Our homestudy is off to PA for certification.
Once it's back, it'll be off to NY for authentication.
Then, and only then, will we know that this is actually doable.
If NY won't authenticate because the homestudy is more than 6 months old, that will be the end of the road.
It was crazy and difficult enough to complete it he first time around.
In the meantime, I am starting to gather the rest of the dossier documents.
Following God's lead wherever the Air Force takes us!!
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Monday, May 28, 2012
Reasons to Love Homeschooling
The reason I love homeschooling today??
I am getting to read Romeo and Juliet with my 15 year old son.
The laughs.
The snickers.
The eye-rolls.
The puke noises.
I wouldn't miss this for the world!!!
I am getting to read Romeo and Juliet with my 15 year old son.
The laughs.
The snickers.
The eye-rolls.
The puke noises.
I wouldn't miss this for the world!!!
Friday, May 25, 2012
USCIS approval!!!!!!
So I got antsy early this week and emailed USCIS to get the status of our I-800A application. I was pretty surprised when I got an email right back telling me that we had been approved that same day!!!! Our letter is in the mail on its way to us as we speak!
Now the big question remains.... Will we realistically still be able to do this? We're way past our original deadlines and are afraid we'll have to start our dossier from scratch. In which case it will probably be the end of the road for us as far as this adoption goes. Putting a new dossier together from here would be a nightmarish process that neither one of us is up to. We started to pursue this in the first place because we didn't think that would be neccessary.
At least we're one step closer to knowing.....
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
More Kids' Run Pics
My super thoughtful friend snapped some pictures of us at the Kids' Run last Saturday - so you can see us in action (well, she missed Jake, but here's the rest of us!!).
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Spring
Look, mom, I'm trying.....
Here's my freshly planted spring flowers. Let's see how long they will live!!
Here's my freshly planted spring flowers. Let's see how long they will live!!
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Kids' Run
Today was a first for our family - a very COOL first.
We ran a race together. All seven of us!!
It was America's Kids' Run, for kids ages 5 - 18.
Yes, some of us don't fit into that category, but we somehow managed to sneak in anyways.
The way the breakdown works, 5 - 6 year olds run 1/2 mile, 7 - 8 year old run 1 mile, and everyone else runs 2 miles.
We had Jacob and Lanie running the 2 miler. They are experienced runners and had no trouble. Jacob finished in third place with a time a bit over fifteen minutes. Lanie's time was 18:10 - a personal record for her!! James ran, not really to race, but to help Lanie out and try to pace her. He stayed with her the whole time and cheered her on. (And this is where I would go on to tell you about what a great kid he is, and how I'll never let him move out because what in the world would I do without him, blah, blah, blah, but I won't do that).
I signed Abby up for the 1 mile even though she was really too old for that category, because she had never run for distance and I expected she would have a hard time. Which she did. I think it was more mental than anything because the kid runs a lot more than that back and forth on the playground, and jumps on the trampoline for HOURS (no exaggeration) without getting tired. But she was a trooper and kept at it, and it was actually kind of a nice thing to be doing together. I love taking opportunities to build nice memories, and to reinforce that I am there to cheer her on and help her get through things.
Mr. Josiah and Daddy ran the half mile together. Or half ran, half walked. I'm pretty impressed with him doing it and not running the wrong direction to head for the playground!!
We all had a great time, and are so excited about more runs together through the years!! Ms. Abby will be joining me and Lanie at the track a couple of times a week from now on. I plan to have her run one lap at whatever pace, and then she can walk while Lanie and I finish our run.
We ran a race together. All seven of us!!
It was America's Kids' Run, for kids ages 5 - 18.
Yes, some of us don't fit into that category, but we somehow managed to sneak in anyways.
The way the breakdown works, 5 - 6 year olds run 1/2 mile, 7 - 8 year old run 1 mile, and everyone else runs 2 miles.
We had Jacob and Lanie running the 2 miler. They are experienced runners and had no trouble. Jacob finished in third place with a time a bit over fifteen minutes. Lanie's time was 18:10 - a personal record for her!! James ran, not really to race, but to help Lanie out and try to pace her. He stayed with her the whole time and cheered her on. (And this is where I would go on to tell you about what a great kid he is, and how I'll never let him move out because what in the world would I do without him, blah, blah, blah, but I won't do that).
I signed Abby up for the 1 mile even though she was really too old for that category, because she had never run for distance and I expected she would have a hard time. Which she did. I think it was more mental than anything because the kid runs a lot more than that back and forth on the playground, and jumps on the trampoline for HOURS (no exaggeration) without getting tired. But she was a trooper and kept at it, and it was actually kind of a nice thing to be doing together. I love taking opportunities to build nice memories, and to reinforce that I am there to cheer her on and help her get through things.
