A BUSY FEW DAYS

On Good Friday we got a call from DH's brother telling us that their Grandma had passed away that morning.  As soon as DH's got home he called his brother and he said that in the morning she had breakfast and then was complaining it was hard to breath.  And then shortly after she passed away.  We are so sad that she is gone but at the same time we know that she was ready and that she had lived a full life.  She was ninety six years old - and had a very large family.  She will be missed!!!

Easter was a wonderful day with our friends. We had a brunch with about 20 people here at the house.  It was so fun.  There were six families here including ours.  It was a very relaxing day and great to have time to catch up with everyone that was here.  The kids all of course had a great time.  Then we had an easter egg hunt which was a huge success with the kids.  They all had so much fun running all over the place.  It was the first year that we found every egg.  But I have to say that when the easter bunny was hiding the eggs outside in the early morning, it was snowing!!!  I could not believe it!!!

On Monday DH had to go in the office for part of the morning.  Missy Moo and I had a couple of errands that we needed to run.  Then we came back and started to pack for our trip to DH's home town for the wake.  We ended up leaving about 1:00pm - we also picked up DH's cousin's wife - she needed a ride back.  She studied the whole way back and thankfully Missy Moo took a great nap.  When we got there we dropped DH  off at the wake and then took his cousins wife to her kids.  Missy Moo and I headed over to DH's parents house.  When we got there we found out that most of the family had just left for the wake.  Although most of the kids stayed at the house while their parents went to the wake.   The bad news was that a couple of the kids were not feeling well.  Poor Emily really did not look like she felt good.

After the wake we went to DH's brothers house for awhile and talked with his family and one of his other brothers.  Then we headed to our hotel.  We used to always stay in town but they took down the only motel in the town so now we have to drive about 30 min. away.   We got to the hotel about 9:00pm.  Missy Moo wanted to go swimming so DH took her swimming while I got our stuff unpacked.  They got back to the room about 10:00pm and then we had dinner.  Yes, we had been so busy that we did not have dinner yet.  Lights out was about 11:00pm - very late for Missy Moo.

The next morning DH took off to the funeral.  I then got ready and got Missy Moo going.   She was so tired and it took forever to get her moving.  We finally got out of the hotel and stopped at a local store for some milk and nylons (which I had forgotten).  But buy the time we got out of the store we were very late.  It was 10:10am and the service started at 10:30am.   I drove about 80 MPH to get there on time.  I got there at 10:25am but had a very hard time finding parking.   The good news is that we made it on time.  Yippee.  The service was really nice - I actually learned a lot about Grandma that I did not know.  Plus it was so amazing to see everyone from her family there.  It really was amazing to see how many kids, grandchildren, and great grandchildren she had.  

After the service there was a lunch provided - which was really nice to have some time to see and talk with everyone.  We headed back home about 2:30pm.

100 GOOD WISH QUILT

Good news - we are now at 95 quilt squares for our 100 Good Wish Quilts for both girls.  

This past Sunday I spent part of the afternoon organizing all the quilt squares that have been arriving over the last week or two.  As I was documenting each squish and who it came from all of a sudden I started adding it all up and we are t 95 squishes (squares and wishes) per quilt.  Yahoo!!!  I still cant believe it - two weeks ago we were at 48 squishes per quilt and now to be at almost 100 per quilt is just amazing to me.

We are on Spring Break here this week.  But next week Angela is going to start helping me with the quilt and putting it together.  I am getting very excited.  I just hope and pray that I can do it.  Now the fun part will start, piecing it all together should be really fun.

Thank you to all our family and friends that helped with this huge project.  We know that this was an unusual request on our part and we are so thankful that you all helped us with these quilts.  As soon as we have them together we plan on sending everyone a picture and a thank you for all your help.

Our Visitor's from Tajikistan

We have just had a wonderful week hosting two men from Tajikistan.

They arrived  just over a week ago on Sat.  This is the first time that we got the facilitator of the group.  Shawn was fluent in English which was so great.  We felt like we really learned something from this group.  Then the other man could speak just a little english but was such a kind man and he really tried to communicate with us while he was here.  

The first couple of days we spent time together getting to know one another.  Not to say that everything was perfect - we did have a few cultural issues right off the bat - but in the end I really feel like we all had a better understanding of one another and both our cultures.

Missy Moo had such a great time with our guests.  They both were so great with her.  She had lots of attention the whole week.  Her and Shawn had a special relationship - he called her strawberry and she called him bear.  

On Wed. the little one broke his foot.  I felt so bad for him.  This was his first trip to the United States and he ends up stuck in our house the rest of the trip.  Poor guy!!!  He did his best to communicate with us and Madelin and him did a great job of communication.  Its funny how children don't even notice the language barrier.

We learned how to make traditional Tajikistan bread and a traditional dinner Och - which was really, really good.  But I have to say both the bread and the Och was such a process to make.  They were both so good though.  I think I could probably make the Och - but not sure about the bread.

We had a going away party on Friday here at the house - there was about 18 people show up.  It was a wonderful evening.  I really hope they enjoyed the night as much as we did.

The week went by so fast - we are so sad that the experience is over.  They will always be welcome in our home.  We really feel like we have expanded our family and will always think of them as our brothers.  We could not have asked for a better week.

