These Shoes were made for walkin..........

WOW what a day! Today was "shoe shopping" for the kids. They already had their shoes "picked out" as they had been looking at my Kohls add for a week now.. I did have some other things i had to get done also. I went to the Christian book store off preston hwy where they sell mostly bible curriculum and such. I went and found something that looked pretty neat that could be used for all 3 kiddos and yet still "meaty." As we are checking out there is an older man (he works there) talking to my kids and showing them pictures of his family. I hear him say "my daughter just had a baby girl, but I don't have a picture of her yet." I just so happened to look up and sneak a peak from writing my check and lo and behold....his daughter is Black! I got a tickle up my spine :) Of course we started our whole conversation about adoption. His daughter is my age so he went through everything that we are going through only 30 years difference:) I thought that was so amazing...not only to find another transracial family but a family that dealt with transracial adoption back in the 70's. Amazing:)

After that we headed to Kohls over in St. matthews...The only one we could find shoes for was Noah:( Sanite walked around and cried! I felt so bad for her. They were out of almost every shoe she looked at. So I told her we could head back through New Albany and go by that Kohls to see if they had her shoes. We arrived and immediately found the shoes that Sanite and Maddie had both wanted. yeah!!! Off to the potty and then to leave....or so I hoped. I checked out and was walking towards the door when I looked for my keys..............gone..............can't find them.........not in my pocket...................not in my purse................not on the floor..................not in the shoe boxes. Ok let's walk the store...........back to the shoes....nope.....back to the restroom.....nope...check with customer service....nope......check back at the register.....nope......panic starts to set in...me....over an hour away from home and NO KEYS TO MY CAR!!!!! ok deep breath...let check shoes again.....I go back and go through the whole puddle of shoes I tried on Maddie (about 5 boxes), I went through all the shoe boxes Sanite tried on.....NOTHING. So I walk over to where my shoes were...there they were..sitting on the shelf! Ok *whew* heart attack avoided...thank you Jesus.....

Kids are now starving so lets head to Cici's! Yum! Home of the famous Mac and Cheese pizza...kids ate lots and well.so did I :) Ahh...shoe shopping is done...School curriculum bought...last thing to do is run by Bass Pro. So I hop on the interstate and start heading that way............suddenly I feel a *bump*........I look in the rearview and *nothing.* Continue on I thought!I turn on to 65 heading towards the Veterans expressway. I get to the light at Veterans expressway and I go to turn.when I turn my wheel does and extra 1/2 rotation on the way back.....ohhhhhhhh man...not good! So I swing into the Chick fil A and as I am turning I am feeling my car start to lower on the driver side......."Oh no God, Oh no....." I pull into the parkinglot and get out..........FLAT TIRE>>>FLAT AS A PANCAKE>>>>DEAD AS A DOORNAIL (right michele?).............It is 1:50, Kyle is not off work until 3:30,and I have kids getting off at my house at 3:30......it takes an hour to get there! What to do! I called Kyle and I felt so bad...he left work to come help me....in the meantime I am trying to get hold of the parents of the kids I take care of feeling HORRIBLE that I am only giving them about an hours notice............

Kyle gets there and I am feeling like and idiot...I can't change a tire...my husband owns an auto shop and *I* can't change a tire....*sigh*....but Not to fear! Kyle goes to change the tire and the spare is busted...so HA! Even if I did know how to change one, it wouldn't of mattered...ok spirits are lifted a little. Kyle finds the hole in my tires, fixes it and drives it home. In the meantime though his boss had given him a HORRIBLE time. He knows that Kyle would like to get out on his own and gives him a hard time anytime Kyle needs off. In fact when we went to Indiana Beach he boss was questioning him as to what he was going to be doing on his day off............almost like if he was going to be working on cars they wouldn't let him take off. What business is it of theirs? When you take a vacation day from work you can either get the day off or not....its not up to them to decide if your reason is "worthy" of one of your paid vacation days. *ug*. I will be so glad when he is out of there. he does so much for that company and does not even come close to being treated the way he deserves. I am not asking them to put Kyle on a pedestal (though it would be nice) but just treat him like a human. There are people there that take off, call in etc whenever they please. I can't remember the last time Kyle has taken off and not used a day that was "owed" such as a vacation or personal day. Ok I am off my soapbox for now lol. I just praise God that he keeps sending us business. The sooner we can get our stuff paid off the sooner he can get out of there and not have to deal with that trash:( Pray it happens soon!

My son is moving out.......

yes you read that right. I guess every mom has to face this day at one point or another, I just didn't think it would happen at the ripe age of 5! It all started when he woke up this am...and out of the blue he says "Mom, I am moving to California tomorrow. Dad is buying me a motorcycle tonight and I am going to go live in my own house." After I picked my jaw up off the floor I asked "Are you going to get a job?"

He says "yep...gonna work at McDonald's. Gonna have my own house and my own motorcycle." lol I left it at that and went to church. He tells EVERYONE at church he is moving away tomorrow...Dad is buying him a motorcycle and he is leaving! "It is going to take me 2 miles to get there and I am going to eat mushrooms and bagels" LOLOL I find this AMAZING as the kids hates mushrooms lol. Before heading to bed tonight he is still bound and determined to head out to California tomorrow...so alas I guess I have one "leaving the nest" at the ripe age of 5 lol

Indiana Beach

Well last Friday was a day to Indiana beach http://www.indianabeach.com/! It was soooo much fun and the kids had a great time! We slept in a little bit...until about 8 and left the house around 9. We had some things to do around town so we didn't end up leaving town until around 9:30. The kids were dragging out of bed that am...They were so excited but so not wanting to get up! LOL..hence this 1st pic of sleeping beauty.........and yes she slept until we arrived at Indiana beach over 3 hours later!

We arrived at Indiana Beach around 12:30 and had already packed a lunch...so we got out, ate lunch and headed in. The kids rode and played all day! We were able to take the kids over to the water park and Noah and Sanite both had a BLAST on the water slides! They whizzed down them like they had been doing it all their lives:) Sanite and Noah had always been a little bit more fearful of water (love to play in it...but are very cautious) so I was nervous as to how the slides would go. They didn't want to leave that area! They would of stayed there all day if we would of let them! Poor Maddie couldn't go into the water slide area but she was able to play with her dad over in the splash area. When we came back she too was all grins! The rest of the day we spent on Boardwalk-like rides....swings, wooden roller coasters, bumper cars etc. The older 2 went on several rides that Maddie couldn't so Kyle and I took turns going with the older 2. Here is a pic of Maddie riding a car while the other two went on the cornball express

After that I was able to take Noah and Sanite on the Hoosier Hurricane....my son.....the little snot lol.............has his hands in the air the whole time yellin "IS THAT ALL YA GOT MAN?" I laughed and laughed and laughed.......he was too cute! The things kids say :)

The kids also got to meet someone famous................do you know who THIS is??? ARGGGGGGGGG
Then one of the last things we went on was the Ferris Wheel...I enjoy the Ferris wheel...Kyle had never been on one and said he wont go back on one again lol. It went too high for him and he got a little nervous LOL Here is a pic he managed to get while throwing the camera up in the air...yes he let go long enough for that!

