Emilio

I really thought I had posted at least once since bringing Emilio home from Texas. We flew down to San Antonio on Friday, then drove 3 hours to Corpus Christie to meet him. His caseworker was there (who had only met him the day before) and his foster family. I had taken some gifts that we could play with him, Candyland, toy cars, that sort of thing. We spent about 2 hours there at the foster home that night, then went to our hotel.

The first meeting went better than I had expected, I think in part because it took longer to get there than we planned and he was waiting for us. Plus we brought gifts. Always a good thing with a 6 year old. He is very sweet and affectionate and energetic. VERY ENERGETIC! We had not even seen a recent picture, so I was pretty nervous on the way to that first meeting.

On Saturday morning, we picked him up at 7:30 and followed his foster dad and foster brothers to the beach for a beach clean-up. He was excited to be with us, but still nervously looking for them. As the day went on, he became more comfortable with us and excited about the things we were doing. We took him to the aquarium, then to the dollar store to pick out 2 surprises (a task that took about an hour), then back to the hotel to play with the things we'd each chosen at the dollar store and go swimming. (Stephen and I chose things like play-dough and toy soldiers). At first he were scared to go swimming, but I'd packed the life jacket, and once he saw he could float, he was thrilled and wanted to stay in the water forever. Unfortunately it was too cold for me for long, so I watched Emilio and Stephen swim.

He stayed the night with us at the hotel and the next day we went to the beach for several hours. Stephen and I loved the beach and could have spent the whole day there, but Emilio wanted to go back to the hotel and go swimming again with the special life jacket. We had him with us all day Sunday and took him back to his foster family around 7 that night to say goodbye to them. We went back to the hotel without him. They give you this "break" time without the child, so you can talk and really decide if you want to proceed.

We did, so the next morning we went to his foster home one last time at around 10 and drove to his school with his foster parents. (Emilio was already at school, just like normal). We took treats for his school class and he said goodbye's to his teachers and friends, then to his foster parents, climbed in the car, and headed off to the airport with us. Kind of crazy when you think about it, but he was eager to go and excited about his new family. It was hard watching the foster parents say good-bye, knowing he had lived with them for 18 months and that they had done a good job teaching him many things. We drove to the airport and flew home, getting home very late Monday night. Emilio had fallen asleep in Denver, slept that whole last flight and as he was carried to the car and then the house. When he woke up the next morning, he was able to meet his siblings. They woke up gradually which was perfect because he was able to spend 10-15 minutes with one before the next kid woke up.

As I type this up and remember those feelings, it is amazing how well things have went over the past few weeks and how much he is starting to fit in. The first few days were hard in that he followed me around all day, like a new toy at Christmas, saying "mom? mom? mom? mom?"Kind of like the seagulls on Nemo. There is still a lot of adjusting going on. It's got the challenges of a new baby with fitting another person into the schedule, plus the fact that he already has an active personality and opinions on how to do things. There was A LOT that was new or different. Some good, some not from his perspective. Home cooked food instead of McDonalds. Chores. Scripture study. Younger siblings. New toys. Space to run (his foster home had no grass, just a small concrete pad to play on). He loves the dress-up box, and still spends most of his time wearing either the superman or spiderman costumes.

It's been a long, busy 3 weeks, not just with Emilio. My uncle Dave who was 58 passed away on the 7th and the following week we went to his funeral and then I went to Rupert for the graveside service (I left Stephen with all the kids.) We've been working and painting and cleaning a lot at our old house to get it ready to rent, and we are still working on unpacking here. Add in regular school (plus trying to figure out what Emilio even knows and where he is-- I'm homeschooling him too), chores, cooking, laundry, and just regular daily activities for 9 people and it's been a bit crazy! Plus Stephen and I had to talk in church last Sunday and help the kids prepare a musical number. (They did great and even Emilio learned the song and sang with the other kids.) So that's why I'm so behind on posting anything! But we are starting to get into a routine. It's busy and crazy and wonderful all at the same time. And probably going to get busier with the holidays coming up!

The other kids are adjusting pretty well too. Tyler loves having him home everyday (he hated days when Jeanisha and Ryan were both in school) and loves having someone who is "as hyper as I am". Jeanisha loves having someone who will play Candyland over and over and over. Adam had a hard time at first because Emilio would mix up him and Lincoln and call him "baby" and that is about the most offensive thing you can call a 3 year old. Emilio is getting used to Lincoln and no longer feels like he has to report to me every little thing Lincoln is doing like he did at first. Ryan is liking school more. We told him he could decide to stay in school or come back home and he wants to stay in school at least until the end of the semester and the choir concert (He goes early 2 days a week for a special choir class). Lincoln's hit the terrible 2's with a vengeance and is constantly into something or causing chaos somehow. Trish is thriving with homeschool and blossoming in her testimony. She has enjoyed putting together FHE lessons and learning to simplify things for the kids, even more so now with everything being completely new for Emilio.

Overall, we've come a long way in the past 2 months and seen some major changes. A new house, signing adoption papers for Trish, getting Emilio, and starting public school with some of the kids for the first time ever. It's amazing how much stuff can be crammed into 2 short months!

We've moved

The last few weeks have been CRAZY!!!! We did end up getting the house and are all moved in (sort of--- lots of stuff is still in boxes, but it's all here now). The seller finally signed everything and the loan funded the next day and we started pulling out carpet that night. We replaced most of the carpet in the house and repainted pretty much EVERYTHING!!! I think we figured we painted on 18 gallons of paint and primer. There was so much cleaning and scrubbing that we stumbled home exhausted late each night and got up early to come back the next day while the kids were at school. I had some wonderful friends who helped a lot, especially Melania who was here almost every day through the whole process. She was an angel in disguise and we never would have made it without her. She helped me figure out the colors and I love how the house looks. She also painted an amazing border in my bedroom and it looks like something out of a magazine. Once we get it unpacked, I'll try to remember to upload pictures. We moved on Labor Day and have been unpacking like crazy.

In the middle of all that craziness we signed the paperwork to start the process to adopt Trish. We have to be "pre-adoptive" status for 6 months before it can be finalized, so we should be able to finalize in March sometime.

We also were able to set up the dates to go meet Emilio-- in less than 2 weeks!!! Stephen and I will fly down to Texas on Friday and meet him, then spend a few days with him, and if all goes well, we get to bring him home with us! We're excited to meet him and hope that everything goes well.

There's never a dull moment around here, that's for sure!

Patience with an Almost Closing

We signed all the closing papers for the house today, unfortunately, the seller decided that she didn't understand everything she was going to sign, and didn't show up for her signing. So, we're still in limbo! Her realtor is hoping they can resolve everything and have her lawyer explain it AGAIN on Monday and re-sign everything on Tuesday. I am a bit annoyed because she already flaked once and delayed things a week, then said okay, I'll sign, then nevermind. . . . . Come on already!

We've also been waiting a week with no additional word from Texas about Emilio. I would really like to know when they want us to fly down and meet him. Just a little thing, right?

We also started Ryan and Trish in school/seminary this week by the new house. Jeanisha starts Kindergarten on Monday. Jeanisha and Trish are both on A/B days, but the days only match up every other week, so I get to make LOTS of trips back and forth (20 minutes each way) which is going to get old fast.

But, the key to the whole thing is patience. And just in case I wasn't getting the message through life, tonight when we went to the temple, the name of the person I was proxy for was Patience. I guess I needed a real clear hint. She was born in 1800 in England. Does this mean the craziness of my life is all part of a plan with pieces planted over 200 years ago? I guess if she waited 200 years for her temple work, I can wait another week. But I'm really tired of learning this lesson!

Skinny Boy

Tyler is super skinny. He always has been. He has no bottom! He is constantly tugging up his pants, even with the adjustable elastic waist thing inside. Yesterday, I was tired of telling him to pull up his pants, so I cinched in the waist as tight as I could. The pants finally stayed up. About 30 minutes later he comes in from playing and asks me to loosen it so he could use the bathroom. I told him to just unsnap them and go. He said, "What? I never undo them, I just suck in and pull them down." Poor kid, he's 8 years old and never learned to unbutton his pants to use the bathroom. He honestly had no idea that's what the snap in the front was for!

Limbo (venting)

I feel like our whole world is in limbo. Our house is on hold because of legal wording on the promissory note the bank is asking the seller to sign, that seller now won't sign. We were supposed to be signing yesterday. So we're holding our breath, waiting to hear what the bank and seller work out.

