Fall 2013

Another whole season has come and gone.

Darrell has finished another cross country season.


He took a weekend off to go to Colorado and go hiking in the Rocky Mountains with my cousin, Donna and her friend Matt.
I'm so very thankful she gave him such an amazing opportunity. He had the best time.


Our town did something new this year. We had Dragon Boat races.
David and Austin got to compete on one of the teams.
It was so much fun.
Weather was perfect.
They came in 3rd, but already have big plans for next year.


Leila finished up her cheerleading in Oct. She absolutely loved it. I think she liked it better than anything she's tried so far - including ballet or gymnastics.


The end of October brought birthdays - Darrell turned 17 and Leila turned 6.

We went to Chuck-e-Cheese to celebrate. I really think the 'big' kids had as more (or more) fun than Leila did.

Leila dressed up as a '50's girl' for Halloween this year.


November brought a mini trip to NYC for a weekend.
We did the 'normal' stuff - the 'Today' show, Times Square, China Town, etc., but we found a new place to eat - Ellen's Stardust Diner. It was VERY cool. Definitely a 'must see' from now on.
We also saw the Rockette's Christmas show this time, which was pretty spectacular.
It was fun, but there's just never enough time or money when we go.


Now, we're already at Thanksgiving and the Christmas season is gearing up. Oh my - how time does fly!

End of Summer

Summer is over.
It's hard to believe. It flew past so quickly. It feels like it just started.

David's mom turned 70 this summer.
We hosted a surprise birthday party for her in July.
We had 29 of her family come - from GA, VA, MD, and CA.
I think she was surprised. (If not, she's a better actress than I think.)



Our annual China reunion got cancelled this year.
Everyone stays so busy, and unexpected things pop up.
It's hard with busy, growing families to get together.
We did get the opportunity to visit with one of our 'travel families' though.
The Kovach's were passing through on their way from NC to OH to visit family and made time to stop and see us on their way.
We got to visit with them for a few hours.
It was a LONG overdue visit and one that I very, very much enjoyed.
They're a great family, and one that I so wish we could see more.
They've added a new daughter to their family since we last saw them, and she's a very sweet girl.
Leila and Anna played together like best friends.
I hated for them to leave, but I know their OH family was anxiously awaiting their arrival as well.

Hopefully we'll get to see everyone else next year.

July ended Darrell's summer swim season, but August brought a new school year, as well as, a new sports season.

Darrell is a junior this year.
He has a brutal school schedule (with all his classes either being AP or honors) and cross country practice every night and meets on weekends.
He's already had his 1st meet of the season. (He got his best time ever!)

This was his 1st day of school this year.


Leila is in kindergarten now, and loving it! (Where has time gone?)
And she's off and running.
She's a cheer leader. (Who can believe they have kindergarten cheer leaders?!)
She'll be cheering at the flag football games this year.
She rode on a float and threw candy in the fair parade in August - sort of as a kick-off to the season.
She's even been to a school dance already. (The cheer leaders were hosting it, so she had to go.)
In spite of Austin's dire warning not to dance with any boys, because boys have 'cooties', she had a great time running around and playing with her friends.

1st day of kindergarten


Looks like it's going to be a busy fall!

Nov 6???

I just found out that the CCAA issued referrals for log-in dates of Nov 6, 2006.
Why is this significant?
Well, our Dossier was logged into China on Nov 6, 2006.

Way back then, the wait from log-in to referral was 10-12 months.
But many things changed and that wait began to grow and grow and grow.

Let me explain some basics.
10-12 months was the wait time for a "perfect" healthy baby.

China has the 'healthy' list and then they have the 'waiting child' list.
A 'waiting child' is one that may have something 'wrong' with them.
It could be something so very minor - like a birthmark, or it could be something a little more serious - like missing limbs.
Children are often also put on the 'waiting child' list because they're 3 or 4 years old or older - most people want babies. Their only 'problem' could be that they're not a baby.

