Bits and Pieces

A few things we have been up to:

1) Weddings. My step-brother Brady got married on August 12 in the Bountiful Temple to a sweet girl named Jackie. The wedding was gorgeous and the luncheon after quite amazing (Tucanos. Can never go wrong there!)

The next week, my cousin Spencer got married in the Salt Lake Temple. We went to the reception that he and his new bride had in Timpanogos Park in Provo. It was beautiful. Yay for weddings!

The only picture I have from either wedding is not actually from either event... just a picture of my kids getting ready to go to Spencer's reception. I thought they looked quite cute.

2) I got to meet up with my cousin Anneka at her sister Meagan's house in Draper for an hour or so...they were on their way to Arizona where her husband is starting Optometry School. Her cute little guy, Hinckley, is about a month older than Jace. They had a good time wearing twinner outfits (unplanned). They look a little similar, yes?
This is what happens when I leave my camera at Meagan's house after...self-portraits. And this is what happens when you put self portraits on my camera: I put them on the blog. :) Meagan's girls McKayla and Kristen and then Anneka.

3) We had a fun day Saturday with cousins. We met up with Che' and Landon, who were babysitting Cortney's three kids and also had Linda's two older kids. We went swimming first, then to a trampoline arena and then onto McDonald's (Mc-a-donalds according to Hallie) to feed the crew. Did you know you can buy 50 chicken nuggets, two large fries, and two large drinks for $15? Yeah. Good deal to feed the large lot of children.

Avery is a good help with the little ones. Hallie and Max are about 4 months apart, but you wouldn't know it based on their size...plus, let's not mention that Max is wearing one of Jace's outfits here and it was a big baggy. Yeah. My kids are large, what can we say?
Hallie and her crazy face at the trampoline place. Sadly I did not get many pictures of all the children there.
4) Hallie has started a computer class on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays. We go to a church with other kids her age from our ward. She does 30 minutes of learning the ABCs, numbers, matching games, etc. It is good for her. She needs help working the mouse, but hopefully she will get the hang of that soon too. We are also thinking of doing a neighborhood preschool, which I think would be great for her.

5) Adoption update: Things took an unexpected turn yesterday when we found out that our agency has had their Hague accreditation temporarily suspended. The suspension is to last 30 days while the agency updates some of the documents they have been using. The cause for the suspension seems minor, so we hope and pray that things will get back up and running VERY soon. Needless to say, this may delay things about a month for us and other families who are in the same spot in the adoption. I am sick about it. But, I just have to remember that things will happen in the Lord's time. I have become friends with some of the people who are also adopting right now through our same agency and as I was talking to one of them yesterday, I said it seems like we were getting so close I could practically feel it, and now it feels like she is being yanked back again. Ugh. I know things will work themselves out and this is a minor bump (hopefully), but it seems so large when another month may separate us from MF. Not to mention that we hoped to be home before Christmas, but that may not happen...

Anyway, prayers for our case would be lovely. We still hope that our official assignment will happen on the 8th of September as all of our documents are already in Ecuador, ready to go. I have known that date since we submitted our dossier and I have been anticipating that it will happen then. I will be really sad if it doesn't. Anyway...back to the waiting game.

It's still real...

It's been more than two months since my sweet Aunt Linda's death.

It still hurts. A lot.

It seems cruel that life is going on at such break-neck speeds still. I find myself feeling guilty sometimes that life is good for me, when I know that Brad is faced with the reality of the situation every minute of every day.

I didn't feel like doing much for a while after Linda died. I would have rather just sat on the couch and thought about her. I still feel that way sometimes. Little things trigger thoughts and then I just miss her all the more. I can't use my kitchenaid (which she gave me) without getting really sad. I can't dress Jace in anything she gave him (which is nearly his entire wardrobe) without smelling it and thinking of her. I find myself driving down the street on the verge of tears when certain songs play, or when I see someone who resembles her.

I was talking to my cousin the other day and we both agreed that it's the little things that are the repeat visuals in our heads. Her posture. Her facial expressions. Her words. "You are such a nerd!" with her little laugh. (Yes, that was an endearment...). The drive to Boise and our conversations then. The funny inside jokes.

All of this is priceless. I know some day those images will fade, and I dread that day.

Something I don't think I have shared here before is that one of the last conversations I had with Linda was her telling me how proud she was of Devin and I in our pursuit of adopting MF. We had had some mixed reactions to the news up to that point. But, not with Linda. She was genuinely so excited and so supportive. I treasure knowing this and remembering her words of support. I pray to Heavenly Father a lot that he will use her to help us from the other side. I have felt that help.

