roos n more.

Our first school field trip was at the end of October to Roos n More.  It's about an hour's drive northeast and well worth the trip.  I never would have dreamed I could see so many exotic animals in the middle of the desert of Nevada!  Vegas is full of surprises.  


Here's a photo recap of the day because, seriously, it's January 2012 and I'm posting about October 30, 2011.  I need to get a move on.   By the way, Sweet P was there too but is terrified of close proximity to any animal.  Reference this zoo post if you want proof.  


Petting a baby porcupine.

"Passing snakes" took on a whole new meaning.  You could not pay me to do this!

Did you know an armadillo looks like a small cantaloupe when it's rolled up?  God created these guys so amazingly... they fit together like puzzle pieces into a perfect sphere.  

Hello, toucan!

Meeting a sloth.

Camels and zebras too.

A very close encounter with a monkey.  Buddy had glasses on, so the monkey loved watching himself in the reflection.

The amazing bear cat.

Playing with otters.

Petting our first kangaroo and seeing a baby joey inside its pouch!  Did you know baby joeys are only the size of a jelly bean when they are born??  When we saw it, it was still only 2 or 3 inches long!

There were a couple albino kangaroos.

My favorite lemur.  Funny guy.  

The end.  

looking back.

Moments before we met Sweet P in the orphanage, we were presented a photo album from her time there.  Considering she lived there all but about three months of life, it is still not comprehensive.  Less than ten are of her before age one, by my guess.  Regardless, it's a treasure to have them.  We were given a few peeks into her first years on the planet but no where near this much into her life at the orphanage.

I spent a few minutes today scanning them from the album and wanted to share a few favorites.  I love knowing her personality and mannerisms now and seeing bits of them in these pictures from a year or two ago.  

My assumption is that this first picture is shortly after she arrived at her new home, since she arrived around three months.  The next stage of life jumps to around a year, possibly when she was placed onto the list to be adopted?  

If you know Sweet P, you know the eyes below... she makes this face when she's not happy about something.   No words necessary, it's all in those eyes!

The next two pictures make me feel so happy about her care while she waited to come home to us.  The nannies at the orphanage care so much about the children.  I can't remember if I have shared here about the nannies.  You see, we never were able to meet Sweet P's assigned nanny because she wasn't at work the day we were there.  Oh, how I wished I could have thanked her in person!  

Nannies at her orphanage do not come to work the day their assigned children go home with their forever families, so they don't have to watch with sadness to say goodbye and so the children aren't even more sad to see the nanny as they go away with "strangers."  It is a tremendously difficult - and yet incredibly selfless - thing to do to make the transition easier for everyone.  I hope and pray she had a special goodbye time with Sweet P on March 29 before she went home for the day.  

I assume her nanny and maybe a collaboration of nannies sent Sweet P with gifts as we left.  The orphanage is an extension of the Thai government and runs by its funds, so it is my guess these were purchased by individuals because of the way they were presented.  

(Sorry, crazy picture, but it's the only I could find in the dress!)

Many Thai people wear a buddha on a chain around their neck, much like Christians wear a cross.

A jade amulet necklace.  I like the trio of jade colors.  

The elephant is a royal symbol in Thailand.  This incense set is a pretty reminder of her homeland.  

I look forward to giving them to my little girl when she is older.  I hope she sees them as a dear connection to the people who loved her while she waited.  

Blessings, angela

finalized.

Yesterday was incredible.  We had to get up much earlier than usual to be at the Family Courthouse for our time before the judge.  Our social worker and lawyer met us there before our appointment at 8:30.  I think all was said and done by a little after 9:00!

We received Sweet P's adoption decree and officially changed her name.  If you know hers, you know the meaning of her first name describes beautifully what she is to us.  Her middle name is taken from K's grandma, a beautiful woman who loves Jesus, something we hope and pray for Sweet P.  Her second  middle name will be her given Thai name.  We want to keep that part of her heritage and honor the ones who gave her birth by keeping it.  Then, music to my mommy ears, her last name now matches ours!

To celebrate American style, we stopped to get donuts - her first! - on our way home.  Then we went for a family bike ride before naps.  I'd call that a good, good day.

Thanking the Lord for the fifth member of our family.  Blessings, angela

court date!

Yay!  Yay!  and Yay again!  Do we have some big news to share!

It has been a whirlwind of adoption stuff the last couple weeks.  We suddenly found out it would be possible to finalize Sweet P's adoption in American courts and rushed to gather all the papers and find a lawyer to make it happen before 2012.

