Three Times Lucky

Elli & Tori Turn Seven!

2011-05-17T08:25:00.002-04:00

Oh where did the time go? Our girls are now seven! They make us smile everyday, and they are getting so grown up. They struggled to find present ideas in the toy aisle this year - the favorite gifts - clothes, things to decorate their room and tickets to the movies! Sad to see the days of princesses and stuffed animals starting to disappear, but always amazed to watch the beautiful young ladies that are emerging.

Another slideshow by Smilebox

April - Easter and more

2011-05-10T06:59:00.003-04:00

So now that we are almost half-way through May, I guess it is time for an April update :-). It was a good month for us, Easter and then our court hearing to finalize all three adoptions under our own State (okay, Commonwealth) law. So glad that some lovely Spring weather has arrived! Hope you are all enjoying your change of season, whatever form it takes!

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Mr. Man turns 4!!

2011-03-15T19:15:00.003-04:00

Despite a high fever and a certain amount of crankiness, my little Mr. Man turned four on Sunday. We had to postpone his kid party for a week due to his being sick, but we managed a nice little family gathering on Saturday where he raked in the goodies - not the least being a super cool bike from Grandmom & Pop-pop Hanson! He loved all the fuss and attention.

It's hard to believe he's four, only a year away from being eligible to start kindergarten... My little guy is growing up!

Oh, in the pictures below, notice how much "help" he gets from his big sisters :-). They were always right there when it came to opening the presents - a familiar situation to this youngest child as well.

This free photo collage generated with Smilebox

A New Adoption Program...

2011-03-03T13:15:00.002-05:00

A friend of mine has an established adoption agency in Pennsylvania. She is starting a new program in Serbia and Montenegro that may be fairly fast and allows single parents in some cases. The link to her agency's website is: http://www.adoptionsforever.org/index.html

Below is the information that she passed along to me. The program is new, so I don't think this info is posted on her website yet. Please contact her through her website if you would like more info.

From Megan:

I am starting a program in Serbia and Montenegro . Below I have outlined how the program works…according to the facilitator with some English cleaned up. I am wondering if you know of anyone who may be interested ….if they already have a home study completed for another country, that would be even better in that they would be that much further ahead. It appears these first adoptions may be able to be done rather quickly. The stay would be two weeks…

SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO

ADOPTION PROGRAM

These two countries are SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO

ADOPTION PROGRAM

These two countries are not part of Hague convention, and adoption is not with court process.

In both countries adoption is an administrative decision, and all the adoption papers must to be submitted for approval to the Ministry of Labor and Social Department, this institution has an office in each territory It is not necessarily for families to travel too much in the country as all adoption procedures can be completed in the territory where the child is resident.

The application for adoption is approved by the local authorities (social department) waiting period of time cannot be longer than two months; the family can get referral about the child after that.

After the adoptive parents accept the child, Ministry of Labor will approve the adoption in a special meeting, where the family need to be present too, the name of this meeting is “Ceremony of Adoption”, and the schedule of this meeting is made no more than one week from the date when the Ministry of Labor approved the adoption.

After this official meeting, the local authorities will make all adoption papers; they change the biological parent’s names with adoptive parent’s names, the only condition that Serbian adoption law has is about child first name that cannot be changed, but if adoptive family wish that can do it in USA, in Montenegro is allow to be change too.

The local authorities will issue an adoption decree that includes child’s history and adoption details, new birth certificate and passport.

After that with all adoption papers translate in English language the family go to US Embassy for child visas.

For both countries the visas is issue at US Embassy in Belgrade.

This is the entire adoption process. The families has must application for adoption with color copy of their US passport and POA for facilitator to get registration approval first, they will come after the approval is made , and after they accept the referral of child sent by facilitator.

The age of children’s that can be adopted by the foreign families is from 1 year up to 18 years old, with some special approval from authorities can be less than 1 year, but not younger than 3 months old, and adoptive parents must not be more than 45 years older than child adopted, but can be more than that with a special approval from Ministry of Labor.

Anyway the age of adopted child will be decided by US adoptive families only; I just follow their instruction about that.

The single person (woman or man) can adopt with a special approval of the some authorities in Serbia, but is not allowed in Montenegro.

I can work with homosexual couples, in some conditions too.