All in all...a great day had by all!!!! We plan on going back next May and staying for a couple days! We can't wait!

What to do now?

So All Hanover students went back to school today.....what to do?? LOL I usually have 2 kiddos at my house bright and early (around 6:45). This morning I was able to sleep in! Humm....So now is the time for making some plans for the fall trimester. Here is what we have planned so far...we have a back to school picnic planned with our Homeschool group on The 25th of this month...this is always so fun as the kids get together to play and then adults can chat and of course food is always present! We will start school on the 27th and kick off the new trimester with a "breakfast out." Seems like we can go out for dinner and such but going out for breakfast hardly ever happens! On the 13th of September we are headed down to the Apple Orchard to do LOTS of picking for LOTS of canning (jellies, butters, apple pie filling, applesauce etc). Then on the 26th we are headed to the Ohio Renaissance festival http://www.renfestival.com/. We are so excited about this field trip as the kids have never been! I can't believe it! That's only the 1st month of school and that doesn't even include our KONOS activities!!!!!!! Yahoo!!!!!! Here's looking forward to getting back into the groove of things!

My little ballerina!

Ok so as I wipe the tears from my eyes *wipe* *wipe* Maddie had her 1st ever dance class today. The kids go into a room right off the waiting area but there is no window for us to see. I have never seen one of Sanites classes (but you can hear everything) as there are no windows, only a door that remains shut. However, since these were little ones she left the door open tonight that way they could get comfortable with being there. Maddie had a ball!!!!!!!!!!!!! She was bouncing all around that room like there was no tomorrow. No tears and no fears! She is so excited about going back next week:)

Some"buggy"loves me :):):)

Well..............................I didn't got to church this am....like to know why????I spent my morning in the Emergency room...............oh yes....lots of fun. It started off on late Wednesday night/Thursday morning I woke up scratching my arms like you would NOT believe! I had what looked like 30+ mosquito bites on my arms (I am HIGHLY allergic to them). I gave it a day and the itching was driving me nuts.....so on Friday I bought some Calamine lotion as it was beginning to spread.....Poison Ivy? I highly doubted it. I have never ever had a reaction to poison Ivy. In high school I was part of leading a back packing trip in the mountains of North Carolina and us start (duh) high schoolers put our beds in the poison Ivy patches (these weren't exactly camp grounds we stayed at....it was backpack through the mountains until you find a spot to crash). Not to mention I am constantly cleaning out under our pine trees where there is nothing BUT poison ivy (lived here for 10 years so...it has been quite a few times) and I have NEVER had this reaction before. Not to mention the last time I did that was 9 days before I broke out...so hum....what could it be??? Lets give it another day. On Saturday Kyle was getting the last bit of a truck painted up and then afterwards we took the kids to the zoo. After the zoo we went to Kingfish ( a SUPER yummy seafood restaurant..I highly suggest it!) While at dinner I looked down and noticed my arm was red and SUPER swollen...(and keep in mind my arm had been itching all day and driving me nuts!). On top of the red...at each individual sore it was completely WHITE and hard as a rock..ARG! I felt miserable. We ended up at Whole food (my favorite place to shop!) that night and I looked through their book of herbal remedies...STILL thinking this *might* be poison Ivy I was reading on how to help itching......2 words..Liquid Aloe..............FANTASTIC! It was smooth....chemical free...and took care of the job better than the calamine lotion! On the downside..I was still up every 2 hours during the night (as I had been since Wednesday night), then up for about 45 minutes as I would wake myself up itching, then immediately go wash my arms and put aloe/calamine lotion on it. By the time I did this I was NOT ready to g back to bed. Well it was really starting to wear on me last night...The 3rd time I had woke up since Midnight...at 5...I was just crying...I told Kyle I was miserable and that I thought I needed to go to the emergency room. He completely agreed and then I said...well let me try to go back to sleep and see if it will get any better. The itching once again went away and I was back in bed by 5:30. I woke up just after 7 just as miserable. I stood in a bath of hot water just rinsing my arms....I got out and kyle had asked me about the new hours on an emergency health clinic they opened last month in town. I said "I think I can do that too." So now in the meantime Kyles cell phone rings...it was my Terri saying that they would not be in church as she was taking Brian down to the emergency room as it looked like he had poison Ivy on his face! His eye was almost completely SHUT! WHAT?!?!?! So Kyle started telling her about me and how we were going to try the emergent care office 1st. We drove separately to church so I could swing by and see the hours. It was now 9am and they did not open until 1! there was no way I was going to sanely last that long. I called Kyle and he said "no you can't wait that long...head down to the emergency room." So I headed down to the emergency room and as I was checking in my sis came round the corner to look at my arms. She walked with me to my room and sat there while I went through the whole story with the nurse...She left and came back about the time another nurse came in where I got to explain the whole story once again...and uhh...she is walking in with a whole bunch of needles...WHAT?!?!?! (I think I can I think I can I think I can). She says she is going to start the same treatment my Brother in law had......an IV...UG...followed by a couple different meds and lots of saline solution. The Dr also comes in and I get to explain the whole thing again...this time my sister is in the room and he is looking a little perplexed..like hey..didn't I just see you with another person?? lol I was finally able to leave around 12:30/12:45 and headed back home. I am on meds for the next 5 days but hopefully it will take care of this nasty thing! Oh and the verdict??? Who knows............He said it is NOT poison Ivy but it is definitely an allergic reaction to something...I hadn't been working in the yard for a couple weeks....after a series of more questions with really no answers he told me to make sure I bathe my pets in case they brought something in I may be allergic too.........anyone want to come over tomorrow and bathe a cat????

Call me Betty......

Betty Crocker that is! LOL Yesterday I was canning pumpkin, today I roasted the seeds and made some fresh bread...yummmm yumm........totally natural and all organic ingredients....I am proud of myself:) I am hoping to just start making my bread (thanks for the idea sis) instead of buying it. Less preservatives and just better for ya...Only I don't have a bread maker...if anyone has one they would love to get rid of let me know! LOL Oh well at any rate it might improve the muscles in my arms!