Maybe you wonder why I blog about this? I do it for me as part of the healing journey. I have written a lot in my journal some of the more intimate details that are too personal and private to share. But, I find that sharing helps me heal too. I want others to know what a special person Linda is and I want to keep her memory alive.

In good news, Charlie has been home for about three weeks now and she is doing so well. SO well. I haven't seen her since she left the hospital, but from what I hear, she is a feisty little thing. She acts much like a normal newborn, which is such great news. We still won't know the extent of her brain damage until she is older, but for now, I am so happy with the miracles in her. She is on a g-tube, which feeds her through her stomach, and hopefully with her continued therapy she will be able to eat orally.


Isn't she so beautiful? She looks a lot like her mama. I can't wait to see her next week when we are in Logan for the Mud Run. There is still time to sign up if you want- and part of the proceeds will go to Brad and the kids.

Golf

Since Devin works at a golf course, it seems only natural that we should take up golf, right? We have been making it a regular Tuesday activity around here, along with Landon and Che'.

Che' and I usually just drive the golf carts around with the kids in tow because we discovered that when we actually golfed, it made the boys feel bad. Yes, we are that good. In all actuality, though, Devin and Landon are getting pretty good! Check it out: Okay, this doesn't show anything. He made it in the hole, though, right? Hallie is quite the golfer as well, as you can see. She has her own clubs (plastic) and her own ball.
Apparently I do have a picture of Landon actually golfing, just in case you wonder what it looks like. Professional.
Or...something like that. This is more what it looks like for Devin and Landon. (just kidding boys...this is totally rare, of course.) Cute Hudson. The boys are usually very well behaved. I mean, how much more fun can life be than riding around in your carseat in a golf cart?!
Obviously Hallie and I enjoy the cart riding too. I must say, I am as excellent a driver as I am a golfer. Interpret that as you will.
Love, love, love summer. It is going to be sad when it gets too cold to have our Monday trip to the water park and our Tuesday trip to the golf course.

The Cutest

Devin and I have some nieces and nephews who take the cake for being adorable and sweet. To be exact, there are 20 of them (with two on the way) on Devin's side and 1 (with one on the way) on my side.

Let me just tell you about three of them. Brelynn (8), Cole (6), and Ryder (2) belong to Devin's sister Kirston and her husband Travis. Last week for Family Home Evening, Kirston and Travis talked to them about MF. Of course they have heard about her before, but this time they asked the kids to think of a way to help with the costs of bringing MF home. The next morning, the kids came to their parents on their own accord and said that they had decided that they wanted to put up a stand on the corner to sell juice and otter pops. So that is what they did.

Little Ryder waved people on over from the curb (and how could you resist that!?) and the kids also had a homemade sign that said "Help us bring our cousin MF (they used her real name) home from Ecuador!"

On Saturday, Kirston texted me to see if they could stop by. The kids came in with a big envelope full of bills and change that they had earned for us. I couldn't have been more overwhelmed. What sweet and caring children. And really, what a testament to the type of parents Kirston and Travis are for teaching them to care for and serve others.

I hope that one day (soon would be lovely) MF can hear these stories and know how much she was loved and wanted. We have been so amazed at the response of others who have been willing to help us. I feel like I am repeating myself a lot, but we feel so loved. Since two weeks ago when I posted the donation link, we have had people donate nearly $9000. That far surpassed my wildest dreams. We are so grateful. I have had people tell me that they have felt inspired to help and I know that the Lord works through good people who are willing to listen to the promptings they receive to bless the lives of so many. It is humbling being on the receiving end.

Thank you all of you for being a part of this journey!

Sent

It's official: our dossier has been sent.

Now, back to the waiting game. According to our agency, our case will go before the committee in Ecuador on September 8th where we we will receive MF's official assignment. We already signed paperwork back in January to accept her referral, which means that she was taken off all waiting lists, etc. and told the government that we were interested in adopting her and that we would be working on the rest of our paperwork to make it happen. Now, the assignment is what we need to continue the process. The worrier in me asked the agency if there was any way we could not receive her assignment, and she said no. So we will trust in that.

Some people have asked what these things mean that I have referred to, so here are a few visuals.