This is the list of adoption required:

Adoption application
Home Study
A short adoptive family biography (one page)
Birth Certificate
Marriage Certificate
Medical Certificate
Police Certificate
Work certificate with details about: income and home
Passport color copy
BCIS Approval
Passport photos of adoptive parents.

The program fees is 14 thousand dollars, and we will work with children’s from 1 year up to 5 years old 1-3 only, sometime less than one year but not younger that three months older.

The adoption agencies doesn’t work here for now, so we can have a lot of children’s available, I don’t know for how long time will be like this but I am sure one or two more years we can do adoption without too much competition.

I can start work there with any family that you may have ready for adoption and are in waiting list for another country, I can do registration and referral with HS and BCIS approved for another country, with condition that when family will travel here to bring with them name of country changed documents.

Snow, snow, snow

2011-01-29T07:58:00.001-05:00

It's been a bad winter by our Southern PA standards. We've had three snow days already, and about as many two hours delays, and it's still January! Luckily, this most recent batch of snow has been great for snow balls and snow men. Look at this guy we put together - he's taller than me! It's really nice now that the girls are bigger and can provide some real help. Tori did the bottom snow ball pretty much on her own - that thing was bigger than her. Elli did the middle with just a little help. The girls hunted down the sticks for the arms on their own. Hope you are staying warm and having some winter fun!

Our Year in Pictures...

2010-12-20T20:39:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!! The slideshow below will show you more pictures than you ever wanted to see of my lovely kiddos :0). Enjoy your holiday festivities.

Make your own free photo slideshow

Halloween

2010-11-12T07:19:00.000-05:00

I've been a bad, bad, blogger! I know it has been forever since I posted anything here, but these days I am mostly posting on facebook. I do live in hope that Ryan's foster family might check this blog from time to time, so I want to make an effort at least to get some pictures up here on a regular basis. If you are not a friend on facebook, and would like to be, please leave me a message so I can add you.

At any rate, here are some pictures from Halloween. Elli was a princess, Ryan a monkey, and Tori a Panda. We also did a "Trunk or Treat" event - for this, you park in a parking lot and open your trunk. The kids come & trick or treat from one trunk to the next. For this one you were encouraged to dress up and decorate your car in a theme. I blatantly exploited my family's heritage (and abundance of "costumes") - we were China, complete with a bamboo forest (well an attempt at it anyway), lanterns, plenty of pandas and lots of pretty Chinese silks. It was fun, easy & I think we were a sentimental favorite because we won "best theme-based Trunker"

Some fun with some crazy candies that Uncle Carl & Aunt Lisa sent for the kids.

Ryan didn't quite get the eyeball thing, but he did keep trying.

Here's "China" at the Trunk or Treat. The green streamers in the background were supposed to be the bamboo forest.

Wo Ai Ni Mommy - Documentary on PBS

2010-09-05T06:49:00.002-04:00

Over the past couple of days, I watched the documentary film "Wo Ai Ni Mommy" by Stephanie Wang-Breal: http://www.pbs.org/pov/woainimommy/

The film is a little less than an hour and half and follows the journey of a young girl who was adopted at eight years old by a family living in Long Island, NY. I missed it when it was broadcast on our PBS station, but was able to watch it over the internet.

I think the most valuable part of the film for me was watching a child who was old enough to express her feelings go through the process of transitioning from her foster family in China into life in the US with her new family. What a heart wrenching process! So hard for her and so hard for her family. And of course the language difference made it so difficult for both her and her new family. My children were younger so I'm sure it was quite as traumatic, but it does give me new insight on what they went through in their own little ways.

In my opinion, the film didn't make the adoptive family look all that great. It really makes me wonder what I looked like when we brought our kids home. It was brave of them to allow for the film makers to document such a stressful time in their lives, and I am sure the film did not show the whole picture. But I did find myself, on occasion, wanting to shout at the mom once or twice "Give it a rest!", or at the dad "Let her talk!". And as a watcher of the movie, I had the advantage of subtitles to understand what Faith was saying while the family did not.

Definitely worth a watch for my adoptive friends! It seems that it would be priceless for anyone adopting an older child, especially. But good perspective for all of us.

Enjoy!

Off to school...

