Until our next trip to China

Let's make a difference!!

2009-08-30T14:42:00.000-07:00

Well God is at it again..He is one busy Guy! Three years ago we became internet friends with family much like our own from Michigan. They had a son named Andrew, very close in age to our Andrew and a daughter,Emma, around Audrey's age also adopted from China. The Anderson's were also waiting to bring home a special needs child from Paul's orphanage as we were waiting to bring Paul home ourselves. Shortly after we adopted Paul, they adopted YuMei a sweet 9 yr. old girl born with a cleft lip and palate. YuMei has adjusted wonderfully, so much so that the Anderson's set out to adopt again. Over the last year they have been working on adopting a 12 yr old boy from China, Lin Lin. Here is the catch...their adoption agency just told them about another SN girl who needs a family ASAP. This girl will turn 14 in October. After the age of 14 kids are no longer allowed to be adopted. China, will allow the Anderson's to adopt her along with Lin.....but not for free. We could haggle back and forth why they can't adopt her at no extra expenses....but that is NOT the point. The point is that this girl has reached her last chance of finding a family to call her own. The Anderson's need approximately $7500 in the next month to do this (in additon to $20,000 or so for Lin's adoption).

Here is where the Homan's come in. I know about that tug at one's heart when God is calling you to do something that seems impossible or even crazy to most people. We all know that God works in mysterious ways. The Anderson's will be frantically fundraising over the next month. Paul and I are making a road trip to MI on Friday to help with their garage sale. I would love to fill our van with garage sale items, baked goods, surplus food garden vegtables. My goal is to have enough room for me and Paul and our sleeping bags and the rest filled with items to help the Anderson's out. If you have any items you would like to donated please bring them to our house by Thurs. Here is a simple list I hope to bring:

Garage Sale item: clean, packed at efficiently as possible, even price marked if you have time
Fresh Baked Goods
Veggies from your garden (fresh please)
*good old cash donations accepted too~if everyone on my email list and facebook friends donated $5.00, I could give the Anderson's $500, wouldn't that be awesome*

Paul and I plan to leave by 5:00am Friday. If you can't help in anyway please pray for the Anderson's and for a safe journey for me and Paul.

To read more about Tina and her family: http://www.youbelong.net/pages/htmlos/54164.2.286777399518310083/throughtherainbow

The Fastest Week Ever!!!

2009-08-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

You know how they say "Time flies when you're having fun"....well, it flies twice as fast when you're on vacation!! We just got back from our first beach vacation with the kids. Andrew saw the ocean when he was 9 months old, but none of the other kids had. Earlier in the year I set out to raise enough money from 2 garage sales to pay for a beach vacation. My sister got us started with a unexpected check (thanks Renee) then we all worked hard at our 2 sales to rent a beach house. A few months back we decided on the Outerbanks. We looked on the internet for a house in our price range that would sleep 7 and allow pets (we couldn't leave Boots at home). After a 14 hour drive we arrived in Nags Head and could believe how nice our rental house was. It was within walking distance of the sound (beach area in between two bodies of land) and a short drive to the ocean. We were lucky enough to coordinate this trip with Rita's BFF Anna's trip to the US for her last surgery. It had been almost a year since Rita and Anna saw each other last summer when we met in Wheeling, WV. Just like last year, Roynda and Tutu (Anna's grandma) spoiled all 5 of our kids with all kinds of goodies!!!! We even got to met Anna's grandpa, Roy. Ted and Roy had plenty to talk about since Roy was a mechanic too. We spent the day at the beach and pool at their hotel. They treated us to lunch at Sonic and then Ted grilled out at our house for supper. It was a quick visit, but we were so glad to see them again. It is too funny how Rita and Anna just 'fall' right into their old friendship. Thankfully, Good-Bye to Anna, was not as traumatic to Rita as last year. Rita is learning that Good-Bye means "until next time" not "I may never see you again!!"

The rest of the week was spent just having fun!! We of course went to the beach everyday. The only arguing the kids did was what beach we would go to first. The little kids liked the sound side because they could walk out really far and the water would still only be 2 feet deep and fairly calm. Andrew and Natalie preferred the ocean so they could body surf on the boogie boards. I couldn't believe how uncrowded the beaches seemed. I didn't much care as long as I had the umbrella and a book. I read 2 books in one week...verses my normal of reading 1 book in 2 months!!
Ted and Andrew got a lot of fishing in. They spent their time between two different fishing piers and even went on a head boat (chartered boat with lots of people on it, so it's not as expensive as a private charter). One day they totally surprised me by leaving the house at 6:00 am to go fishing.....I didn't even think about getting out of bed until well after 8:00!!

The thing I was most surprised by the Outerbanks was how much we could do with spending very little or NO money!! We climbed Jockey Ridge (big sand dune) and toured a Bodie light house for free. We spent one morning at the Wright Brothers' Memorial and it only cost $8 for our whole family!! We ate all of our meals at home, except for the trip to Sonic with Anna's family. The boys' fishing stuff was most expensive but even with their head boat and pier fees they spent just over $100. Ted was thrilled about how little money we spent while on vacation!! My most expensive purchase was a camera.....my new camera died on the 2nd day. I got a $40 camera from RiteAid. I think the pictures turned out decent considering....

What did Boots think of the trip? Well, he didn't like the ocean and got too stressed out trying to protect his family from all of those "evil" people on the beach, so Boots spent most of his time at the house. There was a fenced in yard so he enjoyed running free in the back. The funniest Boots moment was when we were coming home. It was the middle of the night and we had been rerouted on some back West Virginia highway because of an accident on the turnpike. Ted was driving straight up some hill, while making sharp turns every few seconds. Boots had his front paws on the dash board looking out the window, then he would look at the GPS, then he would look at Ted, then back out the window. He kept looking at these 3 things in a circle as if to say "Ted are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Our BIGGEST surprise was when we came home. My mom was feeding the cat and watering the flowers while we were gone. We were shocked when we walked in and she had cleaned the WHOLE house!!!!! Thanks MOM!!! My house had never been this clean. She was so sweet, she said that I had been doing so much for other people this summer that I deserved to have something nice done for me. Awwwwww, Mom. I almost cried, but I was too tired from the long drive home. What a relief to come home to a clean house, I can't think of a better gift!!!! You can bet that the Homan's will be saving hard for vacation next year. All week long we all kept saying "when we come back next year.........."

**********to see more pictures, come visit me on Facebook*************************8

One year ago today.......Rita became a Homan

2009-05-12T17:54:00.000-07:00

May 8th marked the 2 year anniversary of committing to adopt Rita, now today May 12th, 2009 we are celebrating one whole year with Rita as a Homan girl.We've had our ups and downs over the last year. I won't lie and say that adopting an older child is a 'piece of cake'......but I can gladly say that the good has far out weighed the bad.In a nutshell, the two greatest things that I can tell you about Rita is her loving spirit and how extremely smart she is. Rita is friends with EVERYBODY!!!!!! She is bubbly and happy 99% of the time. I am still in awe of how well she has mastered the English language and learning at school. You would have to really, really listen closely to detect in her spoken language that she is ESL (English as a 2nd language). Sadly she hasn't retained any Armenian. Some people would criticize us for not being able to help preserve her language but we did our best to help her flourish in the language that she would need in her new life. Rita is such an intelligent girl that if she chooses to learn her native language again she will do so with ease. Rita has thrived in school. She has amazed the staff at her elementary on how well she has done this year. I love this pictures of Rita and Ted. They had just met for the first time (remember me and my aunt had traveled to Armenia a month earlier). Rita was happy her but quickly became very stressed out once she realized she was leaving the orphanage that day. Rita remembers clearly "being shoved in the back" of our facilitator's car.....it was an ugly seen that no one could ever forget. When we talk about that moment Rita always protects Ted and my feelings by saying that she only acted that way because she was scared. I always tell her that I would have been really, really scared if that had happened to me when I was only 7!!!!! One of my favorite photos from Yerevan...."the Cascade"....I can't wait to take Rita back to her beautiful homeland someday. We always want Rita to be proud of her Armenian heritage.Just another night at home hanging out with the family.

So I told you the 2 greatest things about Rita. I'll share the 2 most difficult things, things that we know will continue to get better over time. First...we still really STRUGGLE with her immaturity. When Rita is crawling around on the floor acting like a cat, I try to remember that she was institutionalized for 7 very formative years. When she's throwing a temper tantrum about a $1.00 toy being broke, I try to remember that she didn't have anything to call her own until she was 7. When she's outside "hollering at the sky", I try to remember she wasn't able to express herself normally for 7 years. The second thing is the way she talks ALL of the TIME!!! I don't mean some of the time...I mean ALLLLLLLLLL of the TIME!!!!! Thankfully she obeys the rules of not talking at school when she's not supposed to but that doesn't seem to count at home. Rita can be absolutely exhausting with her non stop chatter. If I had a dollar for everytime I simply said "Rita stop talking" I could finance another adoption (haha!!) We are slowly accepting the fact that Rita is going to just be one of those people who talk too much.

Rita has a super busy summer ahead of her. Next Sunday, she and Paul have their first "Challanger" baseball game. This is a county baseball league for kids with varying disabilities. She is so excited that she gets to play baseball!!! She also will start taking tap dance lessons. She had been in awe watching a movie with a girl that tap danced. We are lucky that we only live a block away from a fitness center that offers tap. Rita also gets to go to summer school. Her IAT team at school felt that since she has done so well this year and that we all really want to push her next year that she would benefit from summer school. It will be just one morning a week for most of the summer. We are very lucky because her summer school teacher will also be doing private tutoring of Rita for 1-2 hours a week. Of course we'll be spending alot of time at the pool so I'll plan to have her take swimming lessons. Then the highlight of her summer will be a visit from Anna. Anna was her very best friend in the orphanage. Anna will be in DC during July to have another surgery. We are staying in Nags Head, NC the last week of July, so hopefully Anna and her family will visit us there. NC will be closer drive than coming all of the way to Ohio. Rita and Anna talked on the phone a few days ago......she was just as happy as could be. It was interesting because Anna's mom said that she had been asking about Rita alot recently and I told her that Rita had been speaking of Anna too. These two girls are kindred spirits no doubt.

As far as Rita's "little arm" goes, it really is still a non-issue. We did get a reminder postcard from the orthopedic specialist to come for her yearly visit. I'm assuming they'll do xrays to see how she continues to grow. His main concern last year was keeping an eye on her scoliosis. She'll also visit her pediatric ophthalmologist this summer. I think her eyes still look great, no noticeable drifting or anything. We do wish we could tie her classes to her head because they are always lost or bent or broke or something!!!!

I'm going to end this post with a special prayer request. Rita had been blessed with the greatest kindergarten teacher this year. Rita adores Mrs. Burke!!! Mrs. B has been diagnosed with a pretty serious form of cancer (yes...all cancer is serious...but it sounds like she has quite a fight ahead of her). Rita insist that we pray for Mrs. Burke every night.....I couldn't forget to pray for Mrs. B if I tried. So, if you could please send a few prayers up for this special lady who has meant so much to Rita during her first year of school.

Stealing pictures from my sister's facebook page

2009-05-07T19:17:00.000-07:00

Since I have become so bad at uploading pictures from my own camera, I decided to steal some pics from my sister's facebook page. She was home at Easter. The kids always love having aunt Renee home. Rita is behind the camera, I'm in the middle with my sis to the left and her BFF, Melinda on the right. I'm sure you all know the other two beauties.

If I live to be 100, Paul will always be my baby. I'm sorry but I just can't get over his cuteness!!

Rita with her HUGE smile. She looked like a rock star Easter morning with her snazzy Hannah Montana dress from Great aunt Donna!!

Ohhhh...I want this baby

2009-05-05T19:20:00.000-07:00

Look at this little guy. He is missing his right arm just like our Paul. Isn't he the cutest!!??!!
http://www.thestarfishfosterhome.org/babiesdetail.aspx?id=38 I'm going to start playing the lottery tomorrow.

Inspiring Story...Can you help??

2009-05-03T20:13:00.000-07:00

So, we had a garage sale over the weekend. The funds were supposed to go to our summer vacation......but I may have to help out this very unusaul situation: http://wwwourchinagirl.blogspot.com/

The party of a lifetime!!!!!!!

2009-04-13T17:41:00.001-07:00

8 TIMES THE FUN

The day that Rita had been waiting for , for almost a year finally came and went way too quickly. We had 8 cakes, brought in by friends and family, celebrating not only her 8th birthday....but the other 7 birthdays that she missed!!!!We debated the night before on how we would handle the 8 cakes and singing. Both Rita and I wanted everybody to sing happy birthday 8 times. Thankfully we took the advice of everyone else and just lit all of the cakes at once and sang one time......that was crazy enough!!
Rita was all in her glory while everyone was singing. She couldn't have possibly smiled any bigger. We didn't get an official head count but our best guess was that 105-110 people were at her party. Including kids from both her kindergarten and first grade class.There were kids lined up for a mile waiting their turn to pull the string on the pinata. When the candy finally fell it was a mad house!!!!!The cotton candy machine was the big hit of the party. Ted would never make a good bartender. You know how bartenders are supposed to cut off their extremely drunk customers. Well all of the kids looked the same to Ted so he didn't realize that some of the kids went through the cotton candy line 7...yes....7 times!!!!!! When the party was over and I had the classmates lined up waiting for their parents some of the little boys' eyes were glazed over.....totally drunk on sugar!!!We had requested no gifts but of course that didn't include grandmas and grandpas. After most of the party cleared out Rita got to open her presents. We had asked our guest to bring lose change to donate to a special cause instead of bringing any gifts. The kids were all so cute bringing their baggies of change and putting in a bucket with pictures of Rita's friends from the orphanage. By the end of the day the bucket was FULL.....there were even 10's and 20's in it...now that's what I call lose change!!!!! We originally wanted to do something special for Rita's orphanage but I just didn't know how well that would work out. Instead we have decided to donate the money to a family who is adopting a little girl from Rita's family unit. This little girl had been listed on Receese's Rainbow which is the website that we found Rita on almost 2 years ago. We know all too well how expensive adoption is and how hard fundraising for an adoption is, so we wanted to be a blessing to another adoptive family. Oh...I almost forgot...we raised $240!! Thank you so much to those that brought their lose change in for Rita's party. http://www.reecesrainbow.com/familysponsorshipinprogress.htm Here is the link for the page that list the families who are waiting to bring home their special kiddos. If you scroll down about half the way down you will see "the Sobie family" and little miss Jenna. Rita doesn't specifically remember Jenna but by her pictures we can most definitely tell she is Rita's old room, so if I had to guess I would imagine that she 'moved' into that family unit shortly after Rita came home.

Well, like the title said it was the party of a lifetime or I should say a once in a lifetime party. Rita knows that next year she'll have a regular birthday with just the grandparents. Natalie declared that she wanted a party like Rita's too. My very simple answer was..."after you spend 7 years in an orphanage we will gladly throw a party like this for you." Rita enjoyed every second of the party, but was brought back to reality the next morning. She threw a terrible fit about her balloon from school being popped....so sadly, the queen was dethroned and life is back to normal at the Homan house.

Happy birthday Paul

2009-04-13T17:15:00.001-07:00

Paul's birthday was very low key this year since Rita's big party was just a week after his b-day. He still enjoyed his special day. You've gotta love the BIG birthday hats that they get from preschool. He didn't take that thing off until bedtime (then it mysteriously disappeared). Paul is sporting a shiner too....he caught a flying book with his eye!!

The sweet referral picture.......strange resemblance to Chairman Mao???

Lazy Weekend

2009-03-22T17:10:00.000-07:00

Spring has sprung...finally!! It was such a beautiful and totally lazy weekend. I couldn't resist this picture of Ted and Audrey from Saturday night. Andrew surprised Grandpa by being able to give him a piggy-back ride. The kids enjoyed a visit from my dad. He lives about 2 hours away. He came and took us out for lunch (and quickly learned why we don't eat out with 5 kids very often!!). Then we spent some time at the park. Before he left everyone had showed off all of their latest tricks/talents....bike riding, hanging upside down, basket shooting, piano playing, reading, etc.

Rita may not be able to climb across the monkey bars but she sure can do alot of other things on those bars.Natalie and Audrey teaching Boots how to dance. He has recovered from surgery quite well. Now he only pees on half of the fire hydrants and telephone poles instead of every single one on our walks.

Tomorrow is Paul's 4th birthday. He can hardly wait. Also, in my last post I talked about our meeting at school in regards to Rita. Well, the principal call on Friday afternoon and told us that Rita's IAT team decided to get things rolling even faster. Tomorrow she'll go back to her original 1st grade classroom in the afternoons. She is so excited and we're so proud of her.

Oh...if you need a good movie rental recommendation...check out "Changeling". It's rated R, so it's not for kids. It is based on a true story and absolutely unbelievable.

"Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be"

2009-03-17T18:01:00.000-07:00

" Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be".. (lyrics to Yesterday). Yes...it's true, Boots lost his manliness today. We learned (once again) that you have to be careful about how you word things around kids. Ted and I were discussing Boots 'getting his balls cut off' and sure enough first thing this morning Audrey said very loudly..."Boots is getting his balls cut off today." Good grief, I could just see her announcing that to her preschool class!!!! Anyways, there will now be no little Bootzies running around town. Hopefully he will stop trying to get so fresh with my mom's dog.

Boots has each and every one of us wrapped around his little paw. Even Ted!!! Ted wasn't really crazy about the idea of getting a dog but they are the best of friends now. Ted has even changed his name to "Big Bob." Ted claimed that Boots told him that his name was too girly and he wanted a cool name like Big Bob. I told him he could call him Big Bob but he will always be my Bootzie-Wootzie. We used to make fun of my mom for claiming that her dog talked to her...now we're doing the same thing. We are such Schnauzer-loving fools!!

