A Universal Adventure!

Date 4 of 10 was celebrated with great fun and fanfare at Universal Studios of Hollywood!

The first thing we did was walked through the House of Horrors. I'm usually not easily scared but admittedly screamed and screamed like a little girl! The haunted house itself was not so scary but people hiding in scary costumes and jumping out at me will make me scream every time. The really sad thing is that even when we went through it again and I KNEW where they were hiding and that they would jump out at me I would still scream and jump. It was actually quite fun and surprisingly one of our favorite attractions.

"My boy" Chucky likes to pop out of his box and startle people. Isn't he cute?

Jim was so scared in the House of Horrors that he was begging for his Mummy.


Who's laughing now? These guys are not going to be jumping out and scaring anyone!

I laughed and laughed regarding the above photo. While we were waiting for our ride on the Mummy (Which by the way was totally our favorite and we rode it 4 times) Jim thought he would be cute and reach in to a hole in the wall and act like something got him. Oldest joke in the book right? Well, turns out when you reach in it does actually shock you and Jim let out a real scream that had me and the people in line in front of us laughing so hard!

(UPDATED: Jim insists that screamed is an exaggerated word for what he did. Since he's been so good to me I'll retract my original statement, but his reaction was still hysterical!)

AHHHHH!!!!!

Just hangin' out with my buddy Evan, deep in conversation.

"Really, two of each animal? Seems like I've heard a similar story to this somewhere before."

Jim holding his "Best Husband" trophy after we got off the Jurassic Park ride where he gave me his jacket with a hood to keep dry and blocked the water for me while he got soaked. As if the Gondola ride was not enough to win him this trophy! ;)




"Hey, do you know who you remind me of?

I've posted on here before that I often hear this question and it's ALWAYS followed by Renee Zellweger!

Jim on the other hand hears the answer, Tom Hanks in his role of Forest Gump. When he first told me that I didn't see it. Then he showed me a movie cover and Tom had Jim's haircut and WOW, he really does look like him!

Renee and her Stand in.

Jim hanging out with his twin, Tom, and a few other good friends.

More to share tomorrow. We are beat and it's time to get everyone to bed.

9 Months

9 Months Seizure Free Today!!!!!!!!! Woo Hoo!! Who would have thought it could happen? ;)

A few more clues before heading off to date 4:

- It's about an hours drive
- We have to have tickets
- It's an all day thing
- It's part indoors part outdoors
- I have not been there since I was a kid
- It will be a day of fun and being entertained!

What will Date 4 be????

Tomorrow we have our date 4 of 10 planned. I'm wondering if anyone can guess what we have planned? (Keeping in mind that the rest of the dates will all be in Southern CA). As a reminder of what we have done so far:

Date 1- Reminiscent, Reenacted our first date and hang outs from our dating stage.
Date 2- Relaxing, Glen Ivy Hot Springs Spa
Date 3- Romantic, Gondola ride

Date 4, just like all the other dates, will be TOTALLY different from the previous ones and lots of fun. I'm so glad we decided on the date plan for our 10th Anniversary, especially since they will likely need to hold us over for many more years. ;) We are having such a great time that I can hardly believe we are not even half way done yet. Thanks for everyone sharing in on our fun with us! Your comments from Date 3 were very fun to read and it was great to be able to share it. Now... I can't wait to hear if anyone can figure out what we might be doing tomorrow. Please post any guesses and you just might give us ideas for future dates!

Gondola Ride

Take just a moment to cruise in the Gondola with us!

"Will You Marry Me Again?"

CONTENT WARNING: If you tend to have a gag response to over-the-top romance we advise that you do not read this post any further.

Date 3 of 10: For our 3rd of our 10 dates for our 10th Anniversary we had the most wonderful time. After going back and forth with details for childcare we finally decided that it might be easier for everyone if we just take the boys with us on this date. They were so excited to go and promised to be very good for us. We drove to Newport Beach and found a great spot to watch the beautiful Christmas boat parade.

One of the many decked out boats of the parade.

