Light Speed Travel

I wrote a short story called Light Speed Travel and posted it on my web site if you want to read it.

Morgan's news

Who would have thought Morgan could get nervous over performing?  Shots and teeth cleaned yes, she has a little anxiety in those areas, but performing...  I didn't think it could happen.  Next Tuesday, the choir she is in at school is going to a recording studio to make a cd of all the Christmas songs they have learned this fall.  Every time she thinks about it she gets nervous.... I finally got her to talk about it.  She is afraid that she'll talk while they are recording and she'll ruin the entire cd!  That is a lot of pressure... to not talk out of turn for two whole hours!!  Funny girl.  If you want to scroll through hundreds of pics to see some of Morgan, this is a link to her choir blog.

Other exciting news for Morgan.  They aren't doing a play in December with their acting group, instead they are doing short scenes and a song from different musicals.  One of the songs/scenes is from Annie and Morgan gets to be Annie!  Well done Morgan!  I think this one is because you aren't afraid to talk!!  I'm trying to get her to color her hair red... she's not on board, yet.

My good news.  I got a copy of my birth certificate in the mail today so I can now go apply for a new passport.  Yeah me!  Had I mentioned that my birth certificate was in the folder with my passport?  Yep, the folder that got thrown away.  (yes, you can laugh with me)

Flash back Friday

I've had a bummer week and wasn't going to blog about it, but I have lots of sweet friends checking on us through our blog and I haven't posted since last Friday.  When one friend caught up with me and I shared my frustrations she said I still needed to post it, just because it is part of our adoption process.  So I'm flashing back to last Friday, when my world came tumbling down.  

We got all the papers to fill out for the adoption agency and home land security and as we were adding things up our total came to a bit more than what the agency had told us when we met with them and on top we don't qualify for the tax break so we were both a bit frustrated.  I being a women and feeling totally taken advantage of got frustrated and angry and started looking at other adoption agencies.  My sweet husband notes that it's a business for this guy and he's a salesman so we should talk to him about it.  So even though we've found two agencies that do adoptions out of the Ukraine and they are about 5-10,000 dollars less with travel and everything we are still looking at Yuri because he has an in with these orphanages and can hopefully get phones in to the kids, etc.  We really want and need a link with Marina so she'll stay and not go work for her aunt.  So, why am I feeling so taken advantage of?  I keep thinking I'm fine with it, but if I think about it I still get a little ticked off.  I guess I feel like our hands are tied and we have no other options, because we still want to go get the children...  which brings me back to why let it get to me the kids are more important than the agency we use.

So onto more comical items from the weekend.  Saturday we canceled our Christmas Trip to Belize.  Morgan and I were the only ones really, really sad about it.  It feels right and everyone we booked with was helpful in reimbursing most of our expenses : ) yeah!  Because all the contracts said after 30 or 45 days no reimbursement!  So I was worried about that, but we heard from the last place yesterday and it's good.  And for some reason that I can't figure out the boys are thrilled that Santa is now coming and I had to write and let Santa know he better get shopping, because we aren't going on a vacation for Christmas anymore.  Both boys have already written out their Christmas lists and I told them to circle one thing they really want and that will be it this year.  I was sooooo excited not to do any Christmas shopping this year, oh well maybe next year...

The final straw that broke is now funny for me but at the time I fell apart and cried.  I really cried because I don't know if I can do giddy, silly highs to frustrating, angry lows for 8 + months!  When I heard it would be a roller coaster ride this is not what I was envisioning.  So... I can't find my passport, for those who know me I have a thing about passports and getting them stamped.  Yes, Troy pointed out that if all this wasn't going on I probably wouldn't have looked for it until we were leaving for Belize and then I really would have been home crying while the family was off to the beach without me.  It would be me and Madona singing Isla Bonita through tears.  And yes, a passport is replaceable and all is well.  The funny part is that I'm pretty sure I threw it away!  Can you believe that!?!?! It was in the folder when we applied for the kids passports this summer and that folder made it's way to the trash.  (Bad experience with the Farmington Court house with the kids and passport applications).  I am laughing at those memories as I type... my kids had never seen me really mad - hey no cursing or yelling, but a little stomping and speaking my mind.  

So we are back on, I think.  We have our home study next Friday and McKay has been really helpful and patient with me.  I'm glad we can go ahead with that, so I feel like we are still moving forward.  I am worried that Marina will go work for her aunt and won't be there by the time we get out there.  I think that is my underlying stress and so I've probably made a bigger deal of things than needed to be.  So I've been really great since Wednesday and sent off a package for Ivan's birthday in a couple weeks.  We are trying to get a little Christmas package together to send next week.  We don't really know how long things take to get there.  Hopefully we'll have happier news these next few weeks.

Friday's field trip adventure

So I went on the field trip to the Natural History Museum at the U of U with Morgan's class on Friday.  What an adventure.  Now, always going with Grant's classes I of course ended up with groups of boys who are at times rowdy, but I got use to it and enjoyed going with the boys.  Last year I went on a couple with Morgan's class and had girls and really enjoyed that they roamed less than the boys and usually read about the things we were seeing and it was very pleasant.  In fact if anyone was roaming too far it was usually my own daughter (that is still a bit of a problem).  But yesterday....  I had one cute girl who hung out with me and helped answer the worksheet.  Yes, my own daughter was off a head of us the entire time, one girl kept disappearing to hang out with her friend in another group, one girl was pouty because we weren't going into the gift shop and hung behind us 15 feet playing her gameboy and the other girl ran circles around the other four asking when we got to leave because she was bored.   My only reprieve was that I had to put money in our meter every hour and so another mother hung out with my group and her group while I ran to the car.  She always breathed a sigh of relief when I came back.  She had a really sweet group that never left her side and they all helped fill out their worksheet.  So Morgan and I are going to have a little chat and I think I might request boys again.

