Happily Ever After...

I'm sure you have heard more than you ever wanted to know about adoption, twin wearing, USCIS approvals, and surgery... But alas, I have more.... ~Gianna's surgery is Thursday at 2:30. That means she cannot EAT all day. That alone may be her un-doing. She LOVES to eat. She smells food a mile and a half away. ~I was not able to talk Greg out of going. ~That means, I am STAYING. Sigh. ~He is EXTREMELY nurturing and comforting. He is the one I want to care for me when I am ill, so she is in better hands anyway. ~I am BLESSED to have many sweet friends who have called and checked on me while we were/are in quarantine. I had a lovely group of ladies come over for a "girls night" last week too. Gems, they are, truly gems!! My friends are the REAL DEAL, and I am so thankful for each one God blessed me with. ~I got my sling in and currently Gianna and the dog are my two victims. Thirty pounds on one hip and four pounds on the other is whacking my back out a bit. ...

I am a HUGE fan of wearing my babies. For as long as possible. When we got the referral for twins, I wanted to find a way to wear them both without having one on my back. I have read every single review about using 2 different carriers, and honestly, for toddlers, most moms of multiples wear one on the front and one on the back. I have sweet memories of that with the girls. I think I made it through ALL of Italy like this: Still, I was hoping to find a better solution for twins. I would always have to have Sofia on my back, and I really wanted "face time" with her too. Last week, I found the PERFECT carrier!! I am SO EXCITED!! It was meant for one baby, and there are like 9 different ways you can configure it, so when we get home, Daddy can carry one, and I can carry one. But IN CHINA (IF I go by myself- still not totally decided) I could wear both. Or at the grocery store. Or cooking dinner. Haha, who am I kidding?!? It will be, wearing them while writing a check to ...

The first step is ADMITTING you have a problem- right? Sigh....I have a problem. I am cleaning and I can't stop. I have my husband joining in, so we are getting twice the amount done. At this rate,I will run out of things to clean in 36 hours. That will leave at least 60 days before travel with nothing left to clean. The regular ol' dusting and vacuuming will not cut it. I need to CLEAN.                SCRUB.                DISINFECT.                PURGE.                ORGANIZE. We have, in the last 48 hours: De-weeded a VERY weedy backyard. Took hours. We should have been exhausted and stopped. BUT NO... We then cleaned out the garage. ( I used "we" loosely on this one) Cleaned and purged a messy master closet- a very long overdue project. Went to Costco for a mattress for Sofia. Came home to put the...

~ My house plants are growing mushrooms. I'm not a green thumb, but even I know that this is a bad sign. Too much water? Too little TLC? I have no idea, but I thought you should know. ~ Gianna is having her next surgery on Sept 2nd. Her Daddy is taking her this time. I am having a hard time not going, but we agreed we would switch, and it's his turn. Unless I can convince him it's my turn again, which has so far proved unsuccessful. ~A few family members HATE that they have to sign in to my blog. They visit it less often. Since my blog is primarily for family, I have thought of going public again. Now that I have changed locations, and lost my "friends" from Iceland, Brussels, and Munich, I may just do it. ~The girls started art and geography yesterday. Now that Aria is in the second grade, she has to walk herself to her next class instead of an adult walking her there. She made to the door of her second class, and I went to check on her. The second she saw ...

Twenty four years ago today, we received the greatest gift- we became parents for the first time. Our son lives in Virginia now, so birthdays together are not a given, but God in his gracious mercy allowed us to all be together this year. Greg and I have been smiling ear to ear all day, and saying, "Almost all our babies are here together in one place.." It is sheer mommy bliss, I tell ya. We spent the day water skiing on the boat and came home to a voicemail that change our parenting 24 years later on August 9th. China sent our LOAs!!! That means, that we are down to USCIS paperwork (yet again) and all we need after that is travel approval!! We could travel as soon as the end of October or as late as the first week of December but our BABIES WILL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!! What a day to celebrate the blessings of our children!!!

Greg's boss has a beach house on Anna Maria Island in Florida and graciously offered it to us for the week free of charge. That is perfect for our budget with saving for the twins, so we jumped at the chance. We asked Justin and Regina to come and meet us there to celebrate Justin's 24th birthday. We were SO EXCITED in fact, that we decided to pack up and leave Friday afternoon, so that we could spend all day Saturday exhausted, but at the beach. Ahhh, the best laid plans. What we knew,  but failed to connect the dots on, is this: The house is for sale. The listing says- "Perfect for renovation" His boss has not been there at all this year. Loosely translated that means that there may or may not have been a decline in the upkeep of the place. We stumbled in blearly eyed at 1 AM and opened the door to the lovely smell of mildew. We slept in the most uncomfortable bed for a few hours, and woke up to two very excited little girls and one VERY disgusting house. In...

-We are on day 43 of waiting for our LOA(Letter of Acceptance from China for the twins) -It could come any day now. -Or we could get to 80 days.... -...Or more -There is no rhyme or reason to how or why some get theirs in 35 days and some wait for 100. -If we get it soon, we will travel at the end of November or beginning of December. -I refuse to think about the alternative. -The twins 2nd birthday is Sept 13th. -We will have an in-China service send them a cake. -They will not even be together to celebrate because Celia is at the rehab facility. -We will celebrate here by ordering Chinese food and singing to them and having their sisters blow out their candles. -I will do more crying than celebrating. -No babies should miss their first AND second birthdays without the love of their family. -Please pray with me that we can get them as soon as possible. -And if it isn't meant to be....  please pray for my sanity. ;)

Today is my mother in law's birthday and to celebrate with her, I decided to dedicate a whole blog post to my most faithful reader. After almost 27 years as the love of her son's life, I have been able to learn many a life's lesson from her, such as: ~"You attract more flies with honey than vinegar" and equally important- ~"Kill them with kindness" She can be very sweet even when she is angry, a attribute I have yet to master. ~She is friendly to strangers. Especially at the grocery store. ~She makes the BEST potato salad. ~And hummus. I am drooling just thinking about the hummus. ~She is a wonderful grandma. To all 8 of her grandkids and this year will add 9 and 10 :) ~She taught me how to properly cook hard boiled eggs and the super-easy way to peel the shells off. Consequently, I think of her every time I make egg salad. Or deviled eggs. ~Her motto is, "the more the merrier" and she can adapt easily to feeding a crowd. ~...