Our adjudicator is Meredith...

October 30, 2008, Thursday

I called the NBC today to find out the status of our I800A. The female that answered the phone said, "let me transfer you to your adjudicator." (Holy cow! Jumping out of my skin!) Meredith answered the phone. She said she has spoken to me many times. I said, "really?" She said yes, adjudicator's answer the phone. (But when they answer the phone I didnt know they were an adjudicator and usually they don't give a name.) I said that since we've spoken many times that we must be lifelong friends. She laughed. She was extremely nice and very helpful! She said she has 10 cases on her desk and we are one of them. Wow! She said she works today, Friday, and Saturday. She said she will have an answer for us THIS WEEK! I asked her what happens after she reviews our case. She said she will type a letter to be mailed to me and our adoption agency. She said she will also send me an email at the same time. After she reviews it she could ask for more information or documentation or.....(praying) she could just approved it! Today is a great day! God does answer prayers!

Happy Birthday Sister Conover....

October 30, 2008, Thursday
Happy Birthday Sister Conover! We miss you! We wish you were here! Have a very happy birthday!

56 days until Christmas, yikes!....

October 30, 2008, Thursday
Is it true? 56 days until Christmas! Yikes! Money is not the same as previous years. I have purchased a total of six gifts thus far. Three of them are for Ethan.

Pumpkin carving, 2008...

October 25, 2008, Saturday

Ethan was excited this year about buying his pumpkin and carving it. He picked out a pumpkin and told us all about drawing a face on it. When we got home he put on his apron (minus his shirt but not sure why). I washed the pumpkin and cut a hole in the top. Ethan looked inside the pumpkin but that was as far as he would get (my little "sensory" boy). No matter how much I tried to coax him into touching the pulp and seeds he refused. At one point I had a handful of the insides and dumped it on Ethan's hand which was laying on the table. You would think I dropped a vat of cement filled with ooey gooey stuff on his hand. He freaked out! Thus the pumpkin carving stopped while Ethan washed his hands really good. When that was done he drew a smiling face on the pumpkin but nothing that could be cut out. We wiped that off. Mommy and Ethan drew a face together. We began to carve the pumpkin but Ethan got bored and ran to play with his crash cars. He occasionally came running back to see the progress being made but didn't want to stay. We showed him pictures from last year but he didn't care. When the carving was done Ethan handed daddy the candle and watched it being lit then ran away again. I saw on a show on the Food Network that they make these little pegs that you tap into the pumpkin to make a face (think Lite Bright). I think that is what I will buy next year for Ethan.... and Evan. I couldn't find them this year. Here are the few pictures I have.

Happy Halloween!

Really? You want me to do what?

Course 1, week 4, cake decorating...

October 27, 2008, Monday

Last night was our last class of Course 1 for Wilton Cake Decorating. I can really attest to the fact that decorating cakes is all about practice, practice, practice. I set my timer for an hour and practice all the various techniques/designs/writing. Last night we learned how to do the final steps in the Wilton Rose. Ok, let's just say I need lots of practice on the roses. Rachel and I signed up for Course 2 which begins next week. Stacy said she has to work two of the four classes and won't be joining us for Course 2. Here are pictures of our final cakes.

Rachel's beautiful cake!

Stacy's beautiful cake!

My cake. Looking back now I should have written "my cake stinks" because "my cake sucks" are not really a good choice of words.

Side view of cake looks like it is lopsided. However, the paper doily was simply sticking to the icing.

God hears screams....

October 27, 2008, Monday
I just received this email from my adoption agency....."Actually, I just heard from JCICS. Your case will be assigned an adjudicator today or tomorrow...." God answers prayers! God is good!

If you hear me screaming just ignore it...

October 27, 2008, Monday

Yep, you guessed it.... another update on our I800A form. I called the NBC this morning and got a very curt woman. She asked my name. I told her. She punched it up in the computer then said, "it has not been reviewed." I asked if it has been assigned to an adjudicator. She said no and hung up. (big scream!)

My adoption agency sent me an email on Friday saying that www.jcics.org is collecting a list of names of I800A that have taken longer than 90 days. She submitted our name.

It has been 123 days since I mailed our application! With Ethan's adoption from the day I mailed our paperwork until approval it was 6 weeks! Of course back then it was I600A. Now due to Hague requirements it's I800A effective April 1, 2008. 123 days!!!!!