On the other hand..the rest of today was also great! We met up with Our good friends the Mamallama and littlellama and we all headed out to the pool. We had so much fun! You will NEVER guess what my older two did! They BOTH went off the diving board and SWAM by THEMSELVES over to the edge of the pool!!! I am SUCH a proud mama.....I figured Noah would do it but...well...Sanite on the other hand has always been afraid of the water. her 1st year of swimming lessons my goal was to have her get in the water without screaming her head off. I didn't even care if she went by herself! She could be held for all I care....just quit screaming! Well she went off the diving board the 1st time and Mamallama was there to catch her. The next time she was by herself and I could just see the tears welling up in her eyes..........so I had Maddie run to Mamallama and I swam down by Sanite so I could catch her. She was standing up there crying but....she jumped...more than that....she TRUSTED me to catch her...though you could see she debated for a few :) For those of you who have never adopted older children...trust is a HUGE issue...and even after her being home for 4 years...trust is still something we work on daily. I wish I could of got some pics but....my big ol booty was in the water with the 2 of them lol.

Noah on the other hand jumped right in and swam...he hesitated a little the 1st time...but after that he was OK. In fact one time he jumped and when he popped up he had a bloody nose. Blood was gushing everywhere. He didn't hit his nose on anything....must of just been on impact with water. I am telling you...all you have to do is look at him and say BOO and his nose will bleed!

Well off to bed for now....as for tomorrow ...well the kids have a little surprise:)

Chocolate! It's what's for Dinner!

http://www.foodnavigator.com/news/ng.asp?n=78789&m=1FNE806&c=eepddtxhprfgmgi

Pumpkin pumpkin everywhere!

Today was pumpkin picking day! Pumpkin you say? Pumpkin in August? Yep you read that right.....we picked pumpkin from the Caswell pumpkin patch....Apparently last year when the kids were finished painting their pumpkins, they were not "disposed of" properly...and well we had 2 separate pumpkin patches! We picked 8 pumpkins today and this is what we ended up with....

Sanite scooping her pumpkin



All the munchkins playin in pumpkin goop

Our finished product......catch the little one who just had to be in the pic LOL

All in all we ended up with 12 cans of pumpkin and several batches of seed! YUM! pie anyone???

Ratatouille!

OK if you haven't seen this movie it is one for the book! The kids loved it and laughed the whole way through....there was one kissing scene and Sanite turned around and gave us that "oh gross" look LOL. Maddie yelled out "EWW their KISSING!!!" followed by *giggle giggle giggle*. Noah and his bud Ryan were just sitting there watching and laughing...the boys were so funny! You are also probably wondering why on earth we saw this movie so late.....well......being as we are really working on paying off bills and well....just trying to pay things period we have told the kids we have to wait until the movie comes out in our old theater down town. It is called The Ohio Theater ( http://www.ohiotheatremadison.com/) and used to be Madison's theater way back in the day (very historic downtown). It has 2 screens, one is up stairs and is very tiny and the other is downstairs and is very large. It was used during the time of segregation. I don't think I have to tell which theater was used for what color of people...if your reading this you are more than likely bright enough to figure that out for yourselves lol.

At any rate...back to the theater....it was bought several years ago by a very nice family. They host free movies all year round. During the summer and winter months they have a "family fun series" where they are kid friendly movies. This year we saw Flicka, Open Season, Over the Hedge, Charlotte's Web, Night at the museum and several others all for free! They also have regular movies that play in the evening. They are generally movies that are just "going out" such as Ratatouille and Transformers (what is playing now). On Tuesdays they have a special night where it only costs $1.50 per person to see a movie! Also their popcorn and drinks are MUCH cheaper....for our whole family to go to the movies, get 2 large popcorn's and 2 large drinks it was only $20! Unbelievable! We are used to spending about $50 for a family night at the movies! Thanks Ohio theater of Madison for making going to the movies so economical!

Bear with me....

Please bear with me as I try to re-vamp this blog a little...I am going to try and re-arrange things a bit and make it a bit more organized....between having dial up and a basic knowledge of computers it may take a while....and it may look different every time you check back lol.

On the other hand.....I have some new family blogs added! My sister (listed as Brian and Terri) have their blog up and running now and it looks GREAT! Good job! For those of you who don't know I am very close to my sis and her family. God put them in my (our) lives for many reasons!

Another family blog that was added was that of Matt and my new niece Jackie. Come and read as they blog from 1/2 way around the world in Japan!

As for us...we had another nice day today. I took the kids to the park about a mile from the house and yeah...I am mean...we WALKED. Everyone had water bottles and it was shaded for 95% of the way. Also the park was shaded and in the country so hardly anyone ever goes there! The kids had so much fun! Not only did they play on all the equipment but it was a GREAT area for hide and go seek. There were literally HUNDREDS of HUGE trees around the park. I will have to post a pic sometime. Not only that but they have a kitchen and an amphitheater. There were some great hiding spots! Everyone counted to 100...even my little Noah :) he is getting to be such a big boy (insert boo-hoos and crying here!)

Homeschooling the heart...

I came across this today on Spritti's blog and I thought it so true....I have so many friends right now who are just starting homeschooling or even thinking about homeschooling and everything that I want to say to them....its...well....right here. Spirttibee has done a great job putting into words that which I could not.