Why? Well, 2011 tax laws grant an adoption credit of up to somewhere around $13,000.  This is entirely different from the expected change to an adoption tax deduction beginning in 2012.  The entire credit will be given back to us, so long as we spent that amount or more on specific adoption-related items... home study, background checks, lawyers, etc.  Next year we would (likely) only be allowed to deduct from the amount we pay in taxes, so long as what we owe is lower than the stated deduction amount.  How things are for our family, we don't pay anywhere near that much in taxes in a given year, so it wouldn't be as much of a benefit to us.

The excitement isn't about just having money in our pocket, but about the possibility of how we will use it!  We weren't expecting this added blessing and now we can use the credit toward adopting again.  It thrills my soul just to think about it!  ...and that it will likely happen sooner thanks to this credit.

The reason we are waiting until the absolute last minute of 2011 to get this done is because of custody laws in Nevada.  We have to reside in state for exactly six months before we are considered under Nevada's authority to deal in matters of custody.  You probably don't remember but we drove into the 110 degree heat on June 28.  We had no choice but to take this down to the wire!

We asked friends to pray with us last week that a judge would kindly squeeze us into the schedule on December 29 or 30.  Many judges are on vacation for the holidays, so this was definitely praying for a Christmas miracle.  A phone call from our lawyer's office came yesterday saying we got an appointment for Friday!  All praise to the Lord!

December 30 is a big day for Sweet P!  She will get her adoption decree and have her name officially changed to our family surname.

ugh.

I'm becoming one of those annoying bloggers who take lengthy vacations from posting and then it's too overwhelming to get back on task.  Guilty.  ... forgiven?  Pretty please?

Life has been full but blessed.  Since arriving in Vegas we've had to search out a church and decide on school for Alannah and just plain ole get involved and start growing roots.  It wasn't as easy this time around than it has been in the past, but we feel so settled and at home here.  Honestly, I love it much, much more than I ever could have imagined!

Here is my update in pictures... and then I hope to write a few more adoption posts soon that keep swirling around in my head.  Hope to see you back at the table soon!  Blessings, angela

You can see the difference in height between my "twins"... 8 months but about three or four inches difference.  

 Oh, I could just eat up the cuteness in these little cheeks!  

Occasionally we get rainy days in Vegas too, so all the little ducklings went for a walk.

 Our homeowner here gave us a weekend getaway to her vacation rental in Lake Arrowhead, California.  

 We drove back to Vegas in time to meet two very longtime family friends on the Strip for dinner.

 A stop by the Bellagio Conservatory to see the flower display is a must!

 ...and the famous chocolate fountain.

 This picture made the cut because I love the look in Peanut's eyes.  All I remember is K was having a chat with her and telling her he was proud about something.  She has such a loving respect in her eyes for her Daddy.

 K got Buddy a tee ball stand and gave it after returning from a work trip one evening.  The first thing on his mind after waking the next morning was to get outside and play... even if it was 6:34am!  Early bird gets the worm, right?

 Halloween costumes for school

 On Halloween night Buddy changed his mind and went as Handy Manny.  We had a fun evening with families from our homeschool group.

make back a buck.

So, Christmas is just around the corner and I know many of you will be doing lots of online shopping... or at least if you want to skip the crowds and still get a good deal!

I just got a rebate check in the mail from ShopatHome.com and thought most of you would be interested. Every time I shop online, I check there first.  Many, many stores you probably shop at regularly give a small (sometimes large!) percentage back to you just for shopping through ShopatHome.

I have become more of an online shopper of late, because, really, how fun is it to tote three little ones to a store just to have them request a potty trip or snack or water or whatever else they can think of at the moment!  It's really exciting to go to my mailbox every few months and find a rebate check just for shopping through ShopatHome's website!!

If you go through this link, you will automatically start out with $5.00 in your rebate account!  Just keep on shopping as usual, going through ShopatHome first, and once your account reaches $20.00+, they will mail you a rebate check.  Obviously I was racking up the rebates when we first moved in and were getting settled!  :)

3.

A couple nights ago I looked back over some posts on here about this time last year.  It brought back feelings that I hoped to long forget... celebrating Sweet P's 2nd birthday without her in attendance.  It felt almost wrong to have a family party with the guest of honor not present, yet we had to mark the special day. 

We have all waited the last few weeks with much anticipation for September 16 because Sweet P is HERE to join in the celebration!  She was able to open cards and gifts from extended family last night since K and Buddy are on a guys camping trip with church friends.  We'll enjoy cupcakes on Sunday.

I tried to find a video that would show best how well she is speaking English, but I didn't capture one.  I will keep trying because it is a huge answer to prayer!  However, I did get a video that proves she already knows the value of the American dollar.  Hope you laugh too.

Each day is a gift to have Sweet P home, but today was especially treasured.  Time passes too quickly and she is already growing up way to fast for my liking.

I love you, baby girl!  Happy birthday!