Dossier Update

We are working diligently on our dossier at the moment:

-We have our lab draws scheduled tomorrow so we can get both of our doctor's forms completed and ready for the adoption agency approval before it is sent off for apostille.
-We are waiting to get updated copies of our homestudy, since James has a new job now and when we do the employment verification portion of the dossier it needs to match the homestudy.
-The very last minute we will be doing the employment verification to give time for my husband to build up compensation history.  In a perfect situation we would have 6 months of back pay to show for.  This will not be the case for our dossier but we need as much as possible. 
-The very last minute we will be doing the residence verification since we are in a month to month rental agreement. When we submit our dossier the date needs to reflect that we are current in our rental lease.
-We have submitted for marriage license again.  I bought copies last year since I saw it was needed on the Reece's Rainbow website. However, the date the register stamps on the back of the certificate needs to be within 6 months of the court date- so mine is stamped for February last year, this is too old.  I am planning to have the country registrar to mail the marriage certificates to the state secretary so I can get it apostilled at the same time.  The state of Nevada is backed up on their apostille requests for 5 weeks, so I will be paying for 24 hour expediting.
-I will be working on the police clearance tomorrow when I have more time in the morning to make the calls. I went to WATCH.com or something similar and already paid $20 for a police clearance, but this is NOT what I needed. I need to make a bunch of calls because I need a written statement on letterhead and not screenshot on a computer with one line saying they couldn't find the correct "James Brown".  LOL. Hopefully this won't take too long to get.
-Most of the other documents just require us signing, and notarizing, and more apostilles. The rest is easy compared to the above.
-The bad news is that we missed our biometrics, so I made calls and sent in the original appointment forms in with the boxed checked that we need to reschedule and I included a written explanation of why we couldn't make our appointment. I'm sad it didn't work out!! Hopefully we can get a new appointment soon, the adoption agency doesn't think this should delay things too much, if at all.

Biometrics

We got letters in the mail yesterday with our Biometrics date!  So we will be fingerprinted on Dec. 19th. I don't know how long it takes to get USCIS approval after that date, but hopefully it will be very shortly thereafter!
We currently have to work on updating our homestudy since my husband recently accepted a new job.  It is very important that our homestudy matches the emplopyment verification portion of the dossier.  Also, the Ukraine SDA changed a lot of their dossier forms in the past few weeks. I am waiting to get the updated forms from my adoption agency before proceeding with the dossier.  So that is were we are at currently.

Today is Thanksgiving!  I am so thankful for my husband, my son, for my friends and family, for a roof over my head, for food to eat everyday, for my husband's job, for my job, and for money to pay our heating bill.  I thank GOD for these things!  Yes, some would consider these things as basic living necessities, but there are some who don't have any of these things.  I am so thankful to have these blessings!  I will not take for granted the little things, since they are from GOD, I had nothing to do with it- other than obeying His leading in our life. When I have the urge to dream and desire a better living situation, I am stopped almost immediately. I am so grateful to God for what I have, I have no reason nor desire to covet anything else. My goal to to be faithful in the little so the Lord may- if He chooses to- entrust me with greater.  Glory to the Lord!  Happy Thanksgiving to all!

22-Month Milestones & Evan Pictures!

What a cutie!

Yes, I want to bring you home and give you lots of love!

22-Month Milestones:

Not too much different than last month.  David is independently playing with toys much better though- a lot less throwing and just teething on toys, and more appropriate playing.  This is with me out of the room, and me just peeking in on him.  Last month David wasn't doing this as well, though he could play with the toys with my help and direction with each one of them.

Everything else is pretty much the same. We did get a hold of a toddler sized therapy walker for David!  We use it everyday.  David seems to like it- I just need to figure out a better place to use it than just back and forth in our living room, which is kind of boring.

Now on to our adoption: We now have the go-ahead to work on our dossier. So my deadline is mid January to have it turned in to the adoption agency.  Did I mention how confusing this process is?  Our process has not been a walk in the park- there always seemed to be an issue here or there that kept delaying things. So onward to getting our dossier complete!

David's 21-month Milestones

David is a busy busy boy and seems to be doing more this month, which is wonderful!

-David can pull up on a walker and walk with it all by himself.
-David will walk without holding on to anything if I hold on to the back of his shirt to help him keep his balance.
-David can stand without shoes on for about 5 seconds.  With shoes and orthotics about 10 seconds.
-David is now signing "eat" and a very occasional "mommy"
-David now plays "peek-a-boo" and covers/uncovers his eyes.
-David loves to play "basketball" and throw little basketballs into my laundry basket.
-We have this musical instrument kit, where the instruments are stored in a clear plastic drum.  David now loves to put the instruments back in and secure the lid in place.  He will leave something out usually so he can bang the drum with it.  He's playing with more intention now.
-David doesn't say words yet, or imitate, but he babbles with quiet a variety of vocal ranges from high pitch with energy to calm and slow.  He gets very animated when he's talking!

David is on a this schedule that he's been on for quite awhile now.  He doesn't depart from it, it's like clockwork:  Up at 7-7:30am, Nap at 12:30-1:00 for about 1 hour, sometimes longer or shorter, and in bed between 8-8:30. 

A couple months back the only way to get David to nap was to put him in the jumper and he would jump to sleep. But he's since outgrown it, so I transitioned to rocking him to sleep which took about 5 minutes.  That got old, so I would put him in his crib, and he would pull up to stand and cry for 10 minutes or so and finally after that would go to sleep. NOW, I put him in his bed, he pulls up to stand and fusses for 2-3 minutes and will go to sleep.

When it's time to sleep at night, he usually fusses for 1-2 minutes and sometimes will stay down and not pull up to sleep. But he sleeps quicker and all through the night. In the morning he is my alarm clock and will start talking/yelling/crying to let me know he's up and wants me.

But David does so good throughout the day because of our "schedule", I just wonder what Evan's schedule is and how he's doing.  I pray for angels of protection over that sweet boy that I hope to meet soon and take home with me!  He has lots of love awaiting him... :-)

Evan pictures- so handsome!

I just got new pictures of Evan from my adoption agency!  Wow, he is so grown-up looking compared to the original picture I had from Reeces Rainbow- now I know what David will look like in a year and a half!  :-)  Enjoy the pictures, I know I certainly am!

Evan video

Evan comes in at the 30 second mark.  He is so adorable, I just want to love on him too! Thank you Lindsey for sending me this!