Sprittibee's Favorite Homeschool Advice40 tips that I would share with any homeschool friend (newbie or old-hat alike)
If you are doing it on your own strength, you are going to fail (don’t forget to pray hard).
Ignore what other people are doing. Do your own thing.
SCHEDULE time off and me-time each day/week/semester.
Really work at it (nothing comes without effort).
Talent is overrated. There are very few prodigies. So what if your Johnny can’t make a stick figure. Not many people are just BORN knowing how to do things. You should still TEACH Johnny HOW to draw. If he hates it, at least he tried it. Same goes for you and homeschooling. Just because you didn't get a teaching degree doesn't mean you aren't capable of teaching.
Maintain adult contact. Do not be a hermit. You MUST have support (from people older than your kids). Your kids need friends, too.
Curriculum won’t ensure success. God + You + the Child = Success. Curriculum is just a tool. You can do just as good of a job with free stuff and the library as you can with the most expensive curriculums on the market.
Everyone has one subject they hate. Get your husband or a tutor to help. Sign the kids up for classes. Don’t let “ALGEBRA” stop you from homeschooling.
Creativity can not make up for DRIVE. A kid who WANTS to draw and puts out the effort will far SURPASS a child with “natural born talent” who is lazy. SKILLS are worked for. Talents that are not used DRY UP. Practice really does make perfect.
It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. Who cares if your grandmother’s sister hates that you homeschool. Are your kids happy? Are you happy? Then what’s your problem?
Bake cookies for your librarian. Get to know her. When you get charged 40$ in late fees, you may be glad you did!
You are the parent. What you say goes.
Don’t compare your kids or their grades to anyone else’s kids or their grades. Don't compare them to their siblings, either.
Passion is a God-given gift. Feed it. If your child is fascinated by volcanoes, buy them books on volcanoes. One day, they will be interested in something else. You never know just what you are helping God to shape in them.
It doesn’t hurt to color in the lines, but it also doesn’t hurt to draw your own lines. Don’t look down on someone else because they like to school inside the box.
Everyone needs to learn how to type and use a computer. No more living in the dark ages. Sorry, mom.
You CAN do this.
Advice is not a mandate. Read what you can and take it all with a grain of salt. See what works best for you and do THAT.
Find your own groove.
Homeschool from the heart.
Hang up your children’s artwork.
Really listen to your children and get to know them.
Understand that there will be bad days. MANY OF THEM.
Set your own schedule. Then STICK to it.
You do NOT have to finish every worksheet in the book.
Keep records. One day you’ll wish you had them.
Make sure your kids know you are proud of them. Even if they are struggling.
Try to include dad as much as possible.
Have awards ceremonies. Show your kids off to the grandparents. Make them feel appreciated.
Success breeds more success. Keep the challenges at a doable level and watch the kids blossom in confidence.
Knowing what is expected of you helps you stay on track. Give the kids a set schedule and a list of assignments. Use a chore chart. Be consistent.
Call your homeschool buddy who is having a hard year. You may be what keeps her from giving up.
Rewards are what everyone is after. You don’t work for free, so why should your kids? Give them a reward for hard work: Time off, sleepovers, screen time, free time, visits with friends, money or their favorite dinner.
Co-ops and field trips are great… but don’t over-schedule yourself. Have your goals in mind before you say yes to any activity outside of the home.
Plan ahead. Nothing will get done if you don’t.
It is OK to change course in the middle of the year.
You have my permission to take off the month of December instead of the month of June. In fact, you can take off any time of year you want. It is YOUR homeschool. You set the calendar.
READ. TO. YOUR. KIDS. Read in front of your kids. Read, read, read!
If you go to the conventions, spend more time in the lectures than at the vendor tables. You need the pep talks. Even if you think you don’t. You also don’t need to buy a ton of THINGS that will collect dust once you get them home.
Have fun. Take pictures and make memories. One day you’ll be able to look back at a job well done and a beautiful lifetime’s worth of wonder that you got to share with your babies.

What a day!

Wow today was fun!!! It was of to the pool for us today....and we had a great time as usual! Of course anytime my kids can get near water they are just ecstatic!We picked up Mr T from school and then headed to the pool in Versailles. Versailles state park is about 30 minutes outside of Madison and being as we left from Hanover it actually took us 45. It was so worth it! We usually go to Clifty falls state park which is about 10 minutes from our house but we were all "itchin" for a different pool. we arrived around 11:15 and we stayed until 3! Needless to say we were all HOT and TIRED by the time we left.

Maddie and Sanite being silly

Noah playin beach ball

Maddie makin' soup!
Sanite had made a friend!

Noah the little athlete!
Get ready Noah..I've got a gun and I am DANGEROUS

Maddie and Mr. T

Haitian family Camp

Last weekend was Haitian family camp and we had so much fun!!! We were only able to go for one day this year due to it conflicts with a major car show in Louisville, Ky. I am hoping next year we will be able to go the whole weekend. I think though that the only way we are going to be able to go at all next year is if the camp is moved to a different weekend. Kyle is planning on having a car ready to sell at this car show next year so....if you want to sell it you have to be there :)



The kids loved seeing everyone and they spent the majority of their time in the pool or on the huge slip and slide (pic to follow lol).

All Barbara's girls bein' silly

All Barbara's kids

Sanite on the slip n' slide



Maddie and her bud Elli

"Air Noah"

Sanite just chillin' in the pool

We ended up stayin up pretty late (again) on Saturday. I think we got home after midnight for the 3rd night in a row. UG this mama was/is tired! It was fun though....I got to talk alot about one of my favorite topics...homeschooling! I love sharing all the fun stuff we have done over the past couple years and talking about the exciting stuff yet to come! One of these days I would like to have an area in my blog for all of my favorite websites for curriculum information. Oh well, I will get that done in my spare time LOLOLOL

Ready for school??

The other day we went...yep...you guessed it...school shopping :) Now you are probably thinking...ok this woman must be nuts! She homeschools why on earth would she go "school shopping?" 1st of all.....name one other time during the year when you can buy 10 packs of crayola crayons for $2 lol. 2nd of all.....its just fun :) I took the kids to all look around at different back packs and lunch boxes. Noah ended up with a Cars backpack and power rangers lunchbox, Sanite bought a High School Musical messenger bag and a purple camo lunch bag. Maddie bought a Disney princess backpack (she can use it for dance) that had a matching lunchbox. too cute! After we did all that shopping (believe me we were exhausted!) we went to Tumbleweed and the mall and time for a little play...yep I have pics of my babes :)

Maddie the Munchkin

Sanite the Silly Squirrel

Noah the Knight

Car show last Friday!

Last weekend we went to the Street Rod Nationals in Louisville, ky. It was fantastic! The cars were neat...but I was able to go with my mother-in-law into "woman's world." This is a specific area in the exhibit halls where they generally sell crafts and other girly type things. I bought each one of the girls a little quilted purse which will be soon to be used as diaper bags. Both girls have asked for the "Baby Alive" doll for Christmas so we hope to be able to purchase the dolls and then...being as this baby "eats" and "poops" we plan on giving the girls each a diaper bag with diapers and food. Diaper bags were a nice price for $5 a piece! They are too cute! Also I bought a bit for Sanites birthday.....a signed pic of.....HANNAH MONTANA!!!!!!!( I've got the beeeeeeeeeeeeest of both worlds............). She wants a Hannah Montana MP3 player for her birthday so we thought this would go along with it pretty well. I was able to get some pics of my baby boy too.....he spent most of the day with his papa...

The types of cars we were looking at

That night there was a concert and the kids had a ball! They were playing old Elvis songs (and boy was it LOUD!) as well as other songs that were just great older songs (yes ....older as in even from the 80's lol) There were two things we couldn't do during this concert....

#1....Keep Maddie in her seat (notice how the beads are straight behind her head?LOL)

#2- You can't keep Noah awake during a concert

Happy Anniversary!

<

Well last Thursday was our 10th Anniversary and we have just been so blessed. We ended up going out to dinner and well...that was it lol. We were so tired that we never even made it to the movies. Of course it didn't help that it took 1 1/2 hours to get our food at the restaurant! By the time we left we made a trip to walmart for the car show the next day and we came home and crashed! Here are some pics of me and my best friend taken 10 years ago.....

Um....sorry???

