Very important announcement

I know that ever since viewing the video clips of Madeline's production of "The King and I" everyone has been all a-buzz about what her next major role would involve :)

Madeline will be appearing in the Massoula Theater Company's production of "Robin Hood." Her major role: a skunk!

The Massoula Theater is a children's theater that comes to our school yearly. They have auditions and rehearse intensely all week (skunks only need to be there twice for 2 hours each, but some kids are there for 4 hours a night, and all day Saturday). Then they perform twice on Saturday.

There were a lot of kids auditioning this year so we made sure to remind Maddie that she is only in Kindergarten, and if she didn't get a role next year, she could try again next year. I wasn't really worried about her being upset - she's just not that kind of girl. BUT, we were thrilled when she got a part. She's a cutie, and she was so excited.

Also, the boys sat through almost two hours of auditions without fussing or crying at all. That is HUGE! Good job, Myles and Max Rup!

Why We Love Friday the 13th

Many people dread this superstiscious day, but not us. Over the past two years it's brought us two of the four biggest blessings we've ever recieved.

Things have changed pretty quickly around here. On Wednesday we were told that the little girl we had been pursuing was no longer available. We were disappointed, but knew that God had other plans for us. Well, we didn't think those plans would reveal themselves so quickly. . .

Friday our social worker from when we adopted Max Rup posted an email to our forum about a little boy that she really wanted to find a home for. We poured over his information all weekend. He's almost 8 months younger than Max Rup, and this guy's grin can light up a room! We met with our Doc on Monday, and despite some unknowns we called Tami (our social worker again - yay!) and told her we were in.

His name is Probal. We'll call him Mason and keep Probal as his middle name. We are unable to post his picture until we go through some paperwork steps (sorry). Trust me - he's to die for!

Tami spoke to the amazing woman who runs ISRC (the childrens home in Kolkata). Anju was so happy that Probal is being adopted by Max Rup's family. Anju told Tami that it was "God's Blessing." We completely agree.

So, we learned about Max Rup on Friday April 13, 2007, and Mason Probal on Friday, February 13, 2009. Pretty Good.

Alright - back to paperwork - there will be plenty of that in the next few weeks.

Random Fact

For those of you who know Maddie, she's full of random comments and odd facts that she learns from her nature shows and books. Yesterday's random fact, told to my sister at the breakfast table: "Aunt Moo Moo, did you know that when you eat honey, you're eating bee vomit?"

Fabulous! I love that girl!

Update

I just got a phone call from our worker at MAPS. The little girl that we have been pursuing is no longer available. I asked what happened and was told that she didn't really have a good answer. She was speaking to their in-country representative about us being matched with this girl and the representative informed her that she was no longer available.

I'm disappointed (to minimize), but we know that this is just God pointing us in a different direction. We continue to be open to a range of ages and abilities, so we'll see what happens.

Just hadn't posted in a while . . .

Not much is going on up here. We are enjoying some great skiing weather, and Maddie started swim lessons. We started her in level 3, but due to her freespiritedness she is now in level 2. She is way into the social aspect, not so much into the learning part. We love her for it. We signed Myles up for Peewee basketball. It didn't work out well. He stayed in the same spot for 20 minutes as all of the lines moved around him. When the coach tried to engage him, he held up his hand and said, "I have a Spiderman writsband." And then went back to his statuesque pose. And Max Rup is just a chatterbox now.

We also took the kids to Disney on Ice last week. It was ok. Max loved it, and still talks about the big crocodile eating Captain Hook.

That's about it. Here are some pics.

Myles was reading to Max Rup
Those dimples just kill me!

Having Mimi and Tom home made it finally feel like Christmas

The girls at the surprise 30th. Ugh.