My dinner with my FRUA friend

I got to meet up with my friend Tanya from FRUA. She was in my town visiting family and was so kind to invite me along to dinner. Our little guys are both 2 and they had a great time playing!! When I got to the place we were eating, the world became even smaller as her cousin was married to one of my classmates from high school. Too funny!!

Ryan's Birthday {Party

15 kids+1 bouncy house+a bunch of adults= one great birthday party

It was a blast!!!

Yesterday....

Was the one year anniversary of our court date and the judge telling us Ryan was ours forever. I remember not sleeping the night before I was so nervous (and it was so blasted hot in the apartment we were staying in.)

Ryan and I are going to visit the people we adopted with in 3 weeks. Anyone have any great ideas of how to take a car seat ON the plane with a stroller, carry on, diaper bag, purse AND a 2 year old?

I am amazed..................

I have made some friends online, and even met one before. (Well, that doesn't include my husband as we met online as well...hehe). But today, the world just got smaller.
I belong to a board of Russian families that have or are going to adopt. I have been friendly with several people on that board, especially a few families that adopted around the same time as I have and have boys of the same age. What happened today was next to just AMAZING!!!

I posted on my FB page about how cold it was at our baseball games tonight. (54 in July...HELLO!!) and a FB friend responded that we could keep it cold for when she comes. I told her to come visit me up here in MN. She responded that she had a relative in a nursing home in a particular town. Just happened to be the town I live in. Now really, it couldn't POSSIBLY be the same nursing home I happen to be a social worker at, could it??? (about 15 nursing homes in our town.)

Wait for it.......YES IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Both of us were in tears. How could it possibly be that two women from 2 different states at the opposite end of the country, tied by 2 little Russian boys could possibly have another connection.

It feels like a God moment. I am not a church goer, but it still feels like that to me. As Ryan would say....AMEN!

Lots of smiles

Summer time really makes Ryan happy. He LOVES to be outside. He has lots of different toys to play with out there. We are starting to sort through toys that he doesn't use any longer to make room for more as his birthday is tomorrow!! Happy 2nd Birthday Ryan!! I remember so vividly being in MN last year while my baby was turning 1 without us. Court was a week away and it couldn't come soon enough. But here it is...a year later and we are doing it up BIG. His party is on the 25th of July and we have a bouncy house and a guest list that got a little out of control...LOL! Oh well...we didn't get to celebrate 1 with him, so we will just make up for it with this year.

Chandler is 1/2 done with his 2nd session of summer school. The good news is that once he is done...he will be 1 credit ahead of his peers starting high school. For him that will be HUGE!! Baseball is almost over, this weekend are playoffs. Lots of games in 2-3 days.

Bailey has decided to give up her paper route and just be a sub. Too much committment going into cross country season and she was tired of having it pushed on her at the last minute. She wasn't able to say no because it was in her name.....now she can say it doesn't work for her and it is someone else responsibility.

They are announcing today that they have hired a FT social worker for our facility. I am thrilled to be going back to part time and I am very happy with their choice. August can't come soon enough.

Fun in the sun with Brother

Nothing better than a warm day and a pool and a big brother to play with!!

July 4, 2009

What a fun time! Ryan loved the gokart as did the big kids! We stayed up late and shot off fireworks until Ryan fell asleep on my lap!
Great friends, great food and great fun!