OK so yes...it has been a while since I have posted...LORI! QUEEN OF BLOGGER LAND....Of all that is full of blogger-ness, with thy right hand that ruleth the keyboard and whose words always fillith our bellies full of laughter....please forgive me! LOL Ok so LOTS going on with us the past few weeks...first of all Kyle and I had a GREAT birthday dinner. My birthday is July 12 and Kyles is the 14. We always combine our birthdays and do something neat with the family. This year we went to the Derby Dinner playhouse and saw Peter Pan. It was FANTASTIC! We have been to Derby several times and I have to say this was the best production we have seen!


Then the following day my nephew was married...well...kind of lol. They actually were married back in May (see previous blogs) but had a ceremony this month. It was beautiful:)

Last week my kids attended a VBS at a church around the corner from us. We are very familiar with the people that attend there as we all used to attend a large congregation together way back when before it split. This congregation works with us on our Haitian mission and generally has our Haitian missionary with them for their VBS. This year he was able to bring part of his family with him!!!! Below are all the Haitian children...

left to right: Phedna, Sanite, Kesley, Maddie, Edson, and Noah

It was amazing that our kids "chose" to stick with the Haitian kids as much as they could at the VBS....even though Nerriils kids spoke ONLY Kreyol and our kids spoke ONLY English.....Noah was so cute...he followed Phedna around like a little puppy:) Made my heart warm!

We are officially on "break" now from school and will start back the 1st week in September YEAH!!!!!! We have SO much to look forward to over the next month. On Friday we will be headed down to Louisville for a car show, on Saturday we will be headed off to Haitian family camp, then lets add another VBS on top of it! On the 17th we will be headed off to Indiana Beach as Kyle won 4 tickets at the 4-h fair (go Kyle!). On the 25th we have the back to school picnic with the homeschool group, and I am usually heading off to see my Aunt over in PA (my only blood relative left except for my siblings) but alas funds are tight this year! Gas is just way too expensive! *sigh*


I DID manage to get some pics of the kids while they were playing at the park the other day. This park is at the school I used to teach at. It was kind of neat to see them playing on all that equipment!

Maddie "hangin' out"

Noah being a silly boy :)

Happy face Sanite!

Salsa for Sanite......Juice for Noah.....

All I can say is this past week has been such a blur! Between doing school with 3 kiddos then adding in all the normal running around, babysitting for 2 others, AND 4th of July AND Regatta stuff we have just been flying by the seat of our pants this past week. Friday night we went to our usual 4th of July/Regatta parade and a great time with friends at our typical "cookout." the kids played and played and played until they could play no more lol. Saturday it was detailed cleaning around the house (only you wouldn't know it now!) and then an afternoon with my girls (Noah got to go see Transformers with his Aunt Terri!) and then an evening watching fireworks. By the time we got back from fireworks, everyone had baths (they were FILTHY!) they were in bed at about midnight! Sunday was of course assembly in the am, come home to have tacos for lunch. I had made everything the day before that way it could be a "heat and eat" meal as Kyle has been spending every waking minute in the garage due to the fact he went to the parade and fireworks with us. I knew he was not going to be able to "wait around" for a meal. We eat out meal, and I start the dishes. Kyle heads out to the garage and I put Maddie to bed. Sanite and Noah are helping me clear the table. They are bringing me dishes and cups, putting the sour cream in the fridge etc. Then Sanite picks up the salsa...........and this is not a regular jar of salsa from walmart....it is the huge gallon container from SAMS club.....She is standing there talking to me about something ( I can't remember what right now) and she was "Swinging" that container. I didn't think anything of it.....she said "What do you want me to do with this?" and simultaneously turns it upside down while its above her head....................needless to say....the last person to use it ( papa *ahem*) did NOT put the lid back on it and salsa DUMPED all over her head, clothes, floor, fridge, cabinets, washing machine etc. For those of you who haven't been to my house I have a VERY large kitchen ( about 25 ft long at least) and there was splatter from one wall to the other...and I mean that very literally...............VERY literally lol. All I could do was laugh...Sanite just wanted to cry...but she eventually learned to laugh at herself. I gave her yet another shower picking onions, peppers and tomatoes out of her hair (along with a good wash) and as I tightened her locs later I was still picking onion and such out of her hair. I have a feeling that I will be washing her locs again today "just to be sure" that she doesn't smell like tacos anymore.


And well my dear Noah..... he has had 2 loose teeth for MONTHS now...I mean they have been loose since around April. Now Sanite, when she gets a loose tooth...she is begging to get it out....she plays and plays and plays with it until it comes out/has me pull it out. Noah is a different story...he will leave that tooth in there and NO ONE is going to touch it. I kept telling him you HAVE to play with it and get it out! He refused to touch it! Last Friday I looked in his mouth to see how loose his teeth were when I discovered that his NEW teeth were already coming in!They had broke through and were coming in BEHIND his baby teeth (not good!). SO I told him he needed to get his baby teeth out to make room for his new ones. Well he was a brave boy and let me take ONE out.....he was tickled pink to get that dollar from papa LOL. Then yesterday I asked to look at his other tooth...I said "let me try flossing your teeth" he said "Ok!!" So he got the dental floss and before he knew what I happened I wrapped that dental floss around his other tooth and popped it right out. My boy is now a toothless wonder :) Well, kind of lol as the big ones are already coming in and hopefully they will move forward!

Well I better head out as I have 1 hour before my kiddos get here and I need my prayer time!

Swimming at the Zoo?!?!

Yep you read that right....swimming at the zoo! Yesterday was our day off of school this week and Kyle had asked me to run down to Louisville and pick up some material for a car he is working on so I thoght....hum.....Let's go to the zoo! So late Wednesday I got a cooler all packed and stuffed the kids swimsuits in the cooler. The kids got up and were their usual pleasant selves lol. After we did all of our running around I told them I was taking them to the zoo and they were so excited! We got there and it was POURING down rain!!!!!! I turned around and all these people were leaving the zoo..I was like UG! I had been hearing that it was supposed to clear up by mid morning and a pretty nice day so we decided to stay. I threw my hair back (I have never been one to fear what my hair looks like lol Don't get me wrong...I try to look nice but I don't let it stop me from doing what I want to do!) and we moved on....Sure enough within just a few minutes the rain turned to sprinkles and then it eventually faded away ( I think it was between seeing the baby Bongo and baby Elephant). Then after a few hours...here it was....the long awaited.....long sought after....long drooled for....Glacier park lol. For those of you who don't know, this is a new addition to the Louisville Zoo. IT is a small water-play area for the kids and it is WONDERFUL. I think we spent 1 1/2 hours in just this part alone! Oh and um.......the kids slept great last night LOL

Maddie Slippin' and slidin

Sanite Floppin like a Fish

Noah just "flounderin'" around

Troubled week

This has been a pretty bad week for several families so please forgive me for not posting in a while and if you are reading this, please take a moment to pray for a few families.

