No News Is.....

....No news. Sigh. I've been hoping to post an update that includes news about travel to Kazakhstan but things continue to move sloooooowly on the adoption front. We've updated a bunch of paper work so that is out of the way and I'm ever hopeful that "the call" is going to come any day. Its been 18 months since we've submitted our application to our agency. Its hard to believe that much time has passed and we still don't know when we'll be able to meet and hold our child. At this point in Molly and Aidan's adoption we were already home for a month. Doing my best to try and remain optimistic.

Life is very good otherwise. Molly and Aidan love school and have a full social calendar. We've had some unseasonably warm weather recently and we've been outside as much as possible digging, riding bikes, tooling around in the new jeep (theirs not ours), playing at our favorite parks and splashing around in the creek. Kindergarten registration was at the end of March and we're all set go. Molly and Aidan can hardly wait. So while waiting for news from Kazakhstan is difficult our life continues at full tilt and is filled with much joy.

Stay tuned.....

A Very Merry Christmas Indeed

Our holidays were merry and bright and spent visiting family and friends. It just doesn't get any better than that. Molly and Aidan truly enjoyed all of the festivities. They were real troopers with many late nights that ended with them passing out in the car on the ride home. Seasoned parents that we are we always made sure to pack their jammies "just in case" (which always ending up being the case). Santa was good to the kids and they were equally spoiled by their Aunts, Uncles and friends. Aidan received the Lego Street Extreme Racers set which he had wanted his whole life. Many, many hundred of pieces and hours of fun. The boy is Lego crazy. Molly received a salon styling station, assorted beauty supplies and a Barbie styling head. Silly me thought she would want to style Barbie. No go. Please call to schedule an appointment. She will find you if you don't. Her college age cousin Craig (who Molly adores) was a good sport and sat patiently for the works. And there were Zhu Zhu pets and accessories for all. Whew.

Pat's brother Mike was married on January 1, 2010. Pat was honored to be the best man, Aidan served as a ring bearer (which he thought was ring bear) and Molly a flower girl. It was a terrific day and we wish Mike and Mary Ellen much happiness and joy.

In adoption news....our dossier was assigned to Taraz in mid-December. We were thrilled to find out that there was a possibility that we might travel in January but dissapointingly things did not work out. We're still hoping to travel in the next couple of months. Praying hard and crossing everything. We are so ready to go.

Snow Angels

Saturday brought a little over three inches of snow and Molly and Aidan were in Heaven. They dashed out the door as soon as they saw the first flake and began running around the yard laughing and shrieking. Talk about your happy campers. After church on Sunday we bundled them up and they were off making snow angels, snow balls, rolling down the hill in our front yard and making a tiny snowman with Daddy. The snowman looked quite festive until Aidan ate his carrot nose and raisin mouth and buttons. Molly managed to eat several snow balls. One of her favorite wintertime activities. I smiled when I got out of bed this morning and looked out of the window to see Molly and Aidan's foot prints winding here, there and every where. Hopefully there will still be some snow to enjoy when they get home from school this afternoon.

Our dossier is still at the MOE. We discussed options for region assignment with our program coordinator and all include more waiting. With so many waiting families (from our agency and others) and fewer children available time to travel is getting stretched out further and further. At this point we're looking at a 4-6 month time frame. This means we'll be faced with the dreaded dossier redo. SIGH. I'm hoping we'll be surprised but prepared for more waiting. I'll keep praying. You never know. In the mean time we have our Molly and Aidan to fill our hearts and keep us busy. For that we are ever thankful.

The Kazakh Man - A Retrospective

On October 29th our Aidan Patrick turned 5. He is a wonderful little boy who sees and experiences the world in his own unique way. He is sweet and loving, curious and inquisitive, and has a smile that melts your heart. Aidan is bright, engaing and full of life. He is a Blessing and a joy. We are so fortunate to have him as our son. Happy Birthday Kazakh Man.