BOC and canning

On Friday we received two new photos of BOC. One was of BOC going down for a nap. For the first time I noticed he had a bottle in his mouth. I say the "first time" because his referral picture includes a bottle but I never focused in that part of the picture. I went back through the 13 pictures I have of him and 6 pictures include a bottle. That's when I finally realized our little guy still drinks from a bottle! YIKES! I wasn't thinking we'd need to take bottles to Ethiopia. I assumed he was drinking from a sippy cup. I know they have sippy cups in the Transitional Home and other children use them. When Rachel sends us our first update on BOC I will ask what is in the bottle and how many he drinks a day and the time of day BOC gets a bottle.

Old Navy is having a great sale on kids clothing. Yesterday I purchased several shirts and a jacket for BOC. This was my first clothing purchase for BOC! I would have purchased some shoes but I don't know his size. I also purchased Igor a rain coat.

This morning I canned blackberry jam. I also canned dill pickles. I am a little worried about the pickles. I started the canning process before I realized I didn't have any dill seeds! ugh... I used the small amount of fresh dill from the garden. I will find out in a month if the pickles are great or a dud.

I had better luck with the blackberry jam. For quality control purposes I poured some jam over ice cream to see how it tasted. Let's just say am using all of my will power not to eat an entire jar of jam. At the end of the week I might have enough blackberries to make another batch of jam. If not, I will buy some raspberries at the farmers market to make double berry jam.

In two weeks we are going blueberry picking. Blueberries are Rob's favorite berry. I cannot wait to make blueberry sauce and jam.. YUMMY!

BOC Video, Mulch, and a PJ trend

We received a video of BOC in the mail! Apryl and her hubby went to ET in April to pick up their kiddos and she shot some video of our little boy! So we have all sorts of video and pictures of our little guy. We have our referral pictures and more recent pictures from Jill and Holly. The next travel group is going to ET soon! We should have another batch of videos and pictures when they return.

We still do not have a name for BOC.

I think I started a dangerous PJ trend. Yesterday Igor got "dressed" in PJ's. Igor said he was going to VBS in his new race car PJ's. We made the same compromise as before- he can wear the top but must wear shorts.

This morning Igor took a bath and I laid out his clothes (no PJ's today). I mention the bath because our little boy wrote "IGOR" on his feet, legs and hands while he was suppose to be sleeping! He sneaked a red ball point pen into bed. It was hard to be angry, he was soooo proud of his penmanship.

This week Igor and I have been busy spreading mulch. I found bags of mulch on clearance for 99 cents at the grocery store of all places. I love a bargain and we put off mulching this spring. I bought every bag they had- 27 bags! This did require two trips as my car can only carry 17 bags at a time.

I loaded the mulch in Igor's wagon and he delivered it to the backyard. Igor cut open the mulch and dumped it out while I raked it into place. Igor was a great helper! Igor and I got a workout and the backyard looks great.

We should receive an update on BOC tomorrow from ET!

Ballgame, Shots, PJ's and BOC's care package

Sunday night we went to a baseball game. We had a great time until it started to rain, well, maybe pour is a better description. Igor demanded to go home because he was very scared. We enjoyed the first 4 innings!

This morning Igor woke up, dressed himself then ran downstairs to show us. He was so proud. We were very proud too, his outfit matched. Really he did a great job... he did put on a pair of pajamas. I asked Igor if he planned to wear his brand new McQueen PJ's to VBS. He said he was. hmmmmm.... I asked him to put on shorts, he could wear his PJ shirt to VBS. Life is good when you may wear your PJ's during the day.

This afternoon Igor went to the doctor for his yearly check up. The first thing he told the doctor, "I'm not going to get my brother so I'm not getting any shots!". The doctor and I had to hide our giggles. Igor did get his Hep A shot and he was bitter. I don't blame him. I don't like shots either. After the appointment he called Nana and Daddy to tell them he got a "horrible shot". He makes me laugh.

We sent BOC's care package to the Raymers today. We were planning on sending the teddy bear we have been sleeping with but it would not fit in the gallon Ziploc bag... we went with plan "B" a little bear that Igor has in his room. We also sent a photo book, crayons, coloring book pages and a toy police car. A big thanks to the Raymers for taking our son's care package to Ethiopia!

Tree cutting, bunnies, birthday, & first fruits

Last year's drought did a number on several bushes and trees. I finally asked Rob to chop down our cherry tree since there wasn't any hope of it coming back to life. I hated to have it cut down but it was dead, really dead. Rob cut it down with an ax. Our next door neighbor came over with his chain saw and cut it up into pieces.

