It's Fall!

Fall is definitely my favorite season. It is beautiful here in Maine with the vibrant foliage, and the crisp clean air. I love being outside with the kids, playing in the leaves, picking out our pumpkins. I think Myles is going to share my love for the season. He was really into raking and stuffing bags with leaves. He has become my big helper in the morning when Maddie is at school. I've really been enjoying my alone time with him, fully aware that this will be hard to come by soon enough.

Madeline and Auriana started dance lessons this fall. I think Maddie will do better with dance than she did with gymnastics - there is a lot less waiting in line, and a lot more moving around. Maddie is my girl in constant motion, we call it "The Maddie Shakes." She just wiggles all of the time. She loves to cuddle and read, but it is not a comfortable experience, because she bounces all around the whole time. This is our dog, Copper. I've had dogs all of my life, but this guy is special. I would trust him to babysit my kids, he's so wonderful. He is loyal, protective, and so very gentle. He sleeps with Maddie everynight, and takes every opportunity to cuddle with his babies.

We're still just waiting for the last paperwork steps to be finished. We are asked frequently "When, when, when." We just don't know. We will probably only know a couple of days before we actually leave. Trust me, when we finally get word that we can leave, we'll let EVERYONE know!

He Signed!

We found out today that the judge signed our guardianship paperwork before he left. That means that the orphanage director, Ms. Roy, can apply for Max's passport. This will be the big thing we wait for before we travel. There are also some paperwork things to be taken care of on our end, but usually the passport is the big last step.

This last step will fly by with so much to do. We've been waiting on our will so we could include Max in our guardianship plans. Now we can go ahead with that, make sure we're all packed appropriately, and train my Aunt Dawn in farm animal care! Now I'm thinking of a bunch of little things that I really need done for peace of mind before we leave. I'd better stop now before I get carried away and stressed out ;)

We are so happy to be in these final planning stages. Please pray for his passport to be issued quickly so we can have him in our arms soon!

Our first egg!

We have a tiny little farm that is mostly just for our entertainment. We have goats that we could shear and make wool with, but we don't, they are just our friends. We have ducks that just waddle around and quack surprisingly loud. We do make use of our chickens.

Last year and this year we have enjoyed chicken in our freezer that we raised ourselves. We have not been brave enough to do the slaughtering on our own yet (maybe next year). They are very tasty, and it is nice to know exactly what the conditions were, what they were fed, etc. Our chickens have quite a good life right up until, well, you know.

Madeline is definitely our farm girl. The first time we picked up the broiler chicks they were tiny and cute - little yellow fuzz balls. We get in the truck and Maddie says, "Can we eat 'em now?" I said, "Honey, they are just little right now." She got this evil little grin and said, "Yeah, but there are lots of 'em!" What a funny kid!

We attempted laying hens last year, but tragedy struck, and all of them became a feast for some sort of animal - 9 in one night! The animal left us one which turned out to be a rooster. He was gorgeous, but extremely aggressive. My kids were scared to run around outside, and he eventually attacked Auriana pretty violently. We hired my Dad to shoot him (we don't do guns at our house). I wish I knew how to convert our video tapes to post the attack, because in retrospect, it was pretty darn funny.

So this year we got laying hens again. We lost 4 to an unknown attacker again, but we have 8 left, all hens (Phew). They have finally started to lay these really pretty colored eggs. They are delicious, and Maddie was so proud of the first egg. She called it her pet, and does not want us to eat it. I guess it will stay in the fridge until it goes bad.

The New Goat

In addition to our adoption, we've been adding to our farm family.

A wonderful woman that I work with has discovered our soft spot. So far we've taken one of her pygmy goats, Peanut. He is a cutie, and so cuddly. The kids obviously love him. . .

We are also planning on taking two pot bellied pigs in a few weeks. I'm sure those will be a big hit with the kids as well. Just had to share pics of my babies and critters.

Sweet Relief

I certainly feel like I've been on the adoption roller coaster this weekend. As most of you know, the Calcutta courts close for a substantial amount of time in October/November. We knew this was getting close, and on Thursday I decided to break down and ask the Dillon Social Worker about our chances. I also confessed to spending a lot of time on the Calcutta High Court website. She told me that Rup's case was scheduled to be heard the next day! She also warned that if it is skipped, it would most likely be rescheduled for LATE NOVEMBER! This would mean Max wouldn't be home for his birthday, and probably not Christmas.

Friday we were under the assumption that our case had been skipped because nothing was sent from India and no one was able to be contacted. So we were upset, I took a day off from work to just be with my kids. I emailed and asked if we could just make sure they didn't cut his curls before we could get him home.

BUT - Today Myles and I ran a bunch of errands. In the meantime, my Mom had broken into my email account (she has permission) and saw an email from Tami. She called everywhere to find me - of course I didn't have my cell phone with me. I ran in the house after picking up Maddie, and the phone was ringing. It was Aunt Dawn - for those of you who don't know her, she's as excited as I am to meet Max. She's also watching Maddie and Myles while we're away. I looked at my email with her on the line, and read it to her - our case was approved! We were both ridiculously happy. I interrupted Dan's class to tell him, and Meagan knows, so I'm sure everyone else does as well :)

So, in short, we're psyched! We're hoping to travel in about 4 weeks. We have to wait for a couple paperwork steps, but hopefully that will go smoothly.