Everything else around here is busy as normal. Paul's birthday is in less than a week and Rita's big birthday bash is just right around the corner. We are making Rita's 8th birthday extra-special since this will be her first birthday ever!! Natalie thought of a great name for the party "Rita's BIG birthday party~~~ 8 times the fun!!" So we'll have 8 games, 8 cakes and big 8's all over the family center.......all drenched in pink. Rita will be dressed in pink from head to toe.....she is sooooooo excited for her party!!!!!

I had our 2nd to last IAT meeting at school for Rita today. Her team has a great game plan for her next year. Most of you know that we started her in 1st grade but since our school doesn't have and ESL program, very early in the year the school highly recommended her moving to kindergarten. She is 2 years older than all of her classmates but that hasn't really bothered her. She has learned so much, I believe that this was the best thing that our school system could do for her. But, I made it clear early on that I wanted her to get back with her age group, because I didn't want a 16 yr. old 8th grader or a 20yr. old Senior!!!! So the plan is for her to be considered a 2nd grader next fall with her going to 1st grade language arts. As she progress through the year the goal is to have her in the 2nd grade language arts before the end of that school year. We all know that she will probably need extra help for a few years no matter what grade she is in. I really like this plan. The principal has already picked the 2 teachers and I know with these two gals she'll be in great hands!! Finishing out Kindergarten they plan to start pulling her from class and to start going with 1st graders who are getting pulled for help with math. Plus she is already ready at an early 1st grade level so they will continue to 'push' her reading skills. She will go to summer school 1 day a week plus be tutored (still working on those details) on 1st grade science/social studies/ math skills. We don't plan to let her brain turn to mush this summer.

One quick note about Andrew. While I was at school for Rita's meeting I ran into Andrew's homeroom teacher. He once again told me what a great year Andrew was having. His exact words were "Andrew has STELLAR classroom behavior"........stellar.......geeze, I've never had anybody say I was stellar about anything. I just thank God and the staff at F.R. for helping Andrew become the great kid we knew he could be.

If only.........

2009-03-10T18:28:00.000-07:00

If only I was superwoman and the economy wasn't in the toilet we would adopt Max. Today he is on the top of "Other Angels" (the website we found Rita on). http://www.reecesrainbow.com/angelboys.htm He has been on this list WAY TOO LONG!!! He is gorgeous. With a loving family and quality medical care he could live a fairly normal life. But with 5 kids that drive absolutely insane most days, no money and a husband that is laid off, I believe that my job is to pray for Max's family to 'find' him very soon.

Sophia Jane Fundraiser

2009-03-07T06:21:00.000-08:00

Please visit the blog linked on the right to help this family bring their daughter home. I donated some jewelry to their cause. There is some other great donations too!!

IntroducingBoots~~

2009-03-03T15:51:00.000-08:00

Well it seems that everyone else around us now has a house dog. We felt like we must be missing out on something and boy or boy were we ever. We brought home the most amazing dog on Sunday from Indy. We had been looking on Craig's List for a little bit older house dog. One that was already house broke and good with kids. I kind of had it in my mind to find a pug, puggle or a schnauzer. I looked on CL between Ft. Wayne, Muncie, Lima, Dayton, Indy and Columbus. I emailed quite a few people about different dogs and seemed to keep missing the 'perfect dog.' Well on Saturday night I checked again and saw that a 1 yr. old miniature schnauzer was in need of a home because his family had to move into an apartment that didn't allow pets. I called them right away not wanting to miss out on this little guy. We were the 2nd family to call but the other family didn't commit to him and I said "We'll take him!!" On our drive to Indy I told the kids that Boots' might be scared and his current family might be sad because they didn't want to give him away at all!! When we walked into Boots' home he barked at us (schnauzers are very protective of their family but makes friends quickly if their family accepts the 'outsider') but quickly warmed up to us. He is a salt and pepper colored mini-schnauzer. I think he looks like a little old man with his gray eyebrows and bushy beard. The family said their good-byes and we promised to take extra good care of him!! He did fantastic on the 2 hour drive home. He took turns sitting on everyone's lap. He is an absolute joy...he only barks at Mulan (oh yeah, Mulan might not consider him much of a joy;o) and if somebody is at the door. If he gets too wound up we just say in a firm voice "Boots NO"....he sits downs and stops barking. I wish any of my 5 kids listened as well as Boots....hmmmm, maybe Ted and I should had 5 mini-schnauzers instead of 5 kids. Boots goes to the door when he needs to potty and lays down when it's bedtime and goes right to sleep until morning. I just can't believe how easy and loving he is. The picture of Boots with the lei is for our Hawiian friends...Roy and Tutu.

Okay...maybe I'm a bit biased but I think these are the two cutest Chinese girls in the world. On Feb. 28th we celebrated Audrey's 4th 'forever family day' and Rachel celebrated her 4th birthday. Kind of cool to think that 2-28-05 was very special for by my family and my brother's family. To read more about Rachel: http://raisingourgirls.blogspot.com

We had to readopt Rita for her to become a US citizen. Yes...Rita looks very but Ted and I have fake smiles thinking that if our guide in Armenia would have done things different Rita would have came to the USA on a different visa and we wouldn't have had to do this. All we could think about was $900 that we had to complete the adoption the same week as Ted's first week being laid-off (with no end in sight). Rita totally enjoyed her time in court and the judge made it fun for the kids. She let each kid set in her seat and pound the gavel....then she gave each kid their own mini-gavel...yeah!!

We went to a Chinese New Year party at a families' home in Berne. It was lots of fun. As you can see Paul is cheating at "pin the tail on the ox" in honor of the year of the ox. This is my zodiac year....yes it's true I'm only 24 (the zodiac goes in 12 year cycles...so maybe I am almost 36 but 24 sure sounds alot better).

Here's the group photo minus Audrey. That little stinker refused to get in the picture!! My niece Rachel is in the middle with the jean jumper and Paul is on the end. Ai Wen is 2nd from the left....our families traveled together to adopt Paul and AiWen.

Well, thankfully Ted has stayed busy with auto repairs while being laid off. Lots of people have been laid off behind him with the good possibility of more. So it could be quite a long time before he would get called back. He is job hunting but there just isn't much out there. Our family is very blessed that he has another skill to bring decent money in right now. Of course the "dirty teeth" business is always busy so no worries about my job. I did spend 4 hours in the ER with Audrey yesterday. We had went to the family doctor on Friday and she tested positive for influenza B. I'm sure that Rita and Andrew had the same thing but Audrey just couldn't pull out of it. She became so dehydrated that she was miserable. She was on an IV (aka arm medicine) for 1.5 hours and she perked right up. We went home and she ate 3 helping of spaghetti. She had barely ate anything over the last week. On Friday she was down to 28 pounds!!! With spring coming I'm hoping that we are about at the end of all of this sickness.

Birthday Girl

2009-01-18T17:42:00.000-08:00

Audrey turns 5 years old tomorrow. Isn't she a beauty??!!
Here she is on her 2nd birthday (her first birthday at home). Look at those chubby cheeks. She was so tiny, but had the hugest cheeks.
Where has our baby gone?Well, Audrey's birthday celebration was a nice break from the winter blues. For those not living in the midwest, we were thrilled that it was 22 degrees today versus -14 degrees on Friday. OMG......it was freezing for a few days!!!!

There is so much to report but I'm not sure that I'm in the blogging mood. The biggest thing going on around here is Ted's pending layoff. His last day of work is Jan. 30th, with no clue of a possible call back date. The factory that both he and my brother and Ted's brother work at is suffering the same decline in sales that most manufacturing companies are facing right now. If we were in the middle of an adoption or hadn't sold our house or had just bought a new van (like I would really, really like to do) I would be alot more worried. Our biggest concern is insurance coverage. Ted is thinking that a cobra plan will cost around $900/month. He called around getting quotes on private insurance but the few that he talked to told him that nobody would cover me (being an insulin dependent diabetic). We are trying to get every medical 'thing' done before the 30th. Paul is having tubes put in his ears and his adenoids removed, I'm going to the doctor tomorrow for that lovely yearly visit (that I'm 4 years over due) to the ob-gyn, Andrew will visit his doctor 2 weeks earlier than originally scheduled and everyone is getting their teeth cleaned whenever I can work them into the schedule. Ted joked with his brother that all of the kids were getting tubes in their ears and braces on their teeth before the 30th. Ted has made a few contacts with two places that are or maybe hiring soon BUT there just isn't much out there right now. I'm thankful for my job and Ted's mechanical skills (he works on cars on the side), so our bills will get paid....but there won't be much beyond that if he doesn't find another job. Great, now I'm depressed and don't feel like typing anymore. Don't worry I'll snap out of it soon and be back to my normal-cheerful self (yes, I can lie about my normal cheerful self to all of you, just don't tell my husband and kids because they know the truth :o)

Baby Rita

2008-12-23T15:27:00.001-08:00

Shortly after school started Rita's class was asked to bring in a baby picture of themselves. The youngest photo we had of Rita she was probably 5 yrs old. The teacher made copies of all of the baby photos and then the kids had to guess who the babies where. Rita was sad when she came home because "Mom everybody know Rita...Rita big girl" (her English is so much better now). So I emailed the adoption agency to see if the Armenian facilitator could try to come up with some baby pictures. I didn't hear anything until one day a few snapshots showed up in our mail box. I knew that my scanner wasn't good enough to be able to zoom in and still keep the clarity, so I took the snapshots to a photo restoration guy. I just got the pictures back today. Rita was absolutely thrilled!!!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I am most excited for Rita. She can't believe all of the presents under the tree. Today she even got a gift from our baby sitter and then from her best friend at school (Anna is still her orphanage best friend/sister). Megan gave Rita the cutest shirt that says "I'm the Best Friend". Rita may drive us bonkers from time to time but we love her dearly. I wish I could be in her little head when she comes down those stairs on Christmas morning. I always remember the excitement that I felt on Christmas morning......just imagine being 7 years old and celebrating your very first Christmas with your new family. Rita's favorite tree on display at our library the "Bling Bling" tree.

Rita was so proud of her gingerbread house.

Rita and Natalie making paperchains to decorate the tree in the 1910 school house at Sauder Village.

Merry Christmas Everyone.... May God Bless You and Your Family!!

The Last Man Standing

2008-12-12T05:27:00.001-08:00

Paul is the only one in the family who wasn't touched by the stomach flu (well, not yet). We celebrated his 2 year "Gotcha Day" with frosted brownies...yum, yum. Yes...I'm a little late with Halloween pictures but I still had to share my cute kids.

Audrey was an absolute wreck, with the flu and a broken collar bone she could still give mom a smile though.

Rita loved decorating the tree. Remember it's her first Christmas with our family. Things were going great until the tree fell over while she was putting an ornament on. I save you from all of the horrible details.

Natalie had a great 8th birthday. Wasn't she just my little baby?

Good grief...it has been almost 2 months since my last post. What can I say, I am quickly becoming the world's worst blogger. It's not that life hasn't been interesting around here I just haven't taken the time to sit down and post. Enough things happened this last week itself has been enough to write a book. Monday morning Andrew woke up saying that it felt like somebody had kicked him in the stomach. About 15 minutes later he was barfing all over the place (he has yet to master graceful barfing :o( The babysitter had called this same morning saying that her kids had been puking all weekend, so I still went to work to see my first patient and then quickly headed back home after they got somebody to replace me. The rest of the day was fairly peaceful. Ted had to go into work early, even though he's pretty sure he'll be laid-off in the near future. Not 15 minutes after he left I hear Audrey screaming. Here, Rita was trying to give her a piggy-back ride. Audrey must have slipped off of Rita's little arm side and they both went crashing to the floor. Audrey couldn't move her left arm at all (yes...she's left handed). So, we left Andrew passed out on the couch and headed to Coldwater's hospital. I dropped of Natalie, Rita and Paul at our friend's house. By the time we got to the hospital Audrey was all smiles and moving her left arm up and down and all around (I had given her Tylenol before we left the house). I could tell the doctor thought I was crazy!! Four x-rays later though he confirmed a broken clavicle...collar bone. So we headed back home not realizing the real storm was still coming. Within the next 12 hours EVERYONE except Paul had come down with the stomach flu. So 6 out of the 7 of us we're down...I have never seen so much barf in all of my life!!! Poor Audrey couldn't take any pain medicine because of the stomach bug so we had to have her Tylenol3 made into suppositories.....need I say more. Try to put a suppository into to squirming 4 yr. old while trying not to barf because your sick too!!! NOT FUN!! The best thing about this bug is that it didn't last for long. Everyone was back to work and school by Wed. Then I get home from work last night and I ask Ted "Don't you think it's chilly in here?" He looks at the thermostat and it says 63. YES...the furnace was dead. Oh common!!! So, I called my mom and got her extra space heaters. Paul and Audrey slept with me and the other kids slept together upstairs so we didn't freeze to death last night. Thankfully, Ted has a brother who is an electrician and he helped Ted diagnose the problem so Ted should be able to fix it today. I'm almost afraid to see what today brings...oh, I forgot I had a flat tire during all of this too.

Okay enough depressing news..on to some good news. Last week we celebrated our 2 year anniversary with Paul. My brother and his family also celebrated their 1 year anniversary with their daughter, Rachel, from China too. Natalie turned 8 also. She had friends over after school last Friday and then had the grandparents over on Saturday. All in all she had a great birthday. This week she is the 'star student' so today Ted, Paul, Audrey and myself will go eat lunch with her. Rita is so excited that we'll be at school....she promises to wave at us!! Rita is still amazing us with all of her abilities. She has mastered tying her shoes and zipping her coat..she'll show anyone who will watch. She got glasses this week and is most definitely the cutest kid in glasses I have ever seen. She had went to the opthamologist two weeks ago. He felt that her muscles were still too tight, not bad enough to do surgery again. These glasses are just supposed to 'relax' her muscles. She is learning to read and is just as proud of herself as we are.

During all of this I have started back at my favorite hobby....reading!! (maybe that's why I haven't had time to blog). The last 3 books that I have read have all been fantastic.. "The Things I Want My Daughters to Know" by Elizabeth Noble... "Can't Wait to Get to Heaven" by Fannie Flagg (anything by Fannie Flagg is sweet and funny)..."The Last Promise" by Richard Paul Evans (I love anything that takes place in Italy) I'm always looking for a good book....so any suggestions are welcome.

You know, I'm sure many other great things have happened around here since October but I need to run. Even after a crazy week like this, I still thank God everyday for my beautiful family. I am so blessed and I don't want to ever forget.

Gorgeous Quilt fund raiser

2008-10-19T19:09:00.000-07:00

http://moyeradoptionraffles.blogspot.com/ My friend Cynthia is still trying to raise money the adoption of their 5 year old son from China. Her son has a limb difference too.....so their family has a special place in my heart. You've got to check this quilt out!!

Renee's Visit and the 2nd Grade Field Trip

2008-10-19T18:40:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Aunt Renee's 29th birthday while she was out."Can you believe I used to change this kid's diaper??"
Aunt Renee took the little kids to the park......she's the best!!!!!

Inspecting fuzzy seeds during our nature walk with our guide Nicole.
Natalie's class.....what beautiful fall day!!

I'm so glad that Natalie begged me to be a chaperon for her field trip. We went to a nature center around Dayton. We had the most perfect weather that day. I had 10 kids in my group, we all agreed that we got the BEST guide. Nicole took us through the woods and got the kids really excited about our nature walk. After chaperoning Andrew's first grade trip to the zoo I vowed that I would NEVER again chaperon.....but I have changed my mind. I really need to remember to appreciate this time in my kids' lives where they think I am the greatest person ever.

Good news......our St. Anthony house is under contract. YEAH!!!! I really do miss our old house but am not going to miss making double mortgage payments. We are happy with the price that we are getting for the house especially with the way the housing market is. We're just a few thousand dollars below what we hoped to get but $25,000 over our rock-bottom price. We should close within the month. Thankfully the couple is pre-approved with a local bank so we're hoping that this process should go smoothly. Now we just need to finish moving all of our junk.

Andrew's last football game was today. We lost so we're out of the tournament. Andrew had been all pumped up to go the "pee wee super bowl" where the last two teams get to play under the lights on a Saturday night. That would have been really cool, but I'm sure Andrew has a long football career ahead of him so we'll seem him under the lights someday. Andrew had a great season. He really got into "crushing" his opponents.

Aunt Renee came for a visit last week from Arizona. It's always fun having her around and sad when she leaves. Why does Arizona have to be so far away???

Celebrating 100 Years!!!

2008-10-07T18:33:00.000-07:00

Don't the girls and I look fabulous with our vintage hats?? We belong to Ft. Recovery's Church of the Nazarene. The Nazarene church, as a whole, celebrated it's 100th anniversary this weekend all over the entire world. Our local church was also celebrating it's 80th anniversary. We were encouraged to wear vintage clothing. Life has been too crazy to even begin to try to find vintage clothes for 7 people, so instead I bought a lot of hats from eBay for $20. Oh by the way, I am NOT 5 months pregnant. The way Audrey's leg is stuck to me and Rita's little arm is resting up against me I do look like I have a bun in the oven!! NO buns here!!!

I added my absolute favorite Steven Curtis Chapman song to my playlist. I hope you all enjoy it. Of course I like the beat but the words are what I love the most. "So sink or swim I'm diving in!!" This is how I want to live my life until the very end. I want to always do what God calls me to do with an enthusiastic attitude. Sure some days between work and five kids and the constant reminder that there are children all over the world that need loving families I really feel like I'm "sinking." But, thankfully, most days "I'm lost in the flow" knowing that God has blessed me with these 5 amazing kids, a terrific husband, a modest home (that would be considered a mansion by most of the worlds standards) and even, a great job. When I think of the kids who don't have homes I like to read through other blogs and read stories of families similar to ours, where innocent children have made their way 'home'. "But we will never know the awesome power of the grace of God until we let ourselves get swept away into this holy flood........."