While Rob and I were hauling the tree to the curb Igor thought he saw a toad in the bushes. Nope, it was a baby bunny! Igor chased the bunny and cornered it in the cinder blocks under the rain barrel. Igor asked for some cucumber to feed his "new" bunny. Igor decided to build a door out of sticks for the bunny's new home. The bunny made a break for it when Igor tried to pet him.

We haven't seen this little bunny since his great escape.

Igor's birthday party was wonderful. The kids had a great time and the weather was perfect. Nana sent Igor some race car candles and sugar cars and flags for the cake. Ms. Joya's candle was placed on the cake.

This morning before church I picked our first blackberries! I planted three vines last spring so this is our first harvest. Since the deers, bunnies and mockingbirds have eaten almost all of our garden Rob and I placed netting around the blackberries to protect them. The netting is working!

The majority of blackberries should be ripe at the same time. I should have enough blackberries to can some preserves....yummy!

Paperwork received and more.

Terra at AWAA confirmed receipt of our paperwork! Based on her e-mail there is a slim chance that we will make it to court before they close in August. If we don't make it I will be sad for several reasons. We really wanted to travel with William and Susan since we started our adoption journey together. I will be sad because BOC will remain in the Transitional Home until October or November.

On the other hand I will breathe a sigh of relief if we don't make it to court by August. Igor will start kindergarten in August. I want to be there when the bus picks him up for the very first day of school! I want to help Igor develop a school routine before BOC arrives. Life is better when Igor has a clear routine.

Public school will be very different than Ms. Joya's nursery school. Based on yesterday's the report from Igor's teacher at camp, we may be in for a long kindergarten adjustment period. Perhaps we will be better off if we deal with one adjustment at a time.

So we'll wait to see if we receive a court date before they close in August. Rob and I are ready for the wait. We waited 6 months for Igor's court date. I hope we don't have to wait that long for BOC.

Honestly, I am okay with whatever happens. I know that God's timing is perfect. He knows what is best for our family and he has never failed us. It helps to know that BOC has a nanny that adores him. We will get reports on BOC from the director of the transitional home. We will be able to send care packages to BOC while we wait. The Raymers will take a picture book, some cars and a teddy bear to Ethiopia for us. They leave on July 5 to pick up their boys!

Holly And Paul were in Ethiopia last week picking up their son. Holly took a few pictures of a toddler boy who hadn't been referred. She was sure he was going to be our son. She was right! She sent us pictures this morning. THANK YOU HOLLY!

Igor's birthday party is tomorrow. We asked Igor who he wanted to invite to his party. He named one child! I wondered, is that a party or a play date?? This is further confirmation that 3 is a crowd in Igor's book. It's Igor's party so we invited the one friend. Well, I invited the child's family over for dinner and cake. Papa and Babushka will be joining us. More on the birthday in another post.

Referral Accepted!

It's official, we accepted BOC. AWAA should have received the paperwork today but I cannot find the tracking number! I put the tracking number in a very safe place so I would not lose it... and now I cannot find it. heavy sigh


We are working on a full name for BOC but haven't come up with one we both agree on. I am pretty sure we will call him his Ethiopian name BUT we want to give him a "American" name too. We'll come up with something soon.

The home warranty company left me a message today, they approved our claim for the air conditioner repair! However they refuse to pay for two items- the removal of the freon and disposal of the coil. In order to replace the part they have to remove the freon. Why wouldn't they pay for the removal of the freon? This stuff drives me crazy. The man who left the message said please call us if you have any questions but he didn't leave a number. I will work on this tomorrow.

Did I mention that the garage door is fixed? Yep, it's a miracle. The chain was off the track and would not pull the door up. Rob and I agreed to call a repair man because neither of knew how to fix it. The next day I pushed the garage door button out of habit and the door opened up! It's been working ever since.

Our accountant e-mailed us, the IRS made a mistake we do not owe $5,000- WHEW!

We have a referral!

Today was crazy and over scheduled. After an emotional day at nursery school (see previous post) we went to the elementary school to meet Igor's Kindergarten assistant. Then we went to Igor's dentist appointment. I LOVE his new dentist. She is awesome. We were driving home from the dentist's office when my cell phone rang. It was a 703 number... I thought, Terra is calling with our referral. Yep, it was Terra and she had our referral! I told her we would call her right back. (yes, really)
I called Rob at the church. He was home in 2 minutes (his office is one mile from the house). We called Terra back. She said that she had the cutest little boy for us. She is right, he is very cute! He is a toddler. She said we had a week to accept the referral. We thanked her for calling and then we hung up. Yep, we hung up... why? because Igor had a doctor's appointment in 10 minutes! We couldn't linger, ask questions or soak anything up, we needed to move on to the next activity.
When we got in the car I called Terra back. I wanted to know if there was any possibility of getting a court date before the court closes in August. She said, "Hope for the best but plan for the worst."
I'll write more about that tomorrow. We have more phone calls to make.