Another Blizzard

OK I am so sick of this winter...thank the good Lord we will be in Jamaica very soon. My husband got a snow day...his office was closed but he still had to go do his rounds as the hospital never closes. The only other place that doesn't close when there is a blizzard is McDonald's. We have kind of adopted this ritual to eat lunch at McDonald's when it blizzards. I don't remember how it started but it just stuck. So when there is a blizzard and it is lunch time you know where to find this family...and it isn't the McDonald's closest to our home. We make it an adventure and drive to the one on the other side of town.


As far as our adoption goes...we are excited to be sending M*** her first care package. A family that will be leaving March 6th will be taking it for us. We should also be getting a few new photos from a couple of families that will be arriving home from ET this weekend. But what I am most excited about is our agency has agreed to let us correspond with M*** by email. I know this is a not the norm but I think because our daughter is older they will allow it. Of course she doesn't have email. What I have to do send her message to our family coordinator who will forward it to the Transition Home in Ethiopia. Some one on staff will have o read and interpret it to M***. Since the process is a bit complicated I don't expect to send or receive more than a few emails. But still excited to be able to communicate with her.

I was just thinking about our upcoming vacation. This will be the last vacation we will take as a family of three. On our next vacation we will be a family of four. Can't wait!!!!

Blessings,

Bliss

Music, Music, Music!

I signed Hannah up for this class offered by our city Parks & Rec. dept. It is a six week class called Music, Music, Music! It is for kids ages 4-8 and kids have fun developing hand-eye coordination and valuable social skills while learning fundamental music characteristics such as rhythm, tempo and dynamics. She had her first class yesterday and she was the youngest but by far the most outgoing. I have to laugh when I read the class will help the children develop valuable "social skills". If you know my Hannah you know she doesn't need any help in this area. She walked into class went up to everyone and said "Hi my name is Hannah Wen Shu Rovang". She then proceeded to walk up to each mother and ask there name and their favorite color. When the instructor showed up I felt bad as she almost didn't have a chance. Hannah pretty much took over the class...she had her instructor following her directions from the get go...I am not kidding. Hannah started doing some dance moves that she made her instructor repeat after her. The instructor did finally find a window where she could actually begin class but Hannah kept her on a pretty tight leash. After a few minutes into class Hannah suggested they play "Duck, Duck, Goose" and guess what the poor instructor gave in and said they would play it at the end of class. Hannah had a blast at this class and I think the other mother's got a kick out of her. They did play "Duck, Duck, Goose when class was over, but Hannah was not done instructing the class. I'm not kidding this poor instructor didn't know how to end class. Hannah had them all on the floor following her commands. Had it not been so funny I would have wanted to crawl under the table. I was finally able to take control of my child and convince her that class was over. I am happy to say that we have not yet received a call saying we are not welcome back to the class.
Blessings,
Bliss

A simple Sunday

We bought Hannah some snorkeling gear for our vacation. She was very anxious to try it on. She was a hoot trying to walk around in her fins. We will be practicing in the tub until we go. We are very excited to introduce her to snorkeling as we love to do it ourselves.

We also did some shopping for M****. We are sending a care package with a family that will be traveling soon. It will include a nice sterling silver cross cutout necklace with the word "Faith" on it. We are also sending a little photo album with pictures of our family as well as photos we have of her, a little purse type thing that has lip glosses and finger nail polish, a watch, a couple pair of fun socks and Jelly Belly gourmet jelly beans to share with her friends and care takers.

We are so excited as we will be getting our first official update on M***this week. Once we read through it we get to email 5 questions we want to ask about her and we will receive the answers in the next update. OK got to go. Ron and I our going to write a letter to our new daughter waiting for us in ET.

Blessings,

Bliss

Family Dinner Night

So it is our turn to host family dinner night. We usually trade off Saturdays with Ron's brother. So I actually am cooking for tonight's dinner. I don't usually cook as Ron enjoys doing it (and honestly we all know he is better at it...I am the clean up girl). But today we changed rolls. I made the main dish (Mexican stuffed shells...they are really yummy and if you want the recipe I am willing to share) and Ron made this beautiful pie (just a bit over baked but will still be quite tasty). Do I have a good man or what. He likes to cook, bake pies and makes the bed everyday. Not that I am lazy and won't make the bed it is just that I don't make it up to his standards...they would make any drill sergeant proud.

So we spent the afternoon preparing for dinner and Hannah's contribution was she provided the entertainment. If you know this kid you know she has an imagination that is always in overdrive. She says the funniest things. Today while I was peeling the apples for Ron's pie (so I get partial credit) Hannah was right by my side pretending to peel her own apples. She said "so mommy why are you making those apples all naked?" Too funny.

Just a little news on our adoption. You may have noticed I added a little countdown timer to our court date. So if we pass court our precious M***could be home with us by the beginning us Summer. This would be great as would have the whole Summer to work on her English before she starts school in the Fall. I also received word from our Social Worker that the addendum to our home study approving us for a girl up to the age of 12 has been sent and USCIS should have it by Monday. So everything is in place on our part and we just pray all the paperwork will be in place and we will pass court on May 8th. And if we do pass you might not have to read my blog to know it as I will be shouting WOOHOOO!!! at such decibel level it might just shake the ground (not to mention I will also be jumping up and down so the two combined will have some kind of impact).

OK gotta go...dinner is about ready.

Blessings,

Bliss

Funny Girl

This is my girl who loves to play dress up with my...delicates. Check out her arms...her princess gloves are knee highs. Look at those shoes and the socks she chose to go with them. She even chose a name for this whole get up....PJ Sparkles. Should I be worried????

Two Years Ago

Two years ago today my mother went home to be with the Lord. I am still not used to the fact that she is no longer with us...hard to explain.

I was going through photos the other day and came across this one. It is me and my brother with our mother. It was taken 20 years ago in Denver. We were there for my brother's graduation. It is one of the few photos I have of me with my mother as she hated to have pictures taken of her. As you can see in the photo she doesn't look too happy.

I just have to share a funny from Hannah...she has the biggest imagination I mean it is off the charts. She was talking to her daddy on the phone yesterday...she loves talking on the phone. Anyway I hear her say "Some dolphins came and ruined up our house and now it needs to be painted.....by Poodles".

Speaking of Hannah. This child's language learning skills just blow me away. I never know what language she is going to answer me in or talk to my friends in. I can say she speaks more Spanish than I do. She has built up quite a vocabulary in Mandarin I think she has surpassed me. Her inflection is perfect...I am so jealous. I can't get it as easy as her. I am teaching her the little I know of German...and she gets it just like that. And the biggest challenge learning Amharic so she can talk to her big sister. No problem...this kid can learn any language and I am just going to keep encouraging it at this young age.

We are very thankful that we have two families that are going to be taking photos of our dear daughter M*** in the next week. We can't wait to see new photos of her .

Blessings,

Bliss

We have a Court Date!!!

We have our court date. May 8th is the day we will either pass court or fail. Please pray that we pass the first time around as our daughter will be 11 yrs. old and I don't want to miss anymore time without her. If we pass court the first time our precious M*** is officially our daughter and we can travel to get her and share her name and photos.


We are very excited that we do have a couple families willing to take care packages for our daughter and snap a few new photos of her.

Blessings,
Bliss