Is the paperwork supposed to take this long?

I don't know why everything is taking so long for our adoption.  I see other parent's blogs and how quickly they are getting the paperwork turned in and responses back and it boggles my mind!

I got my receipt the other day for the I-600a form dated September 19, 2011, and when I go online their average processing times is 90 days.  And I hear that when you get the approval form back, your fingerprinting date is usually a month later.  So that puts us at mid/late January and by then all of our paperwork will be so old regarding finances and employment.  We might have to wait until we do our taxes... it will add at least a month for the updating with the homestudy agent.... and that is just for our dossier. Wow.  Does this seem right?  How is it that the other blogs that I read seem to happen so much faster?  Is there anything I should be doing now while I'm waiting? 

Thank you in advance for your comments and encouragement! 

David's 20-month milestones

I haven't done a milestone post in about 3 months, so I wanted to make sure to not miss out on this month before I forget what David is currently able to do and is working on!

-David crawls FAST- everywhere.  He can do really fancy manoeuvrings to get from hands and knees to sitting and turning and such.  He has mastered the floor at this point.
-David can pull to stand with ease on just about anything- even the sliding glass door.  He can cruise and we are working on cruising/walking with 1 hand.  I have to get on David to keep standing and continue walking because he wants to plop down on the floor and crawl so bad!  Note: It's a little tricky doing walking therapy because he needs orthotics AND shoes on.  To switch off to knees pushing a toy, we need to take the shoes off... And most walkers are too short for David- he has to lean over so much to practice walking.  We are in need of a toddler "shopping cart".
-In playgroup David is not very social with the other children- he's more interested in the toy they are playing with.  In circle time, he doesn't follow along yet with the songs and motions but he'll get there soon, I'm sure!
-David has 7 teeth at the moment.  He's always in teething mode, but I don't see any active ones popping through yet!
-David LOOOVES books.  We're practicing pointing and identifying objects in the stories.  We're just beginning to do more of this.
-David signs the following: Dada, more, please, all done (he used to do this one fine, but now is starting to just shake his head "no" and frown in lieu of this...), and again.  I'm working on mama, ball, play, help, water, milk, drink, eat, kiss. I wonder when his sign language vocabulary will take off.
-David babbles a little bit, but mostly doesn't talk. Here are some examples of his babblings: Ra-Duh, Da Da, Bub...
-David loves stacking toys, simple shape sorters, banging drums, tossing the ball back and forth, throwing balls into a basket, books, and he loves to teeth on this toddler toothbrush I have for him.  He also loves the sensory table at playgroup- but he loves to rub his hands in the beans/rice/water/etc making a mess!  He hasn't gotten to the filling and pouring stage yet of sensory play.

So that's an overview of this month for little David!  It's pretty neat to look back myself at the earlier posts and remember what David used to only be able to do.  He's doing more now! :-)

Loaves and Fishes

Saturday and Sunday was Evan's BIG Adoption Fundraiser Yard Sale.  I did some mild "advertising" for this event.  I had a couple online ads, and I e-mailed about 30 of my co-workers personally with the information.  I also posted fliers around the break rooms at work 2 days before the event.  In spite of this, God showed Himself faithful and provided in a BIG way.  This weekend was BLESSED- and I'll explain why!

Blessing #1)  The Planner.  I had an old co-worker at work that told me that a yard sale would be our big fundraiser.  We spread the word and started to collect items from other friends and co-workers for the past 5 months.  She let us store the items at her father's empty basement for the time being.  This co-worker priced and cleaned about half of the donated items before driving them back to my parent's house.  She acted as the 2nd cashier putting her foot down on hagglers trying to negotiation the prices on items.  A quoted phrase: "You see that boy over there? (Pointing to the Evan poster I made) You really are trying to keep 25 cents from him? Well I'm sorry- the price stays!" (They were trying to talk their way down from 50 cents to 25 cents.)

Blessing #2)  The Location.  We had the sale at my parent's house.  They have a 1/4 acre lot next to their home adjacent to a busy main road.  The area was private enough to leave the items overnight without having anything stolen too!



Blessing #3)  Signage!  I had a banner from my old business that was made out of vinyl with reinforced holes on the corners.  So I turned this banner around and made with HUGE lettering "EVAN'S BIG ADOPTION FUNDRAISER" and it was posted so all of the driving cars could see.  We had 2 open house signs, that were put by the road to say "Yard Sale" pointing towards the home.  A friend of mine brought a big bunch of balloons that we tied to each open house sign.  These signs caused nearly every driver to slow down and turn down our street to come to our sale!

Blessing #4)  The Bake Sale and the Bakers.  The Bake Sale probably brought in half of the money.  Without the bake sale, the shoppers could have paid for the item out in the yard and they could have left to their cars to drive away.  The Sake Sale was placed near the house as a "check out" point next to the Evan poster I made.  We had a variety of donated items that people could purchase for 50 cents each.  But this check out point allowed for the conversation of the adoption to happen naturally as we were allowed to give the shoppers one of our adoption hand out cards as well.  So many times they would pay above and beyond once they realized the cause.

Blessing #5) My Mother.  My mother planned out the bake sale.  She made and froze cookie dough ahead of time and baked hundreds of cookies the day before.  She even planned for hot dogs and all the fixings so we could serve a meal for $5.00.  She watched and fed David for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!  I couldn't have done it without my mother!

Blessing #6)  The Volunteers.  During the actual event the following volunteers were vital to the success:  The planner and her son.  They also kept organizing the clothes and items the entire time!  My sister came to help and boy did she!  She helped at the bake sale with the check out.  She answered questions and helped direct the shoppers.  My cousin came both days to help!  She is super good at selling stuff!  She complimented all of the items people were purchasing and took the time to showed how items worked and complimented the value of items as well.  My cousin also helped to hand out the adoption cards in a sincere way.  My uncle happened to be in town for the event and helped with pricing and putting together the furniture items.  He stayed for the entire event for both days!  On Sunday he even serenaded everyone with his guitar playing, and helped with the tear-down of the sale.  My dad helped with the setup, tear down, cooking hot dogs, and was awesome in putting some great "handy man" items out for the sale!  (This is a brief detail of my volunteers, but you get the idea on how each person fit into a different role that made the experience such a success!)

