1st day of school - 2014/2015

On August 18th, the three boys headed back to school for a new school year.  I kind of can't believe that summer is over and it's back to school time already.  In a way I was ready to have a little peace and quiet around the house during the day and get back into more of a routine, but I wasn't anticipating the start of school this year like in years past.  When I dropped the boys off at school that morning, I might have even cried a little, they are getting so big and I miss them more than I realize during the day when they're gone!

Brayden - 6th grade

Logan - 4th grade

Preston - 2nd grade

Ashten - 1 more year at home

 This is the last year all the kids will be in the same school. Next year we will be introducing a whole new level of crazy with an additional school schedule and drop-off time!

Versaw family Grand Lake trip

This year marks 40 years of marriage for my parents as well as both of their 60th birthdays! My sisters and I knew we wanted to do something special for them to commemorate such big milestones.

We threw around ideas of camping or some staycation-type stuff, but we couldn't really find anything that worked. Then, my parents told us they wanted to do something special (without knowing that we had already been talking about it) and booked a cabin in Grand Lake for the whole family for the weekend.

It was so much fun to get away all together as a family. Even though the time was short, I think everyone had fun and I know it meant a lot to my parents that we all made time to do something as a family.

On Saturday we took a hike as a family, and then some of the family (with the smaller children) turned around and some of us kept hiking to a lake that was about 6.5 miles up the trail. My sister Olivia and her husband Dan, my dad. Chris and I and our 4 kids kept on hiking up to the lake! In hindsight, maybe it was a little much to ask our kids to do when there were other fun things to do in Grand Lake as well, but they made it and we are very proud of them! I also think it meant a lot to my dad that some of us hiked all the way to the lake with him.

All the Versaw cousins (minus one who was in the Bjorn)

Me, Monica and Olivia (Clara had turned around with her littles by this point)

The scenery was beautiful on the hike! We even saw a moose on the way back down.

We finally made it to the lake!

After our long hike, we got some ice cream and then went back to cabin to hang out with everyone else, shower and eat dinner.  That evening we had a anniversary celebration with my parents and gave them a small gift, a framed picture depicting how their family has grown in 40 years!

11 is extraordinary!

Our first-born is 11 today! Crazy!! It certainly doesn't seem like 11 years ago that I first became a mom.  When this little guy came into the world, all tiny and cute, I didn't realize just how wonderful my life was about to get! Brayden is a gift and I am so glad God gave him to our family!

I am so proud of the young man Brayden is growing into. He is mature, thoughtful, intelligent and kind.  He is a great big brother and it's no wonder at all that all his brothers and sister look up to him so much. I am so lucky I get to be his mom and watch him develop into the man God has created him to be. I can't wait to see what lies ahead for this guy, but I know God is up to something in his life!

Happy 11th birthday Brayden. I hope you feel as loved, appreciated and treasured as you really are, not just today but every day this year!

Preston's lip

Preston headed over to my parents one July afternoon in excited anticipation of his overnight date with my parents. We didn't expect to hear anything from him until the next afternoon. We were just settling in with a movie with the other three kids at home when my phone rang, it was my mom saying that Preston had fell and hurt his lip, there was a lot of blood and he was asking for us.

I talked to my mom and Preston for awhile and Preston really wanted me to come over with some oils! (BTW - I love that my kids love the oils now and prefer them over medicine, #essentialoilsforthewin). So Chris stayed at home with the other 3 and I drove over to my parents to come to Preston's rescue. By the time I got there, he had stopped crying and was just sitting in a chair playing a game with my parents. I had brought him his blanket and he sat there a long time just cuddling that and then he was ready for some oils! I put some lavender cream on it, which soothes, calms and speeds up the body's natural healing process!

It looks better in the pictures than it did in person and he was pretty shaken up about it. He was actually so upset about it that he wasn't sure he wanted to stay at grandma and grandpa's anymore. Once I put the oil on and cuddled him a little though, he was back to feeling good and he had a blast finishing out his date night!

Dinosaur Ridge

Earlier this summer, in July I think it was (man I'm behind!), my parents took Logan up to Dinosaur Ridge for their date.  Logan really enjoyed learning more about the dinosaurs, he loves to tell us all he learned every time we drive past it!

