Family blog to announce

They’ve been around for awhile but have just created a blog to help get the word out:

I have amazing cousins that live in Waveland, Mississippi and they, along with other Christians, have created The Power of Prayer Ministries, which is a hurricane Katrina volunteer relief organization. The primary focus of the group is debris removal and to aid in cleanup from Hurricane Katrina and rebuilding of homes in Waveland and the surrounding communities.

It’s unbelievable to think that there is still debris around after 2+ years. It’s true and sad to know that are many still living in trailers.

Marguerite, Linda, Dave, Monica and the rest are the most selfless, compassionate and gracious people I know and I’m immensely proud to call them family!

If your church group is interested in volunteering, please click on the link to find out more.
http://www.powerofprayerms.blogspot.com/

Housing Market

No, we're not moving !
It's just that I was reading Rhonda's blog today and it reminded me of a little funny I wanted to share. Here it is:

Your house as seen by:

Yourself

Your Lender

Your Buyer

Your Appraiser

Your Tax Assessor

Happy Wife, Happy Life!

Our weekend was great!
We had a nice visit with our friends, Danielle & Big G and want to thank them for all of Christian and Gabrielle's fabulous gently used toys and clothes - we're so excited to get our kid's wardrobe started as well as their playroom! Our kids will love all of the toys and I know we'll get a lot of use from the pack-n-play as well. Thank you again, it's a tremendous help- You guys rock!

We also went to the Texans vs. Saints game and had a blast with our friends Ira and Olga. (Olga taught me the title of this post - so funny!). We ran into some other great friends there too, Teri and Mike. It was hard to choose who to root for, so we wore Texans tops with Mardi Gras beads around our necks! We had way too much fun and I'm feeling it today - I'm such a lightweight. Thanks guys for the great tailgating party before and after the game - wow, I guess those days are short lived once we get the kiddos huh?

I don't know if I ever publically thanked my 'sister' Laura for the tremendous lot of books- I really hope Nathan had a chance to enjoy some and you know you are welcome to them anytime you want them. Love you girl!

Adoption news: Our homestudy is updated, the dossier paperwork is finished, notarized, apostilled and turned in. After our agency does their thing (adds more paperwork), they will send all the docs to St. Petersburg to be translated. This will take about 3 weeks (maybe 4 with the holidays), then we'll be assigned a region. THEN the real wait begins.... AGAIN.
We're getting there! We'll keep you updated as things move along.

Laughing Babies

I came across this clip and just had to share it - can't wait to hear that sound coming from my house!

There's nothing better than hearing babies laugh!

Funny Babies

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Me!

I was tagged by Adrienne- (Thanks! I need something to write about!)
Here’s my story:

Job's I've Had:
Aerobic Instructor
Ticket Agent Supervisor – Continental, TWA and Pan Am
Travel Agent
Furniture Sales
Customer Service at Chrysler Financial
Accounts Supervisor at a Bank
Executive Assistant to Real Estate Developer

Places I've Lived:
New Orleans, LA
Mandeville, LA
Covington, LA
Denver, CO
Houston, TX

Foods I Love:
Italian food
Crawfish
Cajun food
Chocolate

Places I'd Rather Be:
On my way home from Russia with my husband and kids!

Places I've Traveled:
All over the US + Hawaii
Germany
Austria
Italy
England
Scotland
Greece
Mexico
St. John
St. Thomas
Bahamas
Jamaica

Movies I Love:
Sound of Music
Crocodile Dundee
Wizard of Oz

TV Shows I Watch:
Lost
Desperate Housewives
The Office

Books I Love:
Anything by Stephen King
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

Next: I tag Susan- Let's hear it girlie!

Fun things for kids

LTD Commodities has some really inexpensive and fun things for kids and their bedrooms.
Check this out: Sports Metal Wall Plaques. How cute is that for a boy's room? Or these moon chairs for their playroom? It may be a little old for most of our kiddos but they'll grow into it!
I'm so into decorating and just can't wait to get to it - even if it is boys!
Anyone have any other fun links to share?

Halloween

Halloween was a lot of fun for us. We know this will be our last one alone so we made the best of it. We passed out candy to all of the neighborhood kiddos - they were so adorable and excited to be dressed up.

Yesterday, we went to a fabulous wedding of our friends Lori and Steve. Wish wish you guys the best - your wedding celebration was so much fun! Thanks again for including us.

It's now Sunday and Halloween is over but the sales are still on! We went to a few places and got tons of decorations and things for next year - CHEAP! Gotta love those after-holiday sales! I was so tempted to buy a couple of costumes but since we don't know the ages and sizes yet, well, that would just be stupid.

AAI - hope, excitement, anticipation and moving on

Our formal application was submitted to our new agency (along with their fees) so we're getting excited about the prospects of a referral. They explained that the wait time would be approximately 2-4 months for 2 children under 4 - after the dossier is sent in. (We know this can change at any time). The good thing about this agency (AAI) is that the children do not have to be biological siblings but they must be 9 months apart or twins. Either way is great with us. Since they do not have to be bio siblings, the referral will not take as long. (I like this!).


Next step, get the home study updated. According to AAI, most agencies are cooperative and send their entire package (home study and dossier) to the new agency - because even though the customer is switching agencies, they have already paid for these docs. Not so with CHI. They would not even send our own home study to us! We knew we'd lose the fees we paid but didn't know we'd lose the docs as well. Anyway, our new home study agency is in the process of updating our home study for a very reasonable fee and it should be quick since the original was just completed in April. I did keep a copy of the home study - good thing.


I requested that CHI send our dossier (at our expense) directly from Kemerovo to St. Petersburg since it's already complete, notarized, apostilled and translated - nada. No explanation. Just NO. Again, no cooperation whatsoever. Again, AAI said most agencies will cooperate even at this stage but apparently not CHI. I guess when you're done with them, they're done with you!
You would think that the orphan's best interest would be kept in mind to get them in a home asap.
Oh well. We will begin again...that's part of the unforeseen process. On the bright side, at least we know what we're doing and know where to go for the apostilles!

Love

Every day this month I'm going to post something. Even if I have nothing to say. This is National Adoption Awareness Month so we all need to make everyone aware that adopting is just as special as being pregnant.

There's been some talk on other blogs about adoptees not really being your own and that you could never love someone the same as if they were your blood. I beg to differ.
I ask these people if they've ever been in love. Do you love your spouse? Do you love your boyfriend/girlfriend? Dogs? Cats? My point is: I love my husband more than anything on this earth and he certainly is not my blood relative.
We have spent thousands of dollars saving our little dog's life and would do it again in a second - if that's not love, I don't know what is.

November - National Adoption Awareness Month

In honor of National Adoption Awareness Month,

I've decided to share a poem by Debbie Hutson:

Oh Little One
Oh little one, where ever you are,

Near to our hearts yet distant so far.
Have you already a birthday?

I wonder each night,

Or have you yet to experience that journey of might.
We’ve waited so long to share our blessings with you,

Our hearts ache with joy of the thought coming true.
I want you to know how excited we are,

To meet you and love you;

our precious little star.
Thrilled of the thoughts of watching you grow,

Teaching and learning from each other you know.
Please never forget this one promise to you,

We’ll always be your parents and unconditionally love you.