Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Weekend Cruise with my neice and more mural progress :)
We left Friday for a cruise to the Bahamas. It was Cris,myself, my brother Dennis, his wife Tina and my niece Taylor. Cris & I went snorkeling in Nassau and did a culinary excursion in Freeport. Which was neat. We learned how to prepare conch salad, conch fritters and cracked conch. It was really all yummy, but our beach portion of the trip was cancelled due to a thunderstorm. It wasn't the best cruise I have been on, but it sure was great for Cris & I to get to spend lots of time with little T! She spent the first night with us and ate most of her meals wedges right between us. We loved it!
I came home to happy puppies and a good portion of the mural done! I am so happy with the progression!
Alex is so awesome!!!
Here are a few more shots of how it looks now!
I came home to happy puppies and a good portion of the mural done! I am so happy with the progression!
Alex is so awesome!!!
Here are a few more shots of how it looks now!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Mural Progress
Alex is just working away at the mural. It is awesome to watch it evolve and come together.
She did the perspective work which has turn out to be really neat...Mountains and Waterfalls.
And she was able to start painting the sky.
With my family coming in from NY Monday she is going to take a break. She will start up again while we are on our cruise starting next Wednesday! Cris & I are going with my brother Dennis, Sister in law Tina and my niece Taylor. Taylor is 5and we are super excited that she is going with us!
She did the perspective work which has turn out to be really neat...Mountains and Waterfalls.
And she was able to start painting the sky.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Patience
“The keys to patience are acceptance and faith. Accept things as they are, and look realistically at the world around you. Have faith in yourself and in the direction you have chosen.”
This is definitely something I need to work on. I always have. I am a doer...tell me the steps to get what I want and I will do them, no matter how difficult. But waiting...that is another story. This process is really going to help me develop some patience. I heard from my social worker today and the good news is that the Program Supervisor liked my profile and loved our Photo Profile. The bad news is the next step to get approval from the panel can take up to 50 business days. So we wait... and that is ok, I am just going to have to go with it.
On another positive note Alex from Portrait Art For Pets and Their People was here today and got started. She is so talented! Here are a few pictures of the sketches on the wall that she is doing freehand!
She will be coming back tomorrow to start painting!!!!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
2000 Visits
Wow, I opened my blog to see I have received 2000 visits since February!
That is so cool! Let me know that you stop by... Sign into my guestbook on the bottom of the page!
That is so cool! Let me know that you stop by... Sign into my guestbook on the bottom of the page!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Hurry Up And Wait
MAPP classes are done, 101 pages of essay questions done, CPR done, home study done,fire inspection done, 2 sets of finger prints done, background checks done, photo profile done...just getting the last of our references together. They get turned in Tuesday and Friday my social worker sits down with the head of CHS to get everything finalized. Once that is done, everything comes back for us to sign and then gets sent up for approval to the state.
After the approval we can start getting bios and go to match events. I am praying we are good to go for the match event on June 11th.
I am feeling pretty good about how quickly our process has gone. So many in our class had started back in the fall and still haven't gotten as far as we have. And there are others who have not even been assigned a social worker. Alot of the process depends on how quickly and thoroughly we complete our parts.
Cris & I have been on top of everything. The family that came in to talk to us took 2 years to complete the process, but they were slow with getting things back and also they wanted a young child, they ended up with 2 young children.
I am glad to have my Saturdays back, but I will miss getting to see Leigh Ann, Jerel, Michelle & Mark. OK, not too much since we are getting together Friday for dinner. It will be interesting to see how all of our searches go. Both couples are interested in out of state adoption. We are not. It will be hard enough on the child to start with move to a new family and school. There is a good chance that the child will have siblings and I would really like to maintain a relationship between our child and any siblings as best we can.
I know it is healthier for the child that way.
Cris was talking to someone at a wedding last night and told them that we would be adopting 1 or 2 children. That is cool to know he is open to a second child down the road.Cris says the next year or two. Sometimes of the biological family has another child that gets relinquished to Foster Care they will try to get the adoptive family of the one sibling to adopt the second child. That would be great too!