2010-08-30T08:56:00.005-04:00

Well Monday was the big day for Elli & Tori. They started first grade - their first experience with all day school. The girls were very excited on Monday - awake, dressed to shoes, teeth brushed & face washed by 7:10 am! That has NEVER happened before. Last week Elli had said she was a little nervous about starting school (Tori said no such thing :-)). All the nerves seem to wash away as we got to the bus stop and my two "social butterflies" started chattering with friends and neighbors about the upcoming year. It seems that their week has gone well, although they are sharing precious few details about their days :-(.

I'll tell you who IS struggling with all of this - Mommy!! I so miss my girls when they are gone during the day. Ryan keeps me busy, to be sure, but the house is so much quieter these days. I hardly know what to do with myself. I'm sure things will get easier with time and once activities start up for Ryan and I.

Okay, enough of my rambling, here are the pictures....

"First Day of School Picture"

Yes, Ryan was there, too. As Ryan would say "Me too?" - but he will have his own first day of school on the 13th.

Walking to the bus stop.

And getting on the bus (right on time, amazingly). Elli is the pink backpack at the top of the stairs, Tori is the blue backpack about to step on the bus.And off they went!

No training wheels!!

2010-07-18T15:09:00.002-04:00

May 23, 2010

Tori rides with no training wheels! She's a very determined young lady. Daddy practiced with her on the grass, then she rode a little on the grass. The next thing I know, I glance out the front door to see this: !!!

It took her about 10 min. to figure it out. Go Tori!! Our secret (or so I think): Tori rode a razor skooter quite a bit before this time to get her balance down. That was a tip handed down from a friend & it sure seemed to work for Tori.

Mother's Day

2010-07-12T22:38:00.003-04:00

Mother's Day brought Grandmom & Pop-pop T. for a visit. My sister, Mary, aka "Aunt Mary" and her family joined us as well. We had a really nice visit complete with waffles made by my nephew, Grant - delicious, as always!

Here is Mary, our Mom and me! In what has become a traditional Mom's day photo.

And here is my gang - I am one very, very, very lucky Mama!

I hope all you mommies out there had a extra super-duper Mother's Day!

That First Lost Tooth!

2010-07-10T08:10:00.005-04:00

Almost a month since my last post - pathetic! Pretty soon I'll be as far behind with my blog as I am with my scrapbooking :-(

Anyway, the next event this spring was the much anticipated first lost tooth and subsequent visit from the tooth fairy :-). Tori was the lucky one to go first. This was appropriate since losing a tooth was SO important to her. Her tooth wiggled and wiggled and wiggled, but she didn't want anyone to pull it for her. Finally, on Friday, May 7th, she bumped into her friend, Sam at soccer practice and poof! the tooth was gone. Not sure if she swallowed it, or if it became one with the soccer field, but that tooth was gone. Luckily the tooth fairy was very understanding and accepted our note.

Elli lost her first tooth on June 7th. Again it wiggled & wiggled and Mommy & Daddy are both a bit queasy so no one pulled it. One morning I made the girls egg sandwiches for breakfast and Elli's was unusually crunchy - yup! That was her tooth! We managed to salvage a small fragment to leave for the tooth fairy & she made yet another visit.
As of now, they've both lost two bottom teeth & others are wiggling. My babies are growing up too fast!

Lost teeth, and birthdays and soccer, Oh My!!

2010-06-16T06:11:00.003-04:00

It has been forever since I posted, and so much has happened. It seems the spring has spun out of control with a life of it's own. I've decided to post little by little about the events that I've missed. First up is Elli & Tori's 6th birthday on May 6th.

It was a school day, but we managed to make it pretty special. Elli always wants curled hair, so we spent a good part of the morning putting hair in curlers to get those elusive curls. I didn't expect much, but they actually had some curls when it was all done. They looked great, but they look great no matter what their hair looks like :-). After school we got balloons, ate ice cream and came home for their favorite dinner of tacos. Opened a few presents and the day was over! Wow! That was fast! How did my babies become 6year olds??

Elli with her curls... So happy!
Tori decided a little late in the game that she wanted curls, too. I'll have to get a second set of curlers for next time :-).
A few goodies - it was all princess, glamour and ballet for Elli. Stuffed animals, soccer & "hip" for Tori. I got those skechers for $15 at Kohl's!! Unfortunately they were too big & had to be returned :-(
Tori with her balloon choice & birthday crown from school along with her very first webkin. Elli selected a princess castle balloon which deflated way too quickly.
Elli in her new ballet outfit - new leotard, tutu & ballet slippers. Such a beautiful little girlie-girl.