Karrie said that her adoption agency suggested she write to her congressman. She wrote to both her congressman and senator about her I800A. Her congressman actually called her last week! Yeah Karrie!

Today I wrote a letter and sent it to Congressman Buchanan and Senator Martinez. I even wrote to Secretary Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security. To top it off I sent a letter to President Bush. Why not???? What can it hurt?

I feel our adoption is at a complete stand still at this point. We are a freaking application in someones IN box. I can only imagine the paperwork is stressing employee's out as I'm positive the stack keeps getting larger. We are not the only family out there! So instead of this being a great thing for the employees to feel and do... granting someones adoption.... it now becomes a stress point and another freaking application!!! I can do NOTHING until the I800A is approved. I am at the mercy of Homeland Security. All I can do is call to inquire the status of our application.... and write letters.

My adoption agency just sent me a lovely email. It said that she is experiencing I800A approvals are taking 3-5 months. 3-5 months!!!!!!!

Ok, my hair just fell out in huge clumps on the floor. I am bald. I think I'll go bake my cake for tonight's cake decorating class. Anyone have a hat?

Lana came to visit again...

I hate it when Lana comes to visit! Of course, everyone remembers my wonderful (said sarcastically) twin sister. She is such a huge bully and nothing like me! Saturday morning I made yummy homemade blueberry pancakes for Matt, Ethan, and I. I even doubled the recipe so I could individually freeze the left overs for Ethan to enjoy during week day mornings before school. After breakfast I heard this soft little tap on my front door. I went to open it but had the chain on the door. When I opened the door, with the chain on, there she was! Lana pushed on the door shouting that I am going to clean out the china cabinet today. She was so loud I thought the neighbors would come out to investigate. I tried to tell her no and close the door. She wouldn't listen. Plus she is stronger than me. It felt like she was the big bad wolf huffing and puffing my door down. She said I'd better let her in because she wasn't going anywhere. Defiantly I said ok and opened the door. I didn't dare offer her coffee or pancakes. No way! She then made me.... made me... take every piece of crystal, dishes, figurines, and glasses out of the china cabinet. I washed each piece with hot soapy water. She even made me take the shelves out and wash them. She is so mean! I sprayed Windex and wiped the mirror at least four times until she was satisfied. Then I put everything back. The worse part was that she didn't even help! She sat in the chair and barked orders at me. She didn't even let me get sidetracked like I normally do. When I was all done she just got up and walked out the door without another word. She closed it softly too. I took a picture to prove what she made me do! The little witch!

The cake was cut...

October 24, 2008, Friday
The cake came out delicious! It took forever but it was worth it! I guess I'll continue to make cakes. Sister Kosugi and Sister Conover raved about it. Ethan was excited, too. It was definitely worth it!

Sister Conover...

October 24, 2008, Friday
Sister Kosugi and Sister Conover were our guests for dinner last night. Sister Conover is being transferred on Tuesday. We wanted to spend one last night enjoying their company. (Sister Kosugi is staying and getting another missionary companion. We still get to enjoy her company for dinner. See previous posts about the sisters.) We exchanged all pertinent information so we can contact her after her mission in May. We are going to miss her. Both of them has been such loving, giving, and inspiration woman. Sister Conover was the one that gave me my scripture for Evan's wall.... James 1:17.

Matt was setting up his camera on his tripod. Sister Kosugi was being silly. She didn't realize Matt took the picture.

Sister Conover and Sister Kosugi waiting for us to join them in the picture. We sat between them but the picture didn't turn out the best so it won't get posted.

I just love Ethan's expression in this picture!

My first cake...

October 24, 2008, Friday
I made my first cake today! Ok, my hand hurts like anything. The missionaries are coming over for pizza tonight and I thought I'd make this cake. It seemed simple enough. I baked the cakes last night. I dropped Ethan off at school, came home, and commenced on making my cake. It was 830am. I finished at 1130am. All in all, I think it turned out cute. When you cut the cake it looks like a candy corn. I found it on the Wilton website. I decided to take pictures of my progress. My hand still hurts!




Leveling the first cake. I used the checker board cake pan and instead of alternating the colors I kept them the same.















