Extra prayers needed now please

Due to the confusion surrounding switching agencies, caused by China's decision not to accept dossiers from non-Hague accredited agencies, and the earlier decision not to allow people to switch agencies, we're now in a sort of limbo.  I believe we'll be sort of a test case, but our PA to adopt Little Miss has now expired.  Also, most of the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) has been on vacation this month because of the Olympics thus adding to the confusion and slowing answers down.  

I'm not sure what's really going on, we're just still waiting for our final piece of paperwork.  I just pray once we get it that China accepts it.  I cannot believe that God would bring us this far, allow us to fund raise so much money, and then have us lose our child.  So, keep us in your prayers, that everything goes smoothly, according to His will.

Heather

Busing blues

As we approach the start of Acer's first year of pre-school, I came to the realization that none of the empty buses practicing their routes I saw were going down our street.  This was very concerning because he needs to take the bus to school.  I also received a letter saying that he was enrolled in SECOND GRADE (lol) so I called his school and talked with the principal.  

Thus started my 12 phone call, five day saga to make sure he had a bus to ride in.  I made phone calls to the district he's attending, the district we live in and the county wide special needs district.  Then I asked if he needed a booster, this gave the head of our district, who will be busing him, pause.  After telling her that he was just a little guy, 38" and 34 pounds, she agreed he needed a booster and agreed to get him one even though 'It isn't on his IEP'  Errgh, I just told her it wasn't surprising because there was no one there from the district, just from the other two districts!

Today we're going to an ice cream social - meet the teacher event at his school.  I'm hoping the excitement of going to school will help him be a little less grumpy in the morning as we get up early to practice our before school routine.  He naturally wakes up about 8 AM and he'll have to be clean, fed, clothed and in front of the house by 7:30!

A funny moment shared half a world apart

Calliandra and I have started a tradition, we sing songs to each other at the end of our call.  I sing, she sings back and this continues for a while until we decide it's time to say good bye.

So, last Thursday night I taught her the church song from my childhood that goes, ' Allelu, allelu, allelu, allelujah, praise ye the Lord'.  She learned it very quickly and each of us took a part, either the allelu's or the praises.  Then I introduced her to the concept that when you sang your part, you stood up and sat back down when the other sang their part.

And that's how we ended, both of us singing away and bouncing up and down in and out of our seats.  

It felt really good to laugh with her in our moment of joy and song.

Dresses

Little Miss is really a dress girl. She'll wear the other stuff, but dresses and skirts are really her favorite. I will admit that these are the most fun to shop for and I think I've gotten a good range of ones to get her started.

Don't forget to comment and let us know which is your favorite!

Capris and Pants

Here again, I've gone for more than just the basics, she needs jeans, but she can have them with embroidery and embellishment instead of plain Levi's.

Please vote for your favorite set of bottoms with legs or top and pants combo in the comment section.

Whenever you see plain wood, that's the divider between sizes, ie between 6 and 6x or 6x and 7

Skirts, skorts and scooters

These are fun for me because I now have to try to make sure that they coordinate with her shirts, so she can have outfits.  Again, I try to look for tactile differences and color differences to make them obviously different.  She does have color and motion vision up close, so I want there to be visual interest too, to help encourage her to use her eyes more.

Please comment to vote for your favorite and if you want to reference a shirt to go with it, even better.

Tops

I've enjoyed shopping for tops for Calliandra, I try to get them all with different textures or styles so she can easily decide which one she wants to wear. I've gone two distinct ways with these, T-Shirts and school shirts. Please excuse the wrinkles, most of these came out of and went right back into, storage.

Don't forget to leave us a comment to vote for your favorite!

The clothing line

These next few posts after this one are going to be vote for your favorite type posts.  We'll be posting pictures and would like people to comment on their favorite out of that particular grouping of clothes.  Now, she won't really have all of these to wear at once, as I've been buying lots of different sizes just because we weren't too sure what size she is, or will be once she gets home.  Currently, she fits perfectly into the size fives we sent over, the size six dress was just a shade big. We just got a batch of pictures of her getting our box of stuff and trying it all on.  The stuffed Monkey was a HUGE hit.  I think she talked about it for a good ten minutes, and is a favorite among her friends.

We're swinging now!

Tonight we added a large new feature to our back yard, a wooden swing set from our wonderful next door neighbor Linda.  This was their swing set, very sturdy, but her daughter's now 11 and too old for it.  She didn't wanted to give it up 'til now because she had memories of her father pushing her on it (before his sudden death.)  

This is a good thing, Acer and Little Miss will have swings and a larger slide to play on and Linda's daughter will still be able to see it, remember, and see more happy memories being made on it.

