Grand Finales!

What a week this has been!!! Thursday was Mikaela's last day of school and just in time, on Tuesday she made it into the Million Word Club at her school!!! That means she read over a million words this school year! Just to give you an idea what an accomplishment that is, the goal for 2nd graders is to read 75,000 words by the end of the year and only one other 2nd grader made it into the Million Word Club this year. (Yes, I am extremely proud of my little bilingual girl!!! Sorry, I can't help it!!!) Here she is getting her MWC shirt from the principal Wed. morning in front of the whole school:

With her teacher...

The front says: READ?

The back: I DO!

THEN, yesterday we all got to go down to the Fresno County Superior Courthouse and finalize our adoption of Timothy!!! It means he is officially, forever ours and we are so happy do be done with that part of the process. (We still have a few formalities like applying for his soc. sec. card and registering at the Thai embassy sometime, but the legal stuff is done! YAY!) After the court ceremony we celebrated at Timothy's Grandad and Grandma's house with lunch and lots of fun!

Waiting outside for our turn...

The Jury... : )

We're done! Our Finally Official Family!

A Whole New Year...

Hi friends! I'm sitting here typing this on my new laptop! (Gotta love those Christmas sales!) Hubby & I have talked about it for a while and he tried (unsuccessfully) to get one for me the day after Thanksgiving, but finally found a great deal online - no early morning trips and long lines necessary. : ) But, oh, where do I really start? Last Monday morning, as I was sitting down for breakfast with Lowell, he said he had a secret he needed to tell me before Christmas. He was quite serious. I said, "Okaaayyy..." and braced myself for whatever he was about to say. (Are you worried that I'm about to divulge his secret out here on the world wide web?????) Turned out to be that his sister and family (the ones who live in Thailand!) decided at the last minute to fly home to CA for Christmas and they were arriving in town the next day!!!!! He was the only one that knew. It was SO MUCH FUN to surprise his parents Tuesday night when they all got here. We hid the boys in over-sized duffel bags and Christmas carolled at their house and then told them we had a couple of early Christmas presents for them. : ) They both thought we had dogs hidden in there but were extremely ecstatic to find their grandsons and parents hiding behind the bushes. Like I said - SO. MUCH. FUN! So memorable. We'll be talking about this one for YEARS, I'm sure. : ) (Sherry, I'll try to get some pictures up here soon. : ) The next days were filled with Christmas Eve service preparations and Christmas celebrations with Lowell's family and 2 with my family and lots of (oh my goodness - so much!) delicious food, a trip to the snow (for everyone except Timothy and me) and to top it all off, we - just Lowell, Mik, Toby, Timo & myself -went to the coast for 2 nights. It was beautiful and a nice, quiet change from the full schedule of the weeks before. Honestly, on Friday I was thinking back on the weeks before and could hardly remember what happened in between Dec. 14 & Dec. 21st. I thought Mik's bday (12/13) had just happened the weekend before and then realized it was 2 weeks ago and what in the world happened since then????? I am PRAISING GOD for getting us through this month the way He did. I had so much fun (could be the theme for this month!) leading worship on Dec. 21 and coordinating the Christmas Eve service for our church and in spite of the added load of responsibilities (TIME!) we were more ready for Christmas (in regard to presents being purchased and wrapped) than we've ever been before. I KNOW it was because God knew what was coming and that I would be madly cleaning Monday and Tuesday and everything else. He took care of everything in so many ways that I don't have time to describe. I guess I won't likely be posting again here in 2008. : ) I love starting new years looking ahead and wondering what God is going to teach me about. And I'm looking forward to sharing more with you as the weeks and months come and go faster than I can get a handle on. : ) This life is quite a ride! I'm glad to be sharing it with you. : ) And I'm glad God's holding on to me so I can throw my hands up in the air and scream with the twists and turns knowing I'm secure in His grip. FOREVER. “This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”- Isaiah 43:16, 18-19 Are you ready for the new thing He's going to do in your life in 2009??? Happy New Year everyone!!!!!

AT LAST!