Blessing #7)  That the event itself was a blessing!  Looking back it was amazing to see the process of being a blessing all around me.  Let me explain.  Some families came and needed to be blessed.  If they were having a baby they got 2 bags of baby clothes for $7.00!  What a blessing for them.  Some families got so many children's toys and household items for just a couple bucks- what a blessing for them!  Some families wanted 1 item, and gave $100 for it to bless Evan.  What a blessing for us and for him!  Some families returned back after paying to give us baked goods and additional donations to sell.  We kept seeing new items show up hour after hour!  Our baby clothes lasted and lasted, the supply never seemed to ran out, and I still have several boxes leftover!  On Sunday everything was nearly 25 cents and people kept coming to buy items, but our "inventory" never dried up!  It was unbelievable- this event was an eye-opening experience of how God's economy works.  Though I sold literally $500 worth of priced items we brought in $3800 in 2 days!  $3800 all for donated items that someone deemed as "junk".  This was a true success.

Blessing #8)  Prayers.  Thank you for your prayers.  This event was covered in prayer from start to finish!  The day before the event my parent's pastor happened to be over at their home to visit, and he saw us start to put together the yard sale.  He prayed over our sale.  On Sunday we had another ordained pastor come to pray a blessing over me in particular and the sale as well.  Later that day one of the shoppers asked to pray over James and I and she prayed more over the adoption paperwork aspect and for the sale as well.  It was so neat to see that each person in their prayers focused on a different aspect of this adoption process.  God is so good- He wanted all of it to be prayed for so He could send His angels out to get to work on answering these prayers!  

It was a true pleasure to have been apart of an event such as this.  It took a lot of effort, but Evan is so worth the time and energy.  I loved how it brought the community together to support such an awesome, uplifting cause.  But above all, I saw first hand God as Jehovah Jireh - God our Provider.  Glory to the Lord!

This Saturday!

This Saturday is Evan's BIG Adoption Fundraiser Yard Sale Event!

We have SOOOO many donations!
Thank you everyone who has donated either money or your good-will items.  Thank you Ron for getting the church's OK for using their tables for the event.  Thank you to my friends and family who are stepping up to bake desserts and to those who will be donating your time and energy to help me with the sale.  Evan thanks you!

Everything mentioned in my last post will be happening!  My parents have stepped up to gather the necessary ingredients to serve "meals" of hot dogs, chips, cookie and a soda in Styrofoam containers.  I couldn't have done that, thank you to my wonderful parents and for letting me have the sale at your home!  :-)

I'll post pictures when all is said and done of the event!

Now about the adoption, I am apparently waiting for the notarized & finalized home study to come in the mail.  Then on to the dossier! 

I should be doing a David update soon with his milestones, since he will be 22 months old on Saturday.  WOW!  Time is sure flying by!

Adoption Fundraiser Yard Sale Event

We have set the date for our huge adoption fundraiser yard sale!  It will be held on  September 10th!  If any reader who happens to live around the Washington Federal Way area, and would like to attend the fundraiser to check out all of our items, feel free to email me, and I will send you directions!

-Lots of donations in!  Lots of home, office, electronics, baby, sporting and furniture items!
-Bake sale at our event!  Lots of volunteers have stepped up to commit to baking some fresh desserts- thank you!
-Considering having someone man the grill for selling hotdogs as well.  This will be confirmed next week.

A little less than 2 weeks left, but there is so much to do!  If you have any ideas for us, please comment with them. We need all the help we can get in raising the money to bring Evan home.  We will however have a poster board display with Evan and the Brown Family's story with a collection jar.  Maybe our guests and visitors would still like to support Evan- even if they don't purchase any of our items!

Also, I have an update on our homestudy:  We got our report in last Thursday- and we have gone through 1 round of corrections.  It looks great- and I have sent it off to the adoption agency for them to check for changes needed as well. I should hear back today from them and we should be proceeding by tomorrow on the finalization of the homestudy.  It looks like we need a final interview with the agent vis-à-vis.

Arizona!

David at his worst- before his healing!

First and foremost, a big thank-you to whoever gave to Evan's fund through Reece's Rainbow!  I was so shocked, and I am very thankful to God for your willingness to support our beloved Evan!  That means so much to me! 

I also wanted to update everyone with the status of our adoption.  Last Monday, the 8th we called our homestudy agent who said that just that morning they submitted our homestudy report to the copy editor.  So I can imagine that any day now we should have the report in our hands to approve, and on to compiling our dossier!  This is by no means a fast process, I am learning patience, as all of your are who are following us on our journey.

I got some pictures in today from 3 weeks ago from visiting family in Arizona.  My family is friends with a wonderful lady from their church, named Beth, who also has Down syndrome.  It was such a pleasure to meet her and her mother and to talk with them both!  Apparently Beth has been praying for David since his birth, so I am honored to meet one of his prayer warriors.  (When David was born he stayed at the NICU for 3 weeks due to feeding issues, he had further medical complications, then overnight everything was NORMAL and we were being discharged within 2 days! So God did a miracle in our lives thanks to all of the prayers from our friends and family!)

That's it for now, enjoy the pictures!

 

Picture THIS- an answered prayer!

Today I received a special blessing... Another picture of Evan! A big thank you to you-know-who!  I asked God for a picture months back, and it finally arrived!

He looks so much like David. In this picture, his hair is the same, they have the same eyes, nose... my boy!
I believe this picture was taken late August/early September of 2010, so Evan is still 11 months older now.  I bet he is so big and doing so much now!

The homestudy agency says they will be finishing up the report next week.  I am praying that everything will still work out to adopt Evan THIS YEAR!  But no matter what, God is in control of everything, so I don't have to worry one bit about the timing! Thank you Lord!

David is doing so great! We just came back form vacationing and visiting family in Las Vegas.  Above is my favorite picture of him taken while we were hanging in the backyard pool.  (I know he's not smiling, but I just love the composition and his little foot!) He is amazing and since my last update post, he is crawling up a storm and pulling to stand, and cruising, and has so much get up and go! Yay David! Mama's so proud! 

Thank you everyone for your support and prayers for our family.  So if God answers even the little prayer of a request for a picture, how much more will He answer my BIG prayer of a successful adoption and for the safety/blessings/angels of protection over my little Evan now?  :-)   Just something to think about!

Homestudy ALMOST complete!

I just have word in that ALL paperwork is finally in at the homestudy agency and they should have a draft written up for us within 2 weeks!  So sometime the week of the 18th, I am guessing!

I am very excited to have some type of date to put down, as it is now showing the progression of our adoption.  I have looked at other adoption blogs of families going to the same region and I have noticed that usually once the official homestudy is submitted to the agency, the court date is usually about 2 months after this submission date.  So under a normal time frame, this gives a little over a month to submit the dossier and hear back from the government on the date, and just weeks to schedule the flight, pack, and go!

Based on other people's blogs, it appears that the Ukrainian government is taking a 2 month break starting around July 12th from adoptions.  So of course this affects us, as it will push out our court date inevitably. So a 2 month turn-around could end up being 4, or even more!  I also have heard news that they are only allowing adoptions from our region if the child is considered high risk.  I am praying that we will find favor in the eyes of the government to be able to adopt Evan, and they don't deem him for any reason to be "unadoptable". 

We have recently received additional confirmation from God about this adoption and we have such peace over it all!  I only bring up the above details, not because I'm worrying, but only as specific prayer points for you, our readers, to be praying for!

My heart just breaks for Evan, and as much joy as I receive from David- it is still very hard because I know my family is not complete!  We have a son that is waiting for us, that needs us, and I just want him home safe and sound.  More updates to come whenever we have word....

David's Feeding Session

I'm going to try to make a promise to myself and to David to work on a proper feeding session daily.  Here is a decent session (sorry for the double screen- it looks like blogger.com's embedded video player doesn't support 3-D videos):

Though it's not as a perfect feeding session as they do in playgroup, it's better than me just feeding him and not giving him an opportunity to try his "hand" at utensils!

Here is some steps to a "perfect" feeding session for a 1-2 year old:

1) First get a little chair and table setup
2) Attach a suction cup bowl that will not pull off
3) Sit your little one in the chair, pull up their sleeves, and wash their hands with a spray bottle filled with mostly water and a little bit of baby shampoo as a cleanser.
4) Have the child do the "fishy song"- put their hands on their cheeks and rub them up and down and in circles to "wake up" their mouth muscles.
5) Show the child 2 types of food to start out with.  Encourage them to point, or reach to choose something to start with.
6) Put a little bit of that food in their bowl with a proper utensil to eat it. Only a little bit at a time!
7) Let them try to eat it, help them if they are getting frustrated or distracted.
8) When the food is gone, ask them if they want more, and encourage them to sign the word "more".
9) If offering 1 new food type have them sign the word "please", if offering 2 then pointing will do!
10) When they are finished eating have them put their utensils and dishes away in a dish tub.
11) Wash their hands again (and face) and you are finished with your perfect eating session!

So you can see why it's hard to always do all the steps! But in a short time period David has been doing much better at feeding.  It's about giving him the opportunity to try and not always doing it for him.  This will give him more independence, and more self esteem!  I know this will be a life lesson I will take with me for raising David and Evan.

Yesterday I have been informed by my husband's friend that he turned in his reference form to the homestudy agency. So that was the last form needed to finish up everything!  I hope we can get the homestudy finalized soon!

David's Photo shoot

Here are some more of our Father's Day pictures for you all to enjoy:

Homestudy Report: Waiting for the agency to write up the report and contact us to schedule our final interview!

So busy!

Tomorrow we are going to the bank to get our financial forms notarized, so I can send off to the homestudy agency.  I am waiting for 2 more forms to come in from friends/family and I will have everything done for the homestudy.  We will just need to have our final interview soon.  I am told that they will being their report even if we're missing the final 2 forms, so I am very happy that they are working with us on that!

My husband's friend is in town- he drove over his vehicle from New York, and we will be purchasing it from him for a great price.  The main reason we need to buy his vehicle, is because it is a 4-door.  I have a 2-door which is very difficult for me to manage with a car seat and little David.  I can't imagine having this car with 2 boys and 2 carseats/booster seats.  I don't think a 2nd seat would fit at all.  So this car is an answered prayer!  We should be able to sell the 2-door for just about the same price as the 4-door that's a year newer and has a lot less miles on it! 

But bad timing... last Friday someone hit my car while I was stopped at a light.  Only a little bit of damage done to the bumper, but I need to send into the repair shop.  I need to sell me car by next Friday, when our friend leaves town, and I haven't even heard back from the insurance claim people.  I called yesterday, and a claim on the other girl's insurance was filed or just about to be, so I have to wait for a call back.  Though this is just a little hiccup, the extra stress sure takes time away from other priorities!  Extra dents is a bad idea when I need to get the most possible for the vehicle.

I received some wonderful donations last Saturday for Evan.  So I have them all up on craigslist as of tonight. I am praying for some buyers, and I hope to bring in about $500 from the donations, that will help us so much!

Even though things have been a little hectic recently, I am so thankful to be blessed with my wonderful son, David.  He is such a joy!  He has the sweetest spirit about him, that is kind, gentle, and VERY loving.  He melts my heart, and I just can't begin to imagine how wonderful it will be to have Evan home soon!  Everyday when we talk about Evan- David just gets the biggest smile on his face...  Soon there will be TWO big smiles in front of me!

David and Adoption Updates!

David's 17-month milestones:

David is growing up so quickly! He looks like a little boy more than ever!  I am just such a proud mama, I love him dearly.  We are so happy to someday soon bring Evan home!  Here is what David has been up to:


-David can now push himself from tummy up to sitting!
-David can pull to stand most of the time.  (It depends on what his hands is holding on to- if it's rigid or soft)
-David is cruising fine
-David is always trying to climb on me!!! He's finally moving so much more than ever!
-David can understand commands like: Pat your head, pat your mouth, pat your legs, clap your hands, rub your tummy, lets jump, lets stand, all done!
-David consistently will sign the following: "more" "daddy" and "all done".  We are currently working on "please" and, of course, "mama".
-I feel like David is really understanding me so much more, I love that we're communicating!  If I say/sign "do you want to eat?" he will get so happy and clap his hands.  It's simple, but he's understanding me now!
-David has 3 teeth so far!  2 top molars, and 1 bottom front tooth.  He doesn't seem to be teething at the moment!

Now for our adoption!  We are trying so hard to get the home study finished, but there are just little hiccups.  Like the agency told me that my references didn't need to have the forms notarized.  So they send in the forms, and now they're saying they need it notarized.  So it just adds weeks to everything to try to get everyone to get their paperwork notarized and mailed in.  So the very last needed reference/friend is in town, and we will be taking him to the notary on Monday so he can get it done!  We will also get our financial form notarized, and hopefully we will have everything turned in then at that point.  Then we will be waiting for our final home study interview and for the final report to be written for our approval before it is sent to the adoption agency. 