My little stud muffin

2008-09-18T19:51:00.000-07:00

Most of you who know me know that I hate sports!!!! But I LOVE watching Andrew play football. This is his first year of pee wee football and it is his 'thing' without a doubt. He has played baseball for two years and is usually lifeless on the field. But football is another story. He is really getting into this tackling stuff. I guess I better change my music, I don't think Andrew would appreciated "Dancing Queen" playing while he is at the top of the blog. I'm thinking "We are the Champions" by Queen. I'm open to other suggestions of music to go along with this post.

WOW....

2008-09-06T14:28:00.000-07:00

Here's a blog to those of you who think Ted and I are "special people"....this family knocked my socks off: http://findinghiddentreasures.blogspot.com/ Also....I almost fell off of my chair today when I was going through Reece's Other Angel's website (this is the site that we first learned about Rita) and saw two of Rita's friends listed "Hallie" and "Garret"......go check them out, they are both adorable: http://www.reecesrainbow.com/otherangels.htm , then click on 'girl or by angels.' If anyone has an extra 26K laying around let me know and we'll start the paperwork for one of them today!!! I'm so glad that Armenia has lowered their fees for the special needs kids. If you remember Rita's adoption was 35K (and worth every penny).

Soccer Queens

2008-09-05T19:03:00.001-07:00

Okay I couldn't resist adding "Dancing Queen" to my blog, but the song fits for these girls. They are having the 'time of their lives.' Natalie and Rita had their first soccer games this week. Natalie is a natural athlete, like her aunt Sandy (we all know that she sure didn't get it from me!!) Rita's age group is hilarious to watch. I was surprised how much she got into chasing the ball down. I think there are 9 or 10 kids on the team. Only one kid knows what the heck is going on and the rest are day dreaming, crying or kicking the ball in any direction...not necessarily the right direction.
Soccer Queen #1
Soccer Queen #2
I can't forget the little ones. They both started preschool this week. Audrey is 4 and will be going 4 half day with the intentions of going to kindergarten next year. Paul is 3 and will be going 2 half days knowing that he'll have another year of preschool. Paul is very speech delayed, so thankfully he qualified for county services in junction with the preschool. It is obvious that he is a smart boy but basically only mom can understand him.

Finally........

2008-08-26T19:37:00.000-07:00

So Ted finally got down and dirty with Verizon and those of you who know Ted, knows that it takes alot to get him fired up. He called and insisted that somebody do something about our lack of internet. He explained that he had spent hours on the phone with people from India who got him no where. Apparently there is a secret group of tech support people in Canada that most people don't know about. His call was transferred to Canada and some lady pushed a few buttons on her end, told Ted to push a few buttons on his end and POOF......we now have internet again. Modem #3 never did show up, which doesn't matter now since, there is obviously nothing wrong with modem #1 or #2.

Anyways here's a few pictures to hold you over until I have time to sit down a type a little bit more.

Rita's beloved Anna.........Hello was great!!!!

But......Good-bye was not so great!!Thankfully, we had lots of fun in between "Hello" and "Good-Bye."
Anna's family spoiled all of us with lots of gifts.Rita and Anna fell right into their old friendship. I wished we lived closer to Anna and her family. Introducing our newest family member......Mulan (notice Rita's new hair cute....she wanted it cut because it was too hot for her...it is so much easier to take care of at this length...plus I think Rita looks pretty darn cute).
Mulan is "loved" just a little bit too much around here. This picture reminds me of a scene from Of Mice and Men........."George, the rabbits are so soft, I just want to pet them and love them."

The first day of school. Rita was so excited and is still totally loving school.
I can't forget Andrew's 10th birthday. I swear I was just pregnant with this kid....honestly, where does the time go?

Things that make you go hmmmm?

2008-08-20T11:17:00.000-07:00

Who remembers that song from the early 90's....."things that make you go hmmm"? We are nearing the 3 week mark of being in our new house and we still don't have internet. Yes..I'm addicted to the internet. I love following other adoption blogs and keeping up with the yahoo groups that I belong to (all adoption related too). When we moved we decided to do a bundle with Verizon...phone, dish TV and internet. Well the phones and TV's all work great but we having major problems with the internet. The biggest problem is that all technical calls go to India...ughhhh. Yesterday, as I was sitting on my front step in small town Ohio, a Verizon service truck went past our house with an advertisement for high speed internet on his door. I thought.....hmmmm...."If this guy driving past my house is advertising Verizon internet, then why do have to call all of the way to India to get any help. The friendly people from India now think that our 2nd modem is also bad, so we are now waiting for modem #3. I promise I will post pictures the minute I am on the computer at home.

Enough complaining. The kids went back to school yesterday....yip, yip, yipee!!!!! I just have to share a defining moment in my life. You all know those moments...the ones that get you right in the heart (sometimes good and sometimes bad). Yesterday was Rita's first day of school. She was so excited. She had went to the open house last week to meet her new teacher. Thankfully she has the same teacher that Natalie had last year, Mrs. Eilerman. Rita was pretty hyper that night. I had sent an email to Mrs. E telling her that I was very happy that Rita was going to have her but I also felt like I should give her a heads-up on some of Rita's behaviors. My best advice to Mrs. E. was to not cut her any slack and when she gets out of line to look her right in the eye and say "Rita you NEED to listen." Last, I told Mrs. E that she would enjoy watching Rita grow over this school year. I look back at the last 3 months with her and can't believe how far she has come in such a short time.

Well, Andrew, Natalie and Rita all woke up excited for school. Everyone was ready plenty early so of course I wanted to get those first day of school pictures. Rita was so happy and then had a sad moment. She was missing her friends from Armenia. I took her aside and told her that I knew that G-mama (her favorite caretaker) would be so proud of her today. She agreed "Yes, G-mama would be so happy for Rita to go to school." We loaded up in the van. I had told her the night before that mom would just drop her off at the sidewalk at school and Natalie would take her to her classroom. I didn't want to take her inside to avoid any separation issues. She hopped out of the van with a "good-bye mom......how many hours until mama picks Rita up?" She always wants to know how many hours when I leave her anywhere, anytime. Audrey, Paul and I drove away, off to enjoy our peaceful day. I thought about Rita all day long wondering how her day was going. Every time the phone rang, I ran to it thinking that it was the school and Rita was having a crisis of some sort. Nope.....I went back to the school just before they let out. I decided to park the car and walk up to the courtyard area. One of the aides was already out waiting for the kids, she said that it looked like Rita was having a good day any of the times that she had saw her. Natalie had been asked to pick Rita up at her room (their rooms are right beside of each other). Both girls came out together but as soon as Rita saw me she started running full speed. She was squealing in total delight "mama, mama, mama, I love you, I love school." Everyone was staring but hey, who cares. I bent down and scooped her up with a HUGE lump in my throat and my heart about to burst. It is an amazing feeling for me to know that this little person from such humble beginnings loves me so much. It is really hard for me to put in words this joyful moment. Once we were done hugging she said "Mom, Rita good girl." Natalie had caught up with us by then and she said "yes, Mrs. E. said to tell mom that Rita was good and had a good day." When we got home she had to get her "home" folder out right away and she told me that she HAD to take it back to school tomorrow (to me this meant that she had been paying attention to the teacher's instructions). There was a note from Mrs. E saying what a great day Rita had. She said that Rita seemed a little confused when she was instructing the entire class but once she told her what to do individually she seemed to understand what Mrs. E. was saying. I can't wait to share pictures from her first day of school...plus our visit with her best friend from the orphanage. I still need to share pictures from Andrew's 10th birthday too. This whole moving thing has thrown me for a loop.

"I LOVE bible school!!"......quote from Rita

2008-07-22T18:45:00.000-07:00

First of all, I have to send out a HUGE thanks to my internet friend Cynthia for spicing up my blog. Cynthia and her husband are just waiting to bring home their cute, cute son Nathan home from China. Much like us they are doing their 3rd adoption over a fairly short period of time. They also have big hearts for special needs kiddos. Nathan has a limb difference.....did I mention that he is cute!! I had been telling Cynthia that he was the second cutest boy from China ( 2nd only to Paul) but I finally realized there is most definitely a tie in cuteness between Paul and Nathan. Anyways, Cynthia is doing online raffles to fund raise for Nathan's adoption. I've been there....done that....with adoption fundraising and don't envy her one bit!!! Since I am for the most part done selling lia sophia jewelry I offered to donate some of my extra jewelry for her raffles. In return she spiced up my very boring blog.....isn't just awesome. To read more about their family and what Cynthia is doing for fundraising run right over to her blog.....http://www.underthemistymountain.blogspot.com/ (p.s. check back at a later date to check out the jewlery, she has other cool stuff listed right now). Even if Rita is our last child, I know that I will continue to support other adoptive families in anyway possible. Just this morning I read a great "editor's letter" from Parents magazine. The editor herself has a daughter adopted from China. Here's a blurb from her letter "According to a national poll nearly 81.5 million people have considered adoption and 63% of all Americans think positively about it. Yet very few families actually do it. Some are afraid they won't love "someone else's child." Others feel that it's unpredictable.........Some parents worry that adoption is expensive (yes, it can be, but it costs less than a new car-and almost 8 million of those were bought in '07)..........So if your dealing with fertility issues, or if you plan on having another child, or if you're the type that of parent who gets choked up about all the injustice in the world (that would be me!!!!), then I'd urge you to take another look at the adoption option. Just believe in the transformative power of your love. I promise, it's enough." Sally Lee Editor-in-chief. All right, I'll get off of my adoption soap box (for now anyways ;o) Last week was our church's vacation bible school. Once again, Rita had a blast. Here she is opening the VBS closing program with an Armenian prayer. She was so excited to be behind the microphone and so proud of her Armenian prayer. I had asked her what it means in English and she said "I don't know....mmmm.....no sick, be happy" Sounds like a good prayer to me!!
Audrey and Paul's class did a demonstration with water and food coloring on how Jesus can forgive us of our sins.
Paul was just thrilled to be able to go this VBS (remember early in the summer the girls went to one that he was too young for). He went to VBS in underwear every night and never had an accident!!! YEAH!!!!!
What can you say about Natalie.....love just oozes from her at all times.
Andrew invited his friend Trey to the VBS closing program. Then Trey was roped into helping with Andrew's class skit. He was a good sport about the whole thing.

What's new with the Homan's???? Paint, paint and more paint. I'll be so glad to done painting the new house. I think we're shooting for moving in next weekend. Then I go back to work the following week 2 days and Rita has her eye surgery scheduled for the same week. So we'll be just a little busy. I cleaned every body's teeth on Saturday. We found that Rita has a mouth full of cavities but thankfully Dr. Ben just recommended filling 2 of them. The other ones are fairly small and we'll just keep an eye on them. Today she had the fillings done. She did fantastic!!! She had to have shots in 2 different areas of the mouth. I thought for sure she would scream and carry on but she just squirmed a little during the injections. She hated the taste of everything but loved that Dr. Ben made her "brown ouch tooth white." She also hated that numb feeling on her lip and made everybody in the office touch her lip to see if anyone else thought it felt as fat as she thought it did. I even stopped in the other doctor's room to see one of my regular hygiene patients and Rita made her feel her upper lip. Too funny. Okay, now that you're done reading my blog it's time to head over to Cynthia's!!!

Our trip to Children's

2008-07-15T19:10:00.000-07:00

The beautiful "little arm." We believe that Rita did receive very negative comments (from an evil adult) while she was still in the orphanage. She likes for me to reassure her that I love her "little arm"...I do and I kiss it and act very silly acting like I'm talking to arm dramatically saying "I love you little arm!!! These are pictures that we received when we were considering Rita's file. Now that Rita is home you would never she her two little fingers that have nails without nail polish. Also when Rita is counting to Ten she can still count to five on this hand. One is her wrist bone, two is her 'thumb-nubbin' and then her 3 fingers 3-4-5. Just yesterday we learned that Rita could move her wrist (she can't move her fingers but she does use them all of the time for 'hooks'. One of Andrew's friends met Rita for the first time and said to Andrew "Hey dude, can your sister move that little hand." Rita smiled real big and started moving her wrist....it kind of looked liked she was 'flapping' her little hand. It was so cute and we all made a big fuss over her and she just beamed!!!

Today was a big day for Rita. She saw 2 doctors, 2 residents, 8-10 nurses/radio-techs, had 5 X-rays, an ultra-sound and had her eyes dilated....all in just under 3 hours. We were so busy running around Children's that we didn't even have time to go the bathroom until Rita HAD to go pee half of the way through the ultra-sound at the request of the radiologist tech. We loved her orthopedic doctor, Dr. Albert. When we told him that Rita was from Armenia he thought for a minute and then shared a story. He said "About 20 years ago when I was doing my residency in Philadelphia I took a helicopter with other orthopedic doctors to Washington D.C. We worked on many Armenians who had been in a terrible earthquake who needed major orthopedic help. The patients I saw were in very rough conditions...it was quite tragic. But I'll never forget this one older women who was so cold and I gave her my gloves. She was so grateful for my small gift that she gave me a tomato out of her bag." I told him that sounded like a true Armenian bearing tomatoes. It reminded me of Rita's friend on our flight from Yerevan to London who packed his own tomatoes and cucumbers because the airplane food was so bad. Rita was thrilled when he shared his food because she was also grossed out by the airplane food. I told Dr. Albert that Rita was from Gyumri, right where the earthquake happened 20 years ago. I told him that all over the city you can still see the devastation of the earthquake to this very day. After this conversation I knew that Dr. Albert was "our kind of guy." Anyways I'm not sure if he gave me a final diagnoses or not. He used lots of big words...I think I only caught about half of them. She has her chest muscle so I think that rules out Polland syndrome (what I suspected but I didn't ask). What I did catch was "radial club hand, with missing thumb and finger, fused shoulder something or other and webbed armpit...all of this with minor scoliosis. I told him that Rita was still very concerned that he was going to cut her arm off and sew a new one on ( a fear that developed from well meaning but nosey adults in Armenia) now that she is in America. He told her right to her face that he was NOT going to cut her arm off and she was very happy!!!! At this point his main concern is the scoliosis. He said that she is not a candidate for any limb lengthening procedures. He thought the pain in her lower left ribs was coming from the bones being deformed in that area and just irritating the surrounding tissues. He said that when she is older and she so chooses she may want to consider a type of "slip on prosthesis." But she would still have limited success with that because of having no shoulder rotation. He was also concerned about her bladder and kidneys stating that the limbs and kidneys for during the same time in utero. That many kids with deformed limbs have missing or deformed kidneys. He said that if she hasn't had any problems by now she was probably okay but it would still be a good idea to know what those organs looked like. The radiology tech confirmed two kidneys but could say much else. It did seems like she had a hard time getting a view of the left kidney but she said that was because of Rita's deformities. On a side note Rita told the tech "Hey you, knock it off..you make me pee"...when she was trying to get a view of Rita's bladder. I remember having ultra sounds when I was pregnant thinking for sure that I would pee right on that table because they had to push so hard!! Dr. Albert didn't have the results of the ultra-sound today so he will be in touch. He said that if everything was okay with the ultra-sound that he would just want to see her again in 6 months to monitor the scoliosis. When I looked at her x-rays I thought her spine looked bad but what do I know???

Then we were off to see Dr. Bloom. We literally ran through the halls to make our scheduled appointment time. Our family optometrist was 99% sure that Rita would need eye surgery. Once again Rita passed her vision exam with flying colors. Her English is so amazing that the nurse could use numbers verses just four weeks ago Dr. Dickman had to use the E's (E's arm's pointing this way or that way okay now that way or this way). She then had to have her eyes dilated which stinks for an adult so I can only imagine how annoying it is for a kid. The doctor came in and then put more dilating drops in so that poor girl was still dilated when she went to bed at 10:00 tonight!! Dr. Bloom confirmed that surgery was the only option for her strabismis. Because so many have asked us why not glasses or patches or vision therapy I asked the doctor if Rita would have been treated at a younger age could we have avoided surgery. He explained that even if he would have seen her as a baby her strabismis is such that surgery is her only option. He said that his part of the surgery would only take 15 minutes and that is was out patient. He said the main thing to keep in mind is that because of her age she is at higher risk for the first surgery not "taking" and her needing a second surgery. So his surgery office is supposed to call and schedule the surgery tomorrow. I have to admit Rita was quite a trooper today. I was very proud of her.

Armenian friends

2008-07-11T19:50:00.000-07:00

Rita and baby A (who just turned two..isn't she so cute!!!)

Beautiful girls with beautifully pierced ears. My crew with baby A. Baby A was so sweet and funny and way too busy to hold still for a photo.

This week we were finally able to meet one of my internet friends in person. I feel like I have tons of cyber-friends but only met a small fraction of them in real life. Baby A's mom is the lady who took all of those great pictures of Rita from about a year and a half ago. Baby A's mom fell in love with Rita during a chance meeting at the orphanage when she was meeting her daughter for the first time. She was determined to find Rita a home and had even considered trying to adopt Rita herself. She was absolutely thrilled when she learned about us working towards Rita's adoption. We've been in contact ever since and were both glad that we could finally meet in person. Baby A and her mom are US citizens but they live in Germany and were visiting family in Columbus this week. It was fun to share Armenian adoption stories. We both agreed that we love Armenia just like we LOVE our Armenian princesses.

Well our St. Anthony road house is officially on the market. I still can't believe that we are leaving our beautiful home but I do realize that "home is where the heart is" and we'll make our new house feel like home in no time. http://www.maryniekamp.com/index.php?page=charming-country-home-2 Anyone who has been at our house in the last 3 years will laugh at these pictures, knowing that our house hasn't been this clean in years!!!!! Tonight we got permission to go into our new home. The closing will probably in less than two weeks but since it's vacant the seller gave us the go ahead to start our painting. I had told her that I would be going back to work soon. That we would love to get into the house ASAP to get as much done before we add the craziness of me being back at work. We scrapped the wallpaper off in the kitchen and Andrew's room. The kids were actually helpful with the wallpaper removal. They were all dying to help paint....which scared Ted and I...but we thought they couldn't real hurt much. So we turned them loose with some primer on that dreaded paneling. You would have thought they had all died and went to heaven. Thankfully Paul, Audrey and Rita will be going to the babysitter once we put the real color on the walls. We've got 5 gallons of primer and wall after wall of paneling so we should have enough to keep us busy before making the final decision on our colors.