Well, I probably won't have much to write for a little bit...but then things will be popping!!!!
After the approval we can start getting bios and go to match events. I am praying we are good to go for the match event on June 11th.
I am feeling pretty good about how quickly our process has gone. So many in our class had started back in the fall and still haven't gotten as far as we have. And there are others who have not even been assigned a social worker. Alot of the process depends on how quickly and thoroughly we complete our parts.
Cris & I have been on top of everything. The family that came in to talk to us took 2 years to complete the process, but they were slow with getting things back and also they wanted a young child, they ended up with 2 young children.
I am glad to have my Saturdays back, but I will miss getting to see Leigh Ann, Jerel, Michelle & Mark. OK, not too much since we are getting together Friday for dinner. It will be interesting to see how all of our searches go. Both couples are interested in out of state adoption. We are not. It will be hard enough on the child to start with move to a new family and school. There is a good chance that the child will have siblings and I would really like to maintain a relationship between our child and any siblings as best we can.
I know it is healthier for the child that way.
Cris was talking to someone at a wedding last night and told them that we would be adopting 1 or 2 children. That is cool to know he is open to a second child down the road.Cris says the next year or two. Sometimes of the biological family has another child that gets relinquished to Foster Care they will try to get the adoptive family of the one sibling to adopt the second child. That would be great too!
Well, I probably won't have much to write for a little bit...but then things will be popping!!!!
Friday, May 06, 2011
Tying Up Loose Ends
This has been a super busy week! Tuesday night we did our finger prints again, this time it was done the old school way. Last night we had our fire inspection. We are collecting of references now. I printed up our adoption profile scrapbook. Since I couldn't put the originals on here I took pictures. I am very pleased with how they turned out.
So we have just 2 more classes and then we play the wait game for our approval to come through! I am sure it will go smoothly, everything else has.
Then it is on for the really hard part, finding our daughter. We are going to our first Matching Event on June 11th up on Lake Norman. They bring children that are eligible for adoption to these events once a month. This one we will be learning to water ski! That should be fun! It will also be cool to see how the kids react to a challenge. I love the things that Children's Home Society does. Anyone interested in adopting I highly recommend them :)
So we have just 2 more classes and then we play the wait game for our approval to come through! I am sure it will go smoothly, everything else has.
Then it is on for the really hard part, finding our daughter. We are going to our first Matching Event on June 11th up on Lake Norman. They bring children that are eligible for adoption to these events once a month. This one we will be learning to water ski! That should be fun! It will also be cool to see how the kids react to a challenge. I love the things that Children's Home Society does. Anyone interested in adopting I highly recommend them :)
Saturday, April 30, 2011
CPR for dummies
(Cris looks like he is in Child's Pose from Yoga.)
We had a really great night that started with Cris making some plantain chips and frying up some Yucca fries.
Followed by some freshly made ceviche which was yummy and then onto some Chimichangas. We were all so full it was hard to imagine getting on the floor to do CPR.
Jerel was really great at making this a fun CPR class. I am very grateful for him coming to teach us this evening. Here is a link to his website if you have a group of people who want to take CPR: http://www.lifelinkmeded.com/
The best part of tonight was just having other couples going through the same thing as us to hang out with. We are definitely 3 totally different couples but that is ok. Cris really enjoyed the evening too, which those of you who know my husband know that he is extremely guarded when it comes to making friends. I can tell he really likes both couples. He must have asked me 10 times after they left if I liked them. Any one who knows me knows that I like everyone. Cris and I are complete opposites, but it works. It is really great to interact with other couples as a couple.
So, another busy week ahead of us. Our social worker has all of our official paperwork to submit to her supervisor. That should be early next week. Tuesday we do fingerprinting again (the first set we did was electronic and only good for 30 days). Friday I have an Office Manager Lunch, Saturday we have M.A.P.P. class and a wedding reception that evening for one of my assistants. That will be a fun evening :)
Oh yeah, and Alex starts the mural Friday!!! I should get the final sketched this week sometime! I am super excited about that!