Finally Our Friends are home with their Daughter!!!

I forgot to post the most exciting news.  Our friends  got home last Friday with their daughter  from China.

Thurs. was a whirlwind of a day around here.  We were so busy all day I dont think we got home until about 4:30pm that night - just in time to get Missy Moo ready for swimming lessons and leave by 5:30pm.  DH took her to the pool while I went and picked up a balloon and a stuffed animal for our friends arrival tonight.  Then I rushed to the airport.  When I got here I found out their plane was a few minutes late so I visited with many other families and friends that had also come to celebrate their arrival.

Soon the family appeared at the top of the escalator.  It was so exciting and emotional.  Every time I go to the airport to meet a family that is coming back from China - it brings so many memories of our experience with Missy Moo.  I always find myself standing there crying.  It was so exciting to see them bring this little girl home.  She is three years old and the sweetest little thing.  She was so sweet just watching everyone that was watching her.  I could not help but think what do you think she is thinking with all these people and kids watching her.  For a family that had been traveling over 24 hours - they all looked so good and their daughter was such a trooper as we all talked and hugged for about two hours.

Finally DH and Missy Moo showed up.  Missy Moo was not as excited as I thought she would be.  She actually was not interested at all in meeting their little girl or even saying hi to our friends.  This wait for her sister has really taken a toll on her.  She wants her sister to come home so bad - and I think seeing them with their daughter was hard because she is so ready for it to be our turn.  When I was watching the family arrive - I have to admit it was the first time that I really let myself feel something with the adoption.  And I all of a sudden realized how tired I am of the wait.  It really has been a long road and so emotional.  I never in a million years thought we first would be waiting this long - but second, I never thought the wait would take so much out of me.  But it really has.   This June will be three years since we started the process.  And when we started we thought the wait would be about 7 months.  Each month the wait got longer and longer and now I am realizing how much a toll it has taken on all of us.

We hope and pray every day that our child comes home soon.  

Our friends daughter has been doing great since they got home.  She shares a room with her sister.  She might go to the same preschool as Missy Moo next year - different age and class but same school.  They went to the schools fundraiser on Tues. night and they said she did great.  It really is just so exciting to watch a family come together thru adoption.  We are so excited to get to know her and include her in our lives.  Welcome home Sweet Girl!!!

Yahoo they are finally in Jan. 2006!!!

Hi everyone - well the last couple of days have been exciting.  Finally they have referred families with log in dates in Jan. 2006.  

This last batch was eight days worth again.  So they are now up to Jan. 4, 2006 - and our log in date is Jan. 26, 2006.   We still think it will take anywhere between 4 - 6 months to get to our referal - but now we are at least hopeful that our referral will come this year.  Of course something could happen and the process could be longer.  But for now we feel like there is at least hope!!!  I think the earliest we would see a referral is July - which of course then we will have to worry about the Olympics.  But who really knows what will happen.  There are so many what ifs.

Well I have been busy collecting quilt squares and wishes for the two 100 Good Wish Quilts I am going to attempt to make.  We got about 10 in the last two days.   We do not yet have 100 wishes for each child.  So I ended up signing up on a yahoo group that all the people on there are collecting squishes (squares and wishes) just like us and we swap.  I signed up a week ago - and I have been amazed at how many people want to swap squishes.  I got all my squishes done this past weekend and sent out.  WOW was that a lot of work.  I got about 40 done over the weekend.  I am just hoping and praying that we get some in the mail too.  The next couple of weeks will be interesting.

We are also getting ready for our Tajikstan group that is coming to town.  They get here on Sat.  We just got some hosting information from an organization that might be helpful for their stay.  Most of it was about what they do and and don't like to eat.  They said we should always have tea available for them as well as soup.  Apparently they enjoy soup - which is the one thing I am not good at making.  Although we are thinking about making Hot Pot on Sunday night - I know I can do that.  They also said that the group will probably be very formal - wearing suits and ties.  I responded by saying do they know they are coming to the middle of America?  Ha Ha.  About the only time you see anyone in a suit is for a funeral or a job interview.   They also said that when people visit them in their country that they do everything for their guest.  So I am really going to have to be on my toes.  The way we work around our house is to help yourself.  But they said that they probably wont do that.  They also said that they like big HOT breakfasts.  Hmmm - DH said he cant remember the last time we had a hot breakfast.  I reminded him it was at Christmas.

So basically it will be a very interesting week.  We also are hosting the Going Away Party next Friday.  I think we are going to grill and then other families will bring some other dishes to share.  I was trying to think of something interesting for dessert that is probably only in the US. More to come on this adventure.

Tomorrow night is Missy Moo's  last night of swimming at the University.  She is pretty sad about it - and to be honest we are a little sad too.  She really has been doing so well and just loves to go.  We are going to try and find some more classes for her - either at the downtown YMCA or we might wait until this summer and there is a outdoor pool right down the street that we have heard has some great lessons.  But we really want to concentrate on swimming for the next year or two for sure.  We are hoping to be able to get her back into University next year - they really have a great program - and the class size is just perfect.  So we are crossing our fingers.  Now that it is over we are really going to miss our friends that she has been taking the lessons with- the girls have been taking the lessons together and they are so cute and have had fun.  And for us it has been great seeing the parents twice a week. 

All for now I will write more later.