We just picked Andrew up from church camp. Once again he had a blast. His greatest accomplishments were learning to cup stack, learning the proper technique of 'towel flicking' and being the #1 arm wrestler in his cabin. I asked him if he learned anything about God or Jesus and he said "Yes moooooom" Natalie can't wait until she can go next year.

Ft. Recovery.....here we come!!!

2008-07-04T20:37:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to say that we have signed a contract for the house we were looking at. The house is nice.....but just not as nice as our current home. But the convenience of the location will be so great!!! The kids are so excited to be moving into town. All Ted and I can think of is all of the work involved with moving. I am including a link to pictures of the home. Of course the seller's website just shows the good pictures. On the website you won't see the paneling, paneling and more mismatched paneling. http://creativehomebuyingsolutions.com/ft__recovery.htm Needless to say we'll be doing A LOT of painting in the near future.

Who knew potty training could be so exhausting

2008-07-02T08:05:00.000-07:00

I took this picture just a few days ago. I had Paul go to the potty just one more time before going to bed. I was doing dishes and lost track of time and realized that I forgot about Paul. Rita came into the kitchen and said "Mama, Paul sleepy toilet." My poor little baby fell asleep on the potty. I am glad to say that we are closing in on this potty training thing.
This is for all of Rita's fans. Rita has friends in Armenia, Germany, England and even the USA who check our blog often waiting for the next "Rita Photo." There is no denying that Rita is a gorgeous little girl.
Christmas in July???
This is what happens to Paul when he plays with his big sisters......he ends up wearing a CareBear dress.

I can't believe it is July 2nd already!!! We're still figuring out what to do with moving or changing school districts. We have made an offer on a house in Ft. Recovery which would be perfect for us size wise but it's just not as nice as our home now. It has 5 bedrooms and a HUGE garage. Both Natalie and Andrew already have their rooms picked out. They are both thrilled about the possibility of having their own rooms. Now we just have to get either Ted or the seller to compromise on $7000. I'll let you know who wins. Audrey had a busy day yesterday. She cut her own hair Monday night so we went to the salon to have it 'fixed'...she actually looks pretty cute with bangs, but don't tell her that. Then all three girls got their ears pierced at Wal-Mart. The gal at Wal-Mart was working on her own and was quite frazzled. She told me she couldn't handle any crying today. I promised that they would be good. Rita went first, holding my hand for dear life. She barely flinched and squealed with delight when she looked in the mirror to see her pretty pink heart earrings. Natalie almost backed out but did just fine. She's our fainter, she looked a little pale but never got week in the knees. Audrey was last and did great with the first earring but put up just a little fight over the second. She didn't cry but I firmly held her head and said we were going to finish what we started. She lit up just as bright as Rita did when she saw herself in the mirror. Audrey had woke up with a strange rash yesterday but I didn't think much about it. She took a nap in the late afternoon (after the piercing) which is unusual for her. When she woke up she was covered in hives/rash and was scratching all over. I put her in the tub and she cried "mom my whole body itches." We headed to doctors care and she got a big shot in the butt!! I swear a scrawny as what her butt is and as big as the needle was the nurse had to be hitting the bone. Poor Audrey hollered in pain while the needle was in but she recovered quickly. She woke up this morning much happier and with very little rash left. As soon as I can get all three girls together I will post a picture of their beautiful ears.

Chenzhou cuties

2008-06-26T08:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Audrey had her 6 month ENT appointment. Like I was telling my aunt...some people go to the dentist every 6 months to have the crud scrapped off of their teeth...well Audrey goes to the ENT to have the crud scrapped out of her ears. I am always amazed by the wax that comes out of that girls ears....yuck. On our way to the doctor we stopped in to see Paul's girlfriend. Jayde was adopted from the same orphanage as Paul was, Chenzhou. Even though they we never at Chenzhou at the same time they still seem to have a special little bond. Jayde had told me "Me and Paul were born in China".....I said what about Audrey, she looked at Audrey, like....hunh...who cares??? I told her that I tell everyone that "Audrey was born at the top of China (northern) and Paul was born at the bottom of China (southern)"...she said "Well, I was born at the bottom of China with Paul." Jayde and Paul were nice enough to let Audrey in on one of the photos.
For those who didn't see the photo of Paul and Jayde when they were on the front of the Standard here's the link again.....boy, they've both changed alot in the last year and a half.http://www.dailystandard.com/archive/story_single.php?rec_id=2273

Now what?????

2008-06-20T19:42:00.000-07:00

Rita went to her first parade and LOVED it!!! At the beginning she was shy about getting the candy but by the end of the parade she was shouting at the people walking in the parade "Throw me candy!!"
The girls totally enjoyed VBS (Paul was too young and Andrew was too cool for VBS this year).
"Girls, you're supposed to be singing, not primping."
Short stuff knew all of her moves (Audrey is still so tiny, she is a year older than the kids that she is standing next to).
Paul was less than thrilled with the VBS closing program. Every night when the girls were getting ready for VBS he would say "My bible school too, my bible school too." Sorry sweetie, you'll have to wait until next year.

Before you read about our latest drama.....you have to check out these three blogs. At this point in my life I can't imagine adopting again....so I will continue to live vicariously through some amazing families. It is so obvious that these families have chosen to put God's will first in their life and they are the ones being blessed: http://smilesandtrials.blogspot.com/ (family in the Ukraine now adopting their 11th child) , my cyber friend, Carla, who is waiting to head back to Vietnam for #9 http://eightisenoughfornow.blogspot.com/ and my other cyber friend who is waiting for #8 http://www.ourjourneytojade.com/web/do/site/home?ID=199650 ( this family adopted Paul's best friend from Chenzhou almost 2 years ago..miss Jocelyn).

We just found out this week that Rita was denied open enrollment at Ft. Recovery. We are absolutely devastated and did NOT anticipate this at all. Now Ted and I have so many decisions to make. Please pray for us as we decided if we should reapply and try to convince the superintendent that she is not as big as financial risk as what he thinks (this was his reason for choosing to deny her enrollment). Should we start house hunting in FR? We've been thinking about this for a year but we love our home so much....just wish we didn't live out in the middle of nowhere. Do we send Rita to Celina for a year, let her catch up there and then reapply to FR? The superintendent is fully aware that next year we'll have the other 4 kids at FR but Rita is denied. Audrey and Paul are only enrolled in the preschool which doesn't mean that they are enrolled in the school system yet......are we going to have to worry about Paul being denied enrollment in the future because of his special needs?? Everyone is between a rock and a hard place....we are NOT being discriminated against because we DON'T live in the district so we have no rights until the child is enrolled. Once the child is enrolled they receive the same care that a FR resident would.....but the superintendent has the right to DENY the initial enrollment. Ted and I have decided to step back for a few days, catch our breath and see where God leads us. As Pastor Kelly said when I shared the situation during Wed. night prayer meeting he said "Ted and Alison did not travel all of the way around the world to bring Rita home only to have her separated from her brothers and sisters at school." For my friends that live out of state and don't know what I am talking about....we live fairly far out in the country. We live in one school district but actually are much closer to another school district. We sent Andrew and Natalie to Celina our home SD until Andrew finished 2nd grade. They had a long bus ride, we had to have someone at the house when the did get off of the bus, plus Andrew's behavior needs weren't being met the way we had hoped. So last year we chose to open enroll to FR district...it's closer, our babysitter of 10 years lives in the same district so the kids have a short bus ride to and from her house, my mom lives right in FR and she helped us out with alot of school activities...plus Ted and I are both FR graduates. When we enrolled we knew full and well that enrollment was based by student and not by family so we knew that there was the slight chance that our younger kids could be denied.....but we didn't really expect this to happen. So just pray for us and I'll keep everyone up to date on what we decide this summer.

Summer/Spring/Summer/Spring??????

2008-06-17T20:35:00.000-07:00

The weather in Ohio always keeps us guessing, so here is Audrey prepared for anything. Today was beautiful...lower 70's, no humidity a far cry from earlier last week when it was 95...YUCK

Yes, we have thought about selling Audrey on eBay and this box would be perfect for shipping her. Actually, this is the box that my new steamboy came in..LOVE IT!!!!!!! The Floormate has already been sentenced to life in the basement.
Rita is talking to her best friend from the orphanage....ANNA!!!!!!!! She squealed and screamed for the first 15 minutes (as did Anna). Rita and Anna have an amazing bond. Anna left the orphanage to go home with her mama and papa just 3 months before we brought Rita home. Rita talks about her every single day. When you ask Rita who her sisters are she always replies "Rita three sisters, Natalie and Audrey and Anna!!!!"
WOW....how did Ted and I get so lucky???? Adoption is a leap of faith and the blessings are amazing to those who choose this path.
I had not went strawberry picking since I was a kid. At the fruit farm they weigh your picking buckets and then subtract that weight after your done picking your berries. They probably should have weighed Paul and Rita before and after too. I think the Jutte's lost a little bit of money from us that day???
These pictures are from the first time we went picking. Then we went picking again two days later to get berries for my mom (she keeps us well stocked in strawberry jam). Of course the first time around everyone was all smiles...but the second trip was WORK!!! So there was lots of grumbling but we still got the job done.

This week is off to a good start. The girls are going to VBS at our neighboring church. Tonight was the second night. Natalie and Rita's teacher came up to me when I was picking them up saying that tonight went much better than last night. Not that Rita was bad she was just a bit over whelming (as she tends to be in any new situation). She loves the singing, which I knew she would. When I got there she had to sing me the theme song right away. "Jews Jesus, Jews Jesus"..I was a bit confused because this is a Lutheran church until her teacher said.."Rita remember ~choose Jesus~"...ahhhh, that makes more sense. I am enjoying spending more time with just Paul and Andrew, the boys have definitely been taking a back seat to all of the drama that goes on with the girls. Paul is about 75% potty trained.....HALLELUJAH!!! I totally forget life without diapers.....but I'm sure I'll manage to get use to it again ;o)

Rita is communicating in 3-4 word sentences already. It was kind of cute, yesterday Natalie got out on the opposite side of the van from Rita at the store. Rita said "who is Natalie?" instead of where is Natalie? Throughout the day she say words that aren't English and I don't think are Armenian. I'll ask "hyedan??" (Armenian), she'll say "NO English"... then once if figure out what she is trying to say, I understand that she was actually very close to the real English word she just got a sound mixed up. She has been watching a 30 minute LeapFrog DVD on ABC's almost everyday. It has helped her out so much with recognizing and being able to 'retrieve' letters and their sounds. Just before bed tonight she was saying window over and over. Then her little light bulb came on and she said "W----every letter makes a sound the W says "wugh"...then she always looks at me for approval..."Mom, good job Rita??" and of course my response it "yes, Rita's English is very, very good" and then she just beams. So even though she might drive me batty at times all of these "lightbulb moments" totally make up for it. We did have a slightly embarrassing moment at Wal-Mart today. For those of you that live in our area and go to Celina's Wal-Mart, I'm sure you know Mike in electronics. He has worked at Wal-Mart for years and is a little person. I'm not sure how old he is but I would guess he's mid 20's, very nice and KNOWS everything about cell phones. So, I was making some changes with our plan and I just had Rita in my cart (my life saver, Dave, had 3 kids in his cart and was entertaining them, while Andrew was playing video games). Anyways, Mike, was typing away in the computer and Rita announces in perfect English "Mama, that is a baby??" You can imagine I felt a bit awkward. I looked at Rita and said "no, he is a little man" then I apologized. He was so sweet and said "that's okay" Of course Rita couldn't let it go at that..... "Mama baby computer?, Mama baby, very little fingers?" I explained to Mike that we just adopted her and she had only been speaking English for 4 weeks. He was so gracious. Kids.............. Nothing new to report on Rita's future needs with her chest/arm/back. Children's Orthopedic office finally called to schedule a consult. She asked about Rita's concerns and as soon as I said anything about her chest, the lady said "we don't work on the chest at all"....I asked "who does?"...she said "I don't know?" I replied "well, this is where our family doctor referred us, so I guess we better come to see the doctor and let him or her tell us what we need." Of course we didn't get an appointment until July 15th...so who knows who or where we'll end up at. Thankfully, Rita hasn't had any major bouts of pain. She still gets winded easily and will say "Mom, heart lav chem" (my heart isn't well). Nothing that ever makes her cry though and she moves on fairly quickly.

I miss Armenia

2008-06-08T19:08:00.000-07:00

Rita laying a flower at the Genocide Muesum
A memorial to over 1 million Armenians that were murdered by a corupt Turkish goverment over 90 years ago.
Armenian American teenagers visiting the memorial. There were about 50 kids saying the same prayer and Rita jump right in and recited the prayer along with them. It was a very moving moment.
Rita's last bubble bath in Yerevan. She LOVED taking bubble baths!!!!!!!
Well, we've been home for 2 and a half weeks already. As I look through our pictures I have great memories of Armenia. I can't wait to take Rita back to her beautiful homeland someday. Of course I miss the peace and quiet that we had in Armenia too. You know us mom's are never happy....when we're with our kids they drive us crazy and when we're away from them we miss them like crazy!!!! Speaking of crazy...that is the best word to describe our household right now. Rita is an absolute sweetheart but I never fully anticipated how delayed her maturity would be. I had read in all of the adoption books that you should expect any child that has been institutionalized to delayed in all areas. That you could expect their maturity level to be about half of their actual chronological age. Even though Rita is doing amazingly well considering all of the major changes she has went through her behavior is very similar to Paul's. Cries at the drop of a hat, doesn't listen, pouts, has no fear of danger (like running across the road). I had been so upset over the last few months that our adoption had been delayed because I felt like the sooner we got Rita home the better. Now, I understand that God's timing is always best. I couldn't imagine Rita going to school right now. Getting her home at the beginning of the summer so she could adjust to our family, the new language and the grief of loosing her past life, is most definitely the best thing for her right now. I don't want anyone to think that I am complaining at all!!! Yes...adopting an older child has been more challenging BUT it has also been more rewarding. Audrey came home at 14 months and Paul at 20 months. They were babies who, after a few days of adjusting fell in to loving us just like we had always been together. They couldn't verbalize "I love mom or I love dad" until many, many months of being home. Here Rita is already 7 years old and has lived almost half of her childhood in an orphanage but she is still this amazing creature who has so much love to give. She melts my heart every single time that she says "I love you mom." She totally understands when she is aggravating me or showing bad behavior and 5 minutes later she comes to me and say "Mom, Rita sorry, Rita no listen, I love you mom" and she always gives a huge hug and a kiss. Even today my dad and grandma came to visit. Unfortunately as they were ready to leave anyways, Rita through a huge tantrum. It had nothing to do with their visit or them leaving, she was just mad because I told her "No" (the girl hates the word NO). Dad and Grandma tried to say good-bye to Rita but she was inconsolable. Not 5 minutes after they left, Rita wanted to call "Grandpa and Great-Grandma" to say that "Rita sorry, Rita mad, Rita cry, Rita big, big sorry"......so even though her tantrums drive us insane at times I think she'll get over them soon because she realizes so quickly that she is making a big deal out of nothing.

Rita's English is totally unbelievable. People who meet her can't believe that she has only been speaking English for 3 weeks. She is so funny because she goes around saying tons of phrases that she has either heard from one of us or off of one of her ABC or 123 videos. One of my favorites is "Ice cream, Ice cream we all scream for Ice cream." She speaks almost no Armenian which is sad but unfortunately her reality. Even today she was doing the parts of the face in Armenian and English. For eyes she said "Hyedan, eyes....English, eyes" I said "no Hyedan eyes" then she did her tapping of her temple routine that she does when she is thinking, just to remember the Armenian word for eyes.

We took Rita to both the family doctor and the eye doctor this week. She did great at both appointments. She was so worried about getting shots at both places but she was quite the trooper. The family doctor is sending us to Children's in Dayton to see an orthopedic specialist. We think she possibly has Poland's Syndrome, which is where the chest muscle doesn't develop and depending on the severity of it the deformity goes into the arm of the same side. The MD says that she is most definitely missing muscles in her chest and back. If she has Poland's syndrome there are different surgeries that are required as the child grows depending on the severity. Then the optometrist gave us good news and bad news. The good news is that her vision is almost perfect but the bad news is that she has "bilateral something, something" I didn't catch his diagnoses but basically her eyes are not working together. They are great individually but she doesn't have normal "binocular vision" as he said. So he is also sending us to Children's in Dayton for eye surgery. I haven't been to Children's since Luke died there. I was hoping never to go back but........

The rest of the family is staying busy as usual. Andrew is about half of the way through his baseball season. Natalie is staying busy being mom's lifesaver, Audrey continues to watch Mulan 12 times a day and is excited about going to preschool. My baby boy Paul is refusing to potty train. Little does he know that we going to hit the potty training hard this week. After 10 years of changing diapers I am so ready to be done!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks mom

2008-05-27T12:42:00.000-07:00

The moment both girls had been waiting for!!
Painting her own fingernails........my LD kids don't let anything stop them!!!
"The Make Over"
All girls love being pampered, no matter what country your from.

