The BIG Surprise

to see HSM2 live in our local theater. Local artists performed the story and we had purchased the girls tickets over 2 weeks ago. We were seated in the middle of the front row. Could not have had better seats for their first theater performance. I. NEVER. UTTERED. A. WORD. about it until we arrived at the theater. I asked the girls to look at the poster and tell me what they saw. They both said "HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL" I replied with "YES, and that is what we are here to see" We met my sister and her daughter cousin N there. All 3 girls did fantastic, not bad for 3, 4 & 5 year olds.

the VERY excited girls!!

we couldn't take photos during the performance but after, the girls were able to meet the actors and actresses who played the main characters in the story


Gabriella


Troy


Sharpay


Ryan


Kelsey


Fulton



the sock lady who performs at the end during the talent show...


with 2 of the 3 Sharpayettes

dancing on the stage after the show, Ve is becoming braver


Tuks could barely contain herself during the show, but I did promise her she could dance after it, and dance


she did.....

The crew from yesterday

front row, cousin N, Ve & Tuks, back row Uncle J, Me and friend M


Tuks feeding a female alpaca a treat


Ve and cousin N also feeding an alpaca a treat

shhhhh I have a BIG surprise in store for the girls today....more to come!!!

Two Months

The chickens are now 2 months old so the changes are subtle in size and color. Not easily captured on film. So I will be posting only monthly on these 10.....but I warn you or maybe you have enjoyed the chick pixs, I will be posting weekly photos once the new six chicks arrive during the week of the 6th. All new breeds too.

The chickens are my therapy as weird as that may sound, I do love to watch them forage (which they seem to do ALL the time) and see them get all excited when I give them treats...

Louise and



Thelma, the 2 light brahmas

The 2 silver laced (Harriet & Olympia), 3 red stars (Charlotte, Helen, & Maeve) and silver phoenix (Quincy)


Quincy


2 golden laced (Esther & Celeste), 3 red stars, 1 silver laced and Quincy

Clematis' in bloom

After a full day of exercising, swimming with uncle J, friend M and cousin N, and then viewing an alpaca farm, the girls and I were bushed by nighttime, but I still managed to spend some time outside tonight taking photos of my veg garden and the clematis' in bloom.



Veg garden from the south end..squash, cucumber etc.,

from the north end, lettuce (we had our first salad from the garden yesterday, yum yum), carrots, radishes etc.,



2 types of clematis-can't recall the names

also 2 types of clematis and again can't recall the names


and look at who I caught in action...if you look closely at its legs you can see the pollen collected!!

One

of the things with an older child adoption is the constant teaching, I mean CONSTANT. CONSTANT. Things I never would have thought to have to go over, and maybe it is my naivete, but it is one thing or another day after day. What it means is that you have to be vigilant about staying on top of things otherwise issues creep up on you that you weren't expecting. I have stated before Ve has some issues, not huge (at least I don't think so, but that could be my Pollyanna speaking), but issues none the less that need to be addressed and brought to her awareness for correction. CONSTANTLY!! You may go over proper behavior and specific expectations and she states she understands and lo and behold if she doesn't repeat the unwanted/undesirable behavior again the next day. Thank God I am off for the summer, I have more patience and more energy than when I am working a full time job and being a full time Mom. For 10 weeks I am a full time Mom exclusively and how sweet it is to be able to really focus in on my family.

Today the temps hit 96 degrees

so we did this in the afternoon with two other families and their kids.

Wild and Crazy weekend

It has a perfectly wild and crazy weekend. Just the kind we needed to forget about all the hold-ups in Haiti.

Friday night we went to the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair, just 20 minutes east of us. People come from literally all over the US to attend this fair for ideas in renewable energy. Someday I hope to incorporate some of it in my home.. I hope. We arrived at 3:00pm, and didn't leave until after 8;00pm. We had the opportunity to attend several concerts featuring local folk singers. Now this is BIG BIG BIG for Tuki. She LOVES to listen and DANCE DANCE DANCE to this music, and she is good. So many people came up to her and told her what a wonderful dancer she is, in addition to the many who told me she was a wonderful dancer. She isn't shy either. Ve danced a little but either due to her shier personality or still getting use to all this new free spirited life, she watched more than danced. They both want to go back next year. Sorry no pictures!!!

Then Saturday we attended a picnic 45 minutes north of us with other families that have children that were born in Guatemala. Ve, Tuks and I talked non-stop in this drive about the picnic, Guatemala etc., As soon as we arrived we pulled up to this water sprayer water park. Tuks takes one look at it and shouts out "Oh Mama Thank you for taking me to Guatemala"..too funny I had to explain to her and Ve that this was not, in fact, Guatemala, but actually just a park with others who were born in Guatemala. The girls had a great time and then later in the day we still attended a graduation party for the son of a friend of mine. No naps so the girls slept well and then again after church today slept well again. Again no pictures.

Some reoccurring issues continue to arise with Ve, especially social ones and at a later date I plan to discuss them more in depth. She learns, but ohh does it take constant teaching. I sometimes feel I am making up teaching her values and character lessons and just proper social behavior that had been sparse the last five years.

