AGCI Picnic and Birthdays

Saturday was our agency's picnic in Grand Rapid, Michigan.  Elliana and Andy wanted to stay and Grandma and Papa's house to go swimming.  Micah and I drove up early to go meet one of Micah first roomies while in Taiwan, Leyton.  It was so sweet to see the boys' first reactions.  Leyton gently touched Micah's head and Micah looked a little shocked.  It only took a few seconds for him to start relaxing and start playing together, well, side by side.  We headed to the picnic to meet up with another roomie and our case manager, Kate.  I have been so excited waiting to finally get to meet these ladies in person!  I have emailed with these other moms since the beginning of our journey and spent many hours talking with Kate.  Kate also spent lots of time in Taiwan with Micah and giving in lots of hugs and kisses while he was waiting for us to come get him.  After the picnic, we went back to Leyton's home to let the three boys have more fun together.  Micah laughed harder than he had in a few weeks!  He loved, loved seeing and being with his friend:).  He fell asleep the second we left.  I am so glad he has such a great time, I know I did!  We will definitely be getting these boys and adding a few girls to the mix next year!

Micah and Leyton

Micah, Matthew, and Leyton

Kate and Micah

On Sunday, my sweet little girl turned FOUR.  Since she was just a baby, she has been tenderhearted and compassionate.  She is the protective big sister to her two brothers.  I love to watch her giggle with joy when she is playing house with daddy.  Elliana loves to swim and play with her dolls.  She is looking forward to going to preschool in the fall and being a big girl:).  She asked to go to Red Robin for her birthday dinner. Chris and I took her on Thursday before he left for Brazil.  She also really wanted a pool, Buz party.  She had a great day and loved having family around her for her big day.

Elliana in her Buz outfit.

Mom and the birthday girl

A week and a half

Chris's sister, Ursula, and my sister, Amber, both flew into Michigan to meet Micah.  Aunt Urs lives in Colorado and Aunt Ber lives in LA, Cali.  I drove up with the kids on Tuesday and stayed until the following Thursday.  We got to spend time with more than just those two Aunts.  Micah got to meet the rest of his cousins and enjoy to cuddle time with Grandmas.  Elliana and Andy loved to swim every chance they got at Chris' parents house and Aunt Ursula was always willing to go in the water with them.  Elliana liked to climb down the ladder and sit on the pool floor.  Andy enjoyed jumping in, whether anyone was ready to not.  Neither one can swim so two adults are needed to watching them!  Micah also loves the water, but he doesn't do anything dangerous yet.

Chris came up on Thursday and stayed until Sunday.  We planned a Tigers game for Bill's birthday.  Micah was the only kid allowed and of course he was sweet and slept through the game and fireworks.  On Saturday we went to a lake out by Tina's, my step-sister, house.  The kids loved the beach and could not get enough of playing in the sand and water.

The week and a half was action packed and lots of fun.  We will be headed back to Michigan again on Friday!  I am really looking forward to going to Grand Rapids for our agency's picnic and meeting one of Micah's roomies!!  Chris leaves for Brazil on Saturday and will be there for a week for work.  Once he is back we jump into September and craziness all over again!

Above:  Shannon, me and Amber at Greenfield Village.
Below:  Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Bill at Greenfield Village.

Dates

We have been pretty busy, not sure with what, but I know I am exhausted from it all.  I am sure there are some cute stories from the week, but I will stick to just sharing about the weekend.  This weekend was my MOPS Steering Retreat weekend to plan the upcoming year.  My role is leader of the Discussion Group Leaders.  So I just help the ladies, but do not actually have to lead a table this year.  I have been looking forward to the retreat for some time.  I was not going to be staying the night with the ladies because I would be bringing Micah with me all day on Saturday.  Well, on Friday at 6:16 Chris was finally able to get a hold of the Dentist that had replaced a filling earlier in the day.  This was the sixth or so time that he had been in for the filling.  It was very soft to the touch and hurt very much so he needed to get it fixed before the weekend really got started.  However, that would leave me with three kids and only 15 minutes to find someplace to take them all.  Elliana, I took to VBS (she was a little late, but still made it).  Andy, I called a neighbor and begged her to take him- he was screaming the whole time on the phone so I am sure she was really looking forward to it.  He turned out to be very well and did not cause any problems.

Micah cannot stay with anyone beside Chris or me so he came with me.  The ladies, of course, loved that and it was the first time most of them had seen him.  These ladies are so awesome!  I cannot tell you how excited I am to work with them all year and see what God is going to be doing in our lives through the MOPS ministry.  Well, Micah was not going to make it as long as I planned on staying so we headed home to put him and I to bed.  We got an early start on Saturday to make it back to the retreat for breakfast and are first meeting of the day.  Micah was so great all day!!!

Chris took Elliana and Andy to the zoo and enjoyed their time together.  We also had a couples baby shower to attend on Saturday afternoon.  I had lined up a babysitter to take over for Chris.  Apparently, it was the best baby shower ever!  I am sure it is the only one Chris and been too, but he is still sure - the best!  They played minute to win it games and had a good time.  The babysitter had few problems with Andy so we ended up texting while still in meetings to work out his dinner.  I made it back home just in time to give baths and get everyone to bed. 

Chris and I had a lot of cleaning to get started on since our social worker was coming right after church for our three month post placement.    Notice it is Saturday night and I have not stop to breath, goodness, I am tried.

Our social worker came out and asked lots of questions and watched all the kids interact.  At one point in talking about the readoption process, our sw said something about Micah moving away (as an adult) and Elliana stopped me and very nerviously asked  "Micah gets to stay forever because thats what adoption is?!"  She was getting really sad and I immediately explained that she could not take Micah away and that is not what she was saying.  I don't think the sw heard Elliana and Elliana was comforted in my answer.  Everything was great for the first hour.  After that it all fell to pieces.  Elliana had not napped and was losing it.  Crying, needed me to hold her and stop talking to this stranger in her home.  Andy through a couple of nice fits to show how he started to deal with all the changes in his life.  Micah was just as sweet as ever:).  Really, Andy had been doing pretty good until last week.  He now has a meltdown every day and needs Mom more than ever. 

Okay, so that was the weekend.  It was fun, but I do not like to go, go, go like I thought I did.  We are headed to Michigan so Micah can meet the rest of his aunts.  We will be gone for a week and a half.  Chris is really hoping it will be restful for me.  I am really hoping too, but I think I know reality:).

I have been wanted to share some neat date stuff for some time:
May 6- our first hearing                                 AND our birthmom's birthday
May 26 - Ruling for final decree                    AND  Chris' mom's birthday and the day my grandpa passed
June 7 - Final decree                                     AND  Chris' birthday
June 21 - issued final decree and GOTCHA day  AND Father's Day

God's timing in always perfect:).