We didn't get it set up until way past his bedtime, but let him stay up and do some sliding.  He was so excited.  Big thanks to Linda and Daughter, Uncle James, Cousin Brandon, and BaBa's friend Will for helping to make this happen.  

It was too dark to take pictures, so we'll post some when we can take some.

Good News and catch up part 3

Hurrah, Hooray, Yeah!
Our Dossier went to the agency today!
Yes, Six months after we started this process, our dossier has been sent to CHI, for them to send on to Holt.

Now, on to the update. We made it to two concerts this summer, both free concerts of the Detroit symphony sponsored by Target. We arrived very early for the first concert, at Stoney Creek Metropark, with the idea that Acer would enjoy playing in the lake until the concert started. That would have worked really well except it was cold and sporadically rainy. Mum went too, with her good friend Mrs Poirier. They sat in lawn chairs and donned their rain ponchos as needed. We visited them several times and Acer amused people nearby by singing 'Animal crackers in my Suit!'.

 

Acer was slightly disappointed that his first concert was not going to include Tony Royster Junior, his favorite youtube drummer. I guess since he always hears Tony playing in concerts, he thought all concerts were Tony concerts. Acer also scored his first concert Tee, as there was a packing error and he needed a dry shirt!

We went to the concert again the next weekend, this time at MetroBeach MetroPark, The weather was better and we went with good friends Beq from my work and Mark, Kristen and Kiera, our local friends in adoption. it was really nice to be there with others and the weather made it especially nice. The funny thing was, when we called to tell Mark and Kristen where we were, it turned out they were just a couple cars behind us. We were able to arrive and park right next to each other even though we started at different points at different times. 

One of the best parts of these concerts, aside from the free except for admission, is that Target gives out good free stuff each year. this year - Lovely Lunch bags! I'm set for years as every one in our family got one and I'm the only one who use it. Okay maybe Little Miss will use it too, I'll share gladly.

Part two update

Our friends Allen, DeeDee and their three children were in town and we were able to spend a really long day with them. Allen and I have been friends so long we don't remember meeting, but it was at church in Sunday school. We've added spouses and children through the years, still remained friends, and it was good to be able to get almost everyone in the same place at the same time. Unfortunately, Bill was working and wasn't able to be there. 

Their kids have grown so much from the first days when they, the twins, finally came home from the hospital. Their older boy Josiah has sprouted up so much too. It's hard to picture them being as small as we remembered. In my front yard I have three dwarf cypress planted for them, the Phoebe, Thomas and Josiah plants. 

We started out the day by filling up the HiHo Van with their family of five and Acer and Myself. we stopped at KFC for some instant picnic food and then headed to the local park for some tire the kids out fun. Jeni, Betty and Becky met us at the park and we had a good time catching up with everyone.

Afterwards, we headed to our house for some fun in the pool. Four kids and three adults, our pool usually only has Acer and a parent. It felt good to have it full of activity and sounds (and splashing). 

They left that evening to attend a concert we'd attended the weekend before, Target sponsors the Detroit Symphony to play in our local Metroparks (larger than county parks and smaller than state parks, I think Metroparks are in about 5 counties here). It was so great to see them and to spend such a busy and fun day with them. Wish they were in town more frequently than every four years or so. Sigh.

Fundraising and one part update

Howdy!

Thanks to Tammy and her Avon fundraiser and Monica's basket fundraiser, we've added another $70 to bring our total up over the one third mark. Hurrah!

Visit the sites on the sidebar to see what we're talking about.

On to news have to catch up on,

My best friend Jen was in town to visit before heading on to a two week event. Jen was here alone this trip, Dh and DD are back in NM. It was great to see her, she hadn't met Acer before and got some great one on one time with him. She also bought him a new marching drum and cymbal set, he loves it and plays with it constantly. We spent one day with her alone and then one day she, her mom Betty, and sister Becky joined with us for picnic KFC at a park with our other good friends Allen & DeeDee who, with their three kids, were in from Spain.

Drumming

As an intermission until we can fill in the rest of the story, we bring you....

Acer Drumming 1



Acer Drumming 2

LOOONG talk with Little Miss

Last Night Little Miss and I talked for Three hours!

I learned a lot about her, including that she likes fritos and made french toast this week.

She'd gotten the package we'd sent and was wearing the sundress we'd gotten her.  The stuffed toy was a HUGE hit among her peers, I think we spent about 10 minutes talking about the monkey and its sounds and smells even.

But, The most important thing, as we were signing off, she said 'I love you'.  We've always said it to her, but the was the first time she said it back.  (Very happy, sniff sniffle)

I've got to post more about our busy past couple weeks, but I need to get on the road - to continue with more busyness!