The Day We've Been Waiting For!

Today was a great day!

We got up early and went to breakfast. IHOP has a special Dr. Seuss breakfast right now. They have "Whooville Pancakes" and "Green Eggs and Ham". Connor was pretty excited about it. He took in his Horton toy and his Green Eggs and Ham book and was ready to eat!

After breakfast we headed to Cades Cove for the day. We had so much fun exploring and looking for deer and bears. Connor had fun collecting "nature stuff" like rocks, leaves, and tree bark (yes, he's all boy!). Everytime I go up there, I am amazed at how beautiful and peaceful everything is, and so thankful that there is still some of God's creation that has escaped being bulldozed for a shopping mall.

We had to run around a bit after the mountains, so we didn't get home until 9. I thought we'd already had a good day until Greg came up the driveway with the mail as I was getting Connor out of the car in the garage. After almost 4 months of waiting, we received pretty much the most important piece of our adoption (other than our referral of course), our I-71H. For those of you who do not know what that is, here is a quote from an international adoption site:

"The I-71H is officially called the, “Notice of Favorable Determination Concerning Application for Advance Procession of an Orphan Petition”. When prospective parents are waiting for any bit of news about how their adoption is moving forward, there are few things better than the I-71H. In a process that at times can seems as though it is grinding to a hault, the I71H is welcome news."

I screamed very loud and possibly woke the entire neighborhood up! This means we're approved by the U.S. to bring Claire home and our dossier can go to Taiwan! God is good!

Easter

I made an egg!


It's way too early for this!


The shirt did not stay tucked in the entire day! Just give it up, Mom!



The three of us at Nana and Granddaddy's.


Connor and his cousin Marion freezing their booties off on their egg hunt.




We had a great Easter weekend. On Saturday afternoon, we dyed Easter Eggs. Connor thought it was a lot of fun. He loved putting the stickers all over them! He kept taking out the eggs all day long, just to look at them. On Sunday, Connor and I got up really early! He rushed downstairs to see his treats the Easter Bunny left. He saw his bat and ball and told me, "It's what I always wanted!" We rushed to early services at Powell and then went to Crossings with my whole family. After church we headed to Nana and Granddaddy's for a yummy lunch and a VERY COLD Easter egg hunt with cousin Marion. The kids had a lot of fun, and Connor stayed the night so Mom and Dad could have a date. It was a good Easter, our best yet (I know, I said that last year!)

Connor can Google!

In all seriousness, I just walked into the playroom to get Connor off the computer and upstairs in bed. He was singing the tune to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, only he was concentrating really hard on the letters. M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E. He kept saying it over and over again, as he searched for the letters on the keyboard and I said, "What are you doing?" He said, "I'm spelling Mickey Mouse so I can look it up on the computer." Welcome to 2008.....even four-year olds can use Google!

A Ski Trip to Celebrate Eight Years!

The very first post on this blog was a picture from our seventh anniversary trip to Hilton Head last March. I absolutely cannot believe how quickly this year has passed. Greg and I now have been married eight years, officially half with and half without our Connor. We were talking this week how slowly the first four years went by, and how quickly these last four went by. He is getting so big and we love him so much. It is so amazing how much better life is with him around.

Greg and I got married over Spring Break when I was still in college. It's so cool that our anniversary always falls on Spring Break, so we try to do a little get away. While we were away, we talked about the past eight years. We agreed the hardest was the first year, trying to figure out how to live with each other, and even after 5 years of dating, learning new things that we didn't know about the other. The easiest was our third year, we found out we were pregnant, took our trip out west which was a trip of a lifetime, started getting ready for Connor,bought our house, and two months before our 4th anniversary, we celebrated the arrival of our little man. It was a good year. Year five was REALLY hard! Trying to adjust our lives to us both working with a small child was stressful and extremely hard. It was a whole new world neither of us were ready for! It would have been easy to give up when things got hard, especially in this day in time. Thankfully God has put family and friends in our lives to encourage us and to help us through.

