say, "We think we'll be going the second or third week in June" what I am really saying is, "there might be a group leaving either June 11th or June 18th and we are hoping to find out sometime during the week of June 4th if we can be a part of that group." And we were just recently told that the June group might not actually be going until July 2.

Ha!

That is my travel plan. Yup. That is it.

When I know, you will know. In fact, the whole dang planet will know because I will likely make a scene...

Out with the old

Because Jacob has caught up in his developmental milestones with his physical therapist we decided to try taking him out of his leg braces for a little test. We took the braces off for two weeks to see how he would do. The first couple days were very promising. But as time passed, he started walking high on his toes, dragging the toes and tripping.

During this time we also discovered he is still not feeling pain in his feet. This is what happened when he rode his plasma car barefoot:

It looks horrible. But it didn't bother him in the least. He didn't know he was hurting his feet. We had to stop him from continuing to ride, deliberately stop and show him his feet and tell him he was hurting himself. He didn't wince or cry when I washed them. And he didn't seem to notice any stinging sensations when getting in the tub that night.

This incident made us think it is time to consult with an Occupational Therapist. He is just not feeling his body the way he should.

The OT agrees that Jacob is having some struggles understanding what his body is feeling: pain, dizziness, messy diapers, eating differences and sometimes still balance. As Jacob is getting bigger and trying to focus on activities like doing a puzzle or reading a story we are seeing more difficulty with impulse control. Again, he is struggling to control what his body is feeling and loosing the ability to focus. Occupational Therapy will help with all of these things.

This is not a surprising discovery. Because of Jacob's history and time spent in the orphanage this is actually quite expected. It's just another area we need to work to get him caught up. Just like the Speech Therapy and Physical Therapy he has received and the HUGE gains he has made in those areas, he will also be able to catch up once the proper supports are in place for these challenges.

In the mean time we need new orthotics to keep him from damaging his feet and falling. His old orthotics are getting too small and have started to crack after such active use over the past 9 months. The good news is our insurance is paying for the new orthotics this time.

Jacob's old orthotic on the left, new on the right

We are trying a new night-time set of AFOs (orthotic braces) as well. These will provide Jacob with a continual stretch through the night when it is time to come off the day time braces. And as an added benefit the night braces provide sensory input through the night that may possibly help Jacob learn to tolerate and process sensations in his feet better.

The gains this little boy has made in less than a year are amazing. When we started PT he couldn't even walk through the front door without tripping and falling. It was a single 2 inch step and he could not do it once successfully. Now he walks up stairs alternating feet and jumps off 6 inch blocks to a solid two-foot landing with enthusiasm. I have no doubt he will just keep knocking challenges out of the park.

My boy makes me proud.

Birthday Girl: The Hike

Each year Caitlin tries to pick something new to do for her party with friends. Over the years we have had everything from a tea party to rock-wall climbing. Last year Caitlin asked to go on a hike. We didn't pull it off and I thought the idea had passed. This year when she asked again to take her friends for a hike I knew it was something she really wanted to do.

Caitlin chose Horse Tail Falls at Pyramid Creek Trail off of Highway 50 near Tahoe. If you are local and have never tried this trail it is well worth the drive. We have done this hike with the whole family and Brad has gone to the top without the kids.

Originally Caity asked if we could hike to the top. The hike to the top is very adventurous and at times a little dangerous. Brad and I took her for a trial run 3 weeks before her birthday to determine whether or not it was manageable with other people's children.

Caity at the base of the falls

Because there is still snow the water level was high so conditions were not ideal for climbing to the top. We made it to the first "shoot", realized how wet everything still was and chose to turn back. Caity decided bringing her friends to the base of the falls was adventure enough.

So this past Saturday we loaded Caity and 5 of her friends into the van and made the drive to Tahoe again. We were pleasantly surprised by her friends and their sense of adventure, endurance and positive attitudes on the hike. They all seemed to have a great time.

Base

"The Cascade" 

Enjoying sack lunches at the edge of the wilderness boundary before the ascent to the falls.

We made it to the falls!

This may have been my favorite birthday party to put on to date: no decorations, no party favors, no food (unless you count the mini brownie bites we enjoyed in place of cake). Just some gas money and great pictures. Great idea Caity!

