Whew! What a Month!!

Where o where do I begin? The past month has been a complete blur of activity!

Let's catch up (if that is even possible!) Hmmmm.....let's see where I left of eons ago...oh yeah....we're moving to Montana. Our house sold the first week on the market, and closed a couple of weeks later. That meant packing....big time. I finally got that first box packed amd then we were on a roll. It is not easy to do all this within a couple of weeks (we never thought our house would sell so quickly, but that's always the case for us, so we SHOULDN't have doubted it...oh well).

TaDa! Box number one....finally!

We decided to go ahead and ship all our stuff to Montana.... no chance of changing our minds now! Not after that ka-ching outlay of cash!!!....well, not to mention that a certain relative threatened a tourtuous death to us if we didn't move! So, all of our belongings are now safely stored in a storage facility in Montana, just awaiting our arrival.

Once we got the move over, we had to take up temporary residence with my mom. Oh, what fun it is for the 4 of us to be together in one bedroom! Luckily the room is quite large and we do fir quite nicely with a queen bed and a couple of air beds for the girls...and the second bath is attached to the room, so that helps. And it is easier to help mom pack for her move too, since we're all here.

Last week was Natalie's spring break, so we decided to take advantage of the time and make a trip to Florida. We started our trip in Vero Beach, FL to visit Roger's parents. It was perfect timing, as his mom just had major knee surgery, so we were able to help her out with the transition at home and help his dad get accustomed to the things he would need to do to help her get around during her recovery. It was a nice visit and perfect timing to see R's sister, who flew in from San Fran to help the folks for a few weeks.

Next stop, Orlando to visit long-time friends (fun for us grown ups) and also to visit the Mouse (fun for the kids :-) I still have the long-held belief that purgatory is an eternity in Disn*yWorld. In August. I'm glad the kids had fun, but I have to tell ya.....ugh to the touristy, over-consumption, etc.... Not a fan of the crowds, the noise, the expense, etc. Looking VERY forward to visiting national or state parks for vacations, and enjoying the road LESS travelled. But still...it was nice to see the kids so excited. Anna was VERY happy to be tall enough (barely!) to be able to ride Goofy's Barnstormer roller coaster ride! She's a BIG girl!

We visited Kraft Azalea Gardens in Winter Park....where we were married many years ago.

It was an absolutely beautiful day...much like our wedding day.

Final stop was visiting more friends in Tampa. It was such a relaxing few days and we so enjoyed visiting with them. Natalie took up with Isabel like they saw each other every day! Isabel is N's oldest friend, as they were orphanage mates as tiny babies. Our families adopted the girls at the same time, and even lived in the same area for several years. We hope to see them for a visit to Montana very soon!

And here we are....back in AL. Back to work and school tomorrow. Back to packing. Back to planning the next stages of the final move. Good thing I'm actually good at the logistics of a move like this!

Hope to be keeping up to date more regularly now ) I know...I always promise that, don't I? Thanks for being patient with me!

The End.

The Last Best Place

So, here it is......we are moving all the way across the country. 2,332 miles to be exact.

"The Last Best Place" has called us, so we have heeded the call to completely uproot our family and move to the Big Sky Country of Montana.

Many have wondered what has brought us to this place where we would consider such a move. We're certainly not wealthy, we have no specific jobs waiting for us. But we do have family there. And the fact that it is a beautiful part of the country helps, too.

The bottom line is we want a different lifestyle for us and our 2 girls. We want to be able to do more activities outdoors. And yes, we are aware that the winters in Montana are "slightly different" than the winters of coastal Alabama. But we find that living in the south, we are so hot and miserable for 5 months, the girls are eaten alive by mosquitoes, we don't go to the beach very often, and we find that we don't get outdoors much. We want to experience 4 seasons instead of 1.5. We want to hike (5 minutes away), learn how to flyfish, snowboard, ski, iceskate and sled. We want to learn how to shovel snow. Well, maybe not that, but I guess it is good exercise :-) We want to have our children grow up in a more highly educated city. And we want to share our lives with our family.

I had an epiphany last summer after we visited Montana. I have had a couple of other "epiphanies" in my life. One resulted in our adoption of Natalie. And the next one lasted years and told us to wait on our desired adoption of a second child....I had signed two adoption contracts, started several homestudies.....but "something" kept telling me to stop. I finally made the conscious decision to put everything on hold with a second adoption until the reason revealed itself to me. And it did. In the Fall of 2005, I kept having this nagging dream....it said our next daughter was between 2 and 4 years old, with a heart condition. Well, it kept nagging at me, although we had never considered a toddler adoption, much less one with a heart condition! Finally a few months later I'd had enough of the nagging sensation....so I started researching the SN adoptions. And voila! There she was! The instant I saw Anna's picture, I KNEW she was the reason I had been holding back. So I fought for her and we were able to bring her into our lives in 2006. She was almost 2 1/2 when we adopted her. And she had a mild heart condition. Check.

