Sunday, October 26, 2008

Making progress...

Well, I think this picture says it all! We took the training wheels off of Travis' bike yesterday and it was a huge success!! He rides his bike like he has been doing this for years. Yeah!!




We were nervous about him crashing so we piled on all of the safety equipment, but he didn't crash at all! He is getting to be such a big boy! I have posted a short video of him riding around on his bike too.


Thank you to everybody who was able to send in recipes for volume 2 of our cookbook! The final touches are being put on right now and I hope to have it to a publisher within the next week. If all goes well we should have them ready to sell by November 15. Thanks again to all who have helped me put this book together!!!


Casino Night also seems to be coming together nicely. We have been accumulating raffle prizes for the end of the night. We have gift certificates for restaurants, autographed baseballs, jewelry, NASCR jackets just to name a few! If you know of anybody who owns a store or restaurant and would like to donate a prize to our raffle please let us know. The more prizes we have the better!


As far as the adoption goes, we are still just waiting for our I-171H to come (this is the orphan petition). That paperwork was only submitted one or two weeks ago, so we still have some time to wait on that. However, it is very likely that once we do get that approval that we could be traveling very soon.


We hope to see many of you at Casino Night and I will post the cookbook on here once it is ready to sell.


Look! No Training Wheels!


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Ahh, Fall Break

Well, I realized Fall Break came and went before I had a chance to write a little bit about what we did. The first week was pretty low key since I had to fininsh up my research paper and project. However, on that Friday we went to the zoo with my cousin Anna and her little girl Clara. Spending time around younger children is good for Travis....he is learning how to be more patient! Here are some pictures from the zoo:

Travis and Clara at the beginning of the morning.
Travis on the little tractor....I think he may be getting too big for this one!! He looks like a giant child!
This was a cool swing in the children's area, they both had fun on this one.
Travis also enjoyed playing "baseball" in the backyard for two weeks. That is until all the balls ended up over the fence and we couldn't find them anymore!!

Week 2- Uncle Billy and Patti came to visit from California. They had never been to Arizona before, so this was a real treat. One morning we went on a short hike in the San Tan Mountains. These mountains are really close to our house. It was a beautiful day and we had fun looking at all the desert scenery.......rocks and bugs included!!



That week Travis also spent a lot of time building things with his lincoln logs. He has finally realized that he can make up things on his own, directions are not always needed! He does a pretty good job. He did this one all on his own. Future architect??
Here we are saying good-bye to our company. Uncle Billy and Patti were delightful houseguests, we had a lot of fun just hanging out with them.

This was hysterical!! Travis put this balloon under his shirt.....I promise it wasn't too many doughnuts!!!! And NO, he isn't "expecting" either!! (I think he might be trying to look like somebody he knows!! haha!!)
Travis is also a budding photographer. Patti has an iphone, Travis' new fun "toy"! He learned how to use her camera, it was a good incentive for good behavior, that's for sure! Here are some of the random pictures he took while sitting in the back seat of the car.
Here is a self-portrait of his foot on the back of the seat:
Views from the car going through Tempe:

Picture of the pumpkin outside our house...I love his perspective!
We did other things too, overall we had a very nice time and a lot of fun. Now Travis wants an iphone for Christmas...I don't think even Santa can pull that one off!!




Monday, October 13, 2008

AZ State Approval! Yeah!!

I just got an e-mail stating that we now have our approval from the State of Arizona to be adoptive parents...again! Now we will wait for our 1-171H (INS approval) and then we will have all the things we need to make our first trip to Russia!! YEAH! A great way to start a Monday!

Hope to see you at our upcoming Casino Night!!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

CASINO NIGHT!!

