Happy Father's Day!

Here He is; The King Of The Castle...Daddy!Hannah bought Daddy this card.

...hmmm, & you guessed it~ all along, She wanted the crown!

Thought I would throw in a photo of our "New to Us"- Used Minivan.

Something about our family & the color "Sunrise Orange". I bet the Bronco Tailgaters' are going to be sooo Jealous come football season!

Please Pray For Our Family To Grow...

ZOO...2009

Ladybug Sighting

Ladybugs:Ladybugs are believed to be good luck in the adoption community. Several years ago, while numerous people waited for their referrals, there was a huge infiltration of ladybugs across the nation. Immediately following the ladybug sightings, a flood of referrals came in for many of the waiting parents. Many people now believe that when a ladybug is seen, a referral is not far behind.
~
When you're having a biological child, you KNOW you are expecting all along the way and you get to hear the baby's heartbeat and see him/her on the ultrasound monitor, you can count the weeks of pregnancy, you begin to feel the baby move and of course your body changes daily. With the adoption process, we wait and wait with no confirmation (except a pile of government forms & an email from our agency to download another newsletter), until we get a referral. And as our friends and loved ones already have shared with us; a referral is only the beginning on the Special Needs Journey. Then, it's faith and hope that get us through, along with lots of prayers, doctors and "thoughts for "WISDOM" to guide us" on the right path to our next child (children)... and a few days like today when it feels a little more "real"... maybe even a step closer. A cloud is lifted... and we suddenly spot a Lovely Ladybug. Update: Today as I signed the two kiddos up for Swimming Lessons III... I saw and held a live ladybug outside the local Park & Rec. Swimming Pool; I happily sung the little ladybug chant to her (?) LOL... and she flew away. :o)

Open Season ~ BackYard BBQ

Whelp, this is it;

Our pathetic attempt of recreating our great times with our FRIENDS...The Wiests and Thibadeaus for a "Holiday Day BBQ". In past year's we all ate at Bernie's house and had Matt's awesome "charcoal" grilled burgers, ate Kelly's beans, Ash's (non-homemade) carrot cake, Bernie's deviled eggs, Yum!... All 4 girls (including baby-cakes, aka: Zoe) ganged up on Jacob with the water guns and the water balloons from the kiddie pool that Bernie always filled and put out. Laughed with all four; Kelly & Rob, Bernie & Matt.(James says, we laughed at Matt... not with him) heehee :o) We told our "ghetto" work stories, (too funny) talked about how we named Hannah (Star Trek, Superhero). Had birthday parties together. Contemplated our diets and workouts & talked about Kempo training & the seminars coming up :o) (Las Vegas Baby!) :o)... At that time, we had no idea we would be in China. Smack~dab in the middle of Matt's "Black Belt" test.

Wow, what a difference time-travel makes.

Bernie and Matt threw the best dang Garage BBQ on the block... and now...

they have moved to far,... to even count how many states lie between us. :o(

Can you say: "Party of 4",... better than 3!

Miss you guys. Love, Jim, Ash, Jake and Hannah Banana's first "summer kick off" BBQ!

Hannah's Day

Here she is, the pretty girl!

Posing (as always) ;o) ...before we left for the Courthouse this morning.

We made it, we are here...She was a wee bit nervous, she had to take the Oath.The Judge was so sweet, and Hannah was listening and answering intently.Our Happy Baby.

Limbo

Waiting... and for what? You ask...

I hesitated about posting this, but some of you, have been asking and wondering... what have I (we) been doing lately? Where are we in the adoption process for Scott, (fingers crossed)? What is going on that keeps us so busy? That we hardly have time to talk, email or contact our friends and distant (IE:driving miles, that is) family online or by phone?
Whelp, NOTHING.
~
We are in a state of "Limbo" and it doesn't feel real good. We are trying hard to keep our spirits up and our minds and time occupied with happiness. I (we) have just been occupying our time with the kids and each other. We have been flying kites, playing cards and board games, building snowmen (not good ones either) :o) playing badminton, swimming lessons, Chinese Language Classes, wandering the mall, dieting, watching RedBox movies and going to the movie theaters, doing lots of end of school year events... doing everything we can, to not talk or think about the "Limbo".
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...Limbo... Whelp, we can not seem to get our last document from the USA for our approval to adopt from a foreign country. So at this point China has no idea we want to adopt, nor can they allow it. Yes, of course they (USA) have all our paperwork at the USCIS (United States Customs and Immigration Service). Well at least now they do... again. They notified us on day 60 that they lost our Original Home study from our Social Worker. Our adoption agency Fed EX'ed them another one immediately. In the mean time we finally got a fingerprint appointment right before that awful "We lost your file/home study" notice. We were able to attend the fingerprint appointment a day late { go figure :o( } due to the BLIZZARD in late March. It has since been another 30 days of no contact...
Our adoption agency as well as us, have emailed the government to plead with them to tell us our status of our approval and please send the last document we need to adopt. And at the very least to find out if the correct field officer has all our paperwork in hand, but no response... a state of Limbo... as we wait for "The Golden Ticket".
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...Limbo...We hope we will be matched with our son in May... but we have been hoping for the match for, ...Oh let's just say since 10.14.08. Yes, that is right for close to 7 months. I can not go into a lot of detail on this part, as you know referrals are sacred and a very secret anomaly until the time comes to be matched. I will just say send prayers for May. I will say, I have seen many children I would bring home as my son/daughter in the past few months that I yearned to adopt... but my (our) :o) heart belongs to another.
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Pray for May... Limbo is hard. Even though we try not mention it aloud & never to our beloved children. This is a parental enduring, we hope for closure to be just around the corner {ANY DAY, NOW} and to be able to move forward soon in this process.
Sorry, you don't know anymore than you knew before this post and us either. :o\
Take care and we will be back soon.
ash and family

**UPDATE** 5/8/09 I-797C

How long did it take the USCIS~Government to approve us for foreign adoption after receiving our file in Feb.? Just shy of 3 months!! {2 months, 1 week & 6 days waiting...whewwh. And another week waiting to receive the approval by snail mail.}

It is now off to the SOS (secretary of state) for authentication.

Happy Easter...hunt

Easter Basket Joy...

Easter Prep...

Our day began early...

with many songs & many children. Jacob had his District Choir Festival.

Working together to create some Easter eggs for the Bunny.

Not sure why people have to stick out their tongue while they do things...

Is it a crab?, maybe the milky way?... or perhaps just the work of a little artist. :)

School Pictures: