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Friday, February 27, 2009

WOW! Quite A Blow!

Well, we were prepared to not be chosen for the one little girl we were being considered for. But what we weren't prepared for was to find out that we weren't selected for any of the inquiries we made. So, back to the drawing board. We're disappointed of course but are trying to keep it all in perspective and know that God has a plan for our family and it will all work itself out. We talked to the social worker today and we've started a new list of inquiries so in a few more months we should hear something about them. We trust that God won't place a child with us that isn't meant to be so we're trying to find comfort in that right now. We're doing better than I expected to be. I have prayed every night that I could handle any negative news well. And He has made sure that I am doing just fine. Eddie and I both are. Just wanted to give you all the update and let you know we're back to square one and we'll be updating anything new as we hear. Love!

Monday, February 23, 2009

Just Because

We had a nice chilled out weekend and not much went on around here but I was able to get some cute pics of the kiddies playing outside.
Just Ryan running around. I dont' know why, I just love getting pictures of him running. He's so stinkin cute!
Does this really need a caption. . .

Laela trying desperately to get up in the tree with the boys :) She has NO CLUE that she's smaller than them :)

Okay, well maybe she has a slight clue or she wouldn't have attempted to fit on the neighbor's baby toy :)
My biggest baby! Look how grown up he is :( I'm so proud of him! I love this picture too!

Ryan looking so innocent in his sweet little hat! YEAH RIGHT! He's probably checking out what he's going to destroy with that stick! LOL! He sure looks sweet though! :)

My big boys tree climbing! LOVE THIS PIC of them!

My big man again just hangin out! How handsome he is!!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Meeting is Done

Well, we got word from the social worker that the meeting went well. There wasn't much that she could tell us, as they didn't tell her much. She just said it went well and she was able to find out that there are 5 families (including us) in the running and they should be notifying all the social workers within a week. I have a real sense of peace that I was not expecting. I've known all along that it's in God's hands and there's nothing from here on out that we can do about the decision. But until now, I couldn't really relax about it. I know there is a big possibility that we may not be the family chosen for her and I'm actually okay with that. As of yesterday as I thought of the possibility of not being chosen, it made me sad among many other emotions. But last night as I finally went to sleep I was able to be at peace with it. So whatever HE has in store for us is what will be. We'll just have to wait it out and go along for the ride. Of course it will be a disappointment but there are lots of other children out there in need of a home and family. We'll let ya'll know as soon as we find anything out.

Monday, February 16, 2009

BIG UPDATE!

We have some VERY exciting news to share! We talked to our social worker this weekend and she informed us that we have made it to the "final round" of family selection for one little girl. The meeting that is being held Tuesday is to select THE family for her. They don't reveal to our social worker exactly how many families are in the final selection so we don't know how many families we're "up against". The selection meeting is Tuesday morning, Feb 17th at 9:30 am eastern time. The decision will be made at that very meeting and it usually takes only a few days for them to notify the social worker whether we were chosen or not. So we could very well be finding out whether we are going to be her parents or not, by the end of this week. Please be in prayer for us this week. We're both so antsy we can hardly stand it! :) We'll be sure to let you all know just as soon as we have any additional information. AAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!!! (that's me being excited and nervous and antsy, and did I say excited and nervous?)

Friday, February 13, 2009

WHO STOLE MY CHOCOLATE?!?!

I am at what I like to call the "Chocolate Lovin'" part of the month. Oh who am I kidding, I don't really need that excuse to love me some chocolate. But it sounds good right?!? Anyway, so I called EB at work on Wednesday afternoon and told him if he knew what was good for him he would bring home chocolate cake when he got off work! LOL! So, knowing me the way he does, he complied! He brought 5 pieces of chocolate cake with chocolate icing from the bakery and even brought 5 different pieces of cheesecake just in case! LOL! Well, all 5 of us had our chocolate cake that night for desert and boy was I excited about being able to inhale the cheesecake the next day! Now, I know I don't have the figure that allows for this type of eating to go unpunished, but right now I really don't care. Sweets have serious priority when I get like this! LOL! Fast forward to Thursday morning. I took the boys to school, Eddie was at work and I was getting my clothes and Laela's clothes ready for the day for us to go out while the boys were at school. People, this time of month I'm your typical Maxine Hallmark Greeting Card. Shopping, chocolate, and complaining. . .yep, that about sums it up! Anyway, Laela wouldn't answer me or come upstairs to get dressed when I called her so I came downstairs to see what in the world she might be doing. This is what I found. . . in exactly this order because she was hiding from me!



"Did you win the lottery or did someone die?" . . .

These were the words spoken by my dear BFF here in Japan. :) She always has a delicate way of putting things lightly LOL!!

Rewind to me sitting in my car at the post office. I always open my mail in the car as soon as I get in instead of waiting until I get home. I'm just impatient like that. I know those of you that know me, are extremely shocked! LOL! And I opened a particular piece of mail and (apparently very loudly) said over and over, "OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH!" I had my window down in the car, yes it was that nice of a day today, and my friend walks up to my car and said "Did you win the lottery or did someone die?" She was there checking her mail and heard me exclaiming! LOL! When I showed her this mail her response was "OH MY GOSH IS RIGHT! WOW!" I know I'm a bit biased but she agreed that this mail was "wow worthy"! LOL! This, my friends, is what was in my mail today . . .





Thursday, February 12, 2009

Small Update-Long Post-I Talk Too Much!!