Rita's English is growing at an amazing speed. It's kind of sad because when she's around the other kids she'll say "Thanks Mom" instead of our Armenia days when she said "Thank you Mama". The language transition in our family has been interesting. The other kids have been saying a few of the phrases that I say to Rita (their Armenian is even more horrible than mine). Rita is repeating everything that all of the kids say......even Paul. Paul's speech is very delayed so it is kind of comical to listen to Rita try to repeat what Paul is saying. Rita can almost count to 20 now in English, which she couldn't even count to 20 in Armenian, so I think her accomplishment is great!! She is really getting into the flashcards and ABC videos that we bought for her. Today Natalie sat down with her to practice writing her ABC's and numbers. Natalie enjoyed being the teacher and Rita was a great student.

I had hoped to delay some of Rita's doctors' appointments, until her English got better, but I don't think that is going to happen. She has been having sporadic pain on the side of her little arm. She told us that she has this pain when she runs. Her the left side of her chest is deformed also so I am wondering if her organs are being compressed. Then there are her beautiful eyes. She has some major strabismus going on. I talked to our optometrist on Friday and he said they could do a complete exam with the language barrier so we've got her scheduled for next week. Plus....I can't wait to start updating her immunizations...we'll all know how much she LOVES needles!!!

"Just a Minute"

2008-05-23T16:43:00.000-07:00

Yes..... It's sad to say, Rita's first 3 word phrase is "just a minute" which I say at least 100 times a day. We have been home for almost 48 hours and things are going quite well. The trip home was long as expected. Rita threw 2 temper tantrums which we muddled through. The first and most ugly was when she found out the TVs were broke on our Yerevan to London flight. She starting bawling and head banging. I tried to ignore her but that's kind of hard to do on an airplane. Finally, I dragged her into the bathroom and in my broken Armenian said that we would go back out when she was done crying. The second tantrum was on the flight from London to Chicago. She got totally ticked off when I wouldn't let her get coffee when I did. (she's a 'want to be' coffee drinker, but as you can imagine even after she puts 3 creamers and 5 tsp. of sugar she still doesn't like it and dumps it out). I quickly dragged her to the bathroom this time and she got over her frustration much quicker. Nobody likes to be trapped in an airplane bathroom!!! After traveling for almost 24 hours we were only 2 miles from home and Rita's stomach decided to empty itself again (we had flashbacks from the day we took her from the orphanage). We definitely won't be making any long car trips in the near future. As expected Rita was sooooo excited to meet Natalie. She couldn't jump out of the van fast enough to give Natalie a big hug. It was a precious moment when she said "I love you Natalie!!" I thought our first night might be rough at home but Rita went to bed as soon as Natalie did and slept all night. The next day was the kids' last day of school. I knew it would be crazy at school but Natalie was dying to show her new sister off to her class. We stopped by Andrew's class real quick. Rita thought it was neat to meet cousin Emily real quick (Andrew and Emily has the same teacher this year). On the way to Natalie's class we met up with the principal. She was impressed when Rita said in English "how are you?" Mrs. Vaughn said that she was going to call me but was glad to speak with me in person. She said that the superintendent and herself had been discussing Rita's placement for this fall. As of now they are planning on placing her in 1st grade and possibly having her go down to a kindergarten class an hour or so a day to work on her foundations. They want to give Rita some time to adjust at home and then meet with her in the middle of the summer to see where she's at with her English and what they need to do to best meet her needs. I am so thankful to be in such a wonderful school district because I have heard plenty of horror stories from many of my Internet friends whose "older at time of adoption" kids school situations. Many of them talk about how they have to fight and fight the system to get help for their kids and here our school system is already wanting to do whatever Rita needs!! Last night Rita spoke with her new Armenian American friend for the first time. This man has so graciously agreed to help us out with Rita and our language barrier. When I got on the phone with him after he had talked to Rita I think his exact words were something like "boy, is she a ball of fire or what???" I am so thankful that the adoption agency has found Rita a friend to talk to. Well, I had been hiding in the computer room....but I've been found by 4 of the 5 kids so I better go. Enjoy the pictures. Ted and Rita's first picture together (before the kidnapping).
At the beautiful Cascade, where Rita rode the escalator for the first time...something I'll never forget.
Rita lighting her two candles...one for Mama (me) and G-Mama (her favorite nanny).
The best strawberry milkshake in the world!!!!!!!
My all time favorite picture......this man with only one leg, playing the accordion and singing a song about "Beautiful Rita." I'll post more pictures soon.

Our Last Day

2008-05-20T03:50:00.000-07:00

Wow....where has the time went? I can't believe that we leave Armenia tomorrow. This will be just a quick post. Today we visited the Armenian Genocide Museum. It was too sad for words. It's unbelievable the horrible acts that humans are capable of. Later we went back to the Embassy to get Rita's visa. F had stepped into the restroom for a minute and they called our name. The guy at the window wanted the document to clarify our Italian citizenship....what??? Aren't we at the US Embassy???? No worries he just got his words mixed-up. Now we are just killing time until this evening when we will start packing. Rita is so excited to go to America. She talked to Natalie on the phone again and Natalie couldn't believe how much better her English was even just since Saturday. I do have some bad news.........Rita is not perfect (oh darn!!) This angel does sprout devil horns from time to time but we still love her like crazy. I am so thankful that the agency back in the US has set us up with an Armenian speaking family for us to contact once we're home. This will be a life saver for not only Rita but us too!!! Well, I'll update again by Thursday or Friday and even with PICTURES!!!!!! Please say lots of prayers for our long journey home. I can't wait to give Andrew, Natalie, Audrey and Paul great big hugs and kisses!!!!!!

Lots of firsts today

2008-05-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

Okay...first of all I'm pretty sure I'm going to develop some kind of cancer from visiting the internet cafe everyday. It's about 10:00pm and in the cafe is me and about 25 Armenian men chain smoking....ughhhh. I came in earlier tonight but Rita's behavior wasn't so great so I didn't get a chance to blog. Rita knew her behavior was bad so she actually let me leave her alone with Ted. It's kind of funny that it took me being the bad guy to get Rita to warm up to Ted.

Anyways we had a great day!!! B promised Rita that she would take her to the movies. It was raining so we decided today would be a good day for the movies. All B said was that the theater plays cartoons at 11:30 so we assumed we would be seeing so cheezy carton. Here it was Horton Hears a Who. I told Rita that Dave had taken me, Natalie, and Audrey to see this movie in America. (Dave is our friend who is helping us out with the kids back at home). Rita has talked to Dave on the phone a few times so she was so excited to learn that Dave had taken us to see the same movie. The funny thing was that Horton was in Russian. Not that it mattered to Ted and I if it was Armenian or Russian but poor B had to translate the whole movie to Rita. I respect anyone who is fluent in one language besides their own...BUT two....that is impressive. B had to translate back and forth from Russian to English whenever Rita wanted to tell us something. Rita loved the movie but asked B is the characters would come out of the screen. We all laughed...but hey if you have never been to a theater before how could you know. The cutest thing was at the end of the movie where the Who's are crying out to get the animals to hear them so they wouldn't think Horton was crazy......Rita tells B "if I was there I would call out too!!!" She was so serious. Next we went to eat and then to the Children's Railway. Then we came back into the city for coffee and ice cream. While we were waiting Rita's hair was getting in the way for the 100th time. I asked B if we could get her hair trimmed. I thought it would be best to have it done here with a translater verses trying to do at home and her being scared. Rita was so excited. Of course she had only had her hair cut at the O.

We went to the first salon that we came upon. B told them our request...just a trim....but Rita wanted her hair cut shorter like Natalie's. I said "No, no, Natalie is trying to grow her hair out like Rita's!!!" So Rita agreed to a trim. We had to wait a few minutes and then it was Rita's turn. She got the full treatment. We drew quite a crowd. B was talking with the owner and the other employees who came out of the woodwork. I heard one of the men say "Angelina Jolie" so I knew they were talking about me (I'm believing that they were referring to my stunning beauty but more than likely he was referring to adopting kids from all over the world). I told B to tell him that I was just like Anglelina Jolie just short a few million dollars. After Rita's cut the lady blew dry her hair straight at Rita's request. She looked sooooo beautiful. This whole time B was talking to the small crowd. Later she told me that the owner had once been a doctor and had seen many special needs kids given up at the hospital after birth and it always made him sad. He was so happy that Rita would go to a loving family where she would be treated as a "handicapped" person. When Rita hopped out of her chair the owner told B that the haircut was a gift to Rita and we didn't have to pay. I told B to Thank them and that they were all gracious. Another beautiful Armenian memory.

As we were walking back to the apartment we were looking for an inexpensive CD player because we had bought Rita 3 Armenian pop CD's. She loves music....especially pop. The cheapest CD player was $60+ . We will look more tomorrow because we thought it would be nice for her to listen to on the plane. Once back at the apartment we had made plans to meet a family from America who just arrived last night. Rita wanted to put on a clean shirt. She is so picky when she is getting dressed. B was still with us so I was telling Rita through here that I din't know how I would ever survive with 3 daughters. Andrew and Paul are happy with any T-shirt...but the girls, including Rita, are another story. When I said "3 daughters" that reminded Rita of one of the Armenian soap operas called "Three Sisters". She was so happy because the girl loves her Armenian soap operas ( F told us that he thinks the nannnies watch them at the O). Earlier in the day she had one of her soaps on and a man and a woman were kissing passionately so she wanted Ted and I to do the same (she was laughing the whole time). Of course I gave Ted a big and overly dramitic juicy kiss......Rita loved it!!!!!! She is so easy to entertain.

We visited with the other American family for a little bit. They brought their 7 year old son so that was fun for Rita. They are adopting the cutest 8 month old girl. We won't get to meet their daughter in person as they will take her from the orphanage on Wed, the same day that we leave.

I can't believe that we leave in less than 48 hours. This trip has been much like both of our China trips....very enjoyable...but sooooo ready for home.

I went to the bathroom by myself today!!!!

2008-05-18T04:09:00.000-07:00

Yes, that is something to be excited about. I have not went to the bathroom by myself since Monday morning and it is Sunday. Rita is feeling more comfortable about letting me out of her sight. I even sneaked into the bathroom this morning and took half of my shower by myself. Rita's adoration is kind of nice....I do feel a little bit like a queen. She hand me my toilet paper, she puts on my deodorant, she opens my water, stirs my coffee, puts on my socks...I think you get the picture.

Today we went out with out a guide for the day (our choice). It's B birthday and we told F that we could stay busy on our own close to the apartment. We decided to go back to the flea market and finish our shopping for souvineers. We knew what we wanted this time so we went straight to the vendors that helped us yesterday. Today I really, really wish I had my USB cord because I have the most amazing pictures. There was a man with just one leg playing the accordian in the middle of the market. Rita started dancing to his song and he noticed. He asked what her name was and he sang a song about "beautiful Rita" (Rita seriun). He was smiling so big while she was swaying to his song. It is by far my favorite moment of being in Armenia. Of course when he was done Rita told her story (Guymri, mama and papa, America). The man turned to us and thanked us many times. Just an amazing moment that I will never forget as long as I live.

After the flea market we went to a pizza place that we haven't bee to yet. More good food!!! Rita took it easy at lunch so no vomit today;) We went back to the apartment for a rest and then we went to the park. Rita and I went to the swings and a group of 6 or 7 kids came close looking at Rita's arm. Rita seemed not to notice their curiosity but I wanted to stop their staring so I said a BIG hello!! They all greeted us "hello" and went about practicing their English on me. Rita was so excited that these kids spoke both Hyedan and Angledon. One, who was 10, was easy to talk with. I told her to tell her teacher tomorrow that she spoke to an American and that I said her English was very good. She was so happy and I could tell she was telling her friends about 'dprots' , school....so I'm assuming she was saying what I had said to her. There happened to be an Asian family there. They has 2 older boys and a little girl about 2. Ted and I had noticed that the were Asian but didn't say anything to Rita. Rita went up to the little girl and caming running back "and Audrey and Audrey!!!!!" We couldn't believe that she put 2 and 2 together and the little girl reminded her of Audrey. Oh.....while I'm thinking about it......Rita had talked to my niece Emily on the phone yesterday. When I was done doing my blog post I showed her my brother's blog so she could see Emily. As soon as she saw Rachel's (my brother and SIL adopted a 3 year old girl from China 5 months ago) pictures she got all excited "AUDREY, AUDREY, AUDREY"...it was too cute!!! I pointed to Emily and Taylor pictures and acted like they were Natalie and Rita and then to Rachel's photo and acted like she was Audrey.....I think Rita understands they are sisiters too even though they don't look alike. Also Rita was so excited when I told her that Emily was Emily Rose......Rita tells everyone that askes her name "Rita Rose." She will be really excited when she learns that she has 2 Homan cousins with that middle name also.

After the park we went to visit our favorite store clerk (Rita promised her we would visit everyday until we went to America). Today I brought the photo album that I had made for Rita. She looked at our family picture and said "oh..you have adopted other children." I told her about bring Audrey and Paul home. She called the other clerks over and there were 5 people looking at our album. They were all smiling so big. Rita was in all of her glory showing off her new family. Well as usual I have more to tell but Rita is ready to go so until tomorrow.

Andrew, Natalie and Rita 'meet' for the first time

2008-05-17T07:03:00.000-07:00

I was just reading a comment left on the blog from a friend about not having a quiet child yet. Yes it is true, it looks like Ted and I will never have a shy child. I was tellling F earlier in the week how with all of our adoptions we have kept hoping for a quiet or shy child. He just laughed and said that if we were hoping Rita would be shy, we should keep adopting!!! Rita is so silly and funny. She is so much like her siblings at home but just as they all have very unique personalities so does she. Today has been a fairly quiet day. We went to the flea market just a few blocks from our apartment with B. We found some great souviers. We then went to lunch and had traditional Armenian food....hmmmm. Rita does have a little problem with over eating and today it wasn't too pretty. Even though she came from a very nice O I believe this is post orphanage behavior. She has never eaten many of the foods that we have had at the resturant and everything taste so good to her.....so she eats and eats. There really isn't any child's meals so if is hard to limit her portions. Well while we were waiting for the bill I reconized the words "lav chem" that she spoke to B (I don't feel well). She then threw up a little bit in her clean plate. So she and I quickly went outside and then she threw up again. She said she felt fine so we continued on to the park as planned. Not to far from the resturuant she did it again. I said that we must go back to the apartment until her stomach had time to settle. Of course B translated this and she became upset with B thinking that it was her decision to not go to the park. As we walked back to the apartment she refused to talk to B. I had B tell her that I was the one who said we would not go to the park until later. By then she was too mad. As the mother of 4 other kids I wasn't too concerned about her being mad because she wasn't getting her way. B is very soft hearted and didn't like Rita being upset with her. As usual Rita came around fairly quickly so everyone was happy again. B's birthday is tomorrow so she won't be with us. Rita was sad because she loves B so much. I said that we would go shopping for a small gift for B tomorrow and give it to her on Monday. Rita was thrilled with that answer!!! (the girl loves to shop, even if it is just for snacks or even paper towels).

Before Rita got sick, she asked B if She would have surgery on her arm once she was in America. F had told us yesterday that people have asked this question in our presence but has not translated for us. Plus when we were eating buy ourselves yesterday without a guide I could tell that 2 waitresses were asking her if she would have surgery on her arm in America. I'm thinking that her arm has never really been discussed with her. So all of these questions have got her thinking. Anyways we told B to tell her that it was her choice if she wanted to have any work on her arm. She said that she could use her arm fine and she didn't want any surgery. I told her that we have decided the same for Paul...if he ever wants a prosthesis, it will be his choice. We told her that we think she is still beautiful with a small arm. She told B that she was worried that the doctor would cut off her entire arm and give her a new one. B asked why did she think this and she didn't have an answer. I told B that she didn't have to translate this but I said that we would take her to a specialist once she was speaking English fluently and not before. I told her I was mor concerned about her chest and back than her arm. Some how Rita caught on to what we were saying, probably from my motions. Rita told B that she has pains on her small side sometimes. I told B we would only do treatment without Rita's permission if it was a health issue. Rita seemed content with our conversation.

Rita got to speak with Andrew and Natalie for the first time (and cousin Emily too). Natalie was shy in talking with Rita but Andrew and Rita seemed to have found something to discuss ( I think they were just saying "hello" back and forth).

I almost forgot a touching moment that I experienced today. The cleaning lady was at the apartment today. She was talking to Rita and Rita was telling her the whole story...O in Guymri, mama and papa America, etc. The lady finished her job and was waiting for her ride. She spoke some English so I was showing her one of the photo albums that I had sent to Rita of our family. She took my hand and kissed it and very sincerely said "Thank You." It was a humbling experience for me. So, I'll leave you with this until tomorrow...........Alison

A few tears.....

2008-05-16T07:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon when I got back from the Internet cafe Rita was sad. B said that Rita had become upset while I was gone and cried for a little while. A few months ago I had bought the book "Sisters" which relates to our family very much. It is about Melissa and Kika. Melissa is the birth child and Kika is the adopted child who doesn't speak English. They are both around the same age....maybe 8 or 9 (Kika's country or age is not told in the story). The day before when B was reading this story to Rita she really enjoyed it. But yesterday it made her sad as there is a page where Kika is home with her new family but she is sad because she is missing her life in the orphanage. Rita was missing her G and started to cry. Once I got to the apartment she was okay. B told me everything. Rita promised B that she would not cry anymore. I told her (through B) that is was okay to miss her friends and G. That she had known them her whole life and they were very important to her and that she should miss them. Rita didn't want B to leave so we walked her to the corner. Rita shed a few tears again as we were walking back to the apartment. I just gave her lots of hugs and kisses. She was happy the rest of the evening. We worked on counting 1-10 with flashcards. This morning she woke up happy again but an hour or so later I was getting ready for the day and she was in her room looking at her pictures from the orphanage. I came in and started looking at them with her. She became very upset and started calling out for her nanny..G, G,G,G,. I could not console her, she didn't want me to touch her. I didn't know what to do for a moment so I just started to do my makeup.......not ignoring her, but staying in the same room with her so I would be there for her when she was ready. Not 5 minutes later she came to me with a hug and kiss. She really is a strong and sweet child. I still can't say enough how blessed we are to have Rita in our lives. Later on B called on the phone. Rita always answers the phone.....I could tell that she was telling B that she had cried that morning but that she was happy now. It was too funny to hear her talking to be because it seemed like she was mocking herself a bit. She was saying in a dramatic voice G..G..G...gora, gora, gora, gora (cry) and smiling all along while she was telling the story.