In the meantime, the judge in Texas approved visitations with Emilio and if we are still wanting to proceed after meeting him, she approved placement with us! So it looks like the long wait is finally drawing to a close! Then it will be 6 months until we can finalize the adoption. (It's been such a long, draining process, it almost doesn't feel real right now!) It is wonderful and we are excited, it's just hard knowing when to schedule the visits (and a little nervous feeling, like a blind date that will go straight to marriage 2 weeks later). We are trying to figure out when we can go to Texas in the next couple of weeks, while not knowing if/when we will be trying to paint, clean, recarpet, and pack. And I don't want him to get here while we are right in the middle of packing and moving. We need to be settled first, at whichever house, so things can be as normal as possible for him to settle him. And we don't want to visit and then have it be a long wait until he comes here to stay. I can't imagine what a 6 year old must be thinking and how scary the idea of getting a new family must be, especially when it is people you've never even met before! At this point, he hasn't even seen a picture of us.

To add to the craziness/confusion, we had decided to put Ryan and Jeanisha into regular public school this year. The school by the house we are supposed to be moving into is a really good school and I think Ryan would do good seeing what public school is really like. (Right now, he's on a "grass is greener on the other side of the fence" kick. He keeps telling me, "Public school kids don't have to write their answers as complete sentences. Public school kids don't have to show their work on long division. Public school kids get to play computer games. . . . ) I'm not sure where he is getting these ideas, but I think it will be a good experience for him, IF we move and are in the boundaries of a good school. I am still not willing to send him to the school right down the street from us now. As far as Jeanisha goes, she will love kindergarten and having someone give her schoolwork to do all day, and the school by the new house does an A Day/B day, so she can still homeschool part time and I can still take the kids at home on field trips and other activities because we won't have to work around being home in the middle of the day everyday. But, again, if we don't move, she is not going to school. And school in the new neighborhood starts NEXT Wednesday the 18th, so I feel like I need to make a decision soon, but I can't without knowing on the house.

I have a pretty good idea of what I will be using/buying if we end up homeschooling those two, so if it ends up going that route, it won't be too hard to get up to speed. I do have Tyler's stuff figured out and ready to go. Trish is on the waiting list for IDEA, so she is in limbo too. She should end up getting in, but if not, I'll have to get her registered with a different virtual charter school. So I can't really order her stuff yet either, although I do have most of it listed out. And with Emilio, I know he is in 1st grade, but don't know much about his learning style or what he needs or where he is academically.

I feel like I'm on one of those amusement park rides that spins you all around and upside down until you don't know which way is which and what way is up. And I'm ready for it all to stop so I can get off and things can be "normal" again!

Sprint Triathlon Pictures

The pictures from the triathlon are on web, but I'm not sure how long they will be up. (These are the expensive ones, we didn't have a camera since we were all doing the race.) Stephen's bib # is 313, Janet's is 189, and Trish's is 114. We all look pretty tired. Here is where you enter the bid #'s.


Stephen's swimming pictures are half way down the page here. He is in orange shorts.


And really, now that we are a few days past the race, I think I would do it again. Anyone want to join us in October?

Sprint Triathlon

Stephen, Trish, and I did a Sprint Triathlon last night. The race is a .25 mile swim (imagine one time around a high school track), 6 Mile Bike ride, and 2 Mile Run.

The race was VERY hard!!

They split the race of 400+ people into 9 groups, starting 10 minutes apart.

It was 96 degrees.

The swimming section was a lot harder than we thought it was going to be. We all got kicked a few times in the water. We were wrong in our calculations in the swimming pool (we were off by a half) so the real swim race was REAL hard. Stephen and Trish would agree with me on this.
When I (finally) made it to the first marker in the lake, I was completely exhausted. Luckily there were plenty of other slow swimmers, so I had company.

After the swim we went to the 6 mile bike section which was mostly flat, but the two bridges at the half way point got a lot bigger when you went over them (Stephen had told us they would be flat.) There were several bike wrecks with paramedics assisting people along the course as we made it through. I was just grateful not to be one of them. At the end of the bike race we all felt tired but pretty good.

Then came the transition to the run.

Running after you have swam and biked is an interesting feeling. Your legs tell you that you are doing it all wrong as you are trying to make your body run. It takes a little while to remind your body how to run. The run portion was 2 miles long and my body was not happy with me at this
point. It was all I could do to convince myself to keep going and get it over. At that point I just wanted to be done!

All three of us finished, which is awesome.

So here are the times.
Stephen 55:49
Janet 1:22:09
Trish 1:24:31

Trish would like to do another one. I don't know and Stephen says he doesn't know if he ever wants to swim again.