At the Fair!

Well today was the much anticipated camp trip to the Ulster County Fair. Now.... the kids eagerly look foward to it. I do not! It's alot of responsibility to take 50 kids ages 6-12 to a county fair. You have to make sure you don't lose anyone, hope that no one throws up on the rides or on the bus on the way home, and get the bus back to the park on time. Well I have to say it was a huge success!!! We didn't lose anyone, no one got sick and the bus made it back on time. And to top it off my son won won a Reserve Championship and a Junior Championship with his cows. It was a banner day! I knew it was the day I was going to get home and there was going to be a message that we received our LOA. NOT!!!! But I did read of four people who got their LOA and they have been waiting less time!! That's the way it goes. There is no rhyme or reason to any of this. Just hope we get it soon. All in all it was a great day and I love the kids I get to have all summer!! Many of them are the same kids that I see at school but let's face it, camp is way more fun. And... we are outside all day!!!!!!

The other two!

These are the other two members of our family, Lucy(L) and Emma(R). They are our two Australian Shepherds. Just like the differences in kids these two dogs are very different. Lucy is very quiet and laid back. She should have been a therapy dog. We rescued her when she was almost 9 years old. She is now 15 and definitely showing her age although she still goes for a walk with me every morning. She is the gentlest dog I have ever had and I adore her. Now Emma on the other hand is not quiet. Her herding instincts are strong and if any one moves in the house she barks at them. Honestly if you get up off the couch, she barks. She thinks her job is to keep everyone in one place. She's super smart(as is Lucy) and has tons of energy. We hike, cross country ski, go bike riding and do agility. She also loves to play frisbee. Even though she'll be 4 we are still working hard to help her control herself better. The kids I watch love her because she's always ready to play. They also love to watch her do agility. They both love to go camping with us and we love to take them. They are an important part of our family!

Family picture

This is all of us, except for Sierra of course. From top left to right, my husband Scott, my sonPaul 22, my son David 16, and my son Tim 24. Bottom:me, Paul's girlfriend Jenn, and Tim's girlfriend Sara. I was so excited to get this picture around Christmas time its so hard to get everyone together when someone has a camera. David will be traveling with us to China.

Beautiful daughter

I have just read my last few entries and realize how whiny I have sounded. I am trying to change my attitude today. We have been so blessed to have been matched with this beautiful child. I have 3 wonderful sons that are the light of my life and a husband who is the most wonderful, supportive man anyone could wish for. I am anxious for us to be all together but in the mean time I have to remind myself how lucky I am. I am posting another picture of our beautiful daughter.

Still Waiting

OK This must be some kind of test. How much waiting can one person take. I go to camp each morning hoping that when I come home there will be a message for me. I come home each day and thre is not. Then I check on RQ(an adoption forum) to see if anyone else has heard anything. Then I am depressed for the rest of the day. My husband keeps reminding me that our referral and our PA came when we didn't expect it. So I guess I just have to stop thinking about it. Yeah right!!! I just want to know when we will be traveling. I guess everyone else does too.

Bad Day

Today was an especially hard day. Not only did I not receive any word of our LOA, I also found out we needed to fax some papers to our home study agency that we didn't include in the packet I sent the other day. Everything is on a time line and I don't have much room to spare. I have to get this homestudy updated soon!!! Luckily I was able to get the things I needed early and fax them this afternoon. I also found out that one can not travel to China for adoptions in October so we have to be able to go in Sept. or we will have to wait until November!!!!UGH!!!!Things better start happening real fast!!!

Maybe LOA this week?

I have no reason to believe it will come this week but one can always hope. At least during the week there is a chance that it could happen. On the weekend nothing happens. Although we spent a very quiet weekend all together which is nice. Except for the part where my son hit a telephone pole with his truck. "Just looked down for a second because something fell" Luckily only his pride and the back of his truck were hurt. You can tell them a million times but..... Even though this is the third time I've had to deal with a new driver I still hate it!!
So keep your fingers crossed that we will hear something this week!!! If I do I will let you all know!!

First week of camp!

I can't believe the first week of camp is over!! It goes so fast. We have 3 two week sessions so the first session is half over!!! What a great bunch of kids and counselors!! It helps that my assistant Linda had a baby in March and little Jamie comes to camp!! We all get our baby fixes and she is sooooooo cute!! And next year Sierra will be coming to camp with me. I started doing this when my first son was 10 months old. It was a great summer job because he could come with me. He is now 3 months short of 25!!! I have been doing summer camp for a long time!!!
Hopefully soon after camp is over we will be traveling to China!!!

Waiting and waiting

This all process should be called "hurry up and wait and then hurry up and wait again!" You get through one step and then you have to wait again for the next. I look at Sierras picture and it makes me want to go now!!!! I know it will all be worth it in the end.

Pictures!!!

Here she is!!! Now Zhan Wei Xi soon to be Sierra Christine WeiXi Hikade. She will be 2 1/2 on July 23rd!! We think she is absolutely beautiful!! I am writing this a little ahead of time so when we receive LOA I can post my blog address and everyone can see her. We hope to get updated photos soon!

What a busy few weeks!

First off and most important we received PA on June 18th!! That was very exciting especially the part where they said we could send a care package with pictures of Sierra's new family. That's us!!! We probably won't get to travel before the O;ympics and will have to wait until after due to the increase of all the fares, hotels etc.
We just got back from a beautiful 10 day vacation to Lake Ontario. We went camping, with our new travel trailer, and it was wonderful. The part of the lake we were at faces west so the sunsets were incredible. I will post pictures soon. I brought my laptop and they had free WiFi so I could check my email everyday.
Tomorrow I start summer camp. I am the head instructor for about 50 kids ages 6-11. We do have tons of fun!!! I love being able to be outside!! I hope the summer flies!!!