Ok, we are on for Casino Night for SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15!! It will be at the Chandler Elk's Lodge...cross streets are Dobson and Chandler Blvd., it is on Chandler Blvd. I will put up the exact address when I have it. It will be from 6-10 pm, $30 per person and that will get you $500 in chips and food to snack on. Drinks will also be available and you can buy more chips if you run out!! At the end of the evening chips will be cashed in for raffle tickets and we will have a raffle. We are looking for any and all donations to raffle off at the end of the evening, so if you have something to donate or if you have any contacts let me know. Look for more info to come soon, just wanted you to put the date on your calendars. We will be preselling tickets too!! Any questions please call or e-mail me. Hope to see you there!!

Saturday, October 4, 2008

WANTED: RECIPES!!

Ok, as many of you know the cost of a Russian adoption is quite costly. We were told to figure around $40,000 by the time everything is said and done. (This is almost $10,000 more than just 4 years ago!) You may wonder, "Where does all that money go?" Well, it goes to the agencies both in the US and Russia because they have to do so much with our paperwork you would be shocked, appostilling, notarizing, mailing expenses, homestudy expenses, psychological exams, Russian representatives who are doing mountains of paperwork in Russia, lawyers, legal fees, doctors fees for physicals, donations to the orphanage and the caretakers, travel expenses, etc, etc, etc. The list goes on and on. Not to mention we will more than likely be making three trips this time. (With Travis we were quite fortunate to only make one trip!)



So, with that being said, Daryle and I have decided to do a couple of fundraisers. The first one we are going to do is another cookbook. We did a cookbook to raise money when we were adopting Travis and it was quite a success. So, if you have a recipe ( or a couple) that you really love and want to share I would appreciate it if you could e-mail it/them to me by OCTOBER 18...that would be AWESOME!! That gives you all two whole weeks!! I am hoping to get it to print by the end of the month and have them ready to sell by mid-November. Thanks in advance for anybody who wants to help out. My e-mail is listed on the sidebar of this blog in case you don't have it already. Thanks again to all who want to participate!!



Our second fundraiser we are working on is hopefully going to be some type of Casino Night. We have a tentative date for November 15, but I will post more when I know for sure if that date will work out or not. If you live around here keep that date in mind for now!



There are hundreds of thousands of orphans in Russia alone, not to mention all the many other countries (including our own) that also have children who are needing forever families. Our hearts have been drawn to the children of Russia for some reason and we feel this is where God is leading us at this time. We deeply appreciate the love and support from all of our family and friends as we embark on another journey to find our child. Many of you know Travis and you are well aware of the love and joy he has brought to our family. We are anxious to be able to share that same love and joy with another child. It will make our family feel more complete. Thanks so much for all the love and prayers, they are appreciated more than you will ever know!

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Decisions

Well, yesterday I officially told our agency that we were not going to be able to accept that little baby boy they told us about. That was a little harder to do than I thought. It is very hard to have to say no to a child, but on the other hand we have to do what is best for our family. Anyway, that is now behind us and we are moving on!



So with that being said, next we had to decide which region we want to send our information to in Russia. After a lenghty discussion weighing the ins and outs of the regions they work in we have decided on Moscow City! When we went over for Travis we got to enjoy Moscow twice, but both times were extremely rushed. There is a lot we didn't have time to see. This time around with three trips I am sure we will get a much wider experience of Moscow. It is a beautiful city and we are excited to have a chance to go back. I was told the program in Moscow is a good one and seems to move along nicely. We are excited about this region and are keeping our fingers crossed that we will find our child there!!



Even happier news, I finished my first class last night!! YEAH! Now only 11 more to go....let's hope I make it with all of this other stuff going on lately! I guess it is good they will give me 6 years to complete a 2 year program!!



Also, we have decided to make volume 2 of the cookbook that we made to raise money for Travis' adoption. We also want to have a casino night, I am just having trouble finding a location for that. We REALLY want to do that one too, especially since we have had so many people express interest in wanting to participate. Now that my class is done for two weeks and I still have one more week off from work, hopefully I will make progress on my fundraising efforts.



Thanks for all the prayers and encouraging thoughts over the last few weeks, we have appreciated them all!!

PS-Can you believe it was 5 years ago today that we first saw a picture of Travis and found out about him?? Boy, how time flies!!