This process is taking so long, but I know as soon as we are done everything else will happen so fast!  Every night (and day!) I am praying for Evan.  My heart just aches for him, I just need to be patient.  Looking back, I will realize that God was perfecting the timing for everything.  No matter how much I want to rush this, some things are just out of my control.  But God is always in control.  So amen to that!

Tomorrow I have some wonderful yard sale donations for Evan!  I will be picking up some good-quality furniture.  I am so excited for these donations!  We are tentatively planning on the 2nd weekend of August for the yard sale.  My vision for this is to have lots of help, to have a bake sale and a gift basket raffle at the sale.  I hope to have everything organized, and I hope to have the sale advertised in the newspaper, and on craigslist as well.  I have lots to plan for this sale, any tips or volunteers are greatly appreciated!  :-)

Making Headway!

OK, so this week would be week 7 since the FBI processed the payment.  Their website says it should only be up to 6 weeks to get the results of the background check.  So I called my home study agency and they said that they already got our results (and never told me!).   So I am very excited- James and I are going to finish everything up here this week to finally get the home study complete!  Maybe we can get it done in the next day or two... The only thing left is James' autobiography statement and getting our financial forms together.  Piece of cake!

We are thankful for everyone's support and prayers over us and over little Evan!  This weekend, we received personal confirmation from God over many matters of our life and we are so ecstatic to know we are walking in His will with this adoption.  God is doing some AMAZING things in our hearts, giving us such vision for our future.  Thank you Jesus!

David's 16-month milestones

I can't believe that David is 16 months old already!  He is growing up so quickly- literally.  He is such a big boy for having Down syndrome!  I gotta take him into the doctors soon for his next check-up to see where he is on the growth charts.  For his 1-year he is about 50%tile for all boys for height and weight, and about 95%tile for Down syndrome boys height and weight. 

I'll just mentions some new things that David is able to do:
-He easily knows how to clap his hands, pat his legs, high-5's.  This stuff is simple to him now.
-He will sign "all done" and "daddy".
-He is cruising on his own!  I just need to put some snacks on the other side of the sofa as "motivation"- since toys don't seem to cut it.
-He's army crawling a lot to motivating things.  I'll have to excite him with something- he's not looking across the room at something just there and deceiding that he'll crawl to it.  So just simple baby-proofing for now. So far what motivated him are: my camera, car keys, food, and sometimes the tambourine.
-He's getting in 3 teeth at the moment.  2 top molars- bilaterally, and one center tooth on the bottom.  He hasn't gotten any recent fevers!  Praise the Lord!
-David is so close to being able to push from floor into the sitting position.  He'll be so close, and then he'll push his legs straight out of habit and get out of position to get up.  We're working on this...
-David can pull to stand if there is something easy to hold on to at the perfect level.

There's a lot of little things to post... but I don't have time at the moment, David just woke up from his nap!

AND THE WINNER OF THE $250 GIVEAWAY IS...

Congratulations Melanie Hansen- Ticket #616528- we will be contacting you shortly!  

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day, and thank you everyone for your love and support!

Teething Fevers

On my last update post of David I also included a picture of him with his first tooth coming in.  As of last Friday, we have been experiencing David's first bad teething symptoms...
David woke up Friday morning with a fever of over 104 degrees, and with ibprofen it would go down to 100-101 degrees.  But after 6 hours, it would go back up to 104+ degrees.  The most his fever went to was 106 degrees! That was Saturday morning at 5am (It only got that high once!).  I immediatly gave him some medicine and went to give him a bath in warm water for 30 minutes until the fever broke.  I kept singing to him and splashing water on his arms, and trying to distract him from his discomfort... and then I dressed him and his temperature went down to 100 degrees in just 30 minutes! Praise God that I didn't have to take him to the ER!
This morning (Sunday- Mother's Day) David woke up with 101.8 degree temperature, so I gave him a dose of medicine and held him as he rested with me on the couch in a blanket.  He became cold, and was sweating- his clothes and the blanket around him were damp!  So I took him in our room to sleep, and wrapped him up in more blankets.  We all slept for another hour, and I changed him- and for the rest of the day he had a normal temperature and didn't get the "sweats" again! He got fussy around 6pm, but that was because his teeth were hurting him, so I gave him some medicine for that.  I am so thankful that David was able to have day being his normal fun self!  If he had another day of high fever I would have taken him to the doctor's office just in case it could have been an ear infection or something worse.  From what I read, the fever associated with teething is usually a low-grade fever, not a high fever.

So my precious little son is finally getting his teeth- owie!  He is getting bilateral molars- so lots of little pokes coming through for each tooth!  I appreciate any advice or feedback on how you dealt with teething and fevers!  Thank you!

David Videos

Here is a video of how David crawls.... Go David Go!


Here is a video of David playing with his toys.


Here is a longer video of David playing with his toys.

Updates

I hope everyone had a blessed Easter!  We are wrapping up our homestudy, and wrapping up the giveaway!
We are happy to annouce that so far we have finally collected more than the value of the giveaway prize- with a slow go at first, we had our fingers crossed!

To finish our homestudy, we need to hear back from the FBI regarding our fingerprinting... they charged us on 4/7 for the fingerprint processing, so I hope it won't be too much longer.

Other things we need to do to finish- we need to have all of the reference forms turned back in.  We need to turn in the financial portion of the homestudy.  We need to do our autobiographies!  For James' portion I will have to plan a time write it as he "dictates" it to me.  He is a busy guy, and that will be the only way to get it done!  Other than that, the only thing else is the final interview with the homestudy agency, and get the final report written and sent off to the adoption agency!
I just finished this big report for the class I'm taking at WSU, so essentially I'm finished with the class!  I feel like a big burden has been lifted off my back, and now I'm trying to get everything DONE!  :-)
I have another BIG update (yay!):

David's 15 month milestones

David is growing up so quickly!  He is becoming more and more little boy and less baby every day!
This past month was marked with a long bout of bronchitis, with lots of coughing and chest wheezing.  He developed thrush, and is currently taking antibiotics for it and is using an inhaler for the wheezing.  Because of everything he has taken a few steps back with his eating... for over a week, he wouldn't tolerate foods with texture, and was very fussy pushing foods away.  So I had to baby him by spoon feeding very soft foods, while trying to encourage fluids, which also presenting issues as well.  In spite of the sickness and feeding setbacks, David has made other progresses! 

