Waterpark fun

Buds exploring at the Museum
Let's see how long we can stay on this snake!
Girls posing for that perfect shot!
Ok now their really showing their model quality!
Little guy, M_____, is even showing how it's done! We had a great relaxing time away for a couple days doing nothing but exploring, swimming, and relaxing. One of their friends is missing in these pictures. Sorry, K____! She was too busy swimming in the lazy river to be posing for pictures with them! An indoor waterpark is a great thing since it was only 18-degrees outside at the time! Family from CA said, "what? an indoor waterpark? !!" Umm hello! This IS the midwest you know. We never have perfect weather here. Either it's freezing cold with ice and snow, or hot and humid with lots of bugs! EXCEPT for the last couple of days when it got into the high 60's! We were in heaven! Oh NO! Am I getting old? I'm starting to talk about the weather! Yuk! I tease my father in law and Mom because their always talking about the weather good or bad. They LOVE the weather channel. In my opinion, why bother? I'll just deal with whatever is dealt when I get up the next morning. We were actually without electricity a couple of weeks ago for 24 hours! Luckily it was in the high 30's and never got below 60 in our house. But I really wanted to take a hot bath or shower as we got to that 24 hour mark. I quickly took one as soon as the power went back on. Now we have a generator in case that ever happens again. How strange it was to be without power. No tv in the background, no computer. We turned on the battery operated radio and danced by candle light watching our shadows on the wall and played games. It was rather peacefull!

Please say a prayer for the babies in the orphanages waiting for their parents. May god watch over them and their nanny's and keep them safe and well! Hopefully some friends of ours will travel very soon to get their babies! I love to follow their trips via their blogs. It's very exciting that their time is getting so close.

Birthday girl Leah!

After the stress of waiting, and waiting for any kind of adoption news, it's always fun to enjoy the company of friends!

Hope you had a great b-day Leah!

The Angelina & Brad Saga

They are supposed to have their giving and receiving appointments tomorrow and bring home their child this weekend. Hmmm, for most of us we'll be there for 2-3 weeks! The benefits of stardom! As long as their adoption is ethical I'm ok with it. I'm not jealous or envious of them. They chose their careers and have many positives and negatives that go with it just like the rest of us. She does do a lot of humanitarian work that she is well known for which I admire. I am also in love with her boyfriend but I secretly hate him for leaving Jennifer! It was said after she gave birth to her daughter that they instantly started paper chasing for another adoption. Here's what was posted earlier about their adoption.

HANOI - Vietnamese authorities have speeded up Angelina Jolie's adoption of a Vietnamese boy and the Hollywood star could be able to take him home by next month, the country's top adoption official said on Wednesday. Officials at the communist-run Southeast Asian country have approved most of the paperwork, said Vu Duc Long, director of the Justice Ministry's International Adoption Department.
"We have completed the adoption paperwork in Hanoi but now the relevant authorities in Ho Chi Minh City are still processing remaining documents, so it is unlikely everything will be finished in March," he told Reuters.
Long added that the boy could leave for the United States in April. Last week, he said the adoption would likely be completed in about three months, faster than normal, partly due to Jolie's fame.
Jolie, 31, filed adoption papers in early March through an American agency without her partner Brad Pitt because under Vietnamese law, an unmarried couple may not adopt a child.
In Vietnam, adoptions have been known to take as little as one month if background checks and issues of whether the adopting family can support a child are quickly resolved.
However, the process can take six months or longer in some cases.
Long had said the child was a boy aged between 3 and 4 years from the Tam Binh orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City. But on Wednesday, he declined to confirm the details, adding: "We have been asked to keep the boy's details confidential."
Jolie and Pitt visited Ho Chi Minh City last November and met children at the orphanage. They have one biological child, Shiloh Nouvel who was born last year, and two adoptive children -- son Maddox from Cambodia and daughter Zahara from Ethiopia.

No new news here!

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. Just trying to keep up on things and get organized before baby here. We are still number one on the list. TET the Vietnames New Years celebration was last weekend and things shut down in Vietnam for awhile. So we've heard it there may be another delay until March. Which as fast as time is flying, is really just around the corner. I believe that God has chose the baby meant for our family and she's just not ready for us yet. Also May would be a terrible month for both my husband and I to travel so with this delay it may be June before we go and that would work out much better for both of us. So SEE things happen for a reason, and will work out for the best in the long run. With international adoption you learn patience. And you can't get frustrated with every little change or delay otherwise you will be a miserable person. Life is too short and too full of great things to "sweat the small stuff" as they say. Besides..... my little 4 1/2 yr old just asked me last night, "Mom are you a Grandma?" "No honey you and your brother would have to have kids before that can happen." "Well Mom I have good news! I've decided I DO want to have kids!" And she was all smiley and happy about this important decision at age 4 1/2! Just the other day she told her Grandma she was not getting married and she was not going to be a Mom because she is living with her Mom and Dad forever! Oh I love it when they say that! Another cute thing she expressed the other day while grocery shopping, "Mom! Dad! I've decided I'm going to work at Mom's Chocolate Shop AND I'm not just going to work there, I'm going to be the Manager! Mom's going to be the owner!" She again was so excited she had made this decision. She can carry quite the converstation for her age! I have no idea where she gets that!! Now her brother is just happy to get a new sled and spend an hour going up and down the hill in the back yard as his sister and I wave to him from the warmth of our kitchen. Between sledding, his love for Basketball and video games it's hard to get all that school work in! But I am really enjoying the times we're having together in case I'm sleep deprived with a baby soon!

Soon there will be five...

I thought I'd post more pictures of our family since hopefully soon we can update them with all five of us posing! 2-3 kids? Is it really that much different? Some say yes, huge difference, others say 2 is busy and 3 just keeps the momentum going. I think it depends on the kids and their ages. Heck we'll have a built in baby sitter soon since our son is almost 10!