1. Dave and Theresa Fagan-Dave and Theresa are great friends of ours and we these are people we truly look up to and respect. They are speakers of the truth and Dave is dealing with cancer right now so please be with their family.

2. Jack Daniel Ison - go to www.caringbridge.org and click on "visit" after that type in his name with no spaces. This is a young man that I taught several years back in elementary school. For those of you who are teachers you understand that they are always "your students" even years later. He was in a horrible motorcycle accident on my road just 2 miles from my house. Things are not looking good for him and the entire family needs your prayers.

3. My cousin Rebecca Lynn Bradley passed away last week http://www.asimas.com/ASIMAS/merrittfuneral/obituaryDescription.jsp?domain_id=92&deceased_id=117398. Please keep all the family in your prayers.

Thank you

Angela
Ringmaster of my own 3 ring circus

Is she really 3?!?!

Ok so I haven't had that much time to post and I realize I still have more stuff to catch up on from Vacation but I had to put this blurb in for my baby Maddie...She is 3! We came home from vacation on the 17th only to turn around last Friday to head out camping for Maddies birthday. She has been begging for MONTHS "can we go camping for my birthday? Can we go Camping for my birthday?" So of COURSE we took her camping over at Clifty Falls. We had a nice site way in the back away from all the madness of various groups there for the weekend. We arrived on Friday, unpacked (which thankfully with the camper does NOT take long!) and fired up the....um....fire. We had some super yummy grilled chicken and corn on the cob...all of it grilled.....smores to follow LOL. The next day (Saturday) was Maddies birthday party. We had family and friends show up around 4 and we cooked hot dogs, sausages, baked beans, and we also had plenty of chips, watermelon, and of course cake and ice cream! The whole family played with water balloons and bubbles. We had a great time! After all that was done and everyone left I took the girls to get washed off for Church the next morning. We came back and they were begging for more smores. I was like are you kidding me??? You should be stuffed LOL.

On a side note...both Sanite AND Noah now can ride bikes without training wheels!!!!! How awesome is that???? All morning on Saturday we were calling Noah "George."......"Hey Noah, watch out for that tree" ( feel free to replace tree with camper, picnic table, dumpster, tent, car as they were all used lol). Sanite had been riding a while without her training wheels but she would always "coast" instead of peddling and never had a good grip on the stopping part lol. I was able to get her on the road at the campsite (our road at home is in the country but still to busy to ride on) and I let her go. I had to show her she wasn't supposed to coast and she got it! Then it was time for the brakes. She was easy....I showed her once how to use the brakes and yep she got it. Noah on the other hand.....I thought he was going to rub his toes off by putting his feet on the ground to stop every time lol. It is amazing how fast they both "got it." In fact we hadn't even thought about taking his wheels off....he as begging at the campsite! Now they both chase each other on our yard like they have been doing it for years. So guess what they want for Christmas???? yep....new bikes......and Now Maddie is saying she wants a REAL bike like what Noah and sissy have...not her tricycle....UG! There was a little girl at the park riding a Cinderella bike...you should have heard Maddie squeal every time she went by!

Long time no Blog eh?

Wow has the past month been a total and complete BLUR! We had a FABULOUS time on vacation! On that 1st day we took the kids to The World of Coca Cola in Atlanta. Wow was it cool! It had been YEARS since I had been there and even then it was TOTALLY different. The only thing that remained was where you could taste all the cokes from around the world (and yes for all of you who are wondering.....Beverly is still there!). We saw a movie in 4-d (KEWL!) and see all the Coke paraphernalia that has been around since like....well...forever..... We saw movies about coke, and even saw one movie that was coke "through the years." We got to hear all the coke jingles that we grew up with (and many many many that were before our time!) It was awesome. Kyle and I were sitting back going..."Oh yeah!!! I remember that commercial!" it was truly funny. The kids loved it..the best part was watching their faces as they drank some of the coke products from around the world. Of course I gave everyone a cup of Beverly Just to see their faces lol. I thought poor Noah was going to be sick. That night we headed to The Varsity for Dinner (What'll ya have...what'll ya have...........) you can't visit Atlanta without visiting The Varsity!

The following day we went to visit both my parents graves and then off to my friend Allison's house for dinner that night. It was so great to meet your family! Call us next time you get up to Louisville!!!!!

The following day was a trip to the science museum where my kids stood in the middle of Hurricane winds....you can't really tell in the picture but the kids are standing in the middle of 80mph wind gusts!

We met up with Lori and Spike that afternoon (after eating at Alessi's bakery!) and headed on over to Titusville to watch the space shuttle launch! How awesome!

It was great! More on Vacation tomorrow!

the final thought............

So on June 6, 2003 we wake up VERY early to get ready. I get Sanite ready first. Since I knew her shoe size now, I had gone out and bought her a new pair of tennis shoes. Mind you this was probably only her 2nd pair of shoes and her very 1st pair of "new" shoes. She looked at those shoes, and looked at those shoes, and played with those shoes, and showed them to me over and over and over again. It still amazes me how every little thing to her was just an "awe causing" moment. The 2 children and I arrive at the airport to meet with a broken hearted birthmom. She had spent the night at the village just so she could come say good bye to the kids. She had a tear streaked/stained face but was so glad they had a home. It was heart breaking. She loved these children so much, I am not sure they will even begin to understand how much she loves them until they are much older. We flew through the immigration and such and boarded our plane. We flew from Port-Au-Prince to Miami, We got off the plane in Miami and walked calmly to immigration (if you have ever been through immigration in Miami you realize this is not the norm!). When we arrived there were several other adoptive families there and so they opened a line just for us! We were in and out of immigration within 15 minutes LOL. That NEVER happens!With 2 kids in tow we had a 4 hour layover. Sanite is amazed with the Barbie and horse we had bought her and Noah...well...every pic we have of him he is eating something LOL. I took them for their first "American meal" at Burger King. Sanite had to inspect her food first and Noah...well....he just wasnt ready to eat until he had his foot on the table LOL. He raised that big (little) foot on the table and grabbed hold of that chicken nugget. I am not even sure he smelled it LOL. Sanite on the other hand decided it was edible and ate the entire thing before I had turned back around!The rest of our flights were pretty uneventful. I had to take a little girl who spoke NO English all around the airport and wheel Noah around making sure I had PLENTY of snacks lol. In fact, I had this little pink "leash" that went around her wrist that I called her "bracelet." She HATED that thing but it sure came in useful as the little stinker tried to make several escape attempts! Late that night.....I brought 2 tired kids through the CVG airport where we had Papa, Grandma, Grandpa, Lori, Spike, Boo, and Kiara waiting on us. We had a small trip to steak and shake, then off for home. By the time we arrived home both kids had just plain tuckered out. When they woke up the next morning they woke up in rooms they had never seen before, in a whole new country, and couldn't even understand those who were trying to comfort them. We have come such a long way. Thinking about this journey brings amazing tears to my eyes, for both the joy and the pain. I brought home a stubborn hard headed girl who is STILL stubborn and hard headed, but I believe that is more from her environment :) God has taken her personality and molded it His way...She is still stubborn and hard headed, but she is also the most giving, and obedient little girl. She is hardly ever in trouble and she wants to please everyone all the time. She is as smart as a whip and amazez me everyday. I can't believe how time has flown with her. It seemed just like yesterday she was coming home and now I can see the woman God has destined her to be. Noah is still my eater and my little man. He no longer has to eat with his foot on the table, but his feet are always doing something else. He is my little athlete. He is a lover of football and wrestling, and more than that...he loves Jesus. I always get a kick out of him telling everyone at church to "sit down" because "he" is about ready to start his lesson.....as he steps up to the podium it always goes like this" You see...there was this guy...Jesus.." LOL and the story continues to change. God is going to do such great things for him! I pray that our lives lead them into a life of servantry to God, doing His will. I pray they find christian spouses who will raise christian children. I pray that my whole family will grow up to become part of the Lords church. WE LOVE YOU BUBBA AND SISSY!!!!!!!