After the boat parade finished it was time for our scheduled date to begin- Gondola ride along beautiful Canals! It was just gorgeous. The kids were seated way at the front of the boat and for most of the trip were very quiet and taking it all in. The canals we went down were along the back of stunning homes covered in Christmas lights. We were snuggled in to the back seat of the Gondola curled up under a blanket and the kids and us each got a basket of goodies from the Gondola company including French bread, cheese, salami, chocolate, and Sparkling Cider. Beautiful Italian music was played and everyone enjoyed it so much! It was peaceful, beautiful, and so very romantic.

The boys quietly taking in the ride and all the lights.

Ducks came along side of our boat hoping that we would share some of our French bread and the boys loved it. It was fun for us to watch them enjoying it so much and were glad we brought them with us.

As we went along our Gondolier told us that people from Catalina Island have been throwing bottles into the ocean and sometimes they float all the way over to where we were so we should keep our eyes open for any. Just on cue- straight ahead in the water we saw a bottle bobbing up and down and showed the kids and the boat filled with excitement. The Gondolier lined up the boat so that we went right next to the bottle on Me and Johnny's side of the boat. First Johnny tried to grab it and missed then by the time it got to me it had gone too much under the boat to reach it, so he turned around and gave us another chance at it.


Here I am with my retrieved bottle from the water. And look at that- There was a message in the bottle. It was really exciting and the kids went nuts wanting to know what it was.

Luke helped me take the message out and Kyle begged to be the one to read it but Jim insisted that maybe I should read it first. To my surprise it was a love letter from Jim telling me about his love for me, what these last 10 years together have meant to him, and then in the letter asked me if I would MARRY HIM AGAIN! (I will not share the actual contents of the letter because it was so special and private, but it would make any woman weak in the knees!) Then Jim got down on one knee in the boat and told me again how he feels about me. I was so surprised and overwhelmed by his words that tears were just streaming down my cheeks. Then after I told him Yes, I would marry him again.... He brought out an unexpected gift....

After the proposal the Gondolier took our picture and I am holding the gift and the message from the bottle.

The gift: It's a bit difficult to get a great picture of this beautiful and sentimental necklace so I'll describe it. The necklace is heart shaped with a smaller heart at the very top. In that smaller heart is my birthstone. Along one side of the necklace is lined with a row of birthstones for each of our children in order of their ages from Jacques all the way to Lovenie. We were not able to add Vilner yet since we do not know when his birthday is and Jim couldn't find anything that would hold so many stones! ;) On the other side of the necklace- a cross- a symbol of the foundation of our marriage and family. I hear he had to do a lot of searching for this. I was so moved by the necklace, the loving words, thoughts of how God's blessed us and added to our family over the last 10 years that it must have taken me at least a half hour to get my tears under control again!

Yes Jim... I would marry you again and again and am so happy to have you as my husband!!

Back in the snapping business!

Dad must be driving! (Kyle and Luke)
Johnny with a Santa Mickey I'm pretty sure I've never seen before (even now I'm wondering where it came from).

These pictures were taken tonight with our NEW CAMERA on the way home from the store. I've shared with you recently that our camera just totally croaked on us. We knew that we would totally want one to capture our moments picking up our kids from Haiti and decided we may as get one now rather then waiting. We were so excited about the new camera that I put it all together and took these pictures of the happenings in our backseat before we even got home.

Today was a productive but EXHAUSTING day. Jim got home after midnight last night. We are so glad he's back! From 10AM- Noon we met up with a group from the new church we are attending. They are really big on showering our community with acts of kindness and showing God's love in really tangible ways. Today we helped pass out free gift bags to unsuspecting holiday shoppers in parking lots. Many people had a big smile and thanks, some took the bags but gave us the "what's the catch" look, a few others refused it completely wondering what nuts were trying to give them something for FREE. Along with the bag we gave out cards that simply wished the receiver a Merry Christmas and reminding them that God loves them.

Afterwards, because we are some of the most well practised procrastinators, we crammed in almost all of our Christmas shopping and grocery shopping in one day. We didn't get home until late and had been going almost all day. We are all beat, but we are done with our shopping... a day well done!

ReelTime Presents: MR BEAN'S HOLIDAY TRAILER

What's not to love?

Down with the tree!

