Rain and the bus stop

Igor was never afraid of rain until we moved south. Last year we had a terrible drought so it rarely rained. This year we are still in a drought but we've had severe weather. Igor decided he was scared of rain this spring when we were under a tornado watch in March. That day Igor decided that he would not go outside if it was raining. We've spent months explaining that rain cannot hurt you but Igor has refused to go outside if it looks like rain or it is raining.



On Monday, Igor and I were playing outside when it started to sprinkle. I didn't say anything, I continued to play. When Igor noticed it was sprinkling he said, "Mom I'm not afraid of rain anymore!" Yippee!



Yesterday after dinner Igor said he wanted to ride his bike to the school bus stop. Rob and I looked at each other... we were both thinking- you want to ride your bike outside in the rain? Then he said he wanted to ride his bike to the bus stop on Wednesday morning and mommy could push the bike home. No comment from mom on this... So after dinner we put on Igor's raincoat and helmet, he got on his bike and rode to the bus stop. My heart was full, my little boy is growing up right before my eyes.

This morning was Igor's first day riding the school bus. Rain was poring down but Igor was not scared. He marched out of the house with his backpack and lunch. He was ready to ride the bus.


This morning the house is quiet.... I have a long list of things to do while Igor is at school. I have accomplished my first task which is adoption related- write a letter to USCIS requesting a fingerprint appointment! One item down, many to go.

Playing with the format and colors of the blog

I was tired of our blog colors, fonts and format. Please comment if the text is too hard to read.
thanks!

A week in review

Last week, Igor and I did a few special things before school started. We went to the children's museum in town. We had an awesome time. Igor was so excited, we played at every station. I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures.

We went to a local farm and fed the animals on Wednesday.

We took a road trip to the Coens! It was so nice to finally meet Jill. Ladies, Jill makes an awesome coffee cake and Silas is sooooo cute! I had to post a picture of Sophie because she has soo much personality. Thanks for having us over!

Igor and I continue to discover more wildlife in your yard. Igor wanted to "capture" this toad/frog. Luckily I was able to convince Igor that the frog should be free to roam our side yard.

On Sunday I tried to start my car but the battery was dead. The good news - we replaced the battery last year so it was still under warranty! AAA delivered and installed a new battery for free.

Today was Igor's first day of Kindergarten! Well, today and tomorrow are "get to know you days"- the children attend school 2 1/2 hours the first two days. Igor loved his first day of kindergarten. Wednesday, Igor will ride the bus AND all day kindergarten will begin. Igor was so silly this morning... this was the "best" first day of school picture.

Mr. H, the inclusion teacher assigned to Igor's kindergarten class is from Eritrea. His wife is Ethiopian and speaks Amharic! Mr. H. is so supportive of our Ethiopian adoption. We hope to get together with his family soon.

We have two pear trees in the backyard. Last year we didn't have any pears because of a late frost. This year we had pears but the squirrels have feasted on them all summer. They left us ONE pear! After school Igor ran to the backyard and picked our remaining pear. We drove over to the church to share it with dad. Next year we may have to net the trees. I would really like to have more than ONE pear next summer.

On the adoption front- our fingerprints expire in November. There is NO a chance we'll be going to Ethiopia before our fingerprints expire. Requesting a fingerprint appointment is on my short list of things to do. No word on our referral yet....

A time of sadness for an AWAA family

The adoption journey can feel like a roller coaster, highs and lows coming very quickly. This week one family is experiencing a low no family should have to go through... the loss of their little girl.... The Gibsons have this sweet little girl's story on their blog. Please keep this precious family in your prayers.

Call+Response

Have you heard about the new movie Call+Response? If not, check it out.

We continue to wait for our referral

Yesterday was a great day for our agency! Several families were issued referrals for their children! I love when referrals are issued, it means there is movement, it brings me hope.

WARNING- the next paragraph contains self-pity and whining....
While yesterday was a time of joy it also brought sadness. We sent our dossier to AWAA the last week of September 2007. Yesterday was the first day I was sooo tired of the wait. I know in my heart that our referral will come at the perfect time. I know that we are waiting for a reason. However, yesterday I was ready to say I'm done. The words, "Let's stay a 3 person family and move on" flashed through my mind. I thought it for a minute then I came to my senses.


Rob and I are reading Your God Is Too Safe as a devotion. Last night Rob read the following paragraph:

The Psalms are the prayers that God's covenant people have birthed out of their celebration and anguish, their hope and hopelessness, their anger and forgiveness, their captivity and exile and conquest through triumph. They track a path through the vastness of human emotion, its tundras and its jungles, and direct all of it Godward. What do you do with you hatred, bitterness, ecstasy, weariness, heaviness, longings, disappointments, despair, and desires? To whom can you entrust all that? Centuries of wisdom tell us that the Psalms give form to and language for the fullness and undiluted, to God. They are gathering places, repositories, where the mundaneness and tragedy and glory of being human can be sorted out and given back as worship. As prayer.

I really needed to hear those words, it was an "ah ha" moment for me. I was reminded of

Psalm 5: 1-3
O Lord, hear me as I pray;

pay attention to my groaning.

Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God,

for I pray to no one but you.

Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord.

Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.


I prayed this Psalm as we waited for Igor's court date. I will now pray it as we wait for our referral. Today, I feel much better about our adoption and the wait.


Another contributor to yesterday's sadness was an agency update on the referral we lost. Please continue to pray for this little boy.

We are back!

We have returned from our vacation. We had a great time with Rob's parents and my sister. The weather was great. We enjoyed the beach, the pool, jigsaw puzzles, eating out, relaxing and playing Quiddler. We complete two 1,000 piece puzzles. One puzzle was missing one piece!

