Bryan & Rachel Arrived!

Today, Bryan & Rachel arrived from NY. After landing at the airport and gathering up the suitcases, we headed to OTAN for a cafe con leche and to meet up with Jim. Then, we headed off to the banco Santander to exchange American money into Euro and to grab a few groceries. We headed home to meet up with the little people, cook some dinner, drink vino, and catch up before the sleepies set in! Great job staying up guys! From there, the next days were filled with visiting the heart of Madrid, where we happened upon the Changing of the Guard at the Royal Palace and strolled around the city seeing the sights and enjoying a cafe con leche...or two. At our visit to Osborne Winery - Amanda showed us around the winery and let us sample some vino - BEFORE we made our purchases - hmmm...is that the trick? We managed to fit in a trip to Valderrama Olive Oils, Toledo, Segovia & Avila. It was a busy week but we had a GREAT time with our wonderful friends! Thank you for coming to Spain to visit us and for the wonderful time we had while you were here!

Our Five Day Adventure In Rome, Naples, Pompeii, Venice, Burano, Murano & Torcello Italy

Happy Birthday Carly!

Happy Birthday to our wonderful little niece. Carly turned 6 today and while we cannot be there with her, we want her to know we love and miss her VERY much. Happy Birthday!

Ella's Room

WOW another step towards bringing Ella home! We have purchased bedding for her room! Ella's room decor - twin white beds with this beautiful bedding of soft yellows, greens and lavendar flowers. We will post pictures once the room is done!

Family Visit to Valle de los Caidos

"On April 1, 1940, it was decided that the Monument to the Dead in the Spanish Civil War should be erected. It is from the deep sense of religious devotion with which this great work was conceived by that Regime, from its situation and its object that the name comes: the Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caidos or Holy Cross of the Valley of the Fallen."

Presidents' Day February 18, 2008

"If you live long enough, you'll make mistakes. But if you learn from them, you'll be a better person. It's how you handle adversity, not how it affects you. The main thing is never quit, never quit, never quit."

~ Willam Jefferson Clinton ~

"America is too great for small dreams."

~ Ronald Wilson Regan ~

"America is best described by one word, freedom."

~ Dwight David Eisenhower ~

"Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth."

~ George Washington ~

Love Day

Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own home. Give love to your children, to a wife or husband, to a next-door neighbor.

~ Mother Teresa ~

Hanging in there

We are hanging in there! Still waiting to hear if we have been submitted.
Thanks for all your prayers and positive motivation

FEBRUARY 4th!

Today, the SDA opened permitting those of us still waiting to submit our complete dossiers to do so. We are anxious to hear from Carol if our dossier has been accepted and if our wait to bring Ella home has begun.

Check back daily for updates!

Pack 10 Pinewood Derby Day

Final Exams

We have entered the last week of the second semester. Christian and Carson are still working on multiplication with factors in parentheses and word problems, writing, and reading. Patrick has finals this week - he has finished 2 (History & Geomentry) today, followed by English on Wednesday and finishing with Spanish and Chemistry on Thursday. GOOD LUCK PATRICK!

Post your wishes to Patrick under this post by clicking on "Comments" below.

Counting Until the SDA Opens

Adoption Update

Today, a new announcement was issued by the U.S. Embassy with regards to adoptions in Ukraine. Basically, it states there are 1,453 allowable adoptions for foreign citizens in the year 2008 from Ukraine. They have removed country (number of adoptions per country)and child (age category)restrictions. Once a dossier (official packet of papers) is complete it may be registered with the State Department of Adoption and Protection of Rights of the Chid. (SDAPRC).

This morning we hung out together as a family - the boys built forts out of sheets and blankets using their bunkbeds. Totally so cute. Later, we joined friends for dinner (it was delicious) and some cards while the kids all played Xbox and DS.

Today we visited El Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo del Escorial in the town of Escorial. It is an extraordinary building here just outside of Madrid; approximately twenty-seven miles north west of Madrid and situated on the south-eastern slopes of the Sierra Guadarrama. El Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo del Escorial is comprised of a monastery, church, pantheon or royal mausoleum, a palace (intended as the summer and autumn residence of the court), college, library, art galleries and more. The Spaniards refer to this beautiful structure as the eighth wonder of the world. In 1563 and by order of Phillip II, construction began by the architect Juan Bautista de Toledo who was assisted by Lucas de Escalante and Pedro de Tolosa. El Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo del Escorial is breathtakingly beautiful.

Back to School

The boys started back to school/work today. What will I do with so much quietness? There are numerous projects to begin/finish beginning with cleaning out all the "stuff" we don't need to lug with us when we move this spring.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to our family and friends! We hope 2008 brings you much joy and happiness.

WOW! Christmas is right around the weekend! Can you believe it? It's amazing how fast time passes. The boys are very excited and cannot wait for Santa to arrive. Hang in there boys - it won't be much longer.

Last night we worked on multiplication tables. Christian and Carson are doing so well and we are so proud of them. Their little brains are absorbing so much and everyday they come home with knowledge they are so proud of. Patrick is still growing - I think he grows an inch over night. Also doing well in school and now beginning to think about where he will go to college or if he will choose a service academy.

Have a great day! Merry Christmas!

On December 12, 2007, the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine released the following adoption news:

On November 22, 2007 the Ministry for Family, Youth and Sports issued Decree #4137. This Decree approves the numbers of the new adoption dossiers from foreign countries that can be accepted by the Ukrainian State Department for Adoption and Protection of the Rights of the Child (SDAPRC) during calendar year 2008.

...460 dossier submissions have been allocated to parents from the U.S. for calendar year 2008. This number was arrived at using a special mathematical formula devised by the SDAPRC, based on the number of delinquent post adoption reports and the number of Ukrainian children who will be eligible for intercountry adoption in 2008. The total number of the dossier submissions is divided among five categories of children, so a specific number of dossiers can be submitted for each category:

children under six years old (with no siblings) - 32 dossiers
children from six to nine years old (with no siblings) - 83 dossiers
children ten years or older (with no siblings) - 115 dossiers
sibling groups (in which one of the children is younger than 6 years) - 92 dossiers
sibling groups (in which all siblings are 6 or more years old) - 138 dossiers
The U.S. again has the highest number of allocations for foreign countries adopting from Ukraine, followed by Italy (381 dossiers) and Spain (285 dossiers).

The SDAPRC will accept the new dossiers from foreign citizens beginning February 4, 2008.

Please keep praying for us and our daughter.

With love,
The Payne Family