Confessions of Middleage BlogJunkie

I am officially a Ukraine adoption blog junkie. I check atleast once a day. I cry for others happiness and for the heartache. But you know it is bad, when even the new kittie knows that she has to join in the bloggin' to get along with me!!!!

This cracks me up -- little Squirt would not move and if we picked her up and physically moved her -- she'd be back in a second!

So Busy

What a crazy few weeks we have had. In addition to preparing for our first internation trip together and trying to get everything ready for the boys arrival. We have been working like crazy trying to get the family room remodel project done, taking Aley to JBA, hosting out of town family, working too many long hours, and partaking in all the summer social activities we usually have scheduled! We need a break.... Ah but tomorrow brings more out of town family!!!

Our 3 favorite boys all have their birthdays within days of each other! Matthew (in red) our nephew turned five.

My Godsons, Christopher (in blue) and Gunnar (not pictured) turned six! Christopher had his party at this great train shop complete with a private room with the coolest train setup, a train cake and the honor of putting your handprint on the wall with your name and birthday! It was great. We can not wait to have our boys parties here.

The pic is foggy as I forgot my camera and took this on the blackberry. This is Aley standing in a dorm room at Truman State College in Kirksville Mo (where I went to college :-) We dropped her off for 3 weeks to attend the JBA program (http://jba.truman.edu/admission.asp#top) for acceptional academic 8th,9th and 10th grade students. It is very competitive and she was accepted to the Human Lab course - last week was cadavers! Amazing what the young mind can achieve!! We miss her so incredibly much. Our home is way too quiet without her. It really drove home the fact that we are not ready to be empty nesters in 3 years when she goes away to college. She is such a great kid and we love having her around, and are having a hard time thinking of the day we have to let her go :-(

My sister in-law was so sweet to bring her little ones all the way from NC to us for a visit. This was our first time to meet little Katherine. She is such a sweet baby. David has a very small family and they are spread out all over so we are always so thrilled when we get to visit with them.

The family room is coming along slowly..... but surely. The walls are up and primed and the staircase is almost completely refinished.

Oh ya, we have to get ready to leave - less than 2 months away!!! All I have really done is get the plane tickets (always helpful to have!!) But atleast that is one thing out of the way. I have succeeding making the longest list of things to get done --- just haven't crossed but one thing off yet.

Busy Busy Busy! But it is so fun!

The Nutty Mathematician

Typically the academic and leadership awards ceremony at "A"'s Highschool is "reserved" attendance for Juniors and Seniors. This year there was a slight attendance by a few special freshman. One of which was our very own "A" :-) She recieved an award in the mathematics for coming in 4th in a statewide math competition. We are very proud of our nutty mathematician! A few pics below.

We Are Blessed

CONGRATULATIONS to "A" :-) Yesterday was really a big day for our sweet girl

=== She made her high school soccer team.

=== She was accepted to the Truman State University summer program for excellent students. You must be in the top 5% of your class to be eligible to apply. She was accepted to the June 3 week summer course called the "Human Lab". It is hard to believe that she will be staying in the same dorm building that I stayed in while I attended college at Truman. She sure is growing up.


We are so blessed to have such a wonderful and talented daughter. :-)


Today, our pastor and a few family members came over for lunch and a house blessing.


Our "work in progress" home is truly a blessing to our growing family. Here are a few pics of the event and an advance peek at the progress we have made in the dining room.

Father Daughter Dance

Saturday night was "A"'s Father Daughter Dance. Dad was showing off his moonwalk, robot steps and John Travolta Stayin' Alive skills before they left.....

PS -- If you look at the first picture you can catch a glimpse of the dining room floor that we just refinished. Work on the house is slow but progressing (and always over budget!).

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Our hearts are filled with love and joy in celebration of our saviors birth. Mom & Dad came over for Christmas eve dinner, presents and midnight mass. Tomorrow we will be blessed with more celebrating with family. We are saddened to miss the Massie family, the Moore family and sister Theresa this year. But we are appreciative of the many gifts that were sent and we wanted to share our fun :-)

Someone is growing way too fast!!!

Oct 7, 2007 - "A" Homecoming

8 Legs of Trouble

Sadie (black/brown) otherwise known as Sadie Girl & SuziQ (blonde) otherwise known as CrazyQ. Both are excited to have more loving hands to throw their ball and to pet them!

Our Big Decision

This summer the family took a road trip to Pheonix AZ to visit Mom & Dad. It was a wonderful family vacation!

It is our immense love for "A" and all the members of our families that made adoption such as easy choice for us. We have decided to adopt two brothers from the Ukraine. We were drawn to the children of Ukraine for several reasons:

* Their features more closely resemble ours (fair skin and fair hair)

* Boys are more readily available for adoption

* We are able to complete the adoption process "independently" and more affordable

* The Ukraniane orphanage system is more advanced than other adopting countries