Our agency, America World, is a Christian agency and one that works with China in placing these 'special' children.

On the 'healthy' list, your name moves methodically along until you get to the top. At that point, China matches your name with your child.

If someone opts into the 'waiting child' list, then you fill out a (another) form.
This form is about various needs that you feel your family is open to and would be equipped for.
That form is submitted to your agency only - not to China.
When China releases a new list of 'waiting children' to the agency, the agency checks to see if they think any of the children on that list would be a good match for your family.
If they find one they think will fit into your family, they call you.
If that's YOUR child, then the agency contacts China.
China pulls your paperwork out of the massive stack of people waiting for a 'healthy' baby.
Now, you can start the next step on your journey to your new family - traveling to get her.

As the time started to lengthen, we decided we didn't want to wait and wait and wait.
As realistic parents of 2 biological boys, we already knew that NO child is ever PERFECT.
(We also knew that we weren't getting any younger.)
After about a year on the 'regular' list, we decided (okay, felt led) to go with the 'waiting child' list.
David and I discussed it and filled out the form.
We tried to be logical about it.
For instance, we don't have eye insurance, so we marked 'no' on vision problems. We have good dental insurance, so we marked 'yes' on things like that.
Anyway, once we were done, we took our list to the boys and discussed it with them.
Made a few tweaks here and there, and submitted it.

It wasn't long at all until we had our LEILA.
She was on the list because of cleft lip / palate.
Her lip was already fixed when we got her - due, I believe to the generous organization called Smile Train.
We had her palate fixed after coming home.
Totally fixable 'problem'. Not a problem. Perfect in fact.

We've never once regretted that.
It's been 5 years now since we got 'OUR call'.
5 years that we've had and loved our perfect healthy baby rather than sitting around waiting for her.

IF, we were to ever go back and do this again - we would go 'waiting child' immediately.
We wouldn't even fool with the other.

But back to today.
IF we had waited it out - we would have gotten 'our call' today.
I'm sure we would have been over the moon thrilled.
But we have missed the last 5 years.

Summer is Flying By

Summer is more than 1/2 over, and I feel like it just started!

The end of May was busy with end of the school year stuff.
Leila 'graduated' from preschool.

She's a big 'kindergartener' now.

We had our Bible School that same week.
Lots of fun, but busy busy busy.
We all had jobs this time.
Darrell taught a class, I was the photographer, and David helped with music.
As always, the week ended with a program, food and a water slide.
Darrell decided to 'surf' the slide, rather than slide the slide. Hence, a trip to the ER and a concussion later ensued.

The beginning of June brought Austin's 20th birthday.

Leila had her 1st Dance Recital that same night.
I'm sure a dance recital was NOT how he had originally planned to spend his birthday, but he went and was good about it.
And I LOVED it.
She did SO good, and was just so darn cute doing it.

The end of June, Darrell went to CA.
This was a trip with FBLA.
To get the money to go, he had to do fund-raising - which he did everything they offered for the last several months.
Then he worked on his own, to make up the difference. (He really wanted to go.)
He has been mowing (our yard and the church), teaching swimming lessons, house-sitting, and whatever odd jobs came his way.
It all paid off though, because he got to spend almost a week in CA.
He competed at FLBA Nationals, went to Disneyland, took a tour of Hollywood, and went to Huntington Beach.

In addition to teaching swimming lessons to little kids, he's been swimming in a summer league (which is also almost over).

He leaves on Sunday for Camp Electric - a Christian music camp.
This is his 4th year to go. (And probably his last.)

He's such a good kid. I'm very proud of him.

On July 1, Leila had her Pharyngeal Flap (p-flap) surgery in Columbus.
I was really dreading it, but she did amazing.
She was SO brave going into surgery.
We were there from Monday - Thursday.
She has recovered from this so much better than I anticipated.
Although this surgery is supposed to be so much more difficult - she actually did better with this one than she did with her tonsils back in Nov.

