November is National Adoption Awareness Month

The following was posted on a blog I follow, Our Boy and His Cricket, and the blogger gave me permission to use it on my blog. It was written and given to her when they brought their daughter home earlier this year. It says it all. She used it to talk about the first sight of her daughter and included a BEAUTIFUL picture of their first meeting. My picture is not of our first meeting but happened later that first week. Tony captured this during one of our many photo ops in the hotel and it is a favorite of both of ours.

On the Eighth Day

10:15 am Heaven Time

"God," said the angel. "What are you doing?"

"I'm creating a woman."

"You made a female last week!"

"This female is a newer model. Unlike model A, this one will not be able to reproduce in her own likeness," God responded.

"You can't do that Sir," cried the angel. "How will man survive?"

The Lord studied the angel thoughtfully before He answered.

"Every once in a while a little soul is born and for one reason or another, the birth mother cannot care for her. I needed a stand-in female."

"I think you're going to an awful lot of trouble for just a stand-in," the angel said, shaking his head in bewilderment. "Have you taken a good look at this one? You still gave her loving arms to rock a child to sleep and gentle hands to wipe tears from crying eyes. Plus, I see incredible strength and courage in her face."

"Humm," God muttered, listening to the angel.

"And one more thought. I realize you give all the females giant hearts and fill them full of love, but you made this female's heart even bigger. Why?" the angel asked.

Stroking his chin, God answered.

"Because this female must be able to love a child from the body of another.

That takes a heart with a little something extra."

"You know, Lord, I hate to criticize, but all you did was create another mother."

"I know," God said. "I know."

-C.B. Roe - April, 2010

Fall Fun

ENJOY!

Hysterical!

I bought a little bowl while in China (at Jordan's for those who know the shops around the White Swan area). Meighan usually uses it for snacks but tonight she found another use for it! She had us all (including her) laughing hysterically! Turn up your sound. We hope it makes you laugh like it did us.

I got the video to appear right here and finally got it to fit in the post area. The link is also below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zfV46JJRY0

Shocking the Well, Part 2

(The following post was written in a notebook but not actually posted on the blog until we received our referral because we didn’t tell our family that we were in process. We waited until we had the referral for our son before we published on the blog because we wanted to do this “covertly” and have it be a surprise to as many people as possible.)

The place where we ordered our UV Filter from said to do another shock chlorination to try to get rid of the rest of the coliforms SO, on Friday night, October 1, we took showers early and poured 2 more jugs of Clorox into the well. By Tuesday we probably could have tested again but since I only wanted to make one trip to the lab (hopefully only one more trip!) I waited until we received and installed the UV Filter.

We received the UV Filter on October 6 and Tony laid it all out so he knew what he had to do. The following night he installed it but when he turned the water back on, the main shut-off valve was leaking – a LOT! So, another trip to Home Depot to get a new shut-off valve and time installing it and he was finally done!

We were both tired of dealing with water!

I took a water sample before the UV Filter was installed (to see how much more good the 2nd shock chlorination did) and another the morning after. I was told the results would be emailed to me on Saturday even though they were “closed.” Well, I didn’t get the emails until Monday, the 11th. BOTH tests came back CLEAR! YIPPEE! That means the 2nd chlorination worked! And the UV Filter will keep it clean!

In the meantime, our social worker has called and set up our three appointments to do our home study! She will come to the house on October 13th, 19th and 28th. For some reason three visits are required. So the “water thing” delayed our home study for a month. This will leave 2 months to get our dossier to China this year – if that’s even still possible!

Before & After -- We're FINALLY Done Painting! (The House)

We've been trying to get the house painted all summer. Tony had to do some repairs to the sofit before we painted. We finally got to start painting on Labor Day weekend! We were able to get three sides painted with two coats in three days. I worked on part of the back side the following week and we finally finished the new house color on September 12. Then I started working on the trim. With the rain and my new jobs (childcare at church and a part-time work-from-home job that I'm almost done training for) I finally finished the trim yesterday! Yippee! Tony wants to do some repairs to the 2-car garage yet this fall and get it painted yet this fall, too! I don't mind painting and my guess is it will be quite easy to do since I won't have to get up on a high ladder. I will be able to do all of it myself if I have to.

BEFORE -- Notice the two-tone yellow.

AFTER -- The new color is called "Gypsy Moth" (like a cream color) and the trim is called "Toasted Wheat" (it's a medium brown). NO MORE YELLOW!

Our Water

(The following post was written in a notebook but not actually posted on the blog until we received our referral because we didn’t tell our family that we were in process. We waited until we had the referral for our son before we published on the blog because we wanted to do this “covertly” and have it be a surprise to as many people as possible.)

So…on September 10, Holt called and told us we needed a well water test that is less than a year old. They said this is a State of Nebraska requirement. I asked her why we didn’t have to do this last time and she didn’t know. I called Culligan and on Monday, someone left a message that we should check with Midwest Laboratories about a water test. On Tuesday, I picked up a water test kit and took a sample in on Wednesday. On Friday, Holt called and said they got the results (we didn’t get our copy until Monday) and that our water is “contaminated.” She can’t approve a home study to be done until we have a pure water test. On Monday (Sept 20) she called and said she hadn’t gotten to talk to anyone yet but I could call if I wanted to. I called and found out that I could take the next sample—not necessarily someone from the lab. I also called Culligan and spoke to the guy there and he said something about “shocking the well” and suggested I call another company that can clean water. I called this other place and learned about a reverse osmosis system and how to shock a well. He said we could do this ourselves. So, I went and got several water test kits, 2 gallons of Clorox, and 5 gallons of drinking water so we don’t have to drink chlorinated water the next several days. When Tony got home, he poured the Clorox into the well and we did the next couple of steps before bedtime. We had to let it sit overnight in the pipes and then let it run from the outside for two hours. I called the lab and asked when we could test again and they said “When you don’t smell chlorine anymore.” It was Friday before we didn’t smell chlorine anymore but my mom was here watching Meighan while I painted trim so I didn’t get to take a sample on Friday.

On Monday, September 27, I took a 2nd sample to be tested. I had the results emailed to me on Tuesday and they came back MUCH better—but not perfect. So, I called our well people and spoke with 2 people at Culligan and learned lots! When Tony got home in the evening, we talked and decided to get a UV Filter System and that should take care of all the bacteria that’s left. I emailed Holt and received a reply that our file will be given to our social worker. Yippee!

We can finally start the HOME STUDY!

New Pictures

Our little daredevil!

Summer fun. I set up a little sunshade mesh tent (see next picture) I got several years ago and sprayed for mosquitoes so they stayed away and we had a good couple hours of water fun about three different times in August.

Jumping up and landing/splashing in the water on her little butt. She thought that was soooo funny!

At the fall FCC picnic there was a sand pit and she spent all THREE HOURS that we were there playing in the sand! She slept on the way there AND on the way back!

A new outfit that I think looks really cute on her. I told her last night it was very pretty and this morning when we dressed for church, I told her to go show daddy and she went and did a "ta da!"