A guest post by Mama Scrooge: This year we upgraded our fake Christmas tree from a 7' to a 9' so it was our first time to use this tree. I know I'm at least mildly allergic to the fake trees because I get itchy all over when I touch it.

For the last couple weeks Johnny has had a bad mysterious cough. He insists he does not feel sick but continues to cough none-the-less. A couple days ago I realized that it's been almost two weeks and his cough is not improving. Meanwhile, I've had a sore throat that just wouldn't go away and Jim has been congested. I wrote it all off as a winter cold in our house. It wasn't until I started thinking back to when we all started feeling bad that it occurred to me that it was the weekend we started putting out our Christmas decorations--including the tree. Then Johnny and I sat on the couch near the tree while watching a movie together. The whole time we were both coughing, sneezing, and rubbing our eyes. That's when it (Finally) hit me... It's the tree! We are allergic to the TREE!!! How sad that it took me two weeks to figure it out! So last night I took off each ornament and all the lights. I disassembled the tree and put it back in it's box. When Johnny came in the room while I was taking it apart he started coughing so hard I was worried he was having trouble breathing. I had to send him out until it was done and the room aired out. And this morning... my 2 week long sore throat is GONE and Johnny's cough is much better all ready.

So a little bah-hum-buggin' for the health of the family! Surely this could be forgiven?

News from the US side of things..

No pictures to post of the family from the US side as our camera has gone on to camera heaven. We were very sad to see it go, but what can you do?

So the news from here:

We are all over our colds-- WOO HOO!!

Jim is in Louisville, Kentucky. He was sent on a short business trip. I'm grateful to have such a great marriage that we both can't stand even a few short days apart and that he does not have a job that takes him away from home often. He got to his hotel last night with all sorts of stories of traveling mishaps. The one that shocked me was that he had a horrible dinner. What's all this we are hearing of great Southern cooking?? Then again he did order Salmon (that's so CA) when maybe he should have gone with the CHICKEN. :) He will get home very late tomorrow night.

Meanwhile we are so totally vegging at home. It really might be considered out of control chillin'. Little work, pre-made meals from the freezer, book reading, game playing, movie watching... yep tough days at home. Zzzzzzzzzzz

Before all this chillin' was happening we had a lot of fun things going on. Last Thursday to Sunday night we got to hang out with my friend Ali and her sons. They are such a great family and we enjoyed them so much! We ended our time together with a bang and spent 12 hours together at Disneyland on Sunday. Also a brand new movie theater just opened up near us and offered cheap movies before their official grand opening. How could we pass that up? Monday night our family, and friends Debbie and Andrew, all went to see Nancy Drew. It was a great family movie- even Luke surprised us by liking it! There were a few parts where kids would get startled and scream and everyone in the theater would burst into laughter. Much fun! On Tuesday Debbie was kind enough to pick up me and the boys and drop us off at the theater for more movies (thanks Debbie!). We saw Mr. Bean's Holiday which we all thought was hysterical. I really think you would have to be in the right mood for it...and we were. Plus to add to the fun we sat next to a really sweet young guy that was laughing so hard, stomping his feet and clapping his hands, that it made us laugh even harder. It reminded me of watching movies with the teens at HFC and how hard they would laugh and stomp at all the funny parts. I got to go out to lunch with my 3 handsome boys between movies. Then we headed back to see Daddy Day Camp. By then we were all tired and cold and not really in a movie mood anymore. Plus we didn't have our new friend next to us making it even more fun. The movie was a bit of a let down after Mr. Bean (tough act to follow).

I still do not have a drivers license. It insures that we stay put at home until Jim gets back. ;) I won't even go in to the details of why I still can't drive. Let's just say DMV and HMO are totally bad words around here these days!

More from Haiti

Princess Stephanie in the babies room
Lovenie is "too cool for school" first she's sleeping in class but then she's so bright she's gotta wear shades!

Jude in his school uniform with THAT smile. What a sweet boy he is!

Along with these new pictures I received from Casey who just picked up her children (Congratulations Casey!!!), she also sent me this message:

Stephanie was so sweet and wanted to know if I knew "Ahhnn geee la." She beamed when I said yes and asked me to tell you she loves you. She wanted a picture made with both of my children. Jude was only too willing to smile for the camera.

