Water Parks and Finger Prints

We received our notice to appear for our biometrics appointment to complete our I-600! Anyone that knows my husband realizes it takes being summoned to appear before he takes a day off work. With our girls in tow we headed north. Tanner and I were hoping to surprise the girlies with a long weekend at Great Wolf Lodge, but we also stink at secrets.  Needless to say we had some super excited kids on the drive up and naps were OUT!

We had an awesome room at an even awesom-er rate! I think even Tanner was impressed.  The girls had their own fully equipped "cabin" so we weren't stuck watching the Disney channel all weekend. Wahoo! Even though Tanner made fun of me for packing so much food, and even compared me to the queen of cheap, my mom, he was happy not to spend millions on eating at the on site restaurants for every meal. Love you momma you taught me well!! All in all it was an incredible experience and we can't wait to go back.

So after the water slides, indoor snow, and scavenger hunts it was time to get down to business.  We were off bright and early Monday to get fingerprinted.  I'm not sure why I thought this process would be more in depth but wow we were in and out in 15 minutes. Makes me feel kind of cheap. Oh well, I got an awesome family weekend out of the deal.

Now I can't wait for the approval letter!!

The Best Defense

Tanner mentioned today that I should have prefaced this post with how our conversation came about. This post was started before Christmas after an awkward conversation with an acquaintance. I found myself wanting to get defensive of our decisions then felt foolish for trying to argue my point. I was not trying to be negative here just honest. I've asked several of my friends who recently adopted to be brutally honest with me and I want to do the same for others.
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Although we are in the early stages of our adoption we have already been subjected to some severe questioning. Tanner and I understood with this decision there would be questions, comments, and even concerns.  I don't think we could ever be prepared to answer every question people feel entitled to.  So we pray over and discussed each detail, obviously. 

This is our conclusion....

We don't feel we have to defend our decision. So we won't even try. If you have questions please feel free to ask away and we will answer as gracefully as possible. If you have concerns please let them be known we are most likely praying over that very thing.  However, know this, we have entered into this process called by God to this specific country and to this specific boy nothing you say, ask, or do will change that decision.

With Love and Respect,
T & R

Nap Stories

To say that nap time during the winter break was "challenging" would be an understatement.  There were days in separate rooms, days with me in the room, and days of obvious playing.  I had to come up with new ways to coax the girls into wanting to take a nap which included, let's be honest, bribing. 

After many tried and failed attempts over the first week and a half I decided to throw a pedicure in the mix. I only thought I'd heard it all. There had been the Sophie MADE me read to her the WHOLE time excuse followed by the I felt like coloring bit, but this took the cake.

My offer was a pedicure for each napping child which I thought would bring on synchronized snoring. To my dismay it did not. After an hour of fairly quiet my precious girls emerged from their rooms with this jewel...and I quote, "Mom, we decided not to take a nap today because instead of spending money on painting our toes we want to save the money for Judah"

They found a way out I could not argue with. Tricky little stinkers!