Fishing in Oswego

Troy here.  This is my report from my fishing trip to northern New York with my brother Brett earlier this week. Overall, I would characterize it as a nice, manly break from office and domestic responsibilities.  The primal instincts re-charged, all that good, atavistic stuff.  

It all began several months ago with a suggestion from Brett about the fabulous runs of giant brown trout in the great lakes area this time of year.  We made plans with a guide he knew and locked the date into our calendars.  While it was touch and go there near the end when some work and family needs threatened to de-rail us, somehow the clouds parted and the way was paved for northern adventure.  I caught a flight after church Sunday and said a tearful goodbye to the family, including the kids from the Ukraine, who were themselves leaving the next morning.  Marina and Ivan insisted on riding with me to the airport, which I confess was pretty touching.  OK.  Enough sentiment for now.  

Timing worked out perfectly, as I landed in the Syracuse, NY airport within 10 minutes of Brett arriving via automobile after a long drive from his home in Ridgefield, Connecticut.  He picked me up at around 9:3o pm, and we were off to accomplish mission objective number 1: find me a local fishing license.  I had some scribbled directions to a local Wal-Mart that purported to be open 24 hours.  Brett scoffed at my low-tech approach and geared up both his car's navigation system and his iPhone.  Between the three devices, we somehow were able to arrive at the nearest Wal-Mart (which turned out to be less than 2 miles away from the airport and prominently situated on the only main road in the area).  A bit of a scare when we learned that the fishing-license-printing computer at the store was down, but a grizzled no-nonsense sporting department worker directed us to the next Wal-Mart a few stops down the highway.   There, we had success with the license.  As a bonus, Brett stumbled upon a small tire he'd been on the lookout for, to replace the spare on his trailor.  He seemed quite pleased with his find, and it sat in the back seat of his bmw for the remainder of the trip.  We frequently commented on the pleasant (really) smell it left in the car.  Hey, better than the smell of damp fishing boots.

Also, be sure to check out Brett's link in a few days.  He will be adding his report.

The mighty Oswego River.  It feeds into Lake Ontario about one mile in the opposite direction of this snapshot. Thousands of fish swim upstream until they run into these  barriers.  It was running a little high for this time of year, so Brett and I fished on local streams most of the time, but spent a few relatively productive hours here on Tuesday morning. 
Brett and I looking over the Oswego.  We primarily fished at the base of the waterfall you see in the distance, toward the right of the river.  The raging water honestly seemed a little scary to wade out into, but it wasn't as bad when you were in it.  Still, one wrong slip...  Our guide re-assured us that people hardly ever died when fishing this river.
King Salmon caught by Brett on Tuesday.  This was actually the last fish of the trip.  We stumbled on a little channel of the stream that was no wider than 6 feet across and maybe 60 feet long.  There must have been a dozen kings tooling around in there.  

My big fish of the trip.  Caught on a fly rod, egg pattern, 3X leader.  While we went hunting for browns, they were nowhere to be found.  We clearly missed the window.  Nonetheless, we caught a nice mix of king salmon and steelheads.  

This is a picture of the nice steelhead Brett landed on the Oswego.  Fine looking fish.  

The one that got away.  You will notice that this hook has been bent and broken off.  I fought a gorgeous steelhead for about 10 minutes, and then the line went slack.  Aargh.  I cursed for a moment at the universe.  Then when I drew in my line I noticed the hook had actually broken off.  Incredible.  The fish came out of the water twice right in front of me while I was fighting it.  It was similar to the one Brett had caught shown above (though I will say a good bit thicker--why not--hard to dispute now).

Save A Child concert

The concert turned out great.  The Brinton girls who performed on the piano (and their mother) were amazing.  And the Osmond boys got the crowd going.  They sang a wide variety of songs and Morgan and I got to rock out!  Loved it.  We sang the last song of the chorus to If You Believe.  Somehow our family ended up front and center and we never even tried to learn the song.  Opps, so we didn't give our best performance : )  But that is our little family hanging out on the stage.  

We've decided to go pick them up and adopt them.  Yes, we are crazy.  We've looked at it from every angle and talked and prayed about it and it's just right.  I'm sure it will be hard and crazy at times, but it will be really good too.  When we asked them, they were so excited, Ivan was out of his seat and saying yes before the translator could even finish.  Our kids gave us the ok, very excited ok, before we even talked to Marina, Ivan and Anya.  As we talked more they've been trying to stay together as a family and now they will be able to.  I was just giddy taking them to the airport yesterday.  Everyone was crying and I was so happy and laughing and I just kept telling them we would see them in a few months.  Now we've just got to figure out rooms.

Happy Halloween

This year for Halloween we had a punk rocker (Grant), Death (Ivan), a witch (Marina), a Vampire (Morgan), a princess (Anya) and a Jedi (ethan).  We went with some neighbors and their cousins and ended up in three different groups running around collecting candy.  It did end up raining a little bit and so we only had about 50 trick or treaters this year.  It was a slow night.
The next morning our sweet brother-in-law Brady snuck the kids into his office (with his own children) and did some spooky cleaning of the teeth.  Ivan was terrified in the beginning, but was the only one smiling through out.  It may have been that I bribed him.  I let him take my ipod if he went and he didn't have to share it with Anya.