My Selfie This Morning

Had I taken a selfie upon waking this morning, it would have looked something like this:

Brad and I have a saying for when we are really ticked off: "My hair is on fire!" When I turned off my alarm this morning at 6:30 an email came through on my phone from NVC (National Visa Center). I had spent the majority of my week last week wrestling WWE style with this particular government agency over getting our son's immigration paperwork completed. They made a few errors and seemed to have difficulty meeting the expected time frame for our case. So I had spent a few hours on the phone with them to correct and properly motivate them.

Friday afternoon I was finally allowed access to the very last form we will complete state-side for our adoption. Anyone who has adopted from China will recognize the form name DS260. It asks such pertinent questions of our 6 year old son as:

-"Do you seek to engage in espionage, sabotage, export control violations, or any other illegal activity while in the United States?"
 or
-"Have you ever ordered, incited, committed, assisted or otherwise participated in genocide?"

Right.

But once I finally had this document completed and received a preliminary email from NVC stating our case was being forwarded to the U.S. Consulate in China I thought the battle was over.

So, at 6:30 this morning as I opened the expected email confirming the case had been cabled to China and I noticed they had misspelled Brad's name I immediately defaulted to this:

The good news is after just 3 and 1/2 short hours of phone calls, I got the problem fixed. Crisis averted.

My hair is no longer on fire, though it may still be smoldering a bit...

All kinds of mothers

Today we celebrate Mothers. As I scrolled through Facebook today I saw numerous tributes to Mothers, Wives, and Sisters. It got me thinking about how many mothers have played a role in my life experience.

My first mother carried me for 9 months. She agonized over the decision to place me up for adoption. She endured child birth as all biological mothers do. She held me in her arms and gazed into my eyes. She admired her beautiful baby. She wrote me a letter to try and send her love for me along to my family. And then she let me go to what she believed was the best life she could provide: the life with a family she believed I belonged with.

Then another mother came into my life. She took me home from the hospital. She lovingly introduced me to the other children living in her home. They all cared for me as their own infant, child and sibling. This mother kept a journal for me. She shared the day to day activities during my time with her. She talked about the special name they called me while I lived there. She talked about the songs the children sang to me. I treasure this journal and appreciate her understanding that I would want to know more about my beginnings later in life and would want to learn details about this time.

Then the day came for me to finally go home. Home to the family I had been destined for. Home to the family my Heavenly Father had chosen for me before my birth. Home to my Mother and Father and Brother. They had prayed for me, longed for me, dreamed of me, and wanted me. They rejoiced in ways that "natural" parents do not comprehend.

Many years later I experienced giving birth to my first child. I gazed into her eyes and admired her beauty all while thinking of my first mother and how strong she must have been. These thoughts returned with the birth of each of our children.

Then, when we stood in court in Russia and listened to the testimonies given there of a woman I will never meet, the mother of my son, I felt a new part of my heart open. Another mother who chose the best for her child. Another mother who was strong.

And now, as we prepare to bring another son into our family, I am thinking of another mother that I will never meet. A woman who carried another of my sons to life.

What an amazing gift it is to participate in children's lives as a mother. Whether we have the opportunity to birth them, love them until they can find home, or provide their home, we can be touched by the gift of life.

I am so grateful for all of the mothers who have participated in my life story.

There will be another little boy in this house

I remember before we brought Jacob home walking down the hallway and noticing Brad standing in the nursery. I stopped and peeked in the room to try and figure out what he was doing. He reached out to me, pulled me into his arms, hugged me and told me our boy would be home in that very room soon.

I have found myself doing this same thing lately. As I put laundry away in Drew's drawers or toss his shoes into the closet I can't help but stop and look over all the "Big Boy" clothing hanging there just waiting to be worn.

Drew likes to read his story before nap time on Ty's bunk and sometimes I will lay on Ty's bed while Drew gets ready for bed at night. Any time I happen to crawl onto the bed where Ty will sleep I imagine him laying there next to me for bedtime kisses and hugs. I imagine what it will be like for him to lay in that bed for the very first time when we arrive home.

I remember doing things similar to this before the birth of my newborn's too. I imagined them in the cute little sleepers and outfits that were hanging in their closet. I envisioned dressing them on the changing table. I sat in their rocking chair dreaming about holding them.

So much is the same. He may not fit in my arms in quite the same way, but I can't wait to bring my new baby home.