Cookies for Troops Update

2010-04-23T11:07:00.002-04:00

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our "Cookies for Marines" collection. On Tuesday I mailed off 22 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies to our neighbor and his unit that is deployed to Afghanistan. We sent along prayers and wishes for a safe deployment.
We will continue to keep them in your prayers and hope you will too!

Easter!

2010-04-07T06:32:00.009-04:00

We were blessed with some absolutely beautiful weather this year! My sister & her family came to help us celebrate. We had a great day - I hope you had just as much joy & fun this Easter as we did!

Everyone dressed up & looking nice at the same time - We HAD to get a picture of this :-)

Waffle breakfast, Easter Egg & basket hunt & coloring Easter eggs. A busy but very fun day!

From Collages

Could it be... Is he really THREE!?!?

2010-03-12T13:39:00.007-05:00

Where oh where did the time go?? Ryan turned three this past Saturday.

From Three Times Lucky

Oh, he's getting so big! His speech, though still delayed, is coming along nicely. He is very agile with walking, running and climbing. Motor skills (fine and gross) are definitely his forte. Grandmom & Pop-pop H. got him a tricycle for his birthday. He is having a bit of trouble pedaling right now, but I expect he will be pedaling up a storm in no time. You see, Ryan is all about keeping up with his sisters.

Ryan has a very fun loving personality and a pleasant disposition. So many people comment on how cute he is. He is a cutie, and a charmer. He is very active and makes Mommy crazy on occasion (okay, frequently), but his behavior is never defiant and rarely even about testing limits. It is more about fun and curiosity with him. He loves to make people smile and laugh. If he finds something that makes you laugh, he will repeat it again & again & again... He is a character.

We had a small celebration last weekend with Grandmom & Pop-pop H. Where he got his tricycle (Grandmom, send me some trike pics if you can). That is when the top picture was taken. Don't you just love the cheesy grin??

This past Saturday, we had a kids' party at a local bounce place called Bounce U. You get an hour and 15 minutes in a room with four different moon bounces. This is right up Ryan's alley. For the first 30 minutes or so, every time I looked at him he was in a different bouncer. The super slide was a strong favorite, though.

So here are some pics to document his big day:

Tinkertoys from Mommy & Daddy. Thought these would be fun for Ryan's busy little hands.

From Three Times Lucky

Crazy man on one of the moon bounce thingies...

From Three Times Lucky

This "big boy" was so good with Ryan - he followed him around & helped him our where ever he could. I didn't notice the "writing on the wall" behind the boys until I was cropping the photo. You can get mugged and go bouncing all at the same time! Talk about a full service facility :-)

From Three Times Lucky

Ryan on his beloved super slide. He would climb that ladder in a flash & was back down before you could say "crazy man". Sliding mats and waiting in line are for sissies, apparently :-)

From Three Times Lucky

Cake #2! Complete with "Meennee" and "Goo-ey" as Ryan calls them (Mickey & Goofy).

From Three Times Lucky

Little Man + big chair = cute picture...

From Three Times Lucky

And last but not least, this is what happens when you try to get a group shot of three kids who have been bouncing around like crazy people all afternoon :-)

From

Some Random Pics

2010-03-09T05:51:00.003-05:00

No particular theme, just life...

Elli & Ryan chill-axing at Tori's soccer game. Didn't get any good shots of Tori in action :-(. Will keep trying!

Super-spy with her super-spy puppy...

Another super-spy. Oh man, where did she learn to pose?? Five going on 15!

Ryan wanted his picture taken. "Mommy, my cheez". Yup, he asks to get his picture. I will enjoy that while it lasts.

Here are the girls modeling some spring/summer outfits. And Ryan joining in the fun. The girls could not have been happier when these new clothes arrived. They have discovered the wonders of on-line shopping.

When did they get so grown up!?!?

Chinese New Year - Take 2

2010-03-01T22:48:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was our second Chinese New Year Celebration. This time, we attended an event with our local FCC (Families with Children from China) group. We are lucky enough to have a Chinatown in our general area, so the party was held in a very nice Chinese restaurant down there. It was a nice big room with plenty of room & a dance floor. We had a DJ, crafts for the kids, a photographer, etc. It was a great day. 38 families, 124 people - it was great to chat with parents like us and watch all the kids enjoy each other. The older kids were just wonderful with the little ones, and of course the little ones adore the "big kids".