As the Saga continues.............

So last I wrote....4 years ago yesterday I was staying the night in Chicago. 4 years ago today I was getting up and heading to the airport to fly from Chicago to Miami and Miami to Port-Au-Prince. I arrived in Port-Au-Prince in the early afternoon. Barbara and Kendra had other appointments so I walked out of the airport alone (that can be pretty scary!) and I had to wait for about 1 hour for Barb to come get me. A little while into it an older gentleman came up to me and said "You wait for Baaaa-ba-wa???? Lady in Blue dress?" I said yes and then recognized him. It was a man that Barbara called Papa. He at one point had taken care of Noah for a while. So he waited with me until Barbara and Kendra arrived. They arrived around 3:00 and we headed off immediately to the consulate. Barbara dropped off Kendra and myself but I was the only one allowed in. I was able to go in, meet with Katharine Sharp, and quickly sign all my papers. I came out with ALL my paperwork in hand.....ready to see the kids! We ended up having to stand around a while waiting for Barbara to come back. The was NO ONE on the street where we were and we kept hearing a cat. We kept looking around and looking around and exchanging confused looks lol. Suddenly a woman walks by holding a "sack" and the sack was.....well....meowing and moving lol. We looked at each other and exchanged comments like "Cat...the other white meat" and "I know whats for supper tonight!" lol Barbara came and picked us up and immediately headed to the orphanage (it was around 5 by now). I was VERY nervous as the 2 weeks we had spent with the kids had NOT gone well with Sanite. She was/is very stubborn and very independent. The thought of calling us mama and papa and actually "succumbing" to those titles was just overwhelming for her. So here we had spent 2 weeks with her and then turned around and left her just like anyone else in her life. I was terrified that I was REALLY going to PAY for leaving her. I walked in to see a sea of 26 faces all eating dinner and I hear someone yelling MAMA! MAMA! It was my darling daughter! She was standing up in her seat pointing at me with her fork. She was so excited to see me it melted my heart .....and still does to this day. Noah was busy eating (so what else is new) and he didn't really care if I was there or not LOL. He ended up getting quite attached to the Orphanage director and I literally had to PEEL him off of her. The 3 of us headed back to the guest house where I bedded them down for the night and up VERY early the following morning to leave for Home Sweet Home....The good 'ol USA.............

Where were YOU 4 years ago today?

Thinking back at where we were at this time 4 years ago brings back so many feelings...happiness and excitement, depression and sadness, joy and pain. On April 11, 2003 we had called an made an appt at the immigration office in Haiti. We were to be there in the afternoon of April 15, 2003. The only thing left to do was to pick up our papers from Immigration (they were already signed) and take them to the consulate for our visa. The process should of taken about 2 days. When we arrived in Haiti we discovered that in just those few days, the immigration officer had been replaced and the new one would not honor our appointment. We were supposed to leave Haiti just 3 days later. We ended up exhausting all of our resources to try and stay and extra week. Kyle used all his vacation time at work, we had dwindled our savings, and worst of all, we had been expecting to bring thje kids home and it was looking more and more like we were going to leave them there. The immigration officer was so cruel and unkind. He did not know what he was doing and egan to request all sorts of documents that were not required, interviews that were not required (he had Christiana in the office in TEARS several times). Upon returning to the states after handing my children back over to Haitians (if you have never been through this you need to know that out of everything I had been through in my life this was and still is the most painful memory as I didnt even know when I would see my children again) We contacted our Senator Evan Bayh. Here is a copy of the letter we sent:





Dear Senator Bayh,



We are Kyle and Angela Caswell and we are in the process of adopting two chidlren from Haiti. We ahev completed the Haitian adoption process (been through the courts system and have had the children legally declared as "ours")> We have also completed our part of the INS process. We filed the I600 and received our approval, and we also filed the I600 on each one of the children (Sanite and Geno Pierre) and received the approval. All we needed was for the INS office in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti to hand over our forms so we could get the children's visas and bring them home. the total time for the process to bring them home should have taken less than 24 hours. I was notified on Friday April 11 the the INS office in Haiti did not have a copy of our approval forms. I called the INS office here in the states, the National Visa Registry, AND the office in Haiti. ALL three informed me that as long as I had the originals of my approvals we would be fine. When I spoke with the INS office in Haiti I explained to them that we had already made arrangements to arrive in Haiti to pick up our children on Tuesday April 15. The woman on the other end said "No problem! Bring your approval to the office as soon as you arrive and everything will be taken care of right there." Our flight arrived in Haiti at approx 10:30am. We called the INS office while we were waiting to pick up our luggage. When we called the INS office we were informed that the INS officer had left for Mexico and he would not return until Monday the 21st. No one in the office was able to hand over our papers because it had to be done by an official INS officer. We were supposed to leave Haiti on the 18Th; but instead we had to postpone our flight out of the country. We went back to the INS office on Monday the 21st only to find out that there was a new INS officer in office and he was refusing to do any work on adoptions that week. After this the INS officer decided that the approvals we had bee given before were not sufficient and decided to do his own investigation on our case. he asked to see the death certificate for our children's birth father. We brought in the death certificate and that was not good enough. We had to return to the region where the father had died and obtain a letter from the Judge stating that "yes he lived here and yes he died." When we returned to the office on Tuesday (as we had been instructed) an armed guard met us at the door and would not let us pass. We were instructed that we had to wait until the following Monday (the 28Th). So patiently we waiting until Monday the 28Th. ON the 28Th we were the 1st people there at 8:30 in the morning. The sign on the door says they begin at 9:00am. The doors however did not open until 11:00am when he decided to arrive. The place where we sat was a room about 10X10 (and there were about 30 people in this room), no fans, no water, and no restroom. When he finally did start allowing people in, we sat there until every single other person had been seen before us. When he called us back we were informed that the judges letter (on top of the death certificate) was not good enough to prove that the children's father was deceased. he said he then wanted to interview the birth mother again. It just so happened that the birth mother knew we were going to be at the office that day and was coming by to visit with the children. We took her in immediately for and interview (which by the way was her 3rd interview by the INS and only 2 are necessary). After the interview he said he needed to "think about it for a while" and to call back on Wednesday. Well sir, we were unable to stay any longer. By this time we had already been there 12 days longer than we had planned and the cost for us to stay was $100 per day. Finances no longer allowed for us to stay with our children, We left on that Wednesday only to find out later that he now wanted 3 friends of the deceased father to come in and interview and another interview with the birth mother. On Friday May 2ND, the birth mother was taken in for her 4Th interview. They waited in that small sweaty room from 8am until 2pm. During this time the birth mother was interviewed only to come out in tears. She was not interviewed, she was interrogated. At 2:00 they went to retrieve the "rejection notice." When asked why the notice took so long to prepare the Haitian secretary replied, "We had to wait for him to come into the office." Come to find out he was not even there when the birth mothers interview was conducted! The birth mother was interviewed and denied by the Haitian secretary. If I am correct the ONLY person qualified to make these decisions is the INS officer himself and NOT his secretary. From my understanding, what happened in that office was illegal and the secretary should be reprimanded for what she did!