Mr. Josiah and Daddy ran the half mile together. Or half ran, half walked. I'm pretty impressed with him doing it and not running the wrong direction to head for the playground!!
We all had a great time, and are so excited about more runs together through the years!! Ms. Abby will be joining me and Lanie at the track a couple of times a week from now on. I plan to have her run one lap at whatever pace, and then she can walk while Lanie and I finish our run.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Decisions, decisions
Jake, my sax playing 13 year old, had an Honors Band concert today. Actually, it was more of a field trip, as it was happening at a Naval Base bear here in the middle of a school day.
What you must understand is that, when you live right outside of Tokyo, you have no guarantees as to how long it is going to take you to drive anywhere. So even though they were going about 30 miles away, best case scenario it'll take them about 2 hours to get there. So when I say middle of the day, I mean the bus was leaving at 6 am. Which meant we had to leave our home at 5:30 am. Which meant I had to get up at 5 am. Joy!
That wasn't what prompted my title for this post, though. Last minute, the teacher made a desperate plea for chaperones. They needed four and only had two. Taking a weekday off, especially this late in the year, is not an easy decision to make at all. And then there's the whole question of who's going tomwatch Josiah while the only other sitter in the house goes to track practice. And DH has a huge inspection atvwork this week, so he could neither go on the field trip nor help at home.
After much consultation with my two next door neighbors, whose kids were going on this field trip as well, I made a decision. I would agree to go as a COMPLETE last resort. If they were going to CANCEL the trip, then I would sacrifice my day to go with them. So I dropped off the kids this morning and Mrs. G said the principal had bent the rules and was going to let them go with 2 chaperones and one teacher. So I didn't HAVE to go. Happily, I hopped in my car and started the drive back home.
And then the guilt hit. Would Jake feel lousy about how badly I didn't want to go? Would he have a bad day because he felt cruddy about that? I ALMOST turned back. But then I remembered that part of the reason he's even participating in the middle school band is to give him some time away from momma. We're always at every concert, every event. He was probably glad to have the breathing room, and if he's NOT glad, then he probably needs it. We'll both live.
And as I sit at home, surrounded by piles of summer clothes that I'm finally getting around to pulling out, grading tests, patiently waiting EONS for Abby to answer each history question I ask her, and hearing Josiah and his posse making mud pies in the backyard, I'm thinking I'm insane to not have chosen the bus with 40 middle schoolers. At least I could've been treated to an awesome concert in the process!!!!!
What you must understand is that, when you live right outside of Tokyo, you have no guarantees as to how long it is going to take you to drive anywhere. So even though they were going about 30 miles away, best case scenario it'll take them about 2 hours to get there. So when I say middle of the day, I mean the bus was leaving at 6 am. Which meant we had to leave our home at 5:30 am. Which meant I had to get up at 5 am. Joy!
That wasn't what prompted my title for this post, though. Last minute, the teacher made a desperate plea for chaperones. They needed four and only had two. Taking a weekday off, especially this late in the year, is not an easy decision to make at all. And then there's the whole question of who's going tomwatch Josiah while the only other sitter in the house goes to track practice. And DH has a huge inspection atvwork this week, so he could neither go on the field trip nor help at home.
After much consultation with my two next door neighbors, whose kids were going on this field trip as well, I made a decision. I would agree to go as a COMPLETE last resort. If they were going to CANCEL the trip, then I would sacrifice my day to go with them. So I dropped off the kids this morning and Mrs. G said the principal had bent the rules and was going to let them go with 2 chaperones and one teacher. So I didn't HAVE to go. Happily, I hopped in my car and started the drive back home.
And then the guilt hit. Would Jake feel lousy about how badly I didn't want to go? Would he have a bad day because he felt cruddy about that? I ALMOST turned back. But then I remembered that part of the reason he's even participating in the middle school band is to give him some time away from momma. We're always at every concert, every event. He was probably glad to have the breathing room, and if he's NOT glad, then he probably needs it. We'll both live.
And as I sit at home, surrounded by piles of summer clothes that I'm finally getting around to pulling out, grading tests, patiently waiting EONS for Abby to answer each history question I ask her, and hearing Josiah and his posse making mud pies in the backyard, I'm thinking I'm insane to not have chosen the bus with 40 middle schoolers. At least I could've been treated to an awesome concert in the process!!!!!
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