As far as official business goes we had to go back to the hospital to check Rita's TB site. She ran in and gave the doctor a big hug and showed her that her arm looked good. When the doctor told her that she looked good, Rita jumped up and down saying "YEEEESSSSSSS!!!!!!!" I have never seen anyone so excited about a negative TB result. Then we went to the US Embassy for our visa interview. All went smooth. Rita flirted with another boy about her age terrribly!! F said that the American boys should watch for this girl. Ted, Rita and I went in for the interview by ourselves. The intervier was very nice and Rita asked him a 100 questions (he was American but also spoke Armenian) I finally told him that Rita could keep him busy all day if he let her so he could feel free to talk over her. Rita told him that she was going to America!!!!!!

F received a call from the director of the O. She was in Yerevan visiting her son and wanted to say good-bye to Rita. Of course I wanted to do this but was worried of how Rita would feel. She did become very serious but still happy. We stopped to buy her flowers and to buy G a box of chocolate for the director to take back with her. When we arrived at their apartment Rita ran right up to the director and gave her a big hug. We visit in the apartment for about 15 minutes. It was a very nice visit and I'm so glad we went. Rita told her that she was happy with her mama and papa and that she would go to America. (everytime she says that she is going to America it warms my heart because back in April she was pretty insisted that she would not come to America). Rita bragged to the director that she was teaching me Armenian. I bragged that she was learning English very quickly (close to 30 words already....not including being able to count to 10 with very little assistance). The director told us that she was a very clever girl, we agreed!! After the visit B took us to a Mexican resturant.....oh my word, Ted is worried that he will have to buy an extra plane ticket for me and Rita with as much as we have been eating. I am not kiding the best strawberry milkshakes in the entire world are served at this place. Rita is still keeping Ted at arms length but the enjoy blaming poofs (passing gas) on each other.....they both think that they are hilarious.

Missing Andrew, Natalie, Audrey and Paul....Alison

She's just like the other kids

2008-05-15T04:52:00.000-07:00

This are still going super here in Armenia!! I have quickly learned that even though Rita has never met her siblings, she acts very much like them. When I say "no" to the kids at home they just ignore me. I have to say no, nicely 3 or 4 times before I give up and say "NO!!!" Then they usually listen. Rita is the same way. I'm not saying she has bad behavior but she doesn't always listen to mama....and it has nothing to do with speaking different languages. Just like crossing the street she wants to go right out into traffic. I say "che`" nicely and she doesn't listen....I say che`, che`, che` on deaf ears....but as soon as I say CHE` she listens!!!!! Even in the store we argue back and forth in either English or Armenian about her wanting to buy everything. Mama: "no, no, no", Rita: "yes, yes, yes". Mama: "che, che, che" Rita: "ha, ha, ha." So I am glad to tell all of you she is a very normal little girl!!

A funny story from yesterday. Rita asked both F and B who would translate for her when she goes to Armerica. F said you will have to learn English very quickly. Rita decided she would buy B and both of her parents plane tickets to America with all of her money (Ted gives her the change when we buy something, so Rita thinks she is rich....she has at least $3.00). F tried not to be offended that Rita was not going to buy him a ticket also. Rita has a love/ hate relationship with F......but she is totally in love with B. B is a beautiful young girl who is still single and living with her parents. During our sightseeing on the 2nd day Rita was so concerned that B would be punished by her parents for spending so much time with us. We think that Rita sees B as a child. She is always asking B if this or that would be okay with her parents. Too cute. Today B said that she would really miss Rita when we leave.

Today we went to the zoo and a children's art muesem with B. PETA would go CRAZY if they saw the condition that these animals live in. Ted thinks the zoo is self supporting because in the beginning we saw a large amount of goats. Really way too many goats to get excited about seeing. Well, once we got to the lions' cages their lunch resembled goats heads..yummy!! Rita even got tired off the smell. She was most impressed with the birds flying around on the zoo grounds. Then had another delicious lunch. Rita had been dying to have pasta. We ate pizza yesterday and saw pictures of pasta at this resturant so she told B that she wanted to come back tomorrow and have pasta. She ate every last bite. She has an amazing apetite. After lunch we went to the children's art museum. It has art work done by children from 120 different countries. We bought a book, poster and some post cards. Rita was talking to B and the man working there recognized Rita's Guymri dialect. Rita said "yes, I am from Guymri orphanage and this is my mama and papa and I am going to America." It warms my heart everytime to hear her brag on us. We also visited a church built in the 13th century. When we entered Rita insisted on saying a prayer that she knew from memory. I don't know what she said but it was beautiful. Afterwards B bought candles for us to light. The adults all had one and Rita had 2. She lit her candles for her new mama and G (her nanny). I told her that once again G would be so proud of her. I told Rita (of course through B) that when I lit my candle I thanked God for my beautiful Armenian daughter, Rita. Rita jumped up and down and said many things. B said they were all words of affection.

Ted and F picked up Rita's passport today. Rita was sooooo excited "Mama and Papa and Rita...PASSPORT.....AMERICA!!!!" Rita's English is progressing at an amazing speed. She now refuses to say thank you in Armenian it is always in English...even when we do business with someone who only speaks Armenian I try to get her to say "thank you" to them in Armenian. She always says "no.....Thank you." This is coming from a girl who said she would never learn English and that her mama must learn Armenian. B is impressed with all of the English words she uses. The bad thing is that she is learning to talk like me. I say "okay and whoops" way too much, so of course Rita is always saying "okay and whoops"....at least she uses them at the correct time.

So life in Armenia is going great. I talked to Audrey and Paul on the phone last night. Of course I miss all of my kids! I hope Natalie is ready to have a shadow because Rita talks about Natalie all of the time!!!! I tried to get Rita to talk to Audrey last night but she was insisting on talking to Natalie. I told her in my limited Aremenian that Natalie was in school (dprots..). Well, I should go, I left Rita, Ted and B to fend for themselves at the apartment. B will go home after I get back and I think later Rita, Ted and myself will go out for Chinese. There is a Chinese resturant close to our hotel. F told us that other American families have told him that this resturant is better than ones at home. I had told Audrey that we would be eating Chinese food in Armenia and she was so excited!!!! Audrey is very proud of being Chinese!! Until tomorrow......Alison

One Happy Girl

2008-05-14T03:04:00.000-07:00

Rita is one amzing, resilient child. She has not shed one tear since the traumatic drive to Yerevan. This morning one of the first things she told F was that she wanted him to call G to let her know that she was not crying anymore and she is very happy with her mama and papa. Before F came to our apartment Rita, Ted and myself ventured out on our own to do a little shopping (we got lost ......but that's another story). Anyways we went to the same store we were at yesterday. The same clerk was working...she just adores Rita. She speaks very good English and told me that yesterday that Rita told her that we were her mam and papa and that we took her from the orphanage and she will go to America and she is very happy. The clerk told Ted and I that she thinks we are such wonderful people to adopt Rita and that she was happy that Rita would have a family that loves her. Rita has a special "way" with everyone who meets her. A lady at the passport office had tears in her eyes yesterday just talking with Rita. F told me that Rita is very proud of her mama and she tells everyone.

A few stories from yesterday. Unfortunatley Rita had to had current bloodwork done. She told F that she was fine and that she didn't need new bloodwork. F tried to explain that, yes, she still had to have it done. She then told F that she would tell the nurses that she had bloodwork in Guymri and didn't need it done today and they would understand. We went to the clinic and sure enough she tried to convince the nurses that she didn't need her blood drawn. I went back with her to room. They said she could set one my lap. She was fine on my lap until the needle came out. She hit the road running!!!!!!! Ted had to block the door to the outside. F and the nurses tried to reason with her but it was useless. She HAD to have this done so F restrained her in his lap and I held her legs down. Two nuses held her arm down to drawn the blood. Thankfully since she was screaming so loud her veins were popping!!! The nurse got the blood on the first try. Rita whimpered and once the nurse was down she looked up at all 3 nurses and said "snorlackalution" (thank you!!). We all laughed!!!! Even if she is a bad patient she still is a polite patient!!! I was crying and I said look Rita you made mama gora (cry) . She consoled me!! She is such an amazing child!!!

Later on in the day Rita took her first taxi ride. She was so giddy with excitement. When the drive stopped and we all got out she popped her head back in the window and again said "Thank you" (in Armenian of course). The driver smiled and B proclaimed that Rita is the most polite little girl in Armenia!! I told B to tell her that G would be so proud of her good manners. Rita also used escalaters for the first time. Her first attempt at entering the escalator reminded Ted and I of the move Elf where he gets on the escalator-bascially doing the splits. Even after she learned the correct way to ride she still tried to be funny by doing the splits or tripping on purpose when we would get off.

Today she had to have her medical exam for her US visa. She was very nervous and we assured her there would be no needles. F didn't realize that the requirements had changed and now all children must have a TB test. Their TB test is different than what I am used to. Of course they use a needle to inject the serum. Rita freaked out a little bit but quickly calmed down. She had a basic vision test and the doctor said that she will definetly need to visit an opthamalogist for her strabism (Rita had told F that she can see just fine even with her strabism.....she likes to reason about everything).

Rita is still shy around Ted. She doesn't like for him to be too close to her but she always makes sure that he is included. Right now F and Ted are at the embassy and Rita was worried once she realized that papa was missing. She loves when Ted falls asleep on the couch and she likes to take his pictures and joke around in front of his face while he eyes are closed.

Aunt Pam...I was on the phone talking to the friend that is helping with the kids. She wanted to know if it was "marakuse" (aunt). I said no...and she remembered your thank you conversation and kept repeating it. "Thank you....NO, thank you...NO thank you and on and on."

I have many more stories but Rita and B are back so I must go. I miss the other kids....Rita has already bought Natalie a gift in her favorite color...lime green. More tomorrow. Forgive me spell check is too slow and Rita is ready to go!!!

What resembled a kidnapping end up as a beautiful day

2008-05-13T01:18:00.000-07:00

We made it and now have Rita!!! First of all our travel was much smoother this time around than last time. We didn't miss any flights, didn't loose any luggage and our guide was at the airport in \yerevan on time!!! I did try to board the wrong plan in Chicago but thankfully the machine spit out tickets out and the agent sent us to the correct terminal.

Just to save time typing and to respect the privacy of those involved I'm going to share some abbreviations.
F- our agency facilitator
O- orphanage
G- Rita's main and beloved nanny
B- our beautiful young translator and city guide

So F, Ted and I left Yerevan very early to head to Guymri. First we had to go to the court house and to the registrars office. Then to the O. I had thought that G was going to be in Russia for the month of May but she was with Rita when we arrived at the O. As soon as Rita saw us she gave us a respectful hug and kiss but quickly clutched onto G. She was saying over and over that she would come to America in 2 days but NOT today. G kept trying to reassure her but it was quickly becoming evident that this was not going to be an easy transition. G and Rita took Ted and me back to Rita's room. It was heart breaking to see all of Rita's friends again. Two children went right up to Ted and reached their arms out to him. He knelt on the floor and they both attached to him very quickly. G helped Rita change her clothes and pack her back pack. All along Rita would not let go of G. G told Rita that she would come to America too (while winking at Ted). G has to be a very strong women because I was crying and she held her composure but I'm sure that she was torn up on the inside. We left the room and G told Rita to say good-bye to the cooks. I looked at Ted and said that I didn't think I was going to make it. I took a deep breath as we headed outside knowing that this was not going to be easy. Rita was quickly becoming hysterical just standing by the car. G kept trying to calm her down but it wasn't working. Ted and I had to go back up stairs to sign some papers. The windows were open and we could hear Rita howling. It was the most traumatic thing I have ever experienced. Ted and I went back to the car. F said that Rita was not going to get into the car so "we must just take her and go." Ted started to help with forcing Rita into the car but I told him to let the others do it. Ted got in the front and I got in the back and it took 3 adults to put her in the back with me. It was soooooooo horrible. Once the door was closed she was kicking and screaming G---, G---G-- F drove away and really, truly felt like we were kidnapping her but I understood there was no other way. While we were still in Guymri she got the door open and was half of the way out while the car was still moving. F locked the doors and the kicking and pounding continued. She would get quiet for awhile and then start all over. I tried rubbing her back but she didn't want anything to do with me. It is a 2 hour drive back to Yerevan and it was fairly miserable. We had given her chewable tablets for motion sickness. She reached the 24 hour allowance before we got into Yerevan so I tried to give her pepto but she didn't like it. She had settled down for the most part and just as we entered the city limits she started barfing!!! I had stolen a barf bag from the airplane anticipating this. She got most of the barf in the bag but still got some on her clothes, me and F's car seat. Once there was nothing left in her stomach she told F to tell me that she will be a good girl and learn English very quickly. I didn't know which was most heart breaking the kidnapping incident or the why that she wanted to please me. Honestly after this she didn't cry the rest of the day. F told her all about our beautiful apartment and the nice clothes that we had brought her and that we would go to a restaurant tonight. She stated that she much put clean clothes on before going to the restaurant.

As soon as we got back to the apartment she was so excited to go through her backpack of clothes. She loved everything and everything was so beautiful. She choose a shirt and pair of pants with butterflies on it. By this point F had turned us over to B. B is a sweet girl and Rita really likes her. B took us shopping and to dinner. B was so entertained by Rita's silly comments at the restaurant. B had asked her if she had ever been to a restaurant. Rita said ,yes, once when I was much younger....too funny, like she is so old know. B brought us back to the apartment and stayed for awhile. Rita brought out her photo album of her friends from the O. Rita showed B pictures of G and said, without tear, "this is G, she was my nanny and she took very good care of me." I had B discuss a few things with Rita before she left like bath time, pajamas and bedtime. I was worried that Rita would become upset at bed time but she never did. She did move me into to her room (even my clothes) Papa now has his own room and Rita and I are like college roommates with her side and my side. I tucked her in and she was giggling because I was being silly. She woke up this morning all smiles. I can honestly say that when we were leaving the O I really questioned my sanity but now I know that this girl is our daughter without a doubt. She is a bit shy around Ted but is coming around quickly.

Guess what...the intenet in the cafes is very fast BUT I forgot my UBS cord so you'll have to wait until we get home for pictures.....sorry!!! There is much more to tell but Ted, Rita and B are back from their walk so I must go. Keep us in your prayers. Alison

Oh.....so much easier!!

2008-05-08T16:05:00.000-07:00

Alright, most of you know that I've been keeping a private blog for the adoption of our newest daughter. That darn blog has been nothing but trouble. I'm not going to bore you with details but trust me it has just become to complicated for a non-computer person. Plus, many friends and family have had a hard time gaining access to the private blog and I don't want them to miss out on our latest adventure.

Let me get any new readers up to speed: Ted and I leave on Saturday to adopt our 5th child. You can read our story if you want all of the details http://homan1.blogspot.com/ . I should be packing but I work best under pressure so I'll save most of the packing for Saturday morning. I so have Rita's bag and a suitcase full of orphanage donations packed. I need to get the 4 kids at home packed up before I can even think about Ted and myself. It has been crazy trying to find places for all four kids to stay while we're gone. My mom is helping out a majority of the time but she only has so much vacation time.......plus, I don't want her to go totally crazy while we're gone. Lots of other people are chipping in to help out...so here's a BIG thanks to you wonderful people - Dave, Kathy, Patty, my brother and SIL, Ted's parents, Rose, Donna and my dad. I told my mom that I never want to adopt again just for the stress of figuring out what to do with the kids left at home.

Like I said Ted and I leave Saturday evening out of Ft. Wayne. We fly to Chicago, then onto London ( I HATE Heathrow airport with a passion!!!!). We arrive in Yerevan shortly after midnight on Sunday/Monday AM. I believe we will drive to Gyumri first thing Monday morning, complete some more paperwork and then go to meet Rita again. Ted has the heart necklace and heart ring already to give to Rita for their first meeting (Rita's request.....the girl know what she wants). That same day we should head back to Yerevan to stay at a furnished apartment for the rest of the trip. Tuesday our facilitator will start our paperwork with the US Embassy to attain a visa for Rita to enter the USA and become a US citizen. For all of my China friends this part of the trip is similar to when you head to Guangzhou to get their visas. In between appointments we hope to make it to the Genocide museum http://www.armenocide.am/ , maybe the circus and make a visit to a dentist office (yes....I want to take a tour of a dentist office in Armenia). I'm sure we do other things too but these are a few things on my list. We plan to be back home on May 21st. Hopefully I'll have better internet access than we did on our first trip to Armenia. Our facilitator said that our apartment will be close to internet cafes....we'll see. I'll leave you with the picture that started it all. I came across this picture on a "waiting children website" and my breath was taken away. She is such a beautiful girl....on the inside and out. It was a year ago yesterday that we officially started the paperchase to bring Rita home. My next post will be from Armenia :o)

One trip down, one to go....

2008-04-29T17:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been back from Armenia for 2 weeks now. The first meeting with our newest daughter went great!! Ted and I leave again in just 10 days to bring our newest sweetie home. We've had a great week of conitnued fund raising efforts!! My sister, Renee, along with her mother-in-law, held a garage sale out in Arizona for us. Renee just sent me a check for $300....yipee (I think she rounded her check up just a little). Thanks ladies!!! Also one of our neighbor's co-workers donated a little, old pick-up truck for us to sell. We had it in the front yard for less than 48 hours and it sold for $525!!! Ted has also been working on cars like crazy, plus working as much overtime as possible. Also my lis sophia jewelry shows have been going good. I still can't believe how many people God has sent into our lives to help bring our daughter home. Our family has many angels out there.....thanks to all who have helped bring this amazing child into our lives. Listening to a herself on the voice recorder. It was too funny to see her reaction of hearing her own voice.

