Half Full

Our glass is have full!

Today is day 10 of 20!

Duty, Honor, Country...

Memorial Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. Please take a moment to honor those who have given their lives for our freedom.

Out of Africa...

Girl Trip!

Adriana & I left last Tuesday from Madrid, Spain and flew to Jerez, Spain ~ tired and late, we spent the night and picked up our Morocco trip early the following morning. We spent 4 nights and 5 days in picturesque and enchanting Morocco ~ Casablanca, Marrakech Rabat, Asilah & Tanger seeing the sights of Palace Mohammed V, the old city of Casablanca, the mosque of the medina, the Hassan II mosque, the Bahia Palace, Marrakesh markets, the beaches of Tangiers, the Mausoleum of Mohammed V, and the white city of Asilah.

Take a step back in time…look left to see a donkey pulling a cart loaded with wares, cactus used as enclosures to keep livestock in boundaries, sheep crossing the road, water peddlers selling water (not bottled!), and snake charmers; or maybe you prefer the Jaguar which pulls up next to the donkey?

Hope you enjoy….

Dossier Submission

WE ARE SUBMITTED!

On May 13th, our dossier was accepted by the SDA in Ukraine!

What does this mean?
It means our dossier was handed in at the SDA and they will now take approximately 20 Ukrainian working days ~ although, it can be longer ~ to process our dossier and designate an appointment date for us.

What’s an appointment date?

The appointment date is the day the SDA has set aside for us to meet with them and review files of children who meet our request.

Click on the above picture to see where we are in our journey.

Celebrating Mothers

Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs... since the payment is pure love.

~Mildred B. Vermont~

Congratulations

Congratulations to my sister Carla who graduated today with her teaching degree!

Way to go!

Enroute to Texas

Its Friday night 2144 ~ 16 crates of HHG (House Hold Goods & Professional Gear) plus 1 crate for the Harley Davidson ~ we are packed & crated!

26 hours 14 minutes of packing, wrapping, carrying, loading, and documenting!

Thank you to Ferris Moving Team: Manolo, Jose, Rafael, Enrique, Juan, Ramon and Eduardo for taking care of our possessions ~ everything from computers, dishes, clothes, and antiques. Your time and hard work are very much appreciated!

Let the urban camping begin!

Packed!

Day one began at 0730. The movers wanted to be here at 0700 but I negotiated for 0730 as the boys are preparing for school.

So our moving day began with coffee & blueberry pancakes. Then, it was off to packing! They packed until 1330 or lunch time. For lunch, we had bocadillas with cheese, chips, and a variety of drinks to include cerveza (beer). Then, more packing followed by more packing!

Finally, we are finished packing at 1930.

The moving team will arrive again tomorrow morning (0730) to a hot breakfast of eggs, bacon, biscuits, coffee & juice. Gotta feed 'em good - they are taking care of our stuff!

Tomorrow the team will move everything into crates....I wonder how many? Check back tomorrow for the final count!

Packing Out...

Bring on the bubble wrap, boxes, tape, and crates we're ready! In just 7 hours the movers will be at our door…0700 argh! I will just have gotten the boys out of bed for school! In about 48 hours it will be crated, sealed and off to begin the journey to Texas!


Off to bed now…tomorrow is going to be a VERY long day!

May Happenings

Can you believe May is already here?

I love May. It definitely begins to feel like spring this month with all the beautiful greens of the trees and grass, flowers budding and filling the air with their fragrant scents, and the fruit trees are beginning to show signs of the sweet nectar they will produce in the months ahead.

More reasons to love May: Mother’s Day ~ A day set aside to celebrate Mom’s. I am overjoyed I will celebrate Mother’s Day twice this month! Once on our traditional American Mother’s day on May 11th and then again, on Ukrainian Mother’s Day, May 13th, the day we submit our dossier to The State Department on Adoption and Children’s Rights (SDA). It’s only 1 week and 1 day away!

Also honoring in May ~ Military Spouses, The Armed Forces, DOD Teachers, and Memorial Day a day to honor those who have served our country all the way back to the Civil War. Take a moment to say thank-you to these amazing people.

Other happenings in May…the packers and movers arrive to pack up our home and tuck them into crates for shipping to the U.S.; my sister graduates college with her teaching degree; my sweet niece Alex has her birthday; three of my friends have birthdays; I’m taking a girl trip to Africa; and finally my Jim/Daddy arrives home! Yipee!