What was the Montana epiphany? It was again, a recurring, nagging, loud voice in my dreams.

"Leap and the net will appear"

That's it.....it was under the surface for weeks until finally it was clear one morning (like someone had yelled the phrase to me). Duh! Well alrighty then. So here we are. We have leapt.

I sure hope that net appears!

SOLD!

After 8 long days on the market, we have sold our house! Yippee!
But wait......the new owner wants to close in.....

TWO WEEKS!

Ack!

Head....is....spinning.....

We'll make this work, but boy do we have our work cut out for us!
Anyone want to help pack?

Achoo! We've had the flu!

That's right......good 'ol Type A Influenza has been rampant at our home....beginning with Anna. I soon descended that slippery slope to illness, and then Roger, who has been hit the hardest with it. Fingers crossed, so far Natalie (our tough girl!) has managed to escape the flu's evil rath. Anna recovered quickly, but Roger & I are hacking our way through the days and nights.....dreaming of the day we'll be cough-free.

Lots to report.....but more to follow......

Teaser/Newsflash -- our 1908 bungalow is now up for sale. So, if you know anyone who wants a really cute, completely restored bungalow in our historic area, send them our way! Let's get this thing sold!! Wish us luck!

After 2 1/2 LONG years.....

I now have....

not ONE...

Not TWO....

Not THREE......

....but FOUR!

Yep, that's right....FOUR painted sides to our house!!!!

Hallelujah! I was beginning to think I was forever going to have the lovely green on the front, and peeling beige on the sides & back house for the rest of my days. After MUCH insistence on my part, my extremely picky DH (who thinks no one can paint as perfectly as he can) finally found some painters who were up to the task of grinding (to the bare wood), priming, caulking, glazing windows and top coating to DH's high (make that HIGH) expectations. We are very pleased with their work & so happy to finally have it done that I have actually convinced him to hire them to finish the interior painting (which is "only" trim).....but that includes taking down and sanding 8 doors, as well as picture molding, 10" baseboards, 12 windows with 6" molding & all those corresponding door frames. It never gets done by us because he is so busy restoring his clients' homes & making them lovely....while ours just sits here waiting for the love. Oh well....you know how it is with the cobbler's kids & their lack of shoes :-)

We've also been busily cleaning out & purging....starting with the girls room......too many toys! So we took everything out of the toy closet, under the beds & all around the room. We managed to fill the entire full-size Tundra truckbed with goodies for Goodwill. Can you imagine? Yeesh. Now the only thing on the floor is furniture feet.....this has been for 10 days now!

Breaking news! Anna's hair seems to be growing! And SHE is growing too. We measured her just a few days ago & she was the same height as she was on 12/8/07....but today she was over 1/2" taller than a week ago! As she says...." I'm NOT a baby! I'm a big girl!!" She gets extremely annoyed with being referred to as anything smallish....and will burst into uncontrollable tears in an instant if she feel insulted. Too cute.

Oh! This is in our town right now! It is very exciting and we hope to be able to see the final result on Friday. The house is only a few miles from us.....1100 square feet, 3 br, ONE bath for 8 people! They whisked the family of 8 off to the SuperBowl for the week & they'll come home to a new 3500 sq ft house with full furnishings, etc. Can't wait! Go Ty!

More later on that subject, hopefully with pics of Ty & the new house, etc. Isn't it amazing that they can bulldoze a house....have the foundation poured at 6 a.m. and the framing done by 7 p.m.? wow.

Flying, bikes and moon pies

Bullet posts:

• Natalie and I have been recovering from bronchitis the past two weeks. I'm feeling human today, but sadly was disappointed last weekend when I could not pull myself together enough to go to the Bruce Hornsby/Ricky Scaggs concert we had tickets for :-( Oh well....next month is Keb'Mo. Surely I'll be well enough then!
• Last night was our first Mardi Gras parade! R's niece fly in for a visit from the Big Apple, so she had first-hand knowledge of how her "country-cousins" spend their evenings :-)
• Natalie has finally conquered her bike! It is like she woke up with balance one day & now she's a natural....thank goodness! We're so proud of her. And Anna can almost ride Nat's old bike with training wheels....she's just about 1 inch too short ... but "I'M A BIG GIRL!" she will proclaim.
• It is so cold & dreary here today...I've been praying for snow, but it is just a teensy bit north of us. Dagnabbit!
• It is so interesting to hear about cousin Lauryn's life in Manhattan. Apartment living in the Big Apple and life in general is SO different than life anywhere else. And N had it right when she exclaimed that we live in suburban area & Lauryn lives in a VERY urban area....right she is. I'm happy to see that she does pay attention in school.
• Speaking of school, N is still making A's......good girl!
• And Anna is SO smart and a very fast learner. A bit on the sassy side, but hey, what's life if you don't have TWO sassy sistas in your household??
• OK, gotta scoot....Roger is pushing me out of the way to do some online shopping at LLBe*ns.