Today, besides church, we just hung around home and did yard work and played in the little swimming pool.

Now for some other random pixs

The girls were playing and being real nice so they called me over to take a picture of them loving each other.

At 7 weeks old

Houston we have a problem:

Notice the blue black tail feathers coming in, Notice the longer neck feathers coming in.


Notice the red red comb and the wattles getting bigger...yeah me too and if that wasn't enough, I have now heard Quincy, yeah you read that right Quincy crow a couple of times now. It sounds like a squeaky door. The woods surrounding my home is just LOUD with bird calls all through the summer, so you can't really tell he is crowing. I didn't realize what it was at first, so I am hoping maybe the city fellas next door won't even notice since most don't tune in to bird calls and know the different calls any way..Wish me luck!@!


Charlotte and Thelma are bosom buddies to each other and love to hang with me too.


The two pretty golden-laced Wyandottes...Celeste and Esther. Getting prettier every week

The other five, Helen, Harriet, Louise, Maeve and Olympia

and then finally some garden pixs to make us all feel happy

Email Tag with Haiti

I received today via email:

Dear Ms. Aves:

In response to the explanation requested to clarify the discrepancies noted in your case, the wrong document was turned in. The information related to the date the child was received and the date of the adoption declaration remains inconsistent. We ask that Mrs. S come to this office any day next week to review the documents that indicate confusing information.

On another note, we had asked that the petition of Mim be paid as she is not related to Ve. Please make arrangements to have US 670 paid for the I-600 you filed on behalf of Mim.

We will keep you posted.



Regards,



Department of Homeland Security

U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

U.S. Embassy

Tabarre 41

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

I immediately responded with this email:

Hello,

I have paid the I - 600 fee for Mim back in March 2009. I sent it to M to bring into your office.

I will CC this email to M, in addition I will call her to clarify the problems

Thanks

They quickly responded with this email:

The file does not contain a receipt and we checked with our cashier’s office and there seems to be no record of payment. We will clarify this with Mrs. S.

Regards,

Department of Homeland Security

U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

U.S. Embassy

Tabarre 41

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

I then called M and actually got her.

and she did say that the money had not been turned in yet, not totally understanding why and that M will be going into the office on Monday to clear things up with a talk...so the waiting continues....

OOOOOHHHHH the joys of international adoption.

That's all I have for now.

Summer Plans

Since tomorrow is the last day for teachers...finally!!

We are making many summer plans

We are continuing to pray for Mim's homecoming to be soon!!!


We plan to continue to enjoy our feathered ladies as they grow. Now at six weeks old


Thelma

Edith/Quincy


Louise and Harriet


Maeve...we also are expecting six more chicks the second week of July to total 16 birds. You will have to wait and see who they are.

We will also be winterizing one of the old raptor cages to be used for the chickens for the winter months.

Ve will be attending 4 hours of summer school "Bridging to First Grade", 4 days a week for seven weeks, and playing t-ball one night a week.

Tuks will be attending the YMCA pre-school summer school, 2 mornings a week for 2 hours for six weeks, gymnastics class one morning a week and also t-ball one night a week.

I am hoping to take the girls camping at least 3 -4 times this summer plus take little day trips or over-nighters to towns and places within easy driving distance.

I plan to get back in shape since I haven't exercised in like 3 months...why I don't really know, just didn't feel like it was effective and lost my motivation, but now I hope to be back on track.

And our Phoebe is incubating her second clutch of at least two eggs. She already reared her first clutch of two. She is a busy lady!!!

Sixth Month home

The look says it all...a sassafras, intelligent, comedian, couch potato, sharpshooter.
"Who me"?!"

Wow, we have come upon the six month mark already. Where did the time go?! Like I and many others have said before, the time drags when you are waiting, but flies by when they are home. (This same six months feels like years when considering Mim, funny how that is)

I think the biggest change is that Ve is starting to talk about Haiti, like every day, several times each and every day. Some stories seem to be factual, some I am not so sure about. She has even started talking about her birth family members. Ve talking about Haiti encourages Tuks to talk about Guatemala. Now we know Tuk's stories are fabricated since she was so young upon home coming, but what I do like is the conversation between the two about their birth countries makes our family situation so normal, matter of fact, no big deal.

Ve's English is quite amazing. So good in fact that some people have a real hard time believing that she couldn't speak English when she came home.

I have also discovered if given a chance, Ve could/would spend the whole in day in PJ's sitting in front of the TV. One day that we had off, I let every one do what they wanted and Ve never changed out of her PJ's or left the living room with her eyes glued to the TV. I tell her she is a couch potato, but I will be helping her prevent this habit that wants to form so badly...since we are actually an ACTIVE family....

As the girl's like to say "It's (she's) a match"!!!

In Celebration

of the last day with students, Kiki, Neighbor A, me and the girls had a cookout out in our back yard.

and try as I did, still couldn't get a hold of M. Anyone, any suggestions on the best time for a call????


they really do love this hanging upside down. They ask Kiki for it ALL the time..poor guy!!











Kiki & Tuks


A & Ve


A & Tuks


Kiki & Ve