1st pictures

In honor of our un-happy anniversary I thought I would post the very first photo's we received of Lovenie, Jude, and Stephanie. Lovenie was just a baby. I had forgotten how the first many pictures Jude never smiled in and am thanking God that he is now happy and knows he is very loved, and Stephanie is as radiant as always!

A very UN-Happy Anniversary to us.

This morning I woke up thinking that there was something about the date that was very familiar and significant but I had to wake up a little before it hit me: Today it has been one year from when our files exited IBESR! One year! It used to be just a matter of a couple weeks to a couple months at the most from when you exit IBESR to picking up your children. Times have changed and long steps have been added. What was originally thought to be a 6 month or less adoption process is now looking like it may be 3 years or more.

I still believe there is a reason and this is all part of God's plan so I am not "down" or upset today. It's just not really a celebration kind of anniversary either.

One year ago today Stephanie, Jude, and Lovenie had been in IBESR a very long time. A corrupt director had finally (and with much celebration) been removed and a new promising director had replaced him and then had to learn the job and play catch up on the files that the previous director ignored. So we were so anxious to hear the good news that our files may finally be released. I learned that this had finally happened while we were at a hotel in TX. I went to their media room to check my emails and there it was... "Your children have exited IBESR". Before getting this message I imagined in my mind what this would be like to get this huge news and then was surprised that my reaction was so different. I thought I would be jumping up and down with excitement. Instead I just sat there frozen and staring at the screen. I was glad Jim was the only one in the room with me because I then burst in to tears and cried and cried. I'm still not sure what that cry was about... happiness, relief, pain because of the long wait, shock that our kids were finally coming home... no clue but I couldn't hold back a storm of tears. Once that was taken care of I was able to move in to what I had always pictured it to be.... major celebration!! We went back up to the hotel room and jumped up and down on the beds whooping and hollering. We were out of IBESR and our kids were FINALLY coming home. The only thing we were worried about was that we still had more then 2 weeks left of the vacation we were on and we were wondering what we would do if they called us to Haiti before our trip was over and decided we would leave, of course. We were really concerned about getting back home before it was time because after IBESR the wait was very short. Boy, were we ever wrong! Other steps have been added and we could have never imagined the new delay. So here we are one year later and still have no idea when our kids will come home. Not an anniversary to celebrate but one worth pondering on.

New Pictures of our waiting children!

It's so good to receive pictures of both Stephanie and Jude playing games (Jude's playing picture below). You must have a love of games to survive in this family. We are quick to admit it's one area in our lives that we are fanatics and have been known to host and/or attend game nights that go on until 5AM the following day. BTW-- Isn't Stephanie stunning?

This is the only kind of hug you get from Stephanie-- Whole hearted hugs. She is so kind and loving and everyone who meets her lets me know what a sweetheart she was to them.

Here is the recipient of this big hug: James. He traveled with his Sister In-Law and my friend, Bryn, to help get her settled in to live with the kids of HFC and NLL. If you remember from the previous blog we were just hanging out with them at Disneyland a few weeks ago. James is such a kind man and his wife, Mandy, is just as wonderful! They are adopting Job and Bernadin from HFC and Afterly from NLL so their kids in Haiti are friends of our kids in Haiti and their kids in the US have become friends with our kids in the US which means we MUST see each other as often as possible. ;) We have so much fun with their family!

What's this? Could it be SHY Stephanie? No way... not possible. She must have something in her eyes. I've never met a more bubbly and outgoing person!

James surrounded by some of the girls. Stephanie is right next to him and is clearly laughing at something. I wish I could be the one standing next to her. Maybe I could photoshop James out and insert my own picture. Anyone know how to do this? Just kidding... Thank you so much James for loving on our kids!

Bryn settling in at HFC. Please continue to pray for her adjustment as her life has been totally turned upside down but she is likely at the beginning of what will be one of the most exciting and life changing journeys of her life! I love this picture of our little Stephanie standing close by. My friend in another country with my little girl... How cool is that?