Out with the old....in with the new

As I tossed the fortune cookie to Roger the other night,

I had no idea it held this inside.

2008 is going to be the best year.....I just know it.

After all, we have the fortune cookie to prove it.

Christmas 2007 Memories

Changes

Well here we are....another rush to the finish line.....I absolutely hate this feeling of rushing, etc. It is ridiculous & I long for a simpler life. That is our family's goal this coming year. I hope that in one year we will attain the simplicity and peace in our lives that we so long for. I want the girls to want less and give more. But as their parents, we are the ones responsible for trying to instill that in them. So....time for us to step up to the plate and make the huge changes in our lives. As Gandhi said...."You must be the change you wish to see in the world".

Pitiful poster...

...that's me.

I cannot believe I have not posted one time since Thanksgiving.

Pitiful.

Bullets to quickly catch up a bit, then I promise to post some pics and maybe even a video:

• Mom is much better & went home from the hospital the day after Thanksgiving.
• Roger survived (barely) his 12 hour drive to Florida alone with 2 kids, but it was not easy on him. Imagine being a man, alone, with a 3 year old girl and an 8 year old girl....how about those bathroom breaks? Hmmmm. They got it figured out, but again....not easy.
• I'm pretty much done with my Christmas shopping, baking.
• Some day I'm going to have a truly pleasant and relaxing December. Promise!
• Natalie is an amazing basketball player! First game, she scored the first basket, and several others, including a freethrow shot. Second game, she scored several baskets & has become quite a scrapper (read agressively stealing the ball & grabbing the rebounds for a fast break!) This is my baby who could not bounce a basketball 2 times in a row a couple of years ago.
• Natalie is also still making A's.
• Anna is going to be a gymnast I think. She is freakishly flexible I'm discovering. She can sit on the floor with her legs straight out in front of her. She tells her toes to "go away toes!".....then she points her toes so far that the soles of her feet are flat on the ground! No bended knees. I guess she has no ankle joints. Very odd.
• I suppose our new "tradition" (meaning...done it one time) of grilling steaks for Christmas dinner is now a firm tradition. Natalie drew a picture depicting our family at Christmas....including a drawing of Roger, donning his steak tongs (or is that a pitchfork) over a grill of steaks :-) He is also sporting a lovely "Don King" style coif.

OK.....at least I have posted SOMETHING. I hope to post again more regularly and include all these pics I've been collecting.

Hugs to all....and to all a good night!

Thanksgiving - Party of One :-(

I'm hosting a pity party for Thanksgiving - I'm the only attendee.

Our family of four, plus one grammy was planning on the long trek to Vero Beach this morning for a great visit with the entire family for a few days, plus the fun of a long-overdue visit with friends. Unfortunately my mom (grammy) was hospitalized with pneumonia yesterday morning, so plans were drastically changed & here I am at my pity party. I wanted Roger to still take the girls so they would be able to visit with their other grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who are all visiting from as far away as California and New York.

I had no idea that my heart would break into a million pieces as they drove away this morning. I knew I would miss them, of course. But the grief was and continues to be overwhelming.

I've had so many sweet friends offer to either have me attend Thanskgiving dinner, or even just bring me a plate....I'm so grateful for their thoughts and prayers. But for some reason, I just want this to be my Thanksgiving - party of one. I miss my family.

I am one with the wool...

....I have unexpectedly found my salvation! (And a life saver for my kids and dh as well).

My friend, Lee called last week to ask if I knitted...uh--no way. Too bad she said....she's into it & was hoping we could knit together while we visited in Atlanta. I didn't give it another thought until we got there & she showed me her projects. Wow! She created the most amazing things. We drank wine & conversed while she knitted away on a sweater for one of her daughters. The next morning, I accompanied her to the yarn shop, Knitch in Virginia Highlands...oh my gosh....for those of you in the Atlanta area....this place is heaven! It is NOT your usual yarn or craft type store....it has atmosphere that draws you in and MAKES you want to "be one with the wool". So here I am....completely addicted on just one moment!