Have a great week everyone! We look forward to reading the comments/ideas/prayers you leave on our blog!

Tooth Fairy

Carson has lost another tooth! Will the tooth fairy come tonight? Carson says, "Tooth fairy, this is a really shinny, clean, and cavity free tooth; please remember how well I have taken care of my teeth when you visit me tonight."

Military Moving

Its official we have orders and a pack out date!

While we have done a tremendous amount of “pre-packing” one is NEVER totally prepared for the movers.

Prior to May 7th, we still need to:

· Clean up/shred and organize the office to include backing up the hard drive

· Set clothes and personal hygiene aside for 5 people to carry us through to June

· Set aside important documents, i.e., medical & dental records, passports, adoption papers,moving inventory, car/motorcycle titles & insurance documents, set aside current lease agreement

· Set aside toys/movies/kitchen supplies/bedding/towels to carry us through to June

· Contact NSE for temporary furniture

· Schedule POV shipment

· Schedule express shipment

· Make lodging reservations on this end and receiving end

· Contact the school for end date/records

· Schedule wine shipment

· Call insurance agency

· Set up excel file to track moving expenses

· Obtain change of address cards from post office (family, friends, magazine subscriptions)

· Notify bank of move

· Plan transit vacation

· Finish selling various items/donate what does not sell – tax exemption

· Clear Spanish bank account

· Disconnect/turn over utilities to landlord

Can you think of anything else?

Special Delivery

Today, at 10:34 a.m. our agency received our updated dossier documents via FEDEX. From here, they will make certain all the obligatory signatures, stamps, and seals are in order and forward them to our facilitator (V) in Ukraine. Our facilitator (V) will then have them translated; and its out with the old and in with the new documents all in time for our May 13th submission.

Another step closer!

April 20-26, 2008

This was a busy week! We spent this week on the paper chase; updating those last few documents for our dossier submission. It really wasn’t bad 5 documents total: two documents we had in our possession (luckily) so off they went to the Secretary of State in Texas for apostilling; two went to our agency and they sent them off for apostilling in Washington, D.C. and the third was our marriage certificate which had an old “printed” date on it. I called to inquire about a newly printed one and the lady on the other end was just so pleasant and friendly, it was like talking to an old acquaintance. She printed a new one and hand delivered it for a “real” signature vs. the standard printed one and then she mailed it off to my parent’s home. From there, it was a matter of a call to my sister, a couple of FEDEX forms filled out, and it was all taken care of. On Monday, all documents should be with our agency and all set for DHL service to Ukraine – an entire 2 weeks to spare!

More preparing for the packers – I believe I am a bit anal retentive when it comes to this. I have logged all the DVD’s – all 597 of them! I separated them into kid suitable and supervision obligatory. Each book (there are 8 of them) has a chronological listing of the DVD’s plus, a master list alphabetized for fast reference. I began organizing the VHS tapes – some of them are 15 years old! Several can be copied into DVD format and discarded while others we will still retain until the VHS no longer exists.

Other stuff….my girlfriend and her kids came over on Friday night and we prepared empanadas, drank tinto verano, and watched SURVIVOR while the kids played outside and then watched a movie. Thanks for hanging out with us Lopez family, we had a nice time just relaxing and enjoying your company. On Saturday, the kids and I couldn’t hang in the house for one more day – it was time to get out. We headed to Xandu our mall and packed in a little shopping, a little lunch, and the boys played in the playland for a smidgen. Following our 5 hour mall venture we headed off to the “skate park” where the boys can roller blade and skateboard. It was a bit crowded but we hung out for a good while enjoying the sun and fun. Today, while I was away attending a baby shower, the boys finished up their homework, washed some laundry, cleaned up the kitchen, and washed my car!

Happy Birthday Message

Happy Birthday Paul!

Today is the first day of another 365 day journey though life. May they be filled with love, laughter, family, and friends.

With love,

James & Lisa

Patrick, Christian & Carson

A Week In Review

Another week has flown by…sometimes these weeks fly by and others just seem to drag out. Why is that? Is it the pace of ones life that particular week – busy or lazy; or perhaps the anticipation of something which makes the difference; or the weather; maybe a combination?
At any rate this week was a GREAT week here!

Sunday: We sorted and separated, prepared and purged the entire lower level of our house (commonly called a basement in the U.S.). It amazes me how much stuff one can store in the nooks and crannies! It’s gone now – everything from furniture, costumes, and toys, saws, drills, and fish aquariums to hedgers, tiki torches, a grill, and electrical equipment. DONE!