Leveling cake two. Cake one is already on the board waiting for filling.









Damming the cake to prepare for filling.














Vanilla pudding filling. Snack Pak pudding which doesn't need to be refrigerated. Instructor recommended. Last week, I used pudding made with milk and had to keep in frig to prevent spoiling. We'll see how the fake pudding tastes. Can't imagine what it is made of .... ewww!










Ta da.... stacked cakes!












I started with the piping of the stars but the icing had a difficult time sticking to the fresh crumb layer from cutting to level. I then did a crumb coat to help. (crumb coat picture) Also with piping stars, the stars have to be completely touching on all sides or the cake will dry out. Being this is my first cake I thought the crumb coat would help prevent dryness as I am positive I wouldn't be 100% on my star technique from the beginning.





Piped the white center
















Mixing orange icing for the next ring of color.












Ok, got this far and absolutely wanted to give up. My hand was killing me! I normally use a parchment bag but my mom gave me 25 plastic disposable ones. I was using the plastic. My hand was sweaty/greasy or something because I couldn't get a proper grip. Almost felt like I had icing on the palm of my hand. Even after washing it still didn't help.






Done with orange row.












Switched to parchment bag with yellow color. Worked much better and I was able to do more with less pain. I think I made the decision to always use parchment from now on. Finished with top of cake.













Finished piping side.












All done! Will take a picture once the cake is cut.

Hunsader Farms 2008...

October 18, 2008, Saturday
We made our annual trip to Hunsader Farms for their Pumpkin Festival. We have such a good time. Ethan loves the "train" ride which is the first thing we saw. He was really good at waiting his turn. We saw the petting zoo, the craft booths, then had some homemade potato chips. We ended the day at the playground. Ethan had a blast!




































The "train" ride. Ethan is in car number 3.












































Leaving the playground.

Jumping off the planter border... because we jump off everything these days.

Ethan's breakfast today..

October 24, 2008, Wednesday

Today is week 5 or week 6 of our foster parenting class. Last week I made a homemade pumpkin pie and took it to the class. I got rave reviews and felt good. This morning I made brownines to take to the class. Ethan, of course, wanted to help. I had coffee for breakfast. Ethan licked the batter for breakfast.

What a messy face!

After I put the brownies in the oven, I made him two scambled eggs with cheese and a biscuit with butter for breakfast.

I800A update...

Wednesday, October 23, 2008

I called the NBC to get an update on our I800A. The lady said that it is still NOT assigned to an adjudicator yet. I said, it's been 90 days. She said they are back logged. She said it won't be assigned to an adjucator for at least a couple more weeks.

Ok, who tells that to all the children waiting to come home?

Cake Class week three..

Monday, October 20, 2008

We made clowns this week. We also learned step two of the Wilton rose. Next week is our final week then onto Course Two. Somehow, I didn't get pictures of Rachel's clown cakes. I thought she used my camera to take pictures but they were not there when I downloaded the pictures. I will personally make sure I get them next week.

Rachel practing "the rose".

Stacy's awesome clown cupcakes! They turned out so cute! She had her clowns in all different poses. They are really cute!

My headless clowns. I left my clown heads at home.

Finally, at home, my clowns have their heads. However, one clown jumped from the side of the cake on the ride home. I am sad to report that he did not make it.

Scripture of the day...

A soft answer turneth away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger. Proverbs 15:1

Scripture of the day....

I prayed for this child and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. 1 Samuel 1:27

90 days for I800A....

October 17, 2008, Friday

Our I800A paperwork has been with the NBC for 90 days as of today. This is lovely Homeland Security. We need this approval before we can adopt Evan. When I called NBC today for an update they nicely said that "90 days is just a guideline." They said that my paperwork has still not been assigned to an adjudicator yet. Oh please pray that it gets approved soon! We want our son home. Please pray for Karrie's I800A too. She is adopting from China. Her I800A was sent in about a month after mine. Please pray for the well being of both of our sons!

School picture 2008-2009...

This is Ethan's new school picture for 2008-2009. I am amazed at how much of a little boy he looks like now. Where did the baby go? He turned 4 years old a couple weeks prior to this picture. The smile he is sporting is not his usually smile. These are the wonderful school pictures that all kids dread as they grow older.