Lee set me up with some circular needles & I picked some beautiful wool yarn, hand dyed from Montana...right near my brothers town! It is so vibrant & lovely.....so off I set to knit a hat for Anna...I had zero confidence that I could do it, but Lee was a great teacher and off I went! I was manic...I tuned everything and everyone out (except I could actually converse when I wanted to!).....I found my Zen, I found my Peace, I found my (long-missing) Sanity! I could not believe how relaxed it made me & I knitted until the wee hours of the morning while everyone else was asleep.....I would have finished the hat myself on the last row, but Lee was asleep & I didn't know what to do until I got to the end! But soon after we all got up, I finished Anna's cute hat! Hmmm.....what time does Knitch open today? Lee and I headed to Knitch & I got more yarn....I had to have enough for a matching hat for Natalie....Roger was destined to have a hat lovingly knit by me, and of course, my mom's blue eyes begged for the lovely turqoise....and I just couldn't resist the green for myself :-)

I began Roger's hat Sunday night.....on the drive home, I usually drive (to cut down on arguments :-), but I wanted to get a bit further on his hat, so Roger drove & the kids napped & thank God for the 2 DVD players which occupied them for awhile.....as it got dark, I popped on my reading light and knitted feverishly for hours, never looking up......Roger veered off on an Exit and I did look up & ask what he was doing...."Duh....we're home!" I could not believe it....I rode for hours, happily knitting away, completely oblivious to his driving (usually I can never rest, since I have to be sure he's driving OK, and awake :-) It was the most peaceful drive! Yay! And I was on the last row of his hat! Once we got the kids in bed I picked up the hat and completed it.

The funny thing is that Roger was acting like he'd never really wear a hat that I knitted for him (and after I so carefully selected the hand-spun, hand-dyed Manos from Uruguay!!)...BUT, once he tried it on, he couldn't take it off and actually slept in it for awhile & then wore it to have his coffee the next morning....he likes it! And Anna wore hers all day at the aquarium too & in the car.

So....I guess I have some apptitude for this....I'm anxious for more patterns & more learning. I need Lee. She's the best teacher in the world & so patient. My next project to begin this afternoon while sitting in the car for an hour at dance will be Natalie's hat. I might need to learn how to knit mittens for her.....that's what she wants. Lee?? Help!

Atlanta Trip

We went to Atlanta last weekend to visit friends and had a wonderful time. We started the weekend off playing at the parks, relaxing with wine and visiting with old friends and their children. We visited Fernbank & the kids got to explore the dinosaurs and a very nice frog exhibit (who knew there were so many kinds of frogs!) Sunday brought our first trip to IKEA, which Roger gamely tolerated for awhile until I suggested he and Britt take all 4 kids to a park & we would catch up with them later :-) They were out of there in a flash & I could relax & take in the IKEA experience.....I did enjoy the Swedish meatball lunch and Natalie actually loved the lingonberry juice! Very unusual for her to try something so unknown.

One of the highlights of our visit was riding thru the very tony neighborhood streets of Decatur on our friend's vintage tractor! He has restored it to it's original condition & we took it out for a spin thru the neighborhood. Needless to say, I'm sure the neighbors are aghast and the country bumpkins driving a tractor (!) down their street! Too funny!!

On Monday morning, we hooked up with our friends, the Laydens, at the Georgia Aquarium. This was our first visit and I highly recommend it! It was truly a lovely adventure and the exhibits were first-class as you can see from the slideshow. My favorite was the tropical tank...it is amazing how brightly colored and patterned the fish are. And they knew exactly how to display the fish to bring out their colors. Beautiful.

We loved seeing the Layden's again.....Natalie and Ian have been anxious to see each other...but they were pretty quiet most of the time :-) Anna and Li Li were two peas in a pod having fun and getting along just great. I can't wait to see them again. Debbie and Dan are always fun to be with....like we've known them forever.

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

No, Anna is not screaming in terror at her pediatric cardiologist's office....she is happily chowing down on a yummy lollipop. Who has this much fun at their doctor's office? What an amazing job they did decorating the office......it was so cool! Wish I had gotten a picture of the yellow brick road they had created!




Below is our neighborhood "Chinese Contingent" for T or T. They had fun & got too much candy to haul! The only problem was that Anna was frightened within the first 5 minutes by a guy dressed in a "Scream" costume.....I don't think she will EVER forget that (and he wasn't even near her!) Needless to say, she spent the rest of the evening in our arms & would not get down to go up to the doors....and begged to go home alot of the time :-) She managed to pull herself together pretty well at the end with a lollipop, followed by Swedish Fish, Nerds, and anything else she could get her little paws & fangs on!