More games

There it is... The CLASSIC Jude smile (He's the one in the bright blue shirt at the bottom of the picture). It' something I've never seen him without and it's so totally beautiful. I'm convinced he is the smiliest most upbeat kid in the whole world! The only time I saw him not smile is when he finds out it's time for us to say goodbye. It totally breaks my heart to see the non-stop smiler in tears. What a great kid and we get the honor of calling him our son... WOW!

Here is my proof that Jude is never without a smile. He's taking a blow to the head and still grinning. Haha... I just love our son!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jude with a goofy face that includes the Jude smile.

Okay.. perhaps I've gone a bit too far when I start posting pictures of the back of our kids heads but look... He's playing a game! This is very important. ;) Also I pointed it out to Jim that Jude was playing and this is the back of his head (the one in the grey shirt). Jim asked me how I could tell it was Jude and I responded in a very put out tone "I'm his mother, of course I know the back of my sons head!" In truth: I honestly was pretty sure it was the back of his head but had to go back to other pictures and check what shirt he was wearing to make sure. Shhhh....don't tell Jim that! You may be just seeing the back of his head but you can be sure on the other side of that head is a face with a smile of it-- I think I've provided enough proof of that!

This picture was sent to me on the same day but by a different person (Thanks so much Beki!!). I LOVE this picture of Lovenie. I've never seen her in her school uniform before. She's in her preschool class and it cracks me up that she's sleeping through it. I hope her new teacher (uhm...me) will be able to keep her awake. I can't believe she's old enough to have started preschool...what happened to my baby girl? She looks so grown up... Wahhhhhhhh!

Lovenie hanging out in the hall. This picture brings up so many mixed emotions in me! She's standing and that's something we really thought she may never be able to do and her eyes are wide open... Praise God big time!!! However, she looks so skinny at just 19lbs and 3.5 years old. This picture looks to me like one of the kids you see in the commercials on TV with pleas of helping the starving children. I worry so much about her health. Her weight has not changed in a couple years and I've seen her shovel down tons of food every sitting. I believe she likely has parasites and/or worms that are taking away from her nutrition. I can't wait to get her home and pray it won't be long until I post pictures of our chubby little girl. ;)

A huge thank you to James and Mandy for getting these and many more pictures of our children! I love these wonderfully candid photo's. We did not get any pictures of Jacques but he tends to hide from the camera while his little sister Stephanie jumps in front of it! My friend Kez will be with the kids in just 5 days (please pray for the mission trip of nurses she is leading) and I know I'll get lots of pictures of Jacques from her because they have such a sweet connection. Kez--- You have Jacques's Mom's permission to do whatever measures of torture or bribery it takes to get Jacques to smile for the camera!!

Can you believe God would bless us with such amazing kids?? We could never earn or deserve such favor from the Lord!

News about our children

Since the internet is currently not working at NLL and HFC I've been really missing letters to and from our children. So it's exciting to get any word or stories about them while we wait for contact again. Today I received this information from my friend Bryn who is now living with the kids (please pray for her adjustment there):

The past few days Jacques greeted me with a hug, and I could count on Jude for smile!
Stephanie has been a godsend. She was by my side for the first few days - on Thursday night she knew I needed water and she ran all over the building trying to find someone to unlock to freezer. She's a sweetie.

Also, I just learned that James (Bryn's brother in-law) has just returned from Haiti and brought with him letters from our children that they will be mailing to us. I can't wait to get them!!!

After posting about our first date I also received this information from Kez:
I told Jacques about your "first date" with Jim from this weekend. He thought it was hysterical. After we talked about how married couples are allowed to do romantic stuff too, he said "OK, it's not blaze" but he was still laughing. (Blaze means crazy)

It's so much fun to have these insights to their personalities and how they are doing. I can't wait until I am the one that gets to update others on the things our kids do, say, or are feeling but until then these tidbits are priceless!

Visit from a friend

There is much excitement in our house this morning as we will be having visitors that were friends of ours in Texas and have since moved to So. CA. They will be staying with us for a few days and we are really looking forward to it.

For my TX friends that read my blog- It's Ali L. and her sons!!!! How blessed are we? Try not to be too jealous, haha. She's such an amazing woman and I'm sure she's very missed in TX but I sure am glad she is here now. I'll post pictures and updates of our time together. I wish I could gather up all our precious friends from TX and hang out with her together!!