We interrupt this blogging break to announce that after 2 months of coaching and coaxing and dirty hands and knees, O (Timothy) has started walking! He's been taking steps for a few weeks now, but strongly preferred crawling... until this weekend! Yay! (And now... back to the previously scheduled blog break... back soon!)

And I thought I was excited about an update... WE FOUND OUT YESTERDAY WE'RE TRAVELLING TO THAILAND IN AUGUST!!!!!

I am in shock and so, so excited and a bit in a daze... (Lowell keeps saying I'm "so pregnant"... meaning I'm doing things like putting conditioner on my hair (in the shower) before rinsing out the shampoo. Stuff like that.) Yesterday our adoption agency called and asked if we had plans for the last week in August... (AUGUST, PEOPLE!!!!! DO YOU KNOW HOW SOON THAT IS?????) We are scheduled for the August 27 board meeting in Thailand where we will be approved to adopt Kamin! We were expecting to travel the end of September at the earliest, so August is a total surprise. Goes to show you just never know what's going to happen! We were matched with our little boy in March and typically people travel 6-9 months later. We are travelling after only 5 months. WOW! Apparently God thinks it's time! : ) We'll probably fly out of Fresno Thurs. 8/21 and we'll meet him the first time Sunday the 24th. You can pray that our immigration application for Kamin gets approved quickly. According to the processing times found online for the USCIS office, we need a miracle. : ) But that's what God does, so I'm okay with that. I'll try to write again soon with more details. I just wanted to share our excitement with you all. You are definitely a part of our adventure! : ) But if you don't hear from me again right away, it will be because I'm working on travel documents and getting mixed up about things like shampooing my hair and not sleeping at night and staring at his pictures and walking around in a daze saying things like "I can't believe we're leaving in less than 4 weeks!!!" and trying to figure out what to do next. YAY and THANK YOU GOD!!!!!

"We have a little boy for you...!!!"

On the Thursday before Easter, I was at the park with Mikaela, Toby and a couple of my friends and their kids when I got a call from the Holt office saying we had been matched with a little boy! His name is Kamin and he was born on July 7, 2007 (07-07-07!). (Kamin, by the way, in Thai is pronounced Kah-min, but Toby likes Kah-meen better... but I'll talk more about his name another day.) He is a healthy, ADORABLE little boy living with a foster family in Bangkok. It's been a bit of an emotional whirlwind since that phone call, processing the information, staring at the pictures, re-reading his information for the 10th, 20th times, wishing I knew what he looks like right now, imagining what things will be like when we bring him home...

The most recent pictures we have of him are from 4 months ago. We don't really feel comfortable posting them on the web at this point (since he's not officially/legally ours yet) but I CAN show you the "Kamin Cake" we made the night we heard about being matched! : )

Mikaela and Toby are SO excited. Mikaela took a picture of him to school and told everyone about him and they had lots of fun telling their grandparents... and everyone is excited.

Here are some answers to questions you might have if you're like many other people we have talked to:

1. We don't know what his official name will be after he's adopted. We can do whatever we want and haven't decided yet.
2. The process at this point is this: Kamin was referred to us and we accepted the referral and have signed/sent papers stating our intention to adopt him. Those papers will be sent to Thailand where the match will be approved by the Thai government. That will probably take at least 5 months. Once the match is approved we can make our arrangements to travel a few weeks later.
3. Yes, we are planning on taking Mikaela and Toby with us when we go to Thailand to bring our little boy home. We plan on spending some time with Lowell's sister and her family while we are there.
4. We expect to travel to Thailand to bring him home in October or November (though it could happen faster or slower than that.)
5. Yes, there is a chance that things won't work out. But it's highly unlikely and I really feel like God has said quite clearly "Yes, HE IS THE ONE." So I'm not even worried about that. Check back for my next blog entry to hear more about that...
6. Kamin is currently being cared for by a foster family. The mom is 57, dad is 58 and they are also caring for 2 school-age granddaughters. Kamin is the 11th foster child they have cared for since 1994. I think that is INCREDIBLE. And I think he is in very good hands...
7. And lastly, yes, we do know quite a bit about his birth parents. But until he's old enough to know the story and understand it, we aren't going to be telling anyone else about it. It doesn't seem like it would be fair for others to know more about him than he knows about himself... and then nobody has to worry about ever saying anything that they shouldn't have said. : ) (Aren't you relieved?) : )

There is really so much more I could say... but I'm really tired and need to go to bed... but let me just say that GOD IS GOOD! And we are very, very happy about this little boy on the other side of the world who doesn't even know that we exist yet...