Gross Motor:
-David is trying to pull himself up to stand.  We have soft furniture, so it's hard for him to grasp it, but he is maneveruing his feet under him bum and shifting his weight to stand with barely any help.  I know by next month, he'll have this down!
-David is starting to cruise, though this is hard with our soft furniture... He knows that he needs to shift the weight on his feet to take steps different directions.  But he needs a spotter, because he'll still over-reach and fall over.
-David is starting to "army crawl".  He can move forward now on his tummy!  But his perferred method of travel is the roll.
-David is a pivoting pro while sitting. He's starting to scoot too.
-David loves to plunge forward over my legs - to go from sitting to crawling on top of me.  He tries to crawl but then just pushed himself back to sitting...

-We're working on tummy to sitting by pushing himself up.  I think in a month he'll have this down, because he's so close!

Fine Motor/Other:
-David is getting very accurate with putting a small ball into a specific "hole".
-David gets a lot of enjoyment out of playing the little monkey cymbols, and ringing the triangle.
-David waves to everyone!! He knows this pleases us, so he'll wave to get our attention and then clap when he knows we're happy!  It's sooo cute.  He'll wave to strangers in the store and draw them in... he loves the compliments! :-)
-David still says "ma ma" and "da da", with more meaning than before, but he'll just say it sometimes without meaning as well.  He'll do the sign for daddy- with meaning? I don't know...
-David is starting to follow directions when I point/emulate what to do.  Like open this, close this, spin this, do that, find the ball...
-Side note... still no teeth! He's our little late bloomer on this... But his little gummy smile is still stinking cute!

That's all for now!

Adoption Thoughts

Why are we adopting?

We are adopting because we want Evan! 

God has placed him in our hearts, and we can not deny it!  I am reminded of a sermon my pastor gave in which he was talking about the gift of prophecy (ie. during a church worship service), and he knew of an individual who had a very specific word to tell the congregation.  Well, they got timid, scard and questioned if the word was from God, and did not speak it out.  Well shortly thereafter, someone else spoke out the EXACT same word to the congregation.  The other person was blessed as the word edified the church. 

So I know we could have simply not persued adoption, and someone else would have likely, eventually adopted Evan.  But they are the ones that will be blessed for following God's prompting, and it wouldn't be us.  Not only would we not know if Evan was ok, we would have never known where our lives together could have been led.  We know that it is God's will for orphans to be adopted- His word tells us to look after the orphans, so why would we not pursue something that is 100% God's will?  There's no question about it- He will bless us for taking this step of faith, undoubtedly.  :-) 

So in short, we are all-or-nothing type of family, and we are ALL IN FOR EVAN! We are done being so "comforable" with our lives are are waiting eagerly to see what God's has in store for us.  And of course, we'll keep you posted along our journey...

This last week!

It's been a little while since I've last posted, so I'll just catch up on a few things that has happened and that we're going to do!

-On Sunday, David woke up gasping for air and could not breath very well.  He has had a stuffy/runny nose, and it was bad that morning.  I could also feel the vibration of fluid in the lungs as he breathed... so I took him to the Children's Hospital, and of course while we are in transit and as we arrived David seemed so much better!  All they did was suction his nose out by inserting a small tube, and verified that he's fine!  I'm very glad he's much better now; my thought was maybe he might need a breathing treatment of some sort- but that was not needed.  Since Sunday I have been offering more fluids, I have slightly inclined the head of David's mattress to help him breath (though he's starting to move more and is ending up backwards at the foot of the bed by the time he wakes up!), and I'm still continuing to suction out his nose with the nasal aspirator and hand suction bolus thing!  I also think that maybe it's allergies, since he doesn't seem sick and I'm experiencing the same symptoms myself and found that by taking an antihistamine really helped the symptoms. I just bought some allergy medicine yesterday, so I will see if this also helps David today.

-So I have not been very good at finishing up the homestudy paperwork.  I have a good start, and know I can finish up probably in a week if I were given a deadline.  I still have 1 client's video left to edit (I just got another client's videos mailed out yesterday- yay!! So 1 to go), and I'm taking an online class as well and have a huge upcoming paper that is due.  Busy, busy!

-I am meeting with my fundraising team on Friday!  We are going to get a raffle going starting next week!  It will be a VISA giftcard- we will determine the amount on Friday.  But I know the raffle tickets are going to be $1.00 each.  I will have an official blog post for the raffle with the start and end dates and where I can announce the winner as well.

-Also- this is too cute to not mention... David is now starting to clap his hands when I sing "if you're happy and you know it!"  So proud of the big boy!

No hospital bake sale!

Unfortunately, we did not get the hospital approval to do a bake sale; I just got the word yesterday.  I know a lot of people who are willing to set up a mini bake stand at their work lunch rooms, at their children's schools- I would just need to get a box of some sort with a lock on it.  Has anyone had success with an idea such as this?  Any tips on setting this up?

For now my focus is the "Park Sale" during summer- and we can certainly have a bake sale there!  Yesterday I had a flier get e-mailed out to all the employees in my department (Over 100 people!).  That is so wonderful that hopefully I can get my co-workers on board for dontaing their good will items, especially since I am willing to pick up at their homes!  I am adding my e-mail to my profile to make it more convienent for people to contact me to pick up their items!

David's 14-month Milestones

Today little David is 14 months old!  He is growing so much, and is so big!
He's over 24 lbs, and wears size 5 diapers and 24 months clothes.  At his last doctor's visit, he is over 50 percentile for all boys for height and weight, and over 95 percentile for Down syndrome boys for height and weight.  YAY!  He hasn't been to play group in over 2 weeks because of being sick- and when he came back he was already taller.  He could stand and reach play with the water and water toys in the sensory table station!  He couldn't do this before.