An answer to our prayers

Anna had her annual cardiologist check-up today to see how her VSD is doing. Very very good news for us! The doctor said that it was difficult to find, but they did see a tiny area that was not quite closed....the gap has closed significantly from one year ago (when the could actually take a pressure reading of the flow). Now it is so small, there is no pressure, just a little bitty leak. We'll go back again next year and most likely the VSD will be completely closed.

In the meantime, still no restrictions on her whatsoever & she will continue to whirl about in her beautiful, energetic spirit.

Also, we actually had a great time at the doctor's office (if you can imagine that!) Anna's pediatric cardiologist blows it all out on Halloween. This year's theme was "Wizard of Oz"! It was truly an amazing sight to see the yellow brick road they had created, as well as the Emerald City and all the other scenes. Each person was decked out in an incredible costume & looked fantastic!! The cowardly lion was Anna's first stop....it was pretty funny when the "lion" realized it was going to be difficult to get the stethescope into her real ears! Next was the doctor....replete in an elf costume.....Anna wasn't too sure what to make of her silly hairdo. And then the wonderful and sweet echocardiogram tech was perfect as Dorothy.....including Toto in a basket!

Anna was SUCH an amazing brave girl.....the first thing she told me this morning when she awoke was "Mommy, I not going to cry at the doctor office....I be brave" She melts my heart. And she was brave and not scared at all. Or at least I didn't think she was until about halfway into the echo, I saw her reach up and wipe a tear from her eye :-( She was bravely holding her emotions in check.....but she was obviously scared when they hooked up the wires to her chest. What a precious gift we have in Anna.

I'll post the pictures from the Oz office as soon as I receive them. Happy Halloween!!

4 days...

....until the whirlwind season of Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. The next 10 weeks will come in and out like a blizzard. I wish I could say I'm looking forward to it, but alas, (as usual) I'm not as prepared as I ALWAYS aspire to be. Well, at least I'm consistent!

We do have a few trips planned that I'm SO looking forward to. First one in two weeks will be our way-overdue trip to Hot-lanta to visit old friends and also visit with my bloggy friend Debbie & Dan and perfecto kids Ian and LiLi. You'll remember Ian....he was the too-adorable young man, holding my daughter's hand at the beach :-)

Then we'll be heading to Vero Beach for the Thanksgiving holidays....I'm really looking forward to that too. AND, I'm certain this will be a more pleasant drive than last year, when my DH decided that "Natalie doesn't need a DVD in the car....she can amuse herself by looking out the window like I did when I was her age!".....needless to say, that was the trip from he-double hockey sticks, as Natalie pouted and fumed and was "bored" for 10 straight hours. THIS year, I totally bypassed DH and bought not one, but TWO portable DVD players. One for each kidlet. How smart am I? Now they don't even have to share. So I don't have to hear the squabbles or anything! Ha! I'll teach him :-)

So, in an effort to stay on top of current events, here's my latest photo journal....

We walked to our church "trunk or treat" earlier this week....Anna is enthralled with her candy...she's a sugar freak. :-(



The cutest little black cats in the world! (Or should that be "sassy" black cat?)

I went to Anna's room the other day to see what trouble she was cooking up and was surprised to see she had written these letters all by herself! A smart and sassy cookie.

Natalie particiated in a Stix performance at church recently....she did a great job and this picture does not do her justice. Maybe I'll stick the video on the blog.

This is what Anna came up with the other day as a lovely outfit. I have a similar photo of Natalie wearing this same tutu when she was 2.....over her footie PJs, riding her new tricycle with her helmet on...a favorite of mine, and so is this one.

The end.

Children of the Corn(Maze)

What a difference a year makes...

One year ago today we were introduced to our adorable youngest daughter, Anna, who was known at the time as ChangChang. She came into our family at the perfect time and has been an incredible joy to us.

The picture above shows our Anna after only being with us for an hour. She looks so sad, with her teary eyes and quivering lip.....although she was prepared for her new family, she still was terrified at first.



Fast forward to a couple of hours later and our first dinner.....see that impish smile and sparkle in her eyes? That's the Anna we know. It still amazes us that she was comfortable enough within a few hours to be her naturally goofy self.

I've always loved this picture of Roger giving Anna a smooch a few days later....remember, she would not have anything to do with him for the first several days.....it was so hard for him not to be able to hold her. Now, she adores her daddy & cannot get enough of him.

Before (above)

Same bubbly, sweet smile (and SLIGHTLY more hair has been cultivated :-)

After (below)



HAPPY FIRST GOTCHA DAY, ANNA!!

We love you and we're so happy and fortunate that you are our daughter!