No Ordinary Family

I posted a few days ago that I was looking for toddler appropriate DVD's that had a French language track. I assumed that since that was one of the official languages of Burundi that would be the language that BB was used to hearing. Well, you know what happens when you assume. After speaking with the Bishop we learned that he is hearing Kirundi . Now try and find a Kirundi language DVD for toddlers I dare you :0) There is not much out there on Kirundi , there is a book or 2 but they are more than I can afford to spend right now and I have no way of know if they will do me any good. The Bishop is working on a phrase book for adopting parents so that we can at least communicate the basics. He also taught us a few words while we were there. It will be interesting to see what we are able to pick up once we are in Burundi for a week or two. In the mean time I have located an online translator for Kirundi . Check it out if you are interested. It is Amajambo . I am in love...

Jody from Our Forever Journey of Adoption had an appointment in Yakima today and we were able to meet for lunch for the first time. At first it was a comedy of errors as the place we were supposed to meet had moved to Selah and she had one address and I was at the other. That will teach me to try to take some one to a fun place in Yakima they have all gone moved away. But it all turned out great because we were able to meet in the middle at a Sub Shop. As it turns out it did not matter what we ate because the company was amazing. It is so neat to be able to meet people that you feel like you already know. We read each others blogs and have exchanged emails for a couple years now (both LID in China 4/07). Now she is going to be heading to China in a few months to bring home her son!!! who is about the the same age as our BB. So we had tons to talk about, we could have stayed there all afternoon but I had to go back to work and she needed to get back on the road, :0(. I have a ...

So as most of you know we made the trek to Seattle to see the Bishop on Saturday. I was a great trip. We got there about an 1.5 hours early and so we did a little shopping at Penny's, Love that place wish we had one local. Jim got a new winter coat which by the crisp feel of the 27 degree weather this morning it will be well used this season. When we got to the agency we were still early so we waited on a bench outside, playing on FB with our phones :0). The Directors and the Bishop arrived and we sat down to talk. There was only one other lady there so we were able to spend a lot of time getting information about BB and the other little girl that is going to be adopted. We hope to travel at the same time. They just submitted their paperwork this week so I hope that it goes through quickly. We don't want to wait to travel but to be able to travel with another family would be a wonderful experience. So what did we learn, OH soooo much more than we knew before, which was ...

I know it has been all about BB lately but we are still also waiting for our little girl from China even though it might be years away. So when Kim hosted a bow swap I happily joined in on the fun. And look at the beautiful bows I got to add to LM's collection. Thanks Cindy! These swaps are so fun, now, I just need to find a hat swap for my bald man. Thanks Kim for hosting a fun swap.

So much has happened in the past few days and I just don't have the time to post about it in the proper detail so I am posting a procrastination post. But I wanted to let everyone know, that is not a face book friend, that the meeting Saturday with the Bishop went well. We got so much great information a lot of it we are still processing. So I will probably find time in the next couple days to play catch up but not tonight. Hope everyone else is well.

We sent off a care package to our agency today for BB. We are hoping that the Bishop will be able to take some of it back to Burundi with him to our BB. Jim picked out the little airplane and I picked out the cell phone, they said "A small toy" but we decided to push our luck with 2 :). I hope that at the minimum the Bishop will be able to bring him the picture album with pictures of us in it. He is a little young to be able to understand the concepts of adoption so we hope at least he is able to become familiar with our faces. Oh and clothes were not on the list but these are 2 outfits that will no longer do him any good here since it is cooled for the year. We are planning on meeting with the Bishop on Saturday in Seattle but since things always change we decided to send this ahead of time. We are really looking forward to talking to the Bishop in person about procedures and to just get more information about our Baby Boy.

I went to Target the other day and picked up a few $5 preschool DVDs when a thought occurred to me, what languages do they play in? All the ones around here are in English and Spanish. In Burundi they speak French and Kirundi. I know I will never find a Kirundi DVD but I was hoping to find a few in French so that BB will be at least able to hear some words he understands. I know living around here that Spanish will ultimately be more useful but there is no reason not to be tri-lingual. Ok maybe I am thinking a little too far in the future, :0), we will have to work on English first before we move on to Spanish and Mandarin. So why am I writing this post, well, I know I have a couple readers in Canada and I know that they speak French in some parts of Canada. I was hoping they might be able to offer me some good advice on getting some good toddler DVDs in French. Plus I might be able to pick up a few phases from French Sesame Street since we can't afford Rosetta Stone and an...

It is China referral time. That means there are many new families out there. I am so happy for them and I love seeing pictures of the new faces. 4 more days were referred this month so I feed the pig again as you can see. I know that there are at least a couple of my readers that missed the date by one day :0( Hang in there you are so close and definitely next!!! Seeing people continue to get referrals is what keeps hope alive that we will someday see our daughter from China. That was the up side not for the not so up side, as much as I love seeing the babies and knowing that the line is moving, the reality of how slow it is moving is daunting. We are still 393 LID days from referral and at the rate they are moving I predict another couple years. I know that there are rumors of speed ups but until I see something to indicate a speed up I can't go there. If I am eating my words in a few months that is perfectly fine but I have worked the numbers a couple different ways and soonest ...

You are going to have to excuse this post it is a little sentimental. THEN AND NOW So it has been 10 years since the day we were married. I am not really sure how to process it, I have been having a hard time dealing with everything that has happened in the last 10 years. It is like a big birthday that all of a sudden sneaks up on you. I am happy to be married to an amazing man, we have an amazing relationship and best of all we are best friends. We understand each other like no one else does. We finish each others sentences and sometimes we start each others sentences. I love Jim like no other and I can not even imagine my life with out him. Is everything perfect and wonderful all the time? Heck no! One of the things that I love about us is that we are real we do not always get along we do not always see eye to eye and we are both to damn stubborn to admit when we are wrong. We are both 1st born children and you can tell. But in the end we are able to work through things and...

to Australia Burundi. One of my favorite children's books is Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day if you have not read it check it out it is great. I am really ready to take some major time off work. It has been crazy at work lately, I am not sure why it just seems like everything is going wrong and it has not been helped by the fact that I have not felt well this week. I think I might take Friday off. It is our 10 year anniversary and although we have no plans it might be nice to reward myself by not going to work, but that depends on what is happening at work. I have plenty to do at home. There never seems to be enough time. I was going to make this a wordless Wednesday but I have too much to say. Crossing my fingers for some good adoption news so I can really start planning for that Family Leave that I really really need. I just never tire of seeing the cat on the changing table. I don't mind at all because I think BB will be a little old...

BB's room is almost ready. I have a few special touches I will add as I can and of course the curtains still need to finished and hung. We need a few more things for the walls but it is really looking like a little boy belongs there. Well I will let the pictures speak for them selves. Let me know what you think. You might want to pay special attention to the last photo!