Gross Motor Development:
-Holding on to him, he can take steps well.  He is very wobbly and all over the place still.   But he can physically lift his legs and put them down in front of him to move forward.
-On the floor:  He rolls too much.  I'm going to have to now be a more active paricipant on getting him to tolerate: being on his tummy more, going up on hands and knees, and pushing off with each foot against my hand to move forward.
So far a good practice place has been in the tub with 2 inches of water!  I will be right there to help him.  But the narrowness of the tub prevents him from rolling, and he loves to push off the sides to move.  I've even seen him try to climb out of the tub!  He doesn't do this "on land" so this is encouraging!  I just think he's super-motivated in the tub at that point to get out to something warmer!
-David can now push foward/"walk" on the walker (the kind with the seat)

Fine Motor Development:

-David can hold a spoon and feed himself, if I "load" the spoon with food.
-According to the physical therapist, David is playing with toys at an 8-month old baby.  He shakes and bangs simple toys together for the most part.  BUT sometimes he'll surprise me:
Toy piano- I will push a certain color to play a note, and he will go for the same color to copy me!
Ring stacker- I will show him how to put the large ring on first, and he will copy me!  But if I add to it and show him the next ring, instead of stacking it- he will take the large one off and bang the two rings together...
Drum- Yesterday the physical therapist had a toy drum and worked with David to bang the drum with up and down movements, instead of side swinging movements.  It took SEVERAL attempts, but he got it!  This is teaching me how long it takes him to learn something new.  I just need to be more creative and have a little more patience, but I'm sure David will be doing a lot more things with this new mindset!
-David is starting to wave now.  It is not consistant though.
-David does the sign for "daddy" and "milk"- but I just don't know think it's done with meaning.
-David says "da da" and "ma ma" but with a little more meaning than before.

David's Favorite Foods:
David is enjoying all sorts of foods now- even without teeth! Here are some foods we've been trying in addition to the foods mentioned in his 13-month milestone post:
-Egg omelette
-French toast
-McDonalds cheese burger- hold the pickles
-Pudding/Tapioca/Yogurt
-Grilled cheese sandwhich
-Peanut butter and jelly sandwhich
-Diced peaches, mandrain orange sections, diced pears
-Cooked yam slices
-French fries, sweet potato fries
-Soft cookie (just tiny "tastes")
(Most of the above I have to cut into tiny pieces and hand feed him- because he will not take a bite out of the bigger piece, or feed himself yet.)  I'm trying to be more adventerous and let David enjoy all types of foods- that are still basically soft-textured.  Any other ideas?
So that's about it for milestones, I'll add to the list if I think of anything I forgot.  I have some video I'd like to put on here as well of David doing these things.  I just need to find the mini firewire-type cord to do this. We recently moved, so it's a little tricky finding things these days...  More to come!  :-)

My Mom's Dream

When I stopped by my mom's house tonight to pick up David after work, my mom sat me down and told me about a dream she had.  She said it was the most vivid, real-life dream she ever had.  And the kicker is- she woke up 4 times and went back to sleep all to continue the same dream.

In her dream she met Evan who was holding on to her.  My mom was trying to explain to Evan how he has a family now and she is his Grandma.  And Evan was saying how he never had a family and was surprised that he now has one.  And my mom would take his hand and introduce him to other family members...

The dream does continue and go on, (I have asked my mom to e-mail me the details of her dream so I can post it here.)  Then we started taking about my mom's plans to help out watching David while we would travel to the Ukraine, whenever that happens.  Then someone in the conversation I brought up how a co-worker of James brought up how we should adopt a little girl in addition to Evan.

Then my mom stopped short and said, "Well there's something I left out of the dream... There was a little girl there too.  I was focused more on Evan, but there was a little girl about 2 years older with short hair who was with us and wanted to be held too."  She completely forgot to tell me about this little girl initially!

Now, that's all I'm going to post about my mom's dream.  I don't want to read into anything... (like a confirmation from God to adopt a second child!) BUT if we happened to raise enough for 2 children, then who knows? I'd be super-open to anything once we get the the orphanage.  That would be a LOT of money to raise though... (I think around 35k?)

Matthew 19:26 "...With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible."

David- almost 14 month photo shoot!

Here is David's pictures from today's photo shoot!  :-) 

A Thought Towards My Distant Future

As some of you know, I work at a hospital as a surgery scheduler.  Well just the other night, I was talking OR nurse, Alberto who was telling me about his care home.  He owns 2 adult family care homes, and he says a lot of his clients are adults with Down syndrome.  He was encouraging me to start my own for my future sons...  He was explaining to have a home built with a central living kitchen area and have a hallway of extra rooms- they could be like mini apartments or just rooms.  But this would be a way to bring in extra income in the future.

Now I've thought about my distant future with David and Evan... I have ideas of what might happen.  Both or just 1 of them may be capable enough to work and live on their own, or maybe get married, or live in an adult home, or live with us...  I know they will always have each other and will be best friends/brothers and will have a bond to last them into eternity.  But, there is sense to be made to be planning for our future if we want to have a couple extra rooms available for more amazing individuals of the Down syndrome community.

In case I haven't mentioned, James and I are the most biggest dreamers ever.  We have HUGE expectations for our lives.  We literally see our future with limitless possiblilities.  We dream big, pray hard, and live in the present thanking our God who is perhaps putting these dreams in our head for a reason.... Other big dreams we've had include: missionary work/opening up orphanages, for James to write books, for James to be a pastor/leader for teenagers or for a community center, for him to go get his Masters, or for me to start investing futures and commodities, for me to operate a website to benefit Down syndrome, do video work for Down syndrome/orphanages (I used to do video work)!  I'm excited for our future because we can do anything we want (God willing)... but the most important thing to us is making sure whatever decision we make will mesh well for David and Evan and will also bless them. 

I have a picture session to go to today for David, and I look forward to posting them later!  He such a beautiful boy with the biggest, brightest, almond-shaped eyes... and he has the biggest smile- all gums and no teeth!  :-)  **Proud Mama**

Sick Days...

Hello! This week we haven't boon too productive with the adoption paperwork as David and mommy are sick. David has bronchiolitis, and the Dr. says he should get over it in a week or so.  (David is already a week into being sick!)  I knew before even going to the doctor today that what David had was viral and there is nothing a doctor could do but confirm it.  I've already been doing the "home treatment" so far...  Anyways, I hope we both can get over our colds soon! 

Also I wanted to mention that I love reading all the comments I've been getting from others who are in the process of adopting an orphan or who have been praying all along for little Evan to find his forever family.  It really seems like reading comments that are from family members, even though they're not!  The adoption/orphan/Reeces Rainbow community is so awesome and I appreciate every one of you!  Blessings to you all, and stay well during the remaining 18 days of winter we have left!

Fundraising Plans for Evan!

Hello everyone!  I wanted to share some fundraising plans that I have to help us bring Evan home!  Please comment if you are able to contribute in any way to these ideas, or if you have any other ideas!!  Also, I have officially ordered tons of "hand out" cards- here is the final, final designs! (Showing front & back) I'm not a graphic designer by any means, but they will do!