The 3 friends of the birth father were brought in on Wednesday May 7Th. They then sat there all day not to be seen. They were told to return on Friday. The same thing happened. As it turns out the reason they were not seen was because the officer was not even IN. This seemed to happen ALOT while we were down there. They were told to return on Monday May 12Th and he promised to see the 3 men. They all returned on Monday only to be told he was once again not in the office.



Barbara Walker (our facilitator) once again went to the INS office on Wednesday the 14Th. This time however she was only able to bring down one of the men who just so happened to be the judge from the area the birth mother was from. Once again they were turned away. The secretary said she would not interview just him so he could turn around and tell the other 2 men what he said. She told Barbara to call back to following day.



Barbara Called on Thursday and the secretary said "Barbara I told you that I need a 3rd party birth certificate for the father!" Barbara replied with "I have brought it with me everyday!"



On Friday Barbara goes to the INS office AGAIN. She brings in the 3rd party birth certificate for the birth father and a new birth certificate for Geno that lists the name of the father. The secretary took the papers from Barbara, but then proceeded to tell her "just because I have the papers does not mean I will do the work." Barbara was told to came back ON the 28Th and the Haitian secretary would let her know what she has decided. This Haitian secretary has been in charge to run the INS office as she pleases. I doubt the INS officer had even seen our file but he is never there so we can't even ask.



Sir, we have been put through the wringer with this office. We were told to to their office on Tuesday April 15Th by THEIR office. We met our children, we had them with us from the time we arrived until the time we left. Sir the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life is to hand over my children and leave them in there in that country. Sir if there is anything you can do to help us, I beg of you. We miss our children dearly and they miss us too. They are now living in an orphanage when they should be home with us. While we were in Haiti we spoke with Katherine Sharp and the US consulate so if you need to speak with anyone that witnessed us there with the children she may be the one you want to speak with. I have enclosed copies of all of our approvals from the United States INS office. If there is anything else you would like a copy of please let us now and we will see what we can do about faxing it to you.



Thank you and God Bless,



Kyle and Angela Caswell





WOW! There is so much about that whole process that I had forgotten....so back to the question.....where were you 4 years ago today? I can answer that....4 years ago today I was in Indianapolis with Lori praying for a little Haitian girl who was getting ready to go in for surgery. While at the hospital Lori contacted Katharine Sharp at the US consulate in Haiti who said she would love to get me in for an apt for our visa the following day! I FLEW home from Indy, made flight arrangements, and left the Greater Cincinnati airport that night around 6:00pm. .....I flew from CVG to Chicago and stayed the night there.............anxiously awaiting the following day where I would wake up...and be reunited with my children..................


oh yes and..........



2 MORE SLEEPS UNTIL WE LEAVE!!!!!!!

My daughter the Diva...........

Yesterday was Sanites dance recital and she was SUCH the Diva! The theme was "Viva Las Vegas!" and the whole event just turned out cute! I can tell SUCH a big difference from when she started 2 years back....she was just cute and it didn't really matter what she did as they would just be cute....this year she could actually remember the dances (for the most part) and was able to "get into it" a bit. At one point Kyle and I were just laughing. During her tap dance she thought that she was Sammy Davis Jr and started flipping her feet where ever they would go lol. You could tell it was on purpose as the rest of the group was doing one thing and then she just BUSTS OUT with this little toe tapping dance LOL.

She did great and had a wonderful time. Every year after recital she gets to pick where we go/what we eat. This year she chose to just go and home and grill out hot dogs/chili dogs! Only Sanite :) She is an absolute blessing and I can't imagine what life would be like without her! WE LOVE YOU SISSY!

also on a side note..............

3 MORE SLEEPS UNTIL VACATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE ARE PACKED!!!!

Can you believe it???? 5 days from now we leave....We are all so excited we just can't stand it! The kids are already packed and we have started to pack the car. We already have the golf bags packed, the stroller (UG! Michele I forgot to see if I could borrow E's!!!!), the kids regular bags, the toy bags/beach gear etc. The only thins we have left are:

1. Mine and Kyles suitcases-of course everyone else has enough clothes to go around but us LOL

2. The coolers/snacks- we already have most of this it just needs to be thrown together. I got to the co-op on Monday to pick up my pineapple and granola bits for my snack. Yep its in a HUGE 5 gallon bucket...think we will have enough? LOL

We are really really really going to try and be good this time....we are going to "try" and limit ourselves to eating out once a day...the more we can save, the more we can pay down, and the sooner Kyle can be out of Meese and on his own.

Last year we went with our best friends the Sheplers and had a FABULOUS time! We are soooooooo looking forward to going again. Last year I think one of the highlights of our trip was where we went to the Dixie Stampede..........you should of SEEN Noah and Kiaras faces when they put that whole Cornish hen on their plate LOL Noahs eyes bout popped out of his head....he thought he had died and gone to Heaven LOL If you all wouldn't mind...say a prayer for the rest of Fl as they don't even realize what kind of invasion they have coming next week LOL