As I twiddle my thumbs

The last couple weeks have just been wild. Daddy has been working an average of 70 hours per week. Mommy has spent close to 10 hours in various dentist and endodontist chairs. Jacob has had over 6 separate appointments with the orthotist, doctor and physical therapists to get his new orthotics ordered and made. We've had new consultations with OT and the school district for Jacob, ENT evaluation for Jacob, Optometry exam for Amber, travel appointments with the doctor for Brad and I, the list just goes on and on. It seems when it rains, it pores.

But, I have welcomed the distraction. This whole "waiting" thing is not easy any more. Everyone has been asking me for months why we have to wait so long to travel. And in response to the "Isn't the wait just killing you?" question I hear over and over, so far I have been able to feel pretty good about the wait. We received numerous updates on Ty. New pictures were all I needed to patiently let the process unfold.

But now we are potentially just 4-6 weeks away from travel. And the wait has gotten so much harder.

Why is that? I don't understand how months felt okay, but now just a few measly weeks feel like too much to bear.

Today has been the first day in several weeks that I have had a "quiet" day. No appointments, no planned outings, nothing pressing on "the list". And the wait suddenly feels very heavy. We are waiting on one more number for the last form we have to fill out. This form will be the last of the paperwork. And today was the day I anticipated receiving that number. I am not enjoying my "quiet" day the way I had hoped.

The National Visa Center has our USCIS approval in their office and only need to upload it to the appropriate embassy to get us the number we need. But they haven't yet. It is there in their office. I imagine (perhaps incorrectly) that it only needs to be scanned into a computer and uploaded or forwarded to the embassy. It would seem like such a quick and easy process. But they have had it for over 24 hours and I am still waiting.

I called today to ask for an update and was told, "We just received it yesterday and it usually takes 24-48 hours." Pause in silence. The word just felt like a slap in the face. Yesterday was an eternity ago, lady. She seemed to realize I was dissatisfied and added, "You could always call back tonight to see if it is done yet." I asked if I would automatically receive the confirmation email when it was finished being "processed" to which she replied, "Oh there is no processing, it just needs to be uploaded." Really? You couldn't just do that real quick then while I'm on the phone with you?

Never mind... I'll just go back to twiddling my thumbs.

Sigh.

A glimpse of summer

We had our first glimpse of summer weather last week with temperatures approaching the 90s. It is funny to me how unaccustomed we become to the heat. By the end of the summer anything under 95 feels pretty decent.  But the first two or three days each year that reach over 80 degrees feels like we are living in an oven.

All winter long we wonder why on earth anyone would ever want an in-ground pool in their yard. It takes up so much space. It requires maintenance even though you can't use it. And that maintenance is not free...

But then the temperatures begin to warm up and we sing praises to the genius who put this pool in the ground! How would we ever live through 100 degree summers without it?

I love having a pool. Just don't ask me between October and March.

Therapeutic shopping... again

It is so fun to be doing so many of the same things we did to prepare for Jacob's adoption.

Preparing to leave the country again leaves plenty of opportunity for shopping. And shopping, under these circumstances, has become a sort of therapy for me. Under normal circumstances I am just not a shopper. But during the last weeks before traveling to meet my son, during the uncomfortable wait for travel dates, shopping is a welcome distraction.

It is so hard to wait patiently for the process to unfold. I am a master planner. And being asked to wait until the last minute (almost literally, we could end up traveling with less than a week's notice) is so dang hard for me.

So my plan at this point has been to do anything and everything that can be done without travel dates. Which includes some shopping!

Some things were needed now: socks and underwear for certain family members, the last clothing items for Ty, swim diapers and swiffer refills. Some things will be needed for travel: hand sanitizer, travel size TUMS and Tylenol, empty travel size containers, etc. And it is possible one or two items jumped into my cart that weren't really necessary...

But I think it is safe to say therapy went well.

Writer's block

I have visited my blog almost daily for about 2 weeks. But I can't seem to draft anything. I have several fun things to share. I just haven't.

Today I decided to go back and read some of the blog posts I made during the months before Jacob came home. I am so glad I have those! This blog has turned into one of the best journals I have. And so, I refuse to remain quiet any longer. We only have a few weeks to go! It's time to start recording this pre-adoption history!

Stay tuned. A flood of posts are coming...