Enchanted in Reverse

By now you've probably seen the trailer for the movie Enchanted where the princess somehow gets from her animated fairy tale and enters "the real world". Well, today I felt like the movie Enchanted happened in reverse to me. I got to leave the real world and fell in to a fairy tale perfect day! Today was date 2 of our 10 date plan and it was FANTASTIC! We went to Glen Ivy Hot Springs Spa for the day and indulged in mud baths, mineral baths, sauna's, steam rooms, Jacuzzis, swimming pools, lounge pools, hot saline pool, and so much more. We are so relaxed that we both hardly want to move now that we are home. If anyone reading this lives in So CA. or visits I would totally encourage you to spend the day relaxing in this paradise. It was perfect timing as yesterday was filled with frustrations trying to deal with DMV and Kaiser at what seems like the nearly impossible task of getting my license and this morning before leaving we learned that Jude still has not entered MOI which sets us back a couple months again from when we thought they might be home. We are used to this kind of news and continue to say "In God's timing". Nevertheless, it was fantastic to laugh, lounge, and soak any and all stress away.

Delicious lunch on the balcony at the spa cafe where we soaked up sunshine and enjoyed the gorgeous views. For the last several days it has been cold and overcast but today for our special date God cleared the sky and gave us beautiful sunshine and at times we were even too hot and had to seek out shade. Nothing like a sunburn in December. ;)
One of the views of our paradise from our lunch table

Another view from our lunch table showing the surrounding mountains. The grounds had the most beautiful trees, exotic flowers, big fountains. It was like being back at Maui on our Honeymoon again. Who would have guessed this was just 20 minutes from our home? This picture shows part of the lounge pool that is only 2 feet deep and 95 degrees. They have great mats for just laying out in the sun. We found a sunny spot and read for a little while. By the time we hit the lounge pool we were goofy from all the sunshine and relaxation and were laughing hard at nothing at all-- very fun.

Jim treated me to a trip to the Grotto. I wasn't quite sure what to expect but LOVED it!!! You are taken down to a warm underground cave by an elevator. In the first cave they caked on (with a big paint brush) the most wonderful and thick green moisturizer. Even the moisturizer was warm and felt fantastic. Then I went through a door into another area of the cave where you sit under heaters by waterfalls letting the moisturizer sink in to your skin and relaxing. Then you move on to the next station where you shower in another cave to wash it off. It was one of the greatest showers I've ever had and I was in no hurry to leave it. The last area of the Grotto caves was a lounge area with warm herbal tea to just relax and enjoy the fountains and cave while chatting with others in a great mood too.

I accidentally uploaded the pictures a bit backwards and am too relaxed (lazy) to fix it so bare with me please. One of the funnest and weirdest part of the day was the Hot Springs Red Clay Mud Bath. Jim and I had fun flinging Mud at each other and the clay felt great. The idea is to cover your body up with it and then let it dry in the sun or Waffa room (below). Then you wash it off and it's excellent for exfoliating. The whole thing was great until the mud started to dry. You know by now I don't like anything that even resembles getting dirty but I didn't realize until today how much I dislike it. As the mud began to dry on my body the feeling just freaked me out and I nearly ran to the nearest cave shower (above) and couldn't get it washed off fast enough! Other then that the rest of the mud bath was actually fun.

Jim in the Waffa- a warm cave like room to sit in so that the mud will dry.

Me in the Waffa- It was not long after this picture that I was nearly running to the shower.

Something you will hopefully never see again. Me COVERED in mud! Check out how one foot is not covered and it gives you an idea of what a blindingly white girl I am under all that mud.

Nothing says romantic like being covered in caked on mud.

My handsome prince in front of one of the fountains. There's no one in this world I would rather have spent this day with. He's so much fun. We were so happy and having so much fun laughing together that someone asked us if we were there on our honeymoon-- not bad after 10 years. ;)

Beautiful Capitola (near Santa Cruz)

Our family hanging out at one of our favorite beach side restaurants
Hanging out on the beach even if it was just a bit chilly.

Laying around the beach waiting for my favorite shopping partner to show up (my Mom)

They boys enjoying the sand.