Austin and Casey have been dating over a year now, so last week they went to Kings Island for the day - and he proposed.
Of course, she said yes.
They say they're going to have a 'long' engagement.
I asked what 'long' means.
Welllll, that's anywhere from 1-3 years.
We'll see.

Travel

We've done a bit of traveling lately.

We went to Disney World for spring break.
This was our first 'big' family vacation since we went to China 4 1/2 yrs ago.
Weather was great. It was warm enough to swim at the hotel pool in the evenings, and only rained part of one day.
It was a bit more crowded than I originally thought it would be. Apparently everyone thinks spring break is a good time to go!
Leila LOVED the 'big' rides. Dark ones like the Haunted Mansion scared her, but the bigger and faster ones (like roller coasters) were super great.
We went to a Princess breakfast in Cinderella's castle - very cool.
And we ate another breakfast with Mickey Mouse and his friends. (The big kids really liked that one.)
Wouldn't it be nice to go to Disney with at least a month and an unlimited bank account?



The weekend after we home from Disney, I went on a one-night trip to Indiana.
This was just my mom, my mother-in-law, my friend from church and her mom.
It was Vera Bradley's annual factory outlet sale.
It was in a coliseum and was a huge affair. And a fun little break.
My friend and I had been talking about going for a year now - ever since we heard about it.
It was bad timing for me that it just happened to fall right after Disney (no $), but David said to go ahead and go - it would be fun (and it was).

2 weeks later, my very talented (and handsome) cousin was in from NC and playing in Charleston.
We went to see him, and it was like a family reunion.
Trust me - he's going to be big!
He's not on iTunes - yet, but I'm sure he will be. Right now, you can check him out on www.reverbnation.com Go to The Mikele Buck Band to see.



Then ... 2 weeks after that - was our annual 'girls week' at the beach!
6 of us ended up going this year.
We were originally supposed to go to Carolina Beach. (We've been trying to go somewhere different every year.) We got to Carolina Beach, and things weren't as they were supposed to be. They were doing construction - putting in a pipeline - and we couldn't get to the beach!
We called our 'travel people' and early the next morning packed up and moved south to Myrtle Beach.
Weather was great. Resort was nicer. But most importantly - beach was accessible.








Just after coming home from Disney, Austin started a new job.
He got on at Toyota!
They have a plant just about 20-25 minutes up the road.
It's an amazing job at a fantastic company.
I'm SO very proud of him.
To get on with a job like that at only 19 years old - he has a great future ahead of him.
I know Rural King hated to lose him, and he'll miss some of the friends he made there, but what a great step for him.

I know I've had a great couple of months - but, gosh ... now I have nowhere else to look forward to for another whole year!

Dec 2012

Dec (and most of Jan) has already passed by.
Dec was full of all the crazy-busy that Christmas always brings.

Darrell started his swim meets.
With being the 1st swim team PP has ever had, no matter what - these kids are setting school records at almost every meet!

Leila had a Christmas program at both school and at church. She did really well. I wasn't sure if she would go up on stage in front of people, but she really turned on the 'star' quality - singing, dancing, and strutting her stuff. Yep - she's a diva.

Ready for the School Program

Church Program (What a cute Mary & Joseph)

We went to see the lights and saw Santa at the same time.
This is the 1st time Leila has ever sat on his lap - she was quite excited about it too.

Christmas eve was spent with family.
Christmas Day was actually a little relaxing, especially after all the preparation it takes to get to that point.
Dinner here at our house and then Christmas night at my mom's.

Darrell earned his varsity jacket.

Leila got the 'Doc McStuffins' doll she'd asked Santa for.

It might have been a little too early for Austin though.

She may have wanted the doll, but she has played with the make-up she got probably more than anything else.

We had a small New Year's Eve party at our house with some friends - just food and games.
My favorite way to ring in the year.

But now, Jan is here with all it's snow, slush, and cold. Bleech!