Dossier: This thing is a beast. This is the compilation of every item imaginable that tells about our family. There is a total of 21 documents in our dossier (each country has their own specifications as to what they want). Among other things it includes an application, copies of our passports, our home study, our birth certficates, our marriage license, pictures of our family and house, reference letters, medical reports, employment verifications, etc. etc. etc. Each of these items had to be notarized.

After being notarized, we took the entire load up to the State Capitol (minus my birth certificate and our marriage license, which we sent to Idaho) to be apostilled.

Apostille: This is an offical state stamp for each document. It verifies that the notary's stamp, or the seal on the birth certificate, or the seal on our background checks is real and that each person signing the seal is authorized to do so. Each and every single one of our 21 documents had to have this apostille stamp. It took about two days for them to be completed (which was really quick actually) and cost $15 a whack. You can see a picture of what it is below.
Aaaaaaand it's such a relief to have all that done.

Praying things move quickly from here!

Miracles Continued

Take a look at our thermometer over there...

Yes, that is right, TODAY we had $5500 donated, which means we have surpassed what we needed for our dossier.

I don't even know what to say. I am humbled. I am grateful. I am so touched. I am OVERWHELMED.

Yes, it is true. God is a God of Miracles. I know without a doubt that He has been looking out for us and that He has had a plan for us all along. I am so grateful for His servants here on earth who listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and act on them. Many of you are amongst those people and I know we will never be able to fully express our gratitude.

I was talking to my cousin the other day and saying how I feel like we don't deserve all the support we are getting. However, right after she and I both said at the same time, "But MF does." And that is true. MF deserves a family and she deserves everything that you have all done in her behalf. I am sure at some point in this life or the next, she will be able to express her appreciation to each of you individually, but in the mean time, let me say it:

THANK YOU!!!!!!

(P.S.. I know there are some of you who have sent checks that are on their way-- we are still so appreciate of that. We will keep whatever else is donated from here in the MF fund and will use it for travel expenses. Flights are not cheap to Ecuador...and neither is staying there for 8 weeks. Yep, 8 weeks! We will have a fun family adventure in Ecuador for 8 weeks or so when we get to go pick her up. ANXIOUSLY awaiting the day!!!)

Final Rejection

As suspected, we were denied for our last grant. I just heard today (that is after emailing them three times since we submitted the grant in February and still hadn't heard anything). Rejection sucks! I know I said that we weren't really holding out any hope for this grant either, but to be honest, a small part of me was. The reason I was is because our adoption agency had to provide a letter as part of the grant verifying that we are adopting, etc. and as she was writing it for us, she told me that she has written the letter numerous times before and every family has received a grant.

And then...us. Hmm. I don't honestly know what to think. I have to just believe that other families need it more than we do and that Heavenly Father still has a plan for us. I know that what we are doing is right. Devin and I have both had that confirmation so many times before we began this process and now throughout. Nothing that is worth it in life comes easy, right? We will just plug ahead and do the best we can with what we have.

I am so, so grateful for everyone who has supported our cause through donations and spreading the word. You can see we put up a little thermometer on the sidebar after some requests to see how we are doing. We have had so many donations and we are forever thankful for good friends and family (and even strangers) who are willing to help us bring our child home. Just yesterday, I received book and a check in the mail for $300 with an incredibly sweet note from a former co-worker. I was so touched and overwhelmed by her generosity and willingness to help. That is just one story of many where we have seen the Lord's hand in this. You will each never know how much it means to us. It's not just the big donations that matter, either. Our first donation was from members of our last ward who just lost their 2 month old son about a month ago. Here they are going through an incredible amount of loss and grief, and yet they still thought it important enough to help us.

I have cried multiple times, feeling humbled with the generosity of each of you. Thank you for being a part of our journey!

Hallie-isms

It's been a while since I have done a post on Hallie. This girl is as funny/wild as they come. She is 2 going on 25 by the way she acts. She tells me what to do all the time and is sure to point out if she feels that my behavior is "naughty."( Don't worry- I am not naughty all that often.) Here's a picture and some recent Hallie-isms:

*At our recent family get-together for Mari Ann's graduation, Hallie informed Aunt Suey that she wanted a new skirt. Black to be exact. Well, being the nice aunt that she is, Sue sent her the above skirt (much cuter than any black skirt, definitely) and the brightest hot-pink shoes anyone has ever seen. Instant hits. She has literally worn (or tried to wear) that skirt every day since. I have managed to wash it a few times, don't you worry. The other day I also got $3 in the mail from my grandma, with a note saying it was for "stick-on earrings for Hallie." WHAT?? I asked Hallie about it and her response? "Yeah, I ask grandma to get me some sticker earrings!" Geez, who is this kid? Biggest Mooch ever?!