1.  March 21st is National Down Syndrome Day.  We would like to have a big bake sale at St. Francis Hospital!  (Still pending the OK from hospital administration on this.)  In fact, I would like to have a bake sale table anywhere, any week, any day!  I have lots of amazing desserts, pastries, cakes to sell that are fresh and yummy.  (I have lots of supporters in this department!)  Let me know if we can arrange something!

2.  The week of March 21st for Down Syndrome Week we will be having a "booth" at the UW campus also selling baked goods.

3.  August 20th we will be holding a HUUUUUGE yard sale- mark it on your calanders!  We most likely will be reserving a park area for this to ensure space.  But in the meantime we need donations!  If you are going to give your "stuff" away to good will- give to me instead so we can sell for Evan!  I can take off your hands now, or save the bigger items for us for when early August rolls around.  I will be mailing an official letter regarding this as well to my family and friends.  To help just comment on this post and I will get back to you via e-mail! :-)

4.  We will try to have our story in the paper/tv for Down Syndrome Day/week.  We will let you know where our story will be featured so you can keep a look out!

5.  I like the idea of doing a raffle at the yard sale.  If anyone has any large items or a service to offer please let me know!

Any more ideas that I can do?  Anyone able to help?  In addition to needing good will items for the yard sale, we will also be doing a bake sale and selling chips, pop, etc.  Volunteers are very welcome!

James and I want to thank you so much for your help, love, and support!  We could not bring Evan home if it wasn't for you!

Adopting Little Evan!

James and I have been praying for over a month now about adopting.  Not just adopting in general, but there is a little boy on the Reece's Rainbow that we have fallen in love with!

Meet Evan:

He is 2 and a half years old with Down Syndrome and lives in a Ukraine orphanage.  He is absolutely going to be apart of our family- and there is no question about it!

Tomorrow I am sending off the agreement form to the adoption agency so we can make an official committment to Evan.  Very shortly on the Reece's Rainbow website he will be "matched" with us and you will get to read a bio about our family!

Our social worker for the home study is this Saturday, so we are in the beginning stages of that. 

Just an FYI- if little Evan doesn't find a "Forever Family" by the time he turns 4- he will be sent to an institution because he has Down syndrome.  Most children don't make it past 2 years once they are placed there.  So we are truly saving Evan's life! 

We will keep everyone posted on our adoption journey!  Keep us in your prayers- we have a lot of money to raise to bring him home!   Donate here: http://reecesrainbow.org/evan-10

David's 13-month milestones

Here is some new things David is starting to do:
-David is taking steps on his own now!  I don't have to shift his weight or push out a foot for him, he'll do that on his own, all I have to do is hold his hand or waist to help stabilize him.
-Today we are working on tummy to hands down knees on the floor bent to sitting.  David has never done this before and what a good start!
-David is working on feeding him self with the spoon and fork (I will prep them first).  He is also eating big boy foods like banana chunks, cheese, dino nuggets, diced peaches, french fries, chicken... he is basically trying everything I give him and he is not choking!  :-) 
-About 2 weeks ago (I think I posted this on facebook) David signed "eat" when I signed it and asked him if he wanted food to "show mommy".  He did it several times deliberately.  But he has not done this since and we try everyday.  So odd..  Soon, he'll be signing away and talking!
-I haven't seen this myself (maybe my couches are too high), but when David is at Grandma's house he will roll "off" the couch to a standing position.  Apparently he'll do this over and over... I can't wait to see for myself.
-David has started a new playgroup! There is more children right at his age than the last group we went to.  I'm excited to take David to this one- and it's only 5 minutes from my home too!

If I think of anything else, I'll post more of what he's been up to this month!  I've been trying to take pictures on my hubby's phone since the quality is so great.  I'll have to "send" the pictures to my e-mail so I can upload some here.  Hopefully we'll have some updated pictures soon since the ones on the blog are from Christmastime.

David's 1-year Milestones!

David just celebrated his 1st birthday last week!  YAY, big boy!  And as 2011 we have moved into a new area- which for David means we are taking a therapy "break" as we try to switch from SKIP to Birth To Three.  I just got my paperwork from BTT today, so hopefully David can be assessed soon and start his therapy! 

So considering David hasn't had a formal therapy session in a month due to the holdiays and the move, I think he's made some big progress!

Gross Motor:
-Still not "walking" yet, his step taking abilities seem stagnant from last month.  We got some orthotics, but the shoes we got with them "Hatchbacks" are too big/bulky/heavy.  David can't even lift his leg with them on!  So I thought his walking would really take off since we got these, but I have a call in for some lightweight shoes called "Squeekers" that go over the orthotics.  Unfortuetely, the orthotics will slip and slide over carpet or hardwood if David tries to walk in them...  So when we start therapy, maybe the therapist can help me with them!
-Pull to stand from the floor- he now needs less help.  He needs me to help move one of his legs under his bum bum, and he will instantly step out with the free foot and bring the other in to stand!
-David is starting to cruise!  We are praticing this on the sofa since I can place interesting objects on the cushion just out of arms' reach, and he will take steps towards the object.  David just doesn't realize how important it is to balance and to use his hands to hold on too.  He'll start a step or two towards the object he wants and lean and fall over! (I'll catch him, of course!) 
-On tummy, David is pivoting now!  He's not crawling yet, but I believe it'll be soon!  He's pushing off of toys with his legs to move in diferent directions. He has such a will to move around- he even wants to climb on to daddy, but his little body won't let him at the moment.  Soon, I hope!
-For Christmas David got to bring home a jumper!  Ever since David's been jumping and dancing every day, and I can tell that it's strengthening his legs, and that he's even slimmed down a little!

Fine Motor:
-David will choose the princer grasp on his own if he sees 1 cheerio. If he sees a pile, he'll still try to just grab them all with his whole hand.
-David is now using his sippy cup successfully during meals!  Before, he would "bite" the spout and not suck or take a sip, but now he's doing so well!

Fine Motor/Social:
-David will clap his hands and smile if I say "clap your hands!"
-David will sometimes pat his legs if I say "pat your legs!"
-He's responding to me signing "More Food" by smiling and opening his mouth

Hopefully I can start blogging more soon.  I hope to figure out how to add photos on my posts and to personalize this site more so.  At least it's serving as a place to document what David has been doing... before everything is just a distant memory! :-)  Blessing to you all!