I promised to keep everyone posted on here so I'm posting this little tidbit of news. I say that because it's probably not going to sound like much to the rest of you. But to us, it was very encouraging. Not much information but it let us know we aren't being lost in stacks of paperwork but that people are actually reviewing our file. Anyway, so we got an email this morning from the social worker and she said that she got two requests this week for our file. Now let me explain that a bit. . . on some cases, our social worker puts the inquiry in for us on the child we are interested in and along with the inquiry she submits our file. In other cases, we are able to submit our own inquiry and the child's agency has to request our file from our social worker. So, in one of the cases this week, we put in the inquiry and they are interested in us so they've asked her for our file. In the other case, she submitted the inquiry and they already have our file and are interested in us. They have requested she be part of a meeting (teleconference) to present us as a good candidate family for the child. The meeting is Tuesday. I've asked her when we should hear back on the results of the meeting, but she hasn't gotten back to me yet. Most of our email traffic takes a couple of days due to time differences and such. So, we're still playing the waiting game but like I said, it's a bit comforting to hear that we're being reviewed. It's tough to not get our hopes up for one child or another, but we're trying and praying really hard for guidance on that right now. It's tough to keep in mind that HE already knows which child is coming to our family. But like I said, we're trying to keep that in mind and praying for HIM to help us keep it there! Ya'll pray with us! This waiting stinks!! I remember one of our pastors saying once, "God give me patience and give it to me NOW!" LOL! That's unfortunately the way we think. But everything happens in HIS time right!?! HE'S AN ON-TIME GOD-YES HE IS!! :) And I forget how well he knows me sometimes :) The other day I was down and out about this waiting mess and just when I was about to open my mouth to complain, I got an email from a friend of mine that's adopting and they've been waiting a year and a half and are just finally at the top of the list and hoping for a referral of a child in the next month or two! And this will be their first child! HUSH MY MOUTH!! We've only been at this since early December! We really can't complain! So if you feel moved to pray for our family during this waiting time, I'm asking that you try to remember those families in prayer too. I can't imagine waiting that long for the child that already belongs to your heart in so many ways.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Laela's Interesting Looks

I don't know what inspires her fashion but she comes up with these looks that are just too much! LOL! See for yourself. . .



Science Center in TOKYO!

Eddie got to go on the 1st graders second field trip and he said they had a BLAST!! They went to the Tama Rokuto Science Center in Tokyo. They had tons of hands on fun activities for the kids and Jalen couldn't stop talking about it when he got home. Eddie took tons of pictures but I've just selected a few to post. The one of Jalen on the bike thing is a machine that showed the muscles and bones in their little legs as they moved on the bike. Then the others are some kind of moon walker, NO gravity thing. He LOVED it. Then the other one is Jalen trying to climb up in the EXTRA gravity room. LOL! He had a ball. Eddie said all the kids were so funny and having the best time!


Friday, February 6, 2009

Happy Birthday My Little Prince

Ryan Nicholas Baldomero, born February 5, 2004, 7 lbs 12 oz, 20 in long. What a gorgeous little munchkin you were! I remember holding you in my arms for the first time and what an amazing feeling it was to have you in the world. You haven't stopped amazing me ever since. You have faced so much in your short little life and you continue to shine through everything. You don't let anything hold you back and you inspire me daily. You are a truly amazing child. Your happiness and joy of life is something that I love to witness. We are so blessed to be the ones that get to watch you grow and become the person you are and will be. It fills my heart to see you so happy on this wonderful day! I hope you had a great birthday because we sure enjoyed sharing it with you. You are such a joy Ryan Nicholas and we love you to a million pieces!!
Happy 5th Birthday My Prince!
Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Mom Shoes

Gone are the days of my high heel knee high boots or animal print pumps. I have three children with one/possibly two on the way and they all move way too fast for me to be chasing them in that kind of footwear! I spend my days avoiding sprained ankles now! LOL! I officially broke down today and traded in my Hot Mom Shoes for just regular ole Mom Shoes! I spent $80 today on "sensible footwear"! UUGGH! I'm getting old!! First of all, I would NEVER spend $80 on anything, let alone shoes for myself! But when I tried them on and felt the comfort I couldn't resist! All I could think about was chasing Ryan and Laela while wearing them and they were as good as SOLD! When I went to check out the little Japanese lady said "why box no shoes" and when I told her I had them on she looked at me like I was purple! I showed her my other boots (high heel knee high) and she just shook her head as if to understand my situation! LOL! While walking out of the store I also had another realization. . .I have to have all my jeans cut off/hemmed now since I'm a whoppin' 5'2.5" and I've worn heels my whole life! What in the world!?! I didn't see this revelation of a day coming AT ALL! Oh well, so without further ado I introduce to you, MY MOM SHOES . . .

Monday, February 2, 2009

Phone Call

So, last night (our Sunday night) we got a phone call from our very sweet agency social worker. She just wanted to call to make sure we were clear on everything going on and to see what questions we had for her. She lives in Germany so we thought it was so nice of her to figure out the time difference and mark aside some time for us. It was so nice to get some of our questions answered. The biggest being. . .how long will we be waiting? She said that all of her families have gotten referrals for children by 6 months. Some less time, some the full 6 months, but almost always within the 6 month time period. She said we should be hearing back on the inquiries we've made within the next month or two. She said that the first notification would be to let us know that we were one of the final families chosen for the child. Then after a couple more months we'll find out if we are THE family. We have about 6 or 7 inquiries out right now so we are definitely READY to hear something. So basically, we are playing the waiting game. We'll certainly be keeping everyone posted as we learn more.
LOVE TO ALL!