Ethan, age 3, 1st year of pre-k, 2007-2008

Ethan, age 4, 2nd year of pre-k, 2008-2009

A teacher's blog entry..

October 16, 2008
I was reading, and crying while reading, the entries the teachers make on Evan's shelters website. As I mentioned previously it is joyful yet difficult and painful to look at the shelter's website. I find it uplifting to see all the pictures and read about their daily activities. Then I read an entry like the on below and my heart aches. When I get to one of those I have to click off the website and make myself think of something else. I can not begin to comprehend why the government takes so long with stupid paperwork. Meanwhile these children are one day older and one day more without their forever family.

excerpt from website...

September 28
Waiting
It is difficult as a child, and even as an adult, to wait patiently for special events. Birthdays and Christmas are two of the most anxiously awaited days of the year for our kids! Since the beginning of September (the first “ber” month), the kids have been talking about Christmas. You often hear them saying, “Hapit na!” (Soon!) Birthdays are also talked about WAY in advance- 3 or 4 months in advance. These are exciting days for our kids! Even more exciting because many of them never had a chance to truly celebrate these events before coming to CSC!

But our kids aren’t only waiting for their birthdays and Christmas; they have to wait for something that is even harder to wait for- a new family! The kids pray daily for a new mom and dad! They hope for and dream of the day that they will be called up to school to be told about their new family! I cannot even begin to imagine how difficult it is to wait for that- to be patient for one, two, three, or more years. What a joy it is when we are finally able to tell kids their long wait is over!

Well…MOSTLY over! Even after a child is told they have a family, they have to wait a few more months until all the paperwork is completed and cleared! One of the last steps on that journey is when the kids head up to Manila for their medical visas. One of our kids is in that waiting area now- waiting to go to Manila. I handed out a difficult worksheet in science last week and after a few minutes, she looked at me and jokingly said, “I think I need to got to Manila right now!” I laughed and asked, “Because you don’t want to do the worksheet?” She nodded, “Yes! It’s difficult!”

Waiting is a hard thing to do! Tomorrow one more “waiting” will be over as Jashly celebrates her 3rd birthday! And next week even more birthday “waitings” will be over! Christmas will eventually get here and we’ll continue to pray that God will provide the right people to end our kids wait for a new family! Please pray for our kids as they continue to wait!

Another teacher was writing about spending time with the children at night when the houseparents have the evening off. This is just a small part of one of her entries.
Our evening duties make for some long days at times but it is always time well spent. We always leave there feeling just a little bit more loved and appreciated, tonight was no exception for me. One of the best parts of the whole evening is praying with the kids as they go to bed. Some of them like us to pray for them, some of them want to pray themselves. It is always an emotional time listening to the kids pray. We hear lots of the normal kids prayers; God bless everyone (sometimes by name!!), help me to obey, thank you for our food/house/school/aunties/uncles etc., help me to be good..... But we also always hear a specific prayer that tugs at my heart everytime I hear it; that specific prayer is "please God, give me a Mommy and a Daddy". It seems so wrong to me that these darling little children have to be asking God for something that every child should have without having to ask. But, we live in an imperfect world, there are millions of children in this world that do not have a mommy and a daddy to care for them. Some of the children of the world don't even know they have a God to pray to. I am humbled and blessed and honored to hear these prayers and to be able to add to them myself. And....to be here to see those prayers answered!

An Evan blessing...

October 16, 2008

While waiting on hold for Cigna I decided to clean out some of my old emails. I found a website that I was given by my adoption agency to forward to a friend of mine that wanted to donate to Evan's shelter. Somehow back then it never occurred to me to click on the link. Well I did the other day. What an incredible blessing! I have the link to my son's shelter in the Philippines. The website is huge with many different links to different events going on and people to meet. Some of the teachers at the shelter have set up blogs that you can read and view pictures! Yes... pictures! At first I was frantically looking at all the pictures for any signs of my son. Now I take the time each day to read a few blog entries (I think 5 or 6 teachers blog) and looks at new pictures added. I can't begin to express the emotions I have at this new finding. I am overjoyed with at least the connection of seeing new pictures of my son and reading about the blog of activities at the shelter. Yet I am saddened at the thought that he is there and I am here. Here are some pictures I have found. Not sure what order they are in or the dates the pictures were taken. I just enjoy them!