Because he is OURS. : )

Y, Melissa

Life in General

Well, my dad is the only one who asked me to get him a copy of what I shared at the retreat, but I'm going to post it here (below) anyway... because I just never know who might stumble upon it "accidentally." And since my hubby hasn't uploaded the video he took of Toby at the Monster Jam Monster Truck Rally a couple days ago, I don't have anything else to post. Actually, maybe I do... Here are some random thoughts I've been meaning to share with you. 1. I am allergic to Spring. But I love it anyway because the weather is beautiful, the trees are blooming like crazy (hence the allergies!) and the world seems like it's alive again. If only spending more time outdoors didn't make my nose run and my eyes itch! Well, I'm praising God (honestly, I am) that Zyrtec is now available OTC b/c it works so much better for me when my allergies are bad. And no, they don't pay me to advertise for them because they aren't impressed with the number of people who read my blog. Go figure! 2. No, we haven't heard anything more yet about our adoption. We're still expecting to hear something (even if it's that we've moved up on the waiting list) later this month. And praise God, I'm not pacing or obsessing about it. 3. Life is FULL! While it is Spring Break for Mikaela this week, the rest of life is not on vacation! Lowell and I are planning our church's Easter sunrise service (want to come???) and are attending ALPHA on Tuesday nights on top of me still attending Celebrate Recovery (where I lead worship and learn a lot) on Thursday nights and I'm also starting (in April) a new prayer class for families at church and we have a condo empty that I need to clean or find someone to clean and the MCC Sale (and Party!!) is coming up April 4/5 which means we have a LOT of house/patio/yard cleaning to do between now and then (not to mention planning the party!) All of this means I've been feeling a bit scatterbrained and frazzled b/c it was somehow a lot easier to hyperfocus on planning for the retreat than it is to think about so many different things at once. It also explains why I haven't been thinking about my blog as much lately. I don't have as much free brain time as I did last year! OK... That's the Melissa update for the weekend. I hope you are all well! : )

It Must be the Jet Lag

Well, we are home from our whirwind tour of central Oregon. I was happy to leave the clouds behind as we flew out above them, but it was nice to visit our friends and for Lowell and I to spend some time together. As you may have noticed, I didn't add anything else to my blog while we were there. I didn't end up having much time after all at the hotel Fri. morning b/c we checked out a bit early (and then I went shopping until Lowell got out of his meeting) and at the Kyllo's farm they only had dial up internet and we were busy discussing all sorts of important things so I skipped the blogging. I'm sure you understand! A highlight of the trip was getting to stop in at the Holt International office in Eugene because we were in the area. It was nice to get to meet one of the gals working on our adoption and see the place where it all happens. We also got to ask her some questions about when we go (like if they cared if we take our kids or not and if we can stay there longer or should come home right away) and found out we are now #8 on the waiting list! : ) There is a good chance we will be matched with a child by March (and a small chance it could be sooner). That visit was a nice treat. Anyway, I thought you'd be happy to know that after seeing Mt. Shasta and Half Dome and El Capitan from the airplane (so very cool!!!!!) we are safe and sound back in our little house in Fresno. And the dogs are happy we're back. And I'm going to go cook some Mac and Cheese because I'm not sure what else to cook for my hungry children. It's amazing how fast I forget how to do stuff like that. (Maybe it's the jet lag...) I hope your Sunday is filled with good fellowship and meaningful time spent with God... but then, those things are good any day of the week... ~Melissa P.S. Because I like to give credit where credit is due, I feel the need to add to this post by saying that when I walked into the kitchen, Lowell was already emptying a box of pasta into some boiling water. What a guy!!! : )

Lowell Says I'm Famous Now

Well, I know they were having some printing issues last week, but as far as I know, this month's Christian Leader magazine (put out by the US Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches) is out and on it's way to wherever it goes. I haven't seen it in paper yet, but it's on their website. Click here if you want to read what I wrote. : ) (As of November 1, 2007, this link worked.)