Capitola has always been a really special place to me. Not only because it's such a cute beach town but because I have so many fun memories of going there with my parents and brother, then my friends and Jim, and this time it was perfected by being able to share it with our children!

For anyone that knows me you know I didn't last long laying around on the sand. As soon as my Mom showed up my Dad and Jim took over holding down the beach and watching the boys allowing me and Mom to spend hours looking through all the great beach boutiques. We saw some of the coolest things and have decided that once we are crazy rich we were going to go in and just clear out a few of these expensive stores (after ending world hunger and homelessness, or course). I did end up with a few fun treasures to wear on the special dates Jim and I have planned. I love my relationship with my Mom now more then ever. She's become one of my best friends as well as a mother to me and we have such good times together- Missing you already Mama. I hope my kids will grow up to love, respect, and even LIKE me the way that I do you!

Celebrating our Champion

Celebration at Rainforest Cafe with our great friends Rick, Sandy, Zach, and Ces
I need to learn what ingredient Rainforest adds to their desserts. If you remember last month we went there and I posted a picture of Kyle asleep on the table after eating his dessert and now here is Johnny from last night snoozing away on his kids menu. I must get my hands on that recipe! Okay, maybe it had something to do with the fact that we didn't even get seated until around 10PM!

Just throwing in a cute picture of Kyle- Oh, and the castle doesn't look so bad either!

"The Award"

Yesterday our family received some very exciting and unexpected news. Last week Jim's boss told him that 3 top executives from corporate were coming for a visit and he would like Jim to do a presentation. That parts normal enough until he learned that the presentation was to be about his past work history and what he's been working on since coming to this company. We thought hmmmmm... this sounds like an interview that's not being called an interview. Jim's boss said he wanted the corporate guys to know about him so if an opening comes up in the future they would have Jim in mind for the promotion. Rumors were flying all around the plant that the corporate guys were there just to interview Jim (his boss admitted aftwards that they were there for that reason). The presentation went great. Jim was even given an award for a company wide project he's involved in and has a perfect record at. The award he received was the above pictured shirt. Jim and I were cracking up at it. It's totally not something he would wear. The words in the arch say "Best Practices Champion 2007", and his name is under it. While great to be acknowledged... the shirt...yikes! We joked he would wear it to work and strut around singing "I am the Champion, I am the Champion". Anyone that knows Jim knows how humble he is and this is so far from anything he'd actually do! So anyways... We thought maybe something was up (but had no idea what) or that the interview/presentation really was just for future reference as Jim's boss said, but still we wondered if there was more to it. It sure didn't take long to find out. The very next day (yesterday) Jim's boss came to his office and shut the door behind him (okay, now Jim's really wondering what's up) and not only offered Jim the exact Management position he wanted at some point in the company but asked him to stay right here in CA to take this position!!! It is company policy that for one of these upper management positions you must move to another location. Jim is so awesome that they made an exception to the rule because they want him here!

What this means for our family: We can stay here for at least 2-3 years, spending more time with our family and them getting more time to get to know our new family members, plus we should be able to complete all our adoptions while living here and not have to worry about moving during or right after the process. And of course Jim's pay will increase pretty dramatically right before bringing our children home!!! How cool is God... SO COOL!

This is news worthy of a real celebration so we called our good friends because we know they are super spontaneous (like us) and might be willing to head out for a night of fun with no notice at all. Sure enough they were all for it! They came by and picked our family up and we went to Rainforest Cafe for appetizers and desserts. We left Rainforest Cafe around 11PM which left us only 1 hour to walk quickly to the entrance of Disneyland and then had about 45 minutes to try and ride rides before they closed. Jim and Kyle headed off with Rick and Sandy's family for the more thrilling rides and me, Johnny, and Luke headed to the rides they like thinking we would probably only be able to ride one of two rides... both groups got to ride 4 rides in that short time!! We couldn't believe it. It was late and raining so there was almost no one left at the park and we just got on and off rides until midnight. We made it back home a little after 1AM feeling that we really had a fantastic celebration night and are so excited to see what God has planned for us here over the next few years!

Congratulations to the Hero and Champion of our family! We all love you and are so proud of you (but please do not expect a denim shirt with your name on it).