*One day Hallie was dancing around in the front room (no rhythm, like me, just in case you wonder) and I was watching her, laughing a little bit. She suddenly stopped and whirled around to face me then said "And what can I help you with?"

*Hallie was watching the movie Tangled one day. At one point she commented, "That's a crazy movie!" me: "why?" Hallie: "Because it's genius!" Don't ask me where she gets these things...

*Driving one day, Hallie suddenly yelled from the back seat, "You slow down, daddy!" When we asked her how come, she insisted that he needed to slow down so she "wouldn't spill her drink." 5 mph the whole way home so that you can not spill your cup with a lid and straw?- no thanks.

*As mentioned above, she tends to wear the same thing over and over and over again. If she loves it, you better believe she is going to wear it ALL. THE. TIME. She has a dress that we got her a while back that she was trying to wear every day before the skirt came along. One day, I told her she needed to change her clothes because her dress was dirty. Her response? "No, it washed itself! It's fine!" Yeah, if only.

*Pulling into the grocery store Allen's one day. "I don't want to go to Allen's (whine whine whine), I want Cooooooooostco." I'm not sure where she gets her preferences--too bad she is only 2 and doesn't get to pick. Haha.

*Handing Devin a lifesaver one day, she said "here you go Dev." I told her, "You call him Dad, not Dev." Her response was, "No, I call him Dev. He's handsome." Uh...ok?

*Hallie has a fake cell phone that she got from the neighbors. One day she told me while playing with it, "Mom, I am going to text Cinderella." Me: "What are you going to say?" Hallie: I am going to ask her if she is dancing!"

*While driving in the car one day, I was talking to my sister on the phone and we were discussing how we both thought our first kids were going to be boys, but ultrasounds showed they were girls. After I got off the phone, Hallie piped up from the back seat, "Mom? I used to be a boy, but now I am a girl??" I tried to explain to her the whole thing, but now she is stuck on this theme that she used to be a boy. Oh, dear....I guess I am going to have to be careful about the conversations I have in front of her!

Well there are just some of the funny things she says each day. I wish I remembered more. Kids at this age are just hilarious. Hallie is constantly surprising me with what she picks up on and what she knows. She is too smart for her own good. Today we were cutting coupons out and she picked up an ad page in the coupons and said, "Mom! It says Smith's! Like Daddy's Smiths!" Sure enough, it was an ad for Smiths. Weird. She will be reading and doing algebra before I know it. So sad.

Jacer- 5 months

I am behind on updating about sweet Jace at 5 months- Just so much adoption excitement going on! We got the official I-800a approval form in the mail today. Hallelujah!!! We will notarize our the rest of our documents on Monday, then I will drive them to Salt Lake to be apostilled. That is supposed to take 3-4 days then I will drive up to go get them as I don't want to wait for the mail! So hopefully we will file our dossier (if all goes well) in the next two weeks or so. Wish us luck! It is sort of surreal to be moving forward again since we were doing anything BUT moving in the last little while. After the dossier, we file another form for immigration and then can travel to go get MF. Anxious, anxious, anxious. That's all I can say.

Anyway, I said that this wasn't about adoption. Can you tell I am excited about it though?

In other news, I have an adorable, handsome, happy little guy named Jace who turned 5 months old on the 1st. Here are some pictures of him and a few things- not much has changed in the last month or so.
Jace is a THUMB- SUCKER. Can you tell? No need for a binky (though he still likes that too), he more so enjoys his thumb. If he is lucky, he can manage to suck on his binky on one side of his mouth and his thumb on the other. Great. Devin is already advocating for whipping out the Tabasco Sauce to curb this habit. Don't worry, I quickly vetoed that!


This was the one day in his life that he fell asleep on the floor while playing! My kids have both been anti-sleeping anywhere but in their beds. See the thumb in the mouth?