If you know us, you know we love to travel and we have seen A LOT in eight years. One thing we hadn't done in a LONG time was snow skiing, so we headed up to Winterplace Ski Resort in West Virginia for our anniversary. This is where I skied growing up, so it was so much fun to go back. We had a great time and came home in one piece, and with the Adkins family, that is a good, good thing! We never know what is going to happen with us!

Greg joked that he rented out the whole resort for our anniversary because there was absolutely no one there. It was warm, no one was around, and it was perfect! Each time we go away, I remember how much I love my husband, and how thankful I am that I married my best friend in the whole world.

Update

Well, as far as Claire goes, our I-600A application is still sitting on someone's desk in Memphis. They are processing extremely slow, so it looks like we will not recieve our approval until May, possibly even June if their website is accurate. According to them, they just processed September applications, and ours was sent in December, but our fingerprints and homestudy didn't arrive until late January. Waiting on Memphis has been beyond frustrating. We have now had our I-600A in for 14 weeks on Thursday. It just seems ridiculous! Three and half months with another expected two months! Give me a break! We are completely ready with our agency, we're just waiting on Memphis, extremely slow Memphis.

Things here have been good. Greg had a great trip to Chicago with the boys and Connor and I spent some time with Nancy and the kids in Nashville. I have managed to come down with bronchitis (as far as I can tell from self-diagnosis, but I get it every Spring). I can barely talk and today one of my kids said, "You sound like a man." If you've ever heard my voice, you know that it's anything but masculine, so it's kind of funny having this deep, hoarse voice.

Connor is doing great! He is looking forward to the Easter Bunny. He's also looking forward to a visit from Mimi this weekend. Greg and I are going away for a few days to celebrate our eighth anniversary. Most people head somewhere warm for Spring Break and where are we heading.....to a ski resort. It seemed like a good idea at the time, to spend your anniversary all cuddled by the fire. Acutally, we're both really excited to get away and stay in a nice resort.

Connor and I have been looking for Easter outfits all week. On Sunday he said to me, "Okay Mom, I've been thinking about this a lot, and I really want a yellow shirt and a yellow tie." What boy thinks about these things? I guess the same child that frequently says to me now, "Is this stylish?" He did not get a yellow shirt and tie, but we compromised on an adorable little outfit. I can't wait to take pics on Easter morning.

While I'm talking about my little man, I have to say what an incredible eater he's been lately. He has been driving us crazy for a year now, only eating chicken, corn, and peas, and PB&J. He's gone to bed hungry, he's turned meal time into torture, but he has FINALLY turned the corner! He's eating broccoli, peaches, mashed potatoes, beans, mexican casserole, enchiladas, and basically anything I have given him in the past few weeks. I am so proud of him. His doctor told me not to give up, keep putting it in front of him, and though some nights I wanted to lock myself away, it looks like we have finally turned the corner!

Stay tuned for vacation and Easter pics.

Help a Needy Child Visit Washington D.C.!

Do you remember safety patrol when you were in fifth grade? Across the country, being a "safety" in fifth grade is a huge honor. The most exciting thing is the trip to Washington D.C. at the end of the school year. About six years ago, I got the opportunity to chaperone the annual trip, and it was so much fun. The kids got to see a lot of our nation's capital and they learned so much. It was the opportunity of a lifetime for students at my school, who due to finances might not have gotten the opportunity.

This year, the trip costs $399. This is a lot of money for any family, and especially a lot to students in my low-income school. They have had many fundraisers, but unfortunately this will not be much help to some of them. If you would be willing to donate money to this trip to help all of these students who have worked so hard this year, please e-mail me at adkinsj3@k12tn.net and I will get you the information you need to make a donation. Any amount will help, whether it be five dollars or even more! These students are considered the best of the best in our school and they deserve this opportunity, despite their economic disadvantage!