Here are some pictures of our vacation.

The highlight of Igor's vacation was flying with Papa in a bi-plane! Yep, our little boy LOVED his plane ride.

We are unpacked and ready to start the week. This afternoon I will start planning a few special mommy and Igor days. It is my last week with Igor before he starts school!

The car is packed and we are ready to go!

We are headed to the beach! I cannot wait to smell the salt air and hear the roar of the ocean.
Here are some pictures of our first beach vacation with Igor. Boy, he is growing up fast!

Life

The frogs are safely back with their family. The day before their departure they almost ended up in our town's water supply. While I was cleaning their tank they made a break for it. One ended up in the sink and the other got caught in the sink drain. Lucky Rob was home so he heard my cries for help... he was able to capture the slimy creatures and return them to their tank.


Igor and I survived Kindergarten orientation. The highlight of our time was the 5 minute school bus ride!! Igor loved riding the bus.

Yesterday I went to the clinic. I have water behind my ear drum- ouch. I walked out with two prescriptions and a warning- I am not to go under water for 2 weeks. Hmmm... our beach vacation starts Sunday.

Igor's hair is now a crew cut. I couldn't live with the huge gap in his bangs.

Tomorrow is a HUGE day for 4 AWAA families. Their cases have gone before a judge 7 times. They have another court hearing tomorrow. Tomorrow is the last day court is open until October 8! Please pray that the judge will rule favorably while we are asleep tonight.

We head to the beach Sunday. Rob has requested that the car be running & ready at 12:10. He plans to says the benediction, walk down the aisle and out the door!

A trip to urgent care

After dinner Igor and I went outside. Igor wanted to play with rocks and I wanted to water my plants. Igor was playing his favorite game- smashing rocks- when a broken piece of rock shot into his eye. There was screaming and gnashing of teeth. He wouldn't let me touch his eye so I knew it wasn't good. He kept saying through his tears, "Mommy when is it coming out?" A piece of rock was stuck in his eye. We headed to Urgent Care, I was afraid he had a scratched cornea. All the way to Urgent Care I was praying, let the waiting room be empty. When we arrived the waiting room was empty!
The doctor confirmed that there were pieces of rock in his eye but his cornea was not scratched. She washed Igor's eye out (I will spare you the details). I'll have to give Igor eye drops to fight off any potential infection.

Igor and I have talked about the rock game.... he isn't going to play it anymore.

This morning we are going to Kindergarten orientation. Igor doesn't want to go. He is pretty sure there will be a fire alarm... I have PROMISED him there won't be a fire alarm today but he is not sure.

A little bit of everything

The home warranty company has agreed to install a new A/C compressor! We are so happy with this decision. For a year we have been dealing with air conditioning issues. The HVAC company has agreed to repair the moldy ceiling. Yippee!

Igor went to a 3 day camp this week. He came home with is first black eye. Another little boy accidentally threw a rock at Igor! Yikes.... Luckily it's only a black eye.

Igor loves cars. He can identify almost every make of car. He loves to play with race cars. When we moved to the south we heard a lot about NASCAR. Rob has slowly become a fan... well, he doesn't watch the races BUT he has purchased several NASCAR toys for Igor. Igor and Rob know many drivers names and numbers. Rob reads the NASCAR standings to Igor each Monday. We took the interest in racing to a new level on Friday night. We went to a NASCAR approved stock car race (I think that's what we saw). I was a little worried as we entered the speedway, there was a sign that said, "NO WEAPONS ALLOWED" . I wondered a couple things- 1. who would bring a weapon to a race 2. why did they have to post such a sign 3. what were we getting ourselves into??? Except for the second hand cigarette smoke and the melee between two drivers/crew we were safe.



The speedway allowed fans to meet the drivers and see the cars up close. It's great for kids except Igor was afraid the cars would start racing while he was on the track so he wouldn't get too close. I won't pretend to know the class or division or the types of cars we saw because I don't know. We saw two races and part of the third race. I'm not sure why people like to watch cars go around a track at high speeds. My opinion - it's very loud and a little boring. Igor LOVED it. Okay- Igor loved when the cars crashed. Even though we all had ear plugs on I could read his lips when he asked, "Mom when is the next crash?". Does he think crashes are pre-planned to heighten the entertainment value? After we left the track we asked Igor what he liked best. He responded by saying the crashes...





Igor loves to use scissors. He loves to cut out his drawings and snip paper. The other night I walked in his room when he should have been sleeping and caught his with a pair of scissors in one hand and Big Bird on the other hand. Big Bird nearly had his all his hair/feathers cut off! Igor and I had a talk about scissors and I thought that was the end of his unauthorized scissor use. HA!

This morning Igor had the most unusual bed head. A closer look revealed Igor's hair had been cut. Igor told us his hair was too close to his eyes so he cut it last night in bed! hmmmm.... he had a hair cut two weeks ago. I looked under his bunk bed and found the previously forbidden scissors and a pile of cut up items. Even beloved Sbaka's ribbon had been snipped!

For the moms out there who have dealt with children cutting their own hair.... did you let it grow back OR did you cut it really short to match the child's cutting??

My brother lives...

My brother is sound engineer. He lives in the USA but spends most of his time on a tour bus or on an airplane. My brother's life is never boring. This week the tour bus he was in blew a tire on the interstate and crashed. Two people went to the hospital but no one has life threatening injuries. I'm amazed that they are all alive. I'm very grateful they are alive! Here are some pictures of the wreckage.