All our kids love their one-on-one time with my parents, but Logan especially really treasures it.  Since he is the second-born but so close in age to Brayden, there isn't much that he gets to do that no one else does, so dates like these are a special treat to him!

Thanks, mom and dad, for making our kids feel special!

Little lawnmower

Ashten likes to help Chris mow the grass when the mood strikes her.  I'm not sure if she's much of a help, but I so admire Chris for letting the kids help him with chores, even when it just creates more work for him.

Logan's coke bottle

Apparently Coke is doing some kind of promotion where they are putting people's names on Coke bottles.  I am sure it is just a marketing ploy to get people to buy more Coke, but whatever, it's kind of cool.

The other day we were in Target and found Logan's name.  We don't drink pop and definitely don't want that temptation around the house, so we just took a picture and then put it back!

Loving on Sadie

Sadie is going to be one sad puppy when the boys go back to school and she doesn't have as many kids to play with during the day.  Ashten will be home, but she doesn't play as long or as hard as the boys do.

The poor puppy is so exhausted during the day right now because every time she lays down, one of the kids comes over and lays on her or rubs her or tries to get her to play rope or something.  I know she will be a little lonely when they're all gone, but at least she will be well-rested!

Adoption Update - August 2014

I haven't blogged about our adoption for almost 4 months, but that's because almost nothing has really changed until just recently.

We received our approved immigration in the mail right after we got home from our vacation to NY.  The next Monday we had to get it notarized and then sent off for state certification, which took about a week.  Then we mailed it to AGCI the last week of July, who in turn sent it to DC to be authenticated.  As far as we know, it is still in DC, though we should be hearing something any day now!

Once that paper comes back from DC, authenticated, then they package our whole dossier together and send it to China, where the Chinese government looks over it and approves it on their end.  Once that happens we are given a log-in date (LID), which means we are officially eligible for a referral of any child.  We were told to expect about a 6-12 month wait until we receive a referral, but I am so tired of waiting, so I can't even wrap my head around that.  I'm operating on a 6-12 day hope right now!

However, there is a tiny problem.  Well not a problem, really, but definitely a hassle.  When we applied for our immigration approval, we still had valid fingerprints left over in the system from our Ethiopian adoption that hadn't expired yet, so instead of having to wait for a new fingerprint appointment and have to do that all over again now, we asked them to just transfer those over to our China adoption.  Come to find out, when you do that, the immigration approval that would normally be valid for 15 months is only valid until those fingerprints expire, which for us is March 22, 2015.  So, now we are going to have to reapply for immigration by the first part of January to ensure there is no lapse in our immigration approval status.  This would not be such a big deal except that we have to submit our homestudy with it and our homestudy can't be more than six months old at the time of submission.  Our homestudy was finalized in May, so that means we're going to have to do a new homestudy update as well.  UGH!

SO......I am boldly, confidently praying for an August referral so that we would definitely travel before our immigration approval expires in March.  We cannot travel on an expired immigration approval or our daughter wouldn't be allowed back in the country with us.  This is not such a far reaching prayer request that it's almost impossible, although I know NOTHING is impossible with God.  I believe what I am asking for is feasible.  Will you pray with me?  Remember: August referral!!!

Someone posted something on FB the other day that I just loved.  It said "At the end of our adoption process we might not be able to brag about our awesome agency (or paperwork process, etc), but we will be able to brag about our awesome God!!"  So true!  

NY - staying at hotels

One of the best parts of a cross-country road trip is the nights we got to stay in hotels!  The kids loved the pool, the soft, comfy beds, the big breakfast in the morning and staying up late and watching TV in bed before falling asleep!

Even Sadie may have gotten a little spoiled at the hotel - I woke up one morning to find this:

*thus ends all the NY posts - back to our regularly scheduled programming shortly.....

NY - carousel

There is a park in Endicott, NY (about 15 minutes from where Chris' relatives live) that has a really old carousel that runs for free!  Considering that the only carousels around here cost at least $2/child, the kids were very excited when they learned they could ride as many times as you wanted till they got sick!

 

 

It was actually Chris' and mine anniversary the day that we went - what a way to spend our special day!  Haha!  No really it was fun, and we ended up getting away just the two of us later that afternoon for a yummy dinner out.  I just love spending time with this guy, whether we're at a park with our kids or on a date just the two of us!