Wide awake and cute as a bug. Jace has beautiful blue eyes. Hallie has a light shade of blue that are also gorgeous, but Jace's are a little darker. The odd thing is- neither Devin or I have blue eyes. We both have brown. Go figure, right?
This kid EATS and EATS and EATS. He already is eating us out of house and home! He has started on solids of all sorts and loves them all. He has no preference between peas or applesauce or carrots or pears. As long as he is being fed, he is happy!
I just think sleeping babies are the cutest thing. He is still a champ sleeper- going to bed at 7 pm and sleeping till 8 am, sometimes 9. It's weird. You'd think he would wake me up in the morning (I am NOT a morning person), but more often than not, I get him up. Maybe he is just like me and doesn't like to drag himself out of bed in the morning. I know buddy, it's not fun.
The cute boy loves water...baths, swimming, anything. We go to 7 peaks at least once a week and he is happy to kick and splash around. He also loves riding around the lazy river in a tube or riding the waves in the wave pool. Both of our children are fish, apparently.

Jace is such a happy, fun, wonderful baby. We are so blessed to have him in our lives. I love him so much and just can't get enough! I can't believe he is almost half a year old. Where does time go?!?

Miracles...

Hi friends,
I totally don't intend to update the blog everyday from here on out- but I just have to share that miracles are happening....

We have raised $1700 in two days. Yep, you read that right- $1700.

I am so grateful to all of you who have donated and who have helped spread the word. The majority of our donations are $5, $10, or $20- and it is those that are adding up and making a difference. THANK YOU.

A few things to know:

*A few people have emailed and said that they want to donate, but don't have an account with Paypal or don't want to use Paypal. If this is the case for you, we have a savings account at Chase bank for all the MF funds and you can donate directly to there if you would rather. Email me and I can give you the account number. Again- don't feel obligated! But there is an alternative.

*The Paypal account name is thefridgester- which is Devin's email address. I have also had a few people ask to make sure that was right. Sorry if that threw you off!

I think that's it!! We are moving along. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

!!!!!!!!!

I told you when I had good news to post, there would be a LOT of exclamation points! Well- here they are:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just got off the phone with our USCIS officer, who let me know that our application (i-800a) was approved as of August 1. YAY!!!! So, it should be here by Saturday or Monday at the latest and then on we go with the process. We still need to apostille a lot of our documents and that may take a week or two, but then we will be ready to file our dossier.

In other good news, I am SO overwhelmed by the support of family, friends, and strangers in donating to our MF fund. We raised $600 so far- in just one day. Wow. That's all I can say. So many people posted it on Facebook and so many people donated that I was overwhelmed with gratitude. I teared up a few times during the day thinking about all the support. We are so grateful.

We are still short on what we need in order to file our dossier. We need $7500 to file the dossier and still need probably about $4000. We have our yard sale this Saturday and the donations keep rolling in, so we will see what we can do in the next few weeks before going the loan route. I don't want to wait any longer than we need to to file the dossier. I feel like we have waited long enough!!

I am just SO anxious to get our sweet MF here. I am elated with the progress we have made in the last few days. Thank you again, everyone. We love you.

Fundraising

Hello all-
The time has come where Devin and I need to get serious about raising money to bring our MF home. As you know, we have applied for every grant out there and have been denied for all of them, except for one that we have yet to hear from. We applied in February and it is supposed to take 90 days to hear the decision, but since it has been about double that, we are not holding our breath.

We want to have everything ready to go as soon as we get our approval from our i-800a (remember that form that we filed a million years ago and still haven't heard anything on? Yeah. That one. At least I know it's not just us. The good thing about this yahoo group that I am on for Ecuador adoptions is that we can compare stories and luckily there are other families in the same boat with the long wait. They just must be backed up. Anyway, that's neither here nor there.)

As soon as we have the i-800a approval, we can file our dossier. With it, we need to pay our largest chunk of money yet. And to be honest, we don't have it all. So this is where I humble myself and ask for your help. I have had a lot of people tell me that they would like to help, so I set up an easy way to do so with a paypal button here on the blog. It is at the top of the page on the right hand side.

Please know that every cent you donate will go straight into our MF fund. We feel so humbled and grateful already for the offers of help. Thank you. Please do not feel obligated to donate, but if you do want to help, even little bits will add up. $5, $10...whatever you can do.

Also, we are willing and open to hearing other fundraising ideas that you might have. We have another garage sale planned, thanks to Devin's sister who gave us a lot of their stuff since they are soon moving to Russia (Russia. Yes, RUSSIA. Can you believe it!?) This time all the money raised will go into our MF fund as well. What other ideas do you have?

As always, we feel humbled and blessed to have such supportive family and friends. We love you! Thanks for being a part of our journey.

*P.S. Feel free to spread the word....we would love you forever. (disregard that. We do anyway.)