My Aunt Pam and I with Mount Arat in the distance. Mt. Arat is thought to be where Noah's Ark came to rest.
Walking to the children's home. There are some MAJOR pot-holes in Guymri.
A church that was built in the 13th century.....now that's old.

I'm going to miss my kiddos

2008-04-05T18:04:00.000-07:00

Look at that precious face......how am I going to go 6 whole days without kissing those cheeks?? There are so many emotions with these adoption trips. Of course I am sooooooo excited to meet our newest daughter but I am going to miss everyone back at home!!! When we adopted Audrey, I thought for sure my heart was going to burst from pain in missing Andrew and Natalie. Then when we adopted Paul, every single little Chinese girl that I saw on the street reminded me of my sweet little Audrey who was back at home. Now Paul is my baby and this will be the first time that I've left him for more than 24 hours. I honestly kiss that sweet boy at least 100 times per day.....how will I ever survive without all of those kisses?????

My baby is THREE.....yes 3!!!!

2008-03-24T18:46:00.001-07:00

Paul's birthday fell on Easter this year. We all got him really excited about his birthday on Saturday. If you asked him whose birthday was tomorrow he would start singing his version of "happy birthday." He loved his GeoTrak train that we got him. Be sure to scroll all of the way down. I did 4 post tonight!!!! My baby boy, how can you be three already!!!!
"Can you believe that I'm going to have another sister to put up with soon......these 2 girls drive me crazy!!!!"
Paul doing his "scary" face. He likes to come up to me and say "scare mom" and I say "oh your so scary" and then he tries to be even scarier. I hate to tell him that he is the CUTEST scary-boy that I have ever seen!!!!
All my boys after church Easter morning. I didn't get a picture of the girls. Natalie barfed at the church breakfast so she wasn't really up for picture time.

Pine Wood Derby

2008-03-24T18:38:00.001-07:00

Andrew won first place in his den at his very first pine wood derby!!!! He also won a trophy for best design in his den. Oh....if you're wondering why Andrew has a funny look on his face it's because he is now the proud owner of a bionator (huge orthodontic mouth piece). I am so proud of how good he has been about wearing it and we are already seeing a big change in his lower jaw. Besides his 2 trophies, he also won two 3rd place ribbons (I forget what for....yes, I am a horrible mom!!)
Waiting to see whose car goes the fastest.
Audrey and Pastor Kelly weren't really paying attention to the races, they were too busy goofing off!!! Aunt Renee was even out for a quick visit. Andrew thought Aunt Renee had made a special trip just for the pine wood derby!!!

Families Untied Through International Adoption Winter Party

2008-03-24T18:30:00.001-07:00

In February we had our 2nd annual FUTIA winter celebration. We had families from Mercer, Auglaize and Shelby county with children represented from five countries. Audrey always loves to see other Asian kids.....of course she thinks they are all Chinese so I keep using the term "asian" and tell her the name of the country that the child is from.
The kids made their own Chinese Cherry Blossom art work.
Elijah and Rachel......our 2 newest members. I really did want to kidnap Eli....he is such a sweet, beautiful baby boy!!!!
Even Ted got in on the fun!!

Chinese New Year

2008-03-24T18:22:00.001-07:00

A couple of months ago we went to Dayton's FCC Chinese New Year. The kids had a blast and we had good, good Chinese food. We wrote Paul and Audrey's name in their home province on this big cloth map. What a cool idea. Audrey was the only Shaanxi kiddo but there were many, many Hunan kids there.
Jing Jing is helping Rachel find her home province of Tianjin (for you Chinese geography buffs you probably already know that Tianjin is one of China's four municipalities and not an actual province).
My ornery China girl!!
Fun entertainment.
The boys.......

And the winners are......

2008-03-22T03:17:00.000-07:00

I want to send out a HUGE thanks to everyone who placed an order at my cyber show!!!!!! We made about $250. By becoming a lia sophia advisor I have made almost enough money for my first plane ticket to Armenia plus I have enough shows scheduled in April to hopefully make enough for another ticket. This has been a great money maker for our adoption, so please let me know if I can help you become a lia sophia advisor to help fund your adoption. I was thrilled that my 3 winners were all adoptive moms just like me!!! One mom is even a Chenzhou mom (she has also a child from Chenzhou....Paul's orphanage). So here they are....

1st) Majorie from MO won $100 her choice of jewelry
2nd) Laurie from TX won 1 item of her choice up to $100
3rd) Yvette from KS also won 1 item of her choice up to $100

Plus my Aunt Pam (who is going to Armenia with me on the first trip) received a special prize!!

Thanks ladies!!!!!!!

2008-03-07T07:55:00.000-08:00

I am so glad to announce that this is the FINAL fund raiser for our waiting daughter!!! We still are unsure of when we will meet her. We are really hoping to go in May or June at the latest.....but God only knows. As most of you know we have been doing different fund raisers over the last 6 months to off-set the $34,000 adoption expenses (on top of the $45,000 we spent on Paul and Audrey's adoptions......without doing any fund raising). Here's a rundown on the blessings that we have received in the last 6 months:

$2000 from a garage sale
$1000 on our soup supper
$1000 on the sale of purses, rice bags, hair-bows. personalized scrapbooks, homemade jam
$500 on eBay items
$5000 on private cash donations
$4000 grant from Shoahannah's Hope
$2000 anticipated grant from the state of Ohio for adopting a special needs child
$1000 profit so far from selling lia sophia

So that brings us to $16,500 which is FABULOUS!!!!!!! but.....we still have $17,500 to go. So I am doing a Cyber lia sophia jewelry show. I have been selling this jewelry for about 6 weeks. It is high quality fashion jewelry that has a life time guarantee. 30% of all sales will go directly to our fundraising effort. So here are the details if you are interested in helping our family out. Thanks...Alison

It's All About Our Sweetie.....cyber lia sophia jewelry show. Anyone who places an order will be entered in a drawing to win one of 3 prizes. 1st prize.....$100 in free lia sophia jewelry...2nd prize...$50 in free jewelry...3rd prize will be $30 in free jewelry ( all prizes will be the choice of the the winner!!!) All you have to do is visit my lia sophia website then click on
http://www.liasophia.com/sites/alisonhoman

1. our jewelry
2. spring/summer catalog
3. how to purchase
4. hostess name "Alison"
5. then continue to select your items

If you do place an order be sure to take advantage of the costumer save plan which is buy 2 items at regular price and then your 3rd (and most EXPENSIVE) is 50% off. This cyber show will be open until March 19th. Anyone who places an order by the 17th will be entered in the drawing. I will notify the winners and ask them to make their selections by the 19 so I can close the show. Anyone who places an order should receive their items by March 28th. Remember Mother's Day is coming up so keep your mom or the mother of your children in mind when ordering!!!!! If you have the desire to help our family out PLEASE pass this email on....attach my info to your blog....print the email out and pass it out on the street (okay..I'm kidding, well kind of). Let me know if you have any questions.

Sincerly,
Alison Homan

Why we do the things we do......

2008-02-24T19:34:00.001-08:00

Once again I'm sorry for the delay in posting. It seems I've been saying 'sorry' alot lately. I've also been dealing with some disappointments in my life too. BUT....I just had to post this picture of Paul from last night. This smile reminds me why Ted and I are choosing to do the things we do. As we set and wait and wait for our newest daughter I have been thinking 'deeper' about our sweet son. I will never forget how God truly convicted us that Paul was meant to be our son and that we were meant to be his parents. As I was crying to myself this weekend (I've done more of this in the last 2 weeks than I have in years) I reached out and scooped Paul up and hugged him until he was almost blue. I PRAISED God for giving us this desire to love the imperfect children of the world. I thought back to how he had set on his waiting child list for over 3 months with nobody reviewing his file. I continue to think about how our newest daughter has been in the orphanage since birth and will most likely turn 7 years old without us. Today, Pastor preached on the "Road less taken".......it is a lonely road at times, but the 'view' along the way is awesome!!!!!!! Thank you Pastor Kelly.....your message is what I needed today!!

Starfish Poem

Once upon a time there was a wise man
who used to go to the ocean to do his
writing. He had a habit of walking on the
beach before he began his work.

One day he was walking along the shore.
As he looked down the beach, he saw a
human figure moving like a dancer. He
smiled to himself to think of someone
who would dance to the day.

So he began to walk faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he saw that it was a
young man and the young man wasn't
dancing, but instead he was reaching
down to the shore, picking up something
and very gently throwing it into the ocean.

As he got closer he called out, "Good
morning! What are you doing?"
The young man paused, looked up and replied,
"Throwing starfish in the ocean."

"I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?"
"The sun is up and the tide is going out. And if I don't throw them in they'll die."
"But, young man, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. You can't
possibly make a difference!"
The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it
into the ocean, past the breaking waves and said - "It made a difference for that one."

Audrey's 4th birthday!!!

2008-01-21T09:49:00.000-08:00

Audrey just loves her new panda dress (see my previous post about this dress).
She has been so excited about her birthday since Natalie's birthday back in December. She has been saying "my birthday is next!!!"
Audrey and Paul singing for Grandma and Grandpa....yes, they are using sweeper attachment for their microphones.
I love this picture!!! Last week, my nieces, Taylor and Rachel came over for a visit. Rachel has been home from China for just over a month and she is doing terrific!!

Fellow adoptive family trying to raise money for their adoption too....

2008-01-05T16:23:00.000-08:00

I don't know this family personally BUT I still wanted to share their fundraising website. The mom makes the cutest stuff.

http://www.redthreadstitches.blogspot.com/

Christmas 2007

2007-12-31T14:45:00.000-08:00

"I can't believe Christmas is over already." "A stuffed horse........but I wanted a REAL horse."
Children's Christmas program at church. Audrey has just tricked Chelsea into giving her the microphone.
Natalie and Makenzie don't fall for Audrey's cute tricks anymore.....they refused to give Audrey the microphone for this song...so Audrey just stomped off back to mom & dad.
Our first picture with Paul, Audrey and Rachel together. It's hard to get 3 toddlers to pose for a good shot.

Star Student

2007-12-16T20:05:00.001-08:00

Well, this was Natalie's turn to be the "Star Student" for the week. The star student basically gets to be extra special all week long (bring in pictures, show-n-tell all week long, first in line, etc.) When your the the star student you get to invite any of your family to eat lunch. So earlier in the week Grandma and Grandpa Homan ate with her. On Friday, Ted, the little kids and myself ate with her. If you have family come for lunch you get to set at the special round tables and you even get to invite 2 friends from your class to sit with your family. It was really fun and Natalie's friends are sweet!!!

Once again I've done multiple post at one sitting so be sure to scroll down to see what else has been going on in our lives. Tomorrow is our sweet Luke's birthday. I can't believe that he would have been 8 years old. I still miss him and think of him often.

Dayton's FCC Christmas Party

2007-12-16T19:50:00.000-08:00

Myself, Paul, Audrey, Natalie and my niece Emily made to Dayton's FCC party (families with children from China). The families who organized it did a great job!!! I even finally got to meet one of my cyber friends in person (hey Sam). There were crafts, good food, a visit from Santa and even a secret craft in the kitchen...."NO moms allowed!!!" Sam's son, Cullen, did a good job guarding the kitchen doors to make sure no moms crossed the line. The kids came out of the kitchen with wrapped gifts for mom. Even though it took over an hour to get there it was well worth the drive.
Emily and Natalie making candy cane ornaments.
Both Emily and Natalie insisted that they would NOT sit on Santa's lap. I asked "well what if Santa has a gift for you???" Emily was the first kid from our group to get a gift from Santa's bag and boy oh boy she couldn't get up to Santa's lap fast enough!!!
On the way home Natalie and Emily debated if this was the real Santa or one of his helpers. Emily was sure he was the real deal (he was an excellent Santa) and Natalie was positive that he was one of Santa's helpers....hmmmm????
"Is it my turn yet??"

Gingerbread House Decorating Night

2007-12-16T19:42:00.000-08:00

One of the high school girl's groups held a gingerbread house decorating night. It was awesome...you pay only $5.oo per kids and you get a pre-made house (graham crackers) and all of the icing and decorating goodies you can imagine. The best part is once your done......you just leave...no cleaning up the mess!!!!!!

One Year Ago Today

2007-12-04T17:16:00.000-08:00

Loving on Mom..........mom loving every second!!!! Entertaining the Thanksgiving crowd.
The very first time we saw Paul in person...one year ago today. We could tell that he had already been crying......it only got worse from here.
This was the saddest thing I had ever seen. That first night after we managed to get Paul out of his clothes that he came to us in. He held on to them for dear life. He would calm down and then start to wimper and then grab up his clothes and hold onto them very tightly. He feel asleep the first night with the clothes in his arms. I cannot look at this picture without getting choked up.

December 4th is a BIG day for our family. Today my brother and sister-in-law adopted their newest daughter from China http://pumpkinnumber3.blogspot.com/ . One year ago today we met Paul for the very first time in Changsha, Hunan, China. We were so excited and he was sooooooo scared. I have never heard anybody or anything scream so loud and so intense. I have watched our 'gotcha' video just one time because it is so heart breaking. It didn't take Paul long to figure out that we weren't quite as bad as he had originally thought. Today his love for his whole family is very obvious. Boy oh boy do we love that kid. He is so sweet. He is happy and easy going. He has yet to be sick enough to need to go to the doctor. He takes his naps and goes to bed without much fuss about 95% of the time. He is very ornery or as the assistant director of the his orphanage told us a year ago he is a "naughty boy." Yesterday, Ted had to take the entire toilet off of the floor to find out why it was plugged. Mysteriously there was a comb stuck way down in the toilet. Everyone in the house agreed it had to have been flushed by Mr. Paul. We still have Paul's referral picture on our refrigerator. Sometimes I pass by it and remember that this sad little face sat on a special needs list for 3 months. I thank God every single day that He placed little Chen Zhi Qiang in our paths......our lives are much richer with Paul in our family.

Fall Fun

2007-11-18T13:34:00.001-08:00

First of all I did two posts at one sitting so keep scrolling down to see more pictures. I can't believe it is fall again. I decided I better get busy updating my blog because we have a lot of big events coming up in the near future..... Our 10th wedding anniversary, Paul's 1st 'Forever Family' anniversary, Natalie's 7th birthday, the new arrival of our niece Rachel from China and of course Christmas is just right around the corner. Yes...our children are goofy!!!!
Paul is just so stinking cute.
Once again my children are goofy.....I cannot get a decent group picture of them to save my life.
We had our fall harvest dinner at church today. The church was decorated with cute fall stuff.

Families United Through International Adoption Harvest Party

2007-11-18T13:22:00.000-08:00

I am only a month behind schedule updating our blog. My friend Carrie graciously offered to take care of our international adoptive fall party. I originally thought that we would be getting ready to make our first trip to Armenia (haha). Carrie did a great job putting the party on and her husband Jeff did a great job tolerating Carrie during the whole process (thanks Jeff). The weather was terrific and the kids had lots of fun!! Josie (Carrie and Jeff's daughter born in South Korea) was the cutest "Pooh dressed up like a honey bee" that I have ever seen.

Carrie made these neat cards expressing a fall greeting in our children's languages.

The only group photo I got. The other kids were too busy having fun outside to come in for pictures.

Audrey, Riley, Luke and Paul are in the tunnel and Andrew and his friend Austin are on top.

We could use a little more help

2007-11-06T18:19:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone.......We're still fundraising. We've seemed to hit a bump in the road. I sent out a mass email promoting the items that we are selling to help bring our sweetie home. So far only 2 people have ordered items or made a donations. Please feel free to pass our blog onto anyone who you think would be interested in our items. http://my.opera.com/andnataud/blog/

Here's a video that I copied from another Eastern Europe adoptive mom's blog, grab a tissue!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reTJ_28J6K0

We have been blessed in so many ways in such a short time!!!

2007-10-07T11:47:00.000-07:00

SSC introducing our family to the audience.
Giving Paul and hug.
Myself talking (imagine that) about Rita.
SSC making a big deal about Natalie's "I'm a Cinderella"....SSC concert T-shirt. One of his new songs is called Cinderella...it's about enjoying our children while their still little.
SSC was so sincere when presenting our family with a grant for $4000 from his organization, Shaohannah's Hope, for Rita's adoption.

I can't believe that it has been two weeks since our concert already. Here are a few pictures that my friend Stephanie's friend took while we were on stage. Stephanie and her family live in Findlay. We have gotten to know each other over the internet fairly well over the last year and a half. Her youngest daughter is from the same orphanage as Paul. She too has 2 biological kids and 2 kids from China. She and her husband are also waiting to adopt their 5th child.....so as you can tell we have a lot in common. I had every intention of posting every detail about the concert but time has just got away from me. We are still talking about our amazing night with Steven Curtis Chapman and his staff. The neatest thing about the whole evening was how we were treated like we were the ones doing them the favor and not the other way around. Over and over both SSC and his staff thanked us for being there.......uhhh.....hello........we were the one's who should be so thankful!!! So here are the details on the grant. We received $4000....praise the Lord!!!! What was so cool about the grant was how it was raised. SSC came out on stage during intermission. He introduced his new campaign "change for orphans." During this concert tour he has volunteers carry around buckets asking people to donated their loose change to help out orphans. ( to read more about change for orphans visit http://stevencurtischapman.com/news.htm ) So he told asked his audience to dig deep because all of the change that was collected that night would go back "to a family that is right here in this audience" ( I assumed that he was talking about us!!!!) So actually $2000 came from Shaohannah's Hope and just a little over $2000 was collected that night from the people of Toledo!! Thanks Toledo!!!!! I joked with the kids as we were walking out that I was glad that we just got a letter stating how much the grant was for and that we didn't have to carry $2000 worth of loose change back to the van. It was a night to remember.