My favorite picture this time around. Ryan found himself a the cutest little girl friend, Sylvie. The two were so cute together, holding hands & chumming around together. Don't you just love this picture? Like a miniature bride & groom or something.

Ryan sure had a way with the ladies - here he is holding court with some of the older girls.
Daddy, Ryan, & Tori at the table for lunch. Those are Elli's fingers doing the peace sign.

My favorite part of the event. We did our own little Dragon Parade with the kids. The bigger girls lead the kids through the restaurant with this dragon decoration, to the sound of those traditional drums (thanks to the DJ). And at the end of the the "parade"....Our own version of "firecrackers"!! Otherwise known as bubble wrap - all over the dance floor. It is amazing how loud that can actually be. Here is Elli having a good time making some noise.And Tori & Ryan made their fair share of noise as well. It was great.Can't wait for next year! Have a wonderful Year of the Tiger, everyone!

Girl Scout Cookies for Marines

2010-02-22T04:52:00.004-05:00

Our next door neighbor's son is a Marine, and his unit is getting ready to deploy over to Afghanistan at the end of this week. Since we are selling girl scout cookies this year, we thought it would be nice to take a collection and send over as many cookies as we can to this unit as they get ready to take on this tough job.

This is what his mom told me about the deployment:
His unit is leaving for Afghanistan at the end of Feb. I am sure that those boys would love some girl scout cookies, especially because it will be first time deployments for a lot of them, and I am sure that homesickness will set in pretty quickly. Plus, they are going to a base in S. Afghan that does not have many amenities. Port a potties that reach up to 130 degrees is more like it!

His Battalion is 3rd LAAD (Low Altitude Air Defense).

We just think it would be nice to send some cookies over there. It is a nice treat for men & women in the unit & it is an easy way to show them our support. Cookies cost $3.50, so if you would consider donating $4.50 per box to cover shipping, plus the administration of the "ChipIn" site, that would be great! Any donation would be appreciated. We will take whatever money we collect and send as many cookies as we can. Don't delay, though, we have to get this wrapped up this week, or the Girl Scout cookies will be gone. You can donate by clicking on the orange "Chip In" button on the right hand side of this page. If you would like to pay another way, just leave a comment or drop an email and I will give you directions.

Thanks!
Ruth

p.s. to the Hanson side of our family - I did contacted Katie about sending cookies to Dan's unit. Bad news is their mail service has shut down. The good news is it is shut down because they are coming home soon!! So too late to send cookies to them.

Happy Lunar New Year!! (Take 1)

2010-02-19T05:44:00.004-05:00

This is the 5th Lunar New Year that we have celebrated with Elli & Tori and our second with Ryan. Each year, except perhaps for E & T's first year home, I had great intentions of putting on a Chinese New Year Celebration for their daycare or preschool. Well, I never quite managed it. It always fell through the cracks and ended up being something quite lame (red frosted cupcakes one year), or nothing at all. But, I am happy to say, this year we pulled it off!! For various reasons, I did not want to do this at their school, so we did this in a fairly risk free environment of their Daisy Girl Scout troop, which is not associated with our school.

I have to say E & T were sooo excited about the event. Elli wore her New Year's dress. Tori decided on her T-shirt from the Beijing Olympics. They wanted to greet everyone with a Ni Hao! when their friends arrived, and they were determined to be "leaders" for all the activities. They did not want to participate ("Because we know all this already") :-). They sat next to me while I talked briefly to the troop about China, the holiday and the night's activities and were literally bouncing with excitement. One of the leaders commented on how nice it was to see my normally "shy" little girls act as leaders for the event! So cool. I would say that I wished I had done this sooner, but honestly, for them (and me), I think the timing was right. Their age, and this situation made for a very special, and valuable experience for my ladies. (Sigh of a happy mom.)

So here was our list of activities, and sadly, too few pictures. I forgot my camera at the meeting, but to be honest, I wouldn't have had time to take a picture anyway. This one will just have to live in my brain, not my scrapbook.