I am going to call to move my fire inspection up, since I now have the forms.
We received an invite for a Matching Event in June up on Lake Norman. Where they bring children who are available from all over the state to meet up with prospective families. This one will be learning how to Wake Board, go tubing and other fun water activities! That should be a lot of fun! It will be great to see the kids involved in activities.
So lots going on! I am so very excited about everything.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Homestudy :)
So Ms. Baptiste our social worker was here for our home study!
She loved the house, the furbabies, my cooking and of course us :)
We really didn't get interrogated like I thought I was. Our social worker review our paper work and gave us tips on things we should add or take out. So many others I have talked to said how they were asked all kinds of questions. She really liked our responses and laughed at a lot of them. She knew that the adoption panel would really love our profiles. So all in all it was good. She said she knew we would get approved , which was comforting!
I got a sad email today. One of the girls we were really interested in Gabby has a family that she is currently doing visits with, so there is a very good chance that she may not be available when we are ready.
Cris & I are ok with this. We really feel strongly that what ever child we are meant to have, we will have.
On a funny note... my friend Leigh had this on her facebook status... It looks like a hilarious book :)
I am sure lots of my friends know this feeling!
http://moms.today.com/_news/2011/04/26/6534646-want-another-bedtime-story-sweetie-heres-one-go-the-fk-to-sleep
She loved the house, the furbabies, my cooking and of course us :)
We really didn't get interrogated like I thought I was. Our social worker review our paper work and gave us tips on things we should add or take out. So many others I have talked to said how they were asked all kinds of questions. She really liked our responses and laughed at a lot of them. She knew that the adoption panel would really love our profiles. So all in all it was good. She said she knew we would get approved , which was comforting!
I got a sad email today. One of the girls we were really interested in Gabby has a family that she is currently doing visits with, so there is a very good chance that she may not be available when we are ready.
Cris & I are ok with this. We really feel strongly that what ever child we are meant to have, we will have.
On a funny note... my friend Leigh had this on her facebook status... It looks like a hilarious book :)
I am sure lots of my friends know this feeling!
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Moving right along
Lots of great things happening now! Our Background checks cleared!!! Yay! Not that I was worried...but you never know. I have been know to marry a weirdo or two. hehe. So now that I know Cris isn't a wanted felon we can move on:)
Our home study is Tuesday at 5:00! That worked out perfect, I have Monday off for Easter. So I will be steam cleaning the rugs and mopping floors. I normally do that stuff over the weekend, but my pups can get the carpets dirty in a day or two. I have been organizing closets today.
Our social worker Ms. Baptiste is awesome and I will be cooking for her since she is coming at 5:00.
Oh, what to make??
Skillet Lasagna and fresh baked bread and salad? BBQ Chicken and potato salad and corn? I so many great recipes. I guess it will depend on the weather so I can see if grilling is even possible.
Friday Alex starts on the mural, the dogs get groomed and we are hosting CPR at our house for 2 of the couples in our class. That will be cool.
Well, I need to get out into my garden to plant seedlings. We have tomatoes, cucumbers and a bunch of herbs :)
Our home study is Tuesday at 5:00! That worked out perfect, I have Monday off for Easter. So I will be steam cleaning the rugs and mopping floors. I normally do that stuff over the weekend, but my pups can get the carpets dirty in a day or two. I have been organizing closets today.
Our social worker Ms. Baptiste is awesome and I will be cooking for her since she is coming at 5:00.
Oh, what to make??
Skillet Lasagna and fresh baked bread and salad? BBQ Chicken and potato salad and corn? I so many great recipes. I guess it will depend on the weather so I can see if grilling is even possible.
Friday Alex starts on the mural, the dogs get groomed and we are hosting CPR at our house for 2 of the couples in our class. That will be cool.
Well, I need to get out into my garden to plant seedlings. We have tomatoes, cucumbers and a bunch of herbs :)
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