If you can't find it or open it, click on "0 comments" below and leave me a note with your email address and I'll email it to you.
I'll likely be talking more about it in the near future, but for now I'll just let you read it. There is so much more I wanted to say but couldn't because they have, you know, other articles to print and all. It was an incredibly challenging experience, but most of all I hope it encourages people to really think about what they and their kids are feeding their hearts. I might come across as overzealous, but I would so much rather err on the side of being too careful than too careless.

OK... I'll save the rest of my soapbox speech for another day. : ) And just for the record... I have no idea who those people in the picture in the article are.

Have a great day walking with Jesus!!!
~Melissa

Holding Our Breath

Well, our completed dossier is now in the hands of our adoption agency personnel in Oregon.  If everything looks good, it will be on its way to Thailand on Friday!  I can hardly believe after all the effort of gathering document after document that it's finally done.  There are still a couple of things left for us to do (immigration stuff mostly) but we should now be on the official waiting list to be matched with our child! 

 

BUT (hence the title above) I'm still holding my breath a bit to get word that everything is in order and that it's really real.  The mind-boggling thing is that we still have (probably) a year or more to wait before we get to go meet and bring home our Little One. (They say 6-12 months from now for a match.)  I also know, however, that time seems to be flying faster than ever these days and it will go by quickly even if sometimes it feels slow. 

 

In other news...  I think I've finally figured out a new routine!  (Aren't you excited for me???J) Things are starting to feel normal and I'm feeling less LOST in my own house.  (For this week at least.) I have sort of divided my day into 4 time-blocks and when I make my list of things to do for the day (which I have to do if I don't want to forget everything or waste my day completely) I divide the page into 4 sections.  I also have a list of things to try to do during each time-block so that I don't get to the end of the day without remembering to fold the laundry or decide what to make for dinner.  We'll see how long it lasts!!!  (And for the curious out there, I am scheduled for the ADD testing at the end of this month with my psychologist.)

 

Have a great day everyone!!!

 

J  Melissa

 

It's the End of the World as We Know It...

And I think I feel fine. : ) Well, it's actually just the end of summer vacation. Mikaela starts first grade tomorrow! Which means she's going to have to be at school at 8:00am everyday (no, not Saturdays and Sundays, silly!) Anyway, her class will still be taught 90 percent in Spanish and 10 percent English (which amounts to about an hour a day) and as the years go by she will end up with 50/50 Spanish and English in 5th and 6th grade where all the kids are so fluent in both languages it is close to impossible to tell which language is their first language. Which is so cool! In case you don't know, my hubby and I both speak Spanish, so we love it for lots of reasons. So if you've been reading my blog since the beginning of summer you might remember that I had a list of things to accomplish. And I'm grateful that I think we did a pretty good job. While we didn't have her friends from school over, we did go to VBS with a couple of them and both of those girls are in her class this year. : ) I also DID get a lot done for our adoption, even though we haven't started our taxes yet... (Don't panic, we have until October to file.) But what I'm most glad about is that we enjoyed the days and weeks and went camping a couple times and the kids just played and played and life felt more peaceful (except for a few weeks ago when you might recall I was about to lose my mind). And amazingly, I'm sort of ready to get back into a routine and expecting it will go well. We're also carpooling!!! My good friend Paula's kids are starting at our school this year and they live very close to us so they're taking the morning shift and I'm bringing Mik, Elena and Ethan home. Hopefully it will turn out to be a time, money and sanity saving venture for us all. Tomorrow I'll try to report on how it went along with pictures of our big first-grader. As for now, her clothes are ready, her backpack is ready, her shoes are ready... If only she could fall asleep......... : )