The concert was Sunday.....then we got really busy Monday getting ready for our big garage sale. Our pastor and his wife suggested having a garage sale and a soup supper at the church to help raise money for the adoption. We were busy for a good two weeks collecting "stuff" from people to put in the sale. We were overwhelmed by every one's generosity. This garage sale was a lot more than just a sale...it was a wonderful time to share our adoption journey and our faith in God with many people. I was hoping to make at least $500 BUT was so grateful to see that our total reached just a little over $2000!!!!!!!!!! I just couldn't believe that we made that much in just a 2 day garage sale. We even have a few bigger items that didn't sell that we plan to put in the classifieds that should easily bring in another $500 or so. Now we are just 6 days away from our all-you-can-eat soup supper. I'm praying for a big crowd. Once again so many people are helping us with this project.....some have volunteered on their own......some have been volunteered by me. It should be a really nice evening. We even have well over $700 worth of nice door prizes from local business owners.

Another blessing this week was that Troy and Sarah (my brother and SIL) received their LOA for their little sweetie Rachel!!!!!!! My exact words to them were "YIP.....YIP...YIPEEEEEE!!!" They should be traveling to China in 6-8 weeks to bring her home. Audrey is so excited that her cousin from China is coming home soon. To read more about Rachel follow the link on the side that says "waiting4Rachel." Troy and Sarah still can't officially post pictures of Rachel until they receive their travel approval but let me remind you.......she is CUTE!!!!!!

The only bad thing that has happen to the Homan family this week is that we suffered our first broken bone. I always assumed it would be Andrew but NOPE, it was Miss Audrey. She broke her collar bone after falling from the playground equipment at the campground. She has been quite the trooper but we sure do know when her pain reliever is wearing off. I'll post pictures of her in her little brace soon.

Steven Curtis Chapman ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!

2007-09-23T21:18:00.000-07:00

It's late so just a quick post. The concert was awesome!! Steven Curtis Chapman and his band ROCK!!! We were surprised with a big grant too!!! I'll give more details soon. Of course the top picture is us and SCC right after we left the stage. The bottom picture is Will, SCC's 16 yr. old so who is also the drummer for the band. God is so great!!!!!!!!!!!

The Durbin Bean Bake

2007-09-17T18:20:00.000-07:00

Audrey competed in her first ever kiddie tractor pull. She came in 3rd place...yipee!!! She was so proud of her dollar bill that she won. Oh......did I mention that there were only 3 girls in her age group?? And that her tractor didn't even move an inch???? Oh well, who needs details, all that matters is that she came in 3rd place and won money!! Show me the money!!
How does this thing work?
Dad, I've almost got it....oh wait, I still can't get this darn tractor to move.

As I'm sure it is with most of you, I can't believe that the kids are back in school. I was so glad to get everyone back into a routine. Andrew and Natalie are open enrolled at Ft. Recovery this year and are doing great. All of us have been busy around here getting ready for our multiple fund raising efforts for our latest adoption. More details coming soon!! I thought I better get these pictures of Audrey now, because next week I'll have our BIG CONCERT pictures!!!!! Yes, we're just a few days from going on stage with Steven Curtis Chapman....what an honor for the Homan family!!!

Homan Campout

2007-08-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

This weekend was our annual Homan campout. We had beautiful weather and lots of fun. Paul giving the Pinata a good WHACK!!
Andrew and Brandon spent hours and hours fishing on Saturday. Andrew with his big catfish and Brandon with his bass.

Natalie, Audrey and Olivia going sky-high on the tire swing.
Ashley doing one of the many task that the kids (and a few adults) had to do during "The Amazing Homan Race."

more pictures from the weekend

2007-08-02T16:37:00.000-07:00

Riley jump roping the best he can!!!
Kyle does NOT enjoy fishing as much as Andrew and Brandon.
Olivia spent a lot of the weekend "taking care" of the little kids. Here she's making sure Mya is all buckled in.

Summer, Summer, Summertime

2007-07-26T17:58:00.000-07:00

Okay those of you that read our blog at work are probably cussing me right now. I just had to attach this song. It is one of my all time favorite songs. We listened to it in college all of the time (I'm showing my age). Anyways I am just planning to have the song on for this post and then I will remove it.......maybe I'll add another and maybe I won't. Feel free to hit your mute button if you're not a Fresh Prince fan!!! I couldn't resist dressing Audrey and Paul in matching outfits for our friend's wedding. Aren't they the cutest!!!!!!
We made a trip to Warsaw to visit my Grandma. The kids love going to great-grandma's in the summer. She has a big neat, property that the kids can go exploring on. We had just watch the Bridge to Terabithia the week before and Natalie was imagining that she and Emily were in the movie. Andrew had went fishing with great-aunt Kathy. Kathy sent us home with all kinds of goodies from her garden. We had so many cucumbers that we made freezer pickles when we got home. Yum..yum.
Just like the other kids, Paul loves ridding the go-cart. This was his first time of driving it. The look of pure happiness on his face was priceless.
Today we took cousin Kyle to Science Central with us for Andrew's birthday. As Natalie was peddling so was her new friend.
Kyle and Andrew learn the value of the pulley as they lift this heavy beam with ease.

It's hard to believe how fast the summer is going by. It's really hard to believe that Andrew will be 9 years old tomorrow. It seems like just yesterday that Ted and I were on the way to the hospital while I was in active labor and he decided to stop and get gas. Oh...the things that we wives never forget. Andrew weighed in at a whopping 9lb. 7 oz. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever laid my eyes on.

My first true love

2007-07-12T20:49:00.000-07:00

Andrew has been at church camp all week. I can't believe that he will be 9 in just 2 weeks. This kid has kept us hopping....both good and bad. I just love this picture of him. It was taken the summer between Luke and Natalie's births, which was truly the most miserable time in my life. This sweet smile was what helped me through it all. I can't wait to wrap my arms around him and give him a big hug and a kiss tomorrow!!!!

Children's Hope Ohio picnic

2007-07-03T20:05:00.000-07:00

This one is for my friend Wendy. Has anyone ever seen such a cute one-handed Chinese cowboy........I think not!!
Audrey has a "thing" for horses this year so she was thrilled to go on a pony ride. She thought she was big stuff!!
My niece Taylor has a lot to be smiling about. Soon she is going to have a new little sister from China!
The big kids had fun too.On Saturday our family and my brother Troy's family went to Marmon Valley Farms for CHI's Ohio family picnic. CHI is the agency we used for Audrey's adoption. Troy and Sarah are now using them to bring their next child home from China.

Paul and AiWen meet again

2007-06-28T15:41:00.001-07:00

Well we finally got together with AiWen's family. We traveled with them during Paul's adoption trip. They only live 30 minutes from us......but life has been a little busy for both us and AiWen's family. Both Paul and AiWen came into their new families as the 4th child. We had such a good visit that we vowed to get together more often!!!!! AiWen is just one month older than Audrey. Audrey was being very grumpy when it was time for picture taking, so she is off in another room pouting. The summer is just flying past us. We took Andrew and Natalie to Kings Island last week. They had a blast!!! Natalie was even tall enough to ride most of the big rides. We are sooo close to having our paper work done for our "big news."

Paul's 15 minutes of fame

2007-06-06T18:03:00.001-07:00

About a month ago Half the Sky contacted me letting me know that was going to be in their quarterly newsletter. The asked for a recent picture of him. They must have got the picture on the left from his HTS report, we sent the photo on the right. We were thrilled to receive the newsletter over the weekend. Paul along with seven other kids who were in various HTS programs had home updates. I continue to sing the praises of what Half the Sky does for the orphans of China. I pray that someday they will make their way to Audrey's orphanage.

If Charlie Chaplin were Chinese.......

2007-05-25T16:56:00.000-07:00

This picture is just a small bit of Audrey's ornery behavior that we have seen this week. Need I say more?

A blast from the past. This will always be one of my favorite pictures of Natalie and Andrew. It was taken almost 6 years ago.....where does the time go???

Love Without Boundaries Auction on eBay

2007-05-20T10:31:00.000-07:00

Love Without Boundaries is one of my favorite charities for the orphans of China. They are having their annual Art Auction on eBay right now. We donated our White Swan Barbie from Paul's adoption trip. There are only 2 off these Barbies on the list this year...one is at $86 and the other is at $90...with 3 days to go yet. Oh, it make me sad to think that the Barbie we got from Audrey's adoption trip is spending her eternity naked at the bottom of a toy box. She too could have been used to raise money for heart surgeries for babies in China...if I had only known?? One of my good internet friends donated the cutest ladybug quilt too. She has big plans to make more quilts for next year's auction.
Here's the main LWB eBay page: http://stores.ebay.com/Love-Without-Boundaries-Store_W0QQssPageNameZstrkQ3amefsQ3amesstQQtZkm

Here's one of the Barbies that we donated:
http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-Going-Home-Barbie-Version-5-jc11_W0QQitemZ190112618163QQihZ009QQcategoryZ248QQcmdZViewItem

Here's my friend's beautiful quilt:http://cgi.ebay.com/Starstruck-Ladybug-Quilt-48-square-pk011_W0QQitemZ190114452828QQihZ009QQcategoryZ20418QQcmdZViewItem

BIG NEWS??????????????

2007-05-14T11:59:00.000-07:00

Paul and Audrey were so exhausted after our long bike ride!!! We have been busy enjoying the beautiful weather. We had a fairly quite Mother's Day weekend. The girls and I took my mom out for dinner Saturday night. Sunday morning I was in charge of having the children do something special for Mother's Day in front of the whole church. The kids did great but I was a little nervous.

We do have BIG.....BIG news.....but you will have to email me privately if you would like to know what the news is.

Josie is finally home!!!!

2007-04-23T18:25:00.000-07:00

I got to meet Josie today!!!!! Isn't she the cutest???!!!???? My friend Carrie and her husband Jeff, along with big brother Riley met her at the Detroit airport last Wed. She flew all the way from Korea to be with her forever family. She is already over jet-lag and sleeping through the night.
This morning Audrey, Paul and I went to meet her. Audrey got all excited....she looked at Josie and said "CHINESE?????" (She thinks all Asian people are Chinese...but hey, she's only 3). When we were getting ready to leave Paul gave Josie a kiss, of course neither Carrie or I had our cameras ready. It is so obvious that Josie loves her new mommy. Carrie let me hold her but as soon as Carrie walked out of the room Josie made it very clear that she was not happy that her mommy left her with some strange woman. I gladly handed her back over to her mom and just enjoyed her cuteness from a distance.

We tried to get a group photo but with two 3 year olds, one 2 year old and a baby it was kind of hard. Audrey and Paul are holding the special chocolate-airplane suckers that Carrie is passing out to all of the kids that come to visit Josie.
My niece Emily made her First Communion yesterday. As I was sitting in church I was thinking to myself that it just seems like yesterday that we were all in this church for her baptism. I wish these kids would quit growing up so fast. She was so beautiful for her special day!!

There were lots of pretty girls at Emily's party to help celebrate her big day.

A little piece of China

2007-04-15T12:29:00.000-07:00

Hand rail that Ted made.

More remodeling pictures

2007-04-14T04:04:00.001-07:00

Well our latest remodeling project is complete!! For those of you who don't know the history of our house...I'll give you a quick run down. We bought our house at an auction in 1999 for next to nothing........but NO one had lived in it for at least 10 years (I still vividly remember the dead raccoon in the basement when we walked through it the first time). Ted along with the help of many friends and family remodeled it in about 4 months. Over the last 5-6 years we have been going back room by room to make each room extra special. When we brought home Audrey 2 years ago, I bought all kinds of "stuff" with the intentions of having a "China" room in the future. Of course I had to pick up some more "stuff" when we brought Paul home. Ted didn't just paint this room and hang up our China stuff....this remodel was a little bit more complex than that. He tore out two closets that separated this room and the hallway for the staircase. We have this beautiful staircase that we've never been able to appreciated before because it was enclosed in the hallway. Ted had to redo the flooring where the closets were and rebuild the wall in that corner. He also made a handrail to match the staircase for the entrance to the basement. I think he did any awesome job!! We were on a budget...so I hunted down cheap furniture and window treatments. We found the red love seat on eBay and the couch and chair came out of our local newspaper's classifieds. I then bought plain roman shades on clearance from J.C. Penny's catalog and glued black ribbon to "frame" the shades. ( I copied the idea from the Pottery Barn catalog).

I know....Christmas is over...but I just had to share this picture

2007-04-14T04:04:00.000-07:00

Isn't this picture great?? I actually forgot to bring my camera to Christmas this year (it's not like it was Paul's first Christmas or anything....duh). My sister-in-law just emailed the picture to me this week. Keep in mind Paul had only been home for about 10 days at Christmas....doesn't he look great!!!!

Happy Birthday Paul

2007-03-26T19:17:00.000-07:00

Life is good!!!
"Dad made me help clean-up after the remodeling."
Audrey's posed smiles leave a little bit to be desired.
Okay Paul, we have pictures of you wearing a dress and now you are riding a pink and purple scooter....is there something you would like to tell us???

Wow!! Paul is 2 now. I know I've said this 100 times but I still can't believe he is home with us now and forever and ever. He is just the greatest little guy you could ask for. We celebrated his birthday by going to Chuck-e-Cheese....where a kid can be a kid and a parent can go insane!! Actually we had fun there. It wasn't too crowded for a Saturday so we let the kids run free.

Our remodeling is almost done. I hope to post pictures of the finished product soon. Ted sure is handy to have around. My next big project is Paul's life book. I sat down this weekend and got the first seven pages done. That may sound great...but Audrey's book is 90 pages long and I plan for Paul's to be around the same length. I know 90 pages sounds crazy but this is the only memory that I have to offer Audrey and Paul of their year to almost two years.

Say a quick prayer for Paul's birth mother tomorrow as it will be 2 years ago tomorrow that he was left at the gate of his orphanage. These abandonment dates are the days that I think of Paul and Audrey's birth mothers' the most.

St. Patrick's Day

2007-03-26T19:09:00.000-07:00

Tailgaiting at the parade.
Ready for some thristy runners.

This is the first year that we have ever done anything special for St. Patrick's Day. St.Henry's American Legion decided to bring back their St. Patty's Day's festivities. My brother and his wife were in charge of the 5K. We helped by getting people registered and passing water out to the runners at the half way mark. The kids thought it was really cool to help with the water. Then we stayed for the parade in the afternoon. It was a little chilly but lots of fun. The kids got a lot of candy so to them the parade was considered a success.

Real men wear dresses...and pink sandals too?

2007-03-05T18:03:00.000-08:00

Can anyone say black mail??? I think Paul actually looks pretty good in ruffles.
It's a BOY!!
It's hard to believe that Paul was ever a sweet little baby.
We received Paul's Half the Sky report today. It was so great to see Paul at different ages. The report is translated so now I know when he first sat up, crawled, walked, etc. As many of you know Chinese to English can translate a little "strange" sometimes. The written report that went with the lovely dress picture stated "Now he is gaining appreciation for beauty. When he puts beautiful clothes on he is very happy".........hmmmmmm?

I am so thankful for this report. I wish we would have had something like this on Audrey. These reports are just one of the many great things that Half the Sky does for the children in the orphanages..

Two years ago today.......

2007-02-27T17:46:00.000-08:00

This picture was taken of Audrey just 2 days before we met her. She is holding the puppy that we sent her. This is my favorite picture of her from inside the orphanage. I hope they kept Audrey warm enough :)
The dreaded "Red Couch Photo"...loved by the parents.....hated by the children!!
We're going home!!!! Waiting at the Guangzhou airport.
Tonight as I was putting Audrey in bed, I told her "the story of Audrey" again. It was two years ago today that we met her for the very first time. She loves HER story and giggles every time I tell it:

Two years ago Mommy and Daddy flew all the way to China because we knew of a special baby named Qin Chun Hong who lived in an orphanage and needed somebody to love her. We were in the lobby of our hotel when a bunch of babies with their caretakers came walking in. The guide said "parents of Chun Hong please come forward" (this is where I act all excited and wave my hands). That's us, we say, we're the lucky parents of Chun Hong. I remind Audrey that while the caretaker was still holding her...she pointed to me and said "Mama" while Audrey stuck her little lip out and shook her head no. I'll ask Audrey "Didn't you like your new mommy" she replies "Moooooooom, I love you." At the end of the story I always ask her "how's come mom and dad are lucky enough to be your parents forever and forever." She'll say "don't know" and I tell her that God picked her out extra-special just for us.

All of My Children

2007-02-23T16:22:00.000-08:00

Natalie and Andrew spent a lot of time outside last week enjoying the big snow piles. Paul and Audrey spent a lot of time driving me crazy last week while we were snowed in. Baby powder anyone?
Our beautiful Luke was born Dec. 17, 1999 and passed away the next day. A local artist does these amazing sketches of people who have passed away. Rarely does a day go by that I don't think about our son.

Today we had our first post-placement visit for Paul's adoption. The Chinese government requires 3 post-placement visits done by a social worker. Since Paul is doing so great there was very little to talk about.

For those of you who live in our area be sure to check out Monday's Daily Standard. There is supposed to be an article about the new international adoptive group that I helped get started.

I would like to invite you to view my friend's blog. They are awaiting the arrival of their daughter from South Korea. But I must WARN you........brace yourself for unbelievable cuteness!!!! www.heartofmyseoul.blogspot.com

just to get started

2007-02-19T19:35:00.000-08:00

I decided to take Audrey's 3 year picture myself......not too bad GQ called asking Paul to be their latest model
Paul met some pretty girls over the weekend
With the help of some other mom's I organized a carry-in for internationally adoptive families in our area. It was a lot of fun. There were kids from China, South Korea, Russia, Guatemala and Vietnam.
Ted and Natalie went to their first Father-Daughter dance on Sunday. Ted claims that Natalie was the prettiest girl there.