Monday: Boys were off to school and Jim was off to work. I stayed home and tidied up the house – no sense in “cleaning” as there are boxes and piles of “stuff” everywhere. I divided up spices into baggies to keep for the next few months and to make easier to discard when we leave, washed laundry, and tucked my beloved Kitchen Aid mixer and food processor into their original boxes. A normal day I suppose with a little bit of progress in preparation for the movers. No PCS (Permanent Change of Station) orders yet – which translates into no wine shipment appt, no household moving appt, no car shipping appt, and no loaner furniture appt!

Tuesday: Off to work and school again for the “men” of the house. I hung around today and waited until Naydar – my so loved domestic helper arrived. Then, I jetted out the door for a few errands and to attend a meeting. After the meeting, there was time to grab a cup of coffee with my friend before we had to head home to scoop the kids off the bus. Guess what?!? No PSC orders today – but we got our submission date today! Our dossier will be submitted on
May 13, 2008 – Ukrainian Mother’s Day! We received notification by our agency at 2019 – everyone was jumping up and down and running through the yard; and yes, I did to!

Wednesday: Today, only the boys headed out. Jim stayed home today (the rest of the week) to work on taking things off the walls and taking the frames of the beds apart. We ran a few errands – with a check list so we would stay on track and then we grabbed a quick late lunch before we headed back home to accomplish more moving preparations. Notified today there are 2 documents we need to update for our dossier – luckily one of them arrived last week and the other is a simple request. No PCS orders today!

Thursday: The standard, the boys out the door for school, coffee, laundry and preparing for the movers. Today, I washed and photographed the costumes and packaged them individually in hopes of selling them cheaply to someone for their child(ren) to have as much joy playing dress up as my boys have. We also received an email from our Harley rep today regarding that Harley I won some months back – the money we owed for adding a couple of “extras” to the bike – we no longer owed! Doesn’t that rock! Had dossier documents notarized today and arranged for FEDEX pick-up for tomorrow.
NO PSC Orders! Now, it’s getting tight. We’ve been told we will have them tomorrow. We’ll see.

Friday: Again, the normal – school, coffee and a load of laundry! Jim did some prepacking for another upcoming TDY (Temporary Duty). Naydar (my loved domestic help) arrived at 10:00 and after explaining to her in my best Spanish lingo, what to do with the FEDEX envelope; Jim and I took a quick trip to Toledo (45 min to 1 hour away) for a suite of armor and a couple of gifts. This was our last trip to our favorite little city in Spain! We made a pit stop on the way home to stock up (19 more bottles) on some more of our favorite wines (for that wine shipment) before the packers come. FEDEX came – dossier update documents on their way! We received the PSC orders today – a little too late to make any appointments. Guess we know what’s on Monday’s agenda!

It’s the weekend now and we are just hanging out doing more of the same, The weather has been really yucky (April showers bring May Flowers) and we have been inside catching up on movies, homework, laundry, reading and just being together.

That was our week for the most part.

Did They Make The Grade?

Report cards were sent home today and these kids rock! Okay, maybe we are a little partial? Great job boys! We are proud of your academic achievements.

And the date is...

Today, our agency notified us we have a submission date of MAY 13, 2008 - Ukrainian Mother's Day!

This is the date our dossier (a.k.a official adoption packet) will be handed into the SDA (State Department on Adoption) for review/verification of our documents are in proper order. Once the SDA accepts our petition to adopt (approximately 20 days) they will send us an appointment date for travel to Ukraine.

As you can imagine we are thrilled! Please pray for us and for Ella - that she will be safe and well cared for until her forever family finds her.

Month of the Military Child

April is designated as the Month of the Military Child. The intent is to highlight the important role military children and their families play in the armed forces communities. It is a time to recognize and appreciate the sacrifices military children and their families continue to make for our country. Please take a moment to say thank you to a service member and/or their family for the sacrifices they make.

Visit one of the following links to read about our military families, their challenges and the sacrifices they make.

http://www.monthofthemilitarychild.com/

http://www.americasupportsyou.mil/americasupportsyou/military_child.html

http://www.militarychild.org/newsletter/index_april07.html

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Skye! We are so sorry we cannot be there to celebrate your birthday with you. We are thinking of you and hoping you have a wonderful day!

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