These were my plans for the evening:

Introductory talk:
Inflatable globe to point out China
A few facts about China and about the Lunar New Year
Explain what we would be doing this evening and their significance for the holiday.

Activity stations: We broke the girls into three groups

Cooking - making Hoho's noodle soup. Had veggies & such pre-cut & pre-cooked. Each group made one batch of soup & were able to take turns adding ingredients to the pot. The soup tasted okay, not great. I used the noodles they suggested in the recipe, but they turned out differently than the ones in the picture on the site. Ours turned very clear & broke into a lot of small pieces. Not sure what we did wrong here. Despite that I would probably do it again since it was easy to make and had enough ingredients for a group of girls to all participate in making it.

Calligraphy/Craft - Many, many thanks to a favorite author, Grace Lin for this idea. We made New Year's banners with the character "fu" (good luck). She posted this on facebook, which is were I found it. I am including the link here, but not sure that it will take you to the right place. If you go searching for it, it is on facebook, under her Notes dated February 7, 2010. We did the banner, not the firecracker.

Dragon dance craft: We used this template, printed onto to cardstock. Girls colored, cut out and added glitter. Used crepe paper streamers and a paper lunch bag to make a puppet. *This craft was too involved for the time we had. I should have done more of it ahead of time...

Come together as a large group.
Chopsticks game (relay race)
Dragon parade with the dragons that they made.
Followed by bubble wrap firecrackers!!
*Unfortunately, I planned too much and we didn't get to any of these group activities :-(... Oh well, something for next year.

And last, but certainly not least, the FEAST! On our menu:
- Noodle soup made by the girls
- Dumplings (not homemade, but yummy - Ling Ling brand, from Costco)
- Egg Rolls
- Orange slices
- Fortune cookies

And, of course, as each girl left, we gave her a red envelope with a couple of chocolate coins inside.

I did not provide everything we needed for the event, every girl from the troop brought at least one or two things to help out. And everyone in the troop was so open and interested in learning about China and this holiday. It was a great time!

Snow, snow go away!!

2010-02-11T13:09:00.003-05:00

A favorite pic! Tori poking her head out of the "back door" of her snow cave (you can see the front door below)

Just last week I was thanking God for the blessing of a snow day and the message to stay home & enjoy my family. But now, well, can I just say, "God, thank you very much for the message, I got it loud and clear, but ENOUGH ALREADY!!" I love my family, the snow is fun, but we're all bouncing off the walls. Snow storm Friday evening into Saturday leaving about 19 inches, then Tuesday night through Wednesday evening giving us another, maybe, 18 inches (?). We have plenty of snow, don't need anymore, thank you very much.

Though I must say, this is just Mommy's opinion. The kids are loving this!

Ryan "helping" me dig out an area so the dog can make it outside to do his business...
Our front sidewalk, just trying to record how deep it was. This is unusual for us.
Mom, why did you set me in this snowbank?? My hands are getting cold & I've had enough...
Tori in her snow cave - constructed mainly on her own!

Happy 100 Days!

2010-02-10T07:08:00.004-05:00

E & T were congratulating each other yesterday on "making it through" 100 days of kindergarten. Too cute!! Here they are, to commemorate their achievement :-)

Of course Ryan needed a hat, too and he needed to be in a picture as well, so....
Another snow storm & another snow day for us today!

Moments...

2010-02-06T08:39:00.003-05:00

As many of you know, life with three kids can get pretty hectic. And many of you out there have more than three - let's just say I am in awe.
But anyway, sometimes it all does come together, if even for a moment or so, and it warms my heart. Yesterday morning, Ryan decided to join his sisters while they were "reading" and best of all - no drama! - one of those moments.... So cute to have all three of them lined up together. Sure wish I had closed the linen closet, first, though. Now the whole world (or my two or three readers) know we use Scott Tissue - our secret is out :-)
Just another thing I wanted to capture - Ryan will take any opportunity to go for a "wy" (ride). Anytime anyone is bent over, lying down or on all fours give him about 10 seconds and Ryan will be on your back. Sometimes a challenge to keep your sense of humor, but I know one day I will miss it, so I had one of the girls take this picture for posterity. (Note to self: Never, ever cut your own bangs.)
We had about 10" of snow fall overnight & it's still coming down. That's a lot for this area. Kids can't wait to get outside & play...

God in the little things...

2010-02-04T09:44:00.002-05:00

I absolutely know that God has been there during the big times of my life, both good & bad - life's joys & trials and most obviously in bringing our family together according to His plan. But this past week, I keep seeing him in the little things....

Like on Saturday morning, when I finally dragged my butt out of the house to go to bible study - the ladies there were wonderful, and a group that I am very comfortable around. AND, we studied the book of Ruth! Okay, Big Guy, I see that this is where I should be :-)

Yesterday morning, we have a two hour delay and morning activities are cancelled. I'm panicked because I have a lady coming over to clean (yes, an obscene luxury, but I am a hopeless housekeeper) and I don't know what I am going to do with the kids & myself and we won't be able to get out in the snow. She calls & has a conflict, can't make it! Big sigh of relief and a relaxing (well, as relaxing as it can be with my crew) & enjoyable morning with three of the most important people in my life. And some great memories & photos to boot! (yesterday's post).

This morning I am getting ready to pack the kids up for a very hectic morning/afternoon of activities at the Y. The speech therapist shows up unexpectedly - means we skip our first activity at the Y, have some down time at home & start the craziness at 11:00, with a much more manageable schedule.

Okay, finally starting to get God's message... Schedule less & enjoy your family more! It's just kind of amazing how He has gotten His point across. And He knows just what it takes to get me to see...

OMG! A current post :-)

2010-02-03T18:59:00.003-05:00

Okay, so I thought I would actually post about something that happened TODAY!! (shocking, I know... :-).

There was a flake or two of snow on the ground this morning, so all of our morning activities were cancelled and the girls' school was on a two hour delay. They are absolutely nutty here - the least bit of snow & every one freaks out.

We got outside this morning & built a snow man! Good thing we did when we did, because the snow was almost completely gone an hour and a half later.

Here 'ya go, some snow pics:

Teamwork !?!? (at least for a moment or two)
The snow was melting which made for great packing snow. The girls made this monster snowball all on their own.
Snow man aka "No-man" - Yes, Ryan is wearing a pajama top...
At least he is eating a vegetable :-)
Trying to capture one of his trademark looks - love those eyebrows...

Ryan's First Year with Us

2010-01-31T07:04:00.003-05:00

Putting together photo pages to send to our adoption agency summarizing Ryan's first year. I know the captions are too small to read. Mostly they just say the month and the year. Starts in January with his first day home, then Chinese New Year, then month by month.... Man how he has grown :-)

O-ver-whelmed....

2010-01-27T21:20:00.004-05:00

Hi all! It is pathetic that it has been so long since a post. Truth is, since about Thanksgiving, I have just been overwhelmed. We are all good, and most of the craziness has been good, but I still don't feel like I will catch up anytime soon. I will leave you with our holiday pic & some text from the letter that we sent out for Christmas. Hope all is well with all of you!! More to come, I promise...

Hello and Happy Holidays from the Hansons!

We hope our letter finds you and yours happy, healthy and looking forward to great things in 2010!

We are doing well, keeping busy and mostly out of trouble. 2009 has been a busy year!

Most of you know that we brought Ryan home from Taiwan in January of 2009. He is doing very well. We have all settled in nicely to being a family of five. Ryan is a very busy guy, very curious and determined that he can do anything the big kids, or grownups are doing. He loves to entertain and to get people to laugh. He is the master of silly faces - the things he does with his eyebrows are truly comical – I keep trying to catch them with my camera, but no luck yet. Ryan goes to pre-school two days a week and gives Mommy a workout trying to keep up with him 7 days a week.

Elli & Tori started Kindergarten this past year and are loving it. The girls are in different classrooms, which took a little adjustment, but over all they enjoy school and usually tell me it is “awesome,” or at least “good” when I ask. The girls continue to take swim lessons, I have my eye on a junior swim team for them soon, and they have joined Daisies, a Girl Scout troop for kindergarten and first grade. They will even be selling Girl Scout cookies this year!

Tori continues to enjoy playing soccer and just about any sport she is able to try. She has become a pretty darn good soccer player! She also loves animals - I think the tiger is in favor these days, but it does vary. She is incredibly social, and is not happy until she has a “best friend” at every activity she attends.

Elli remains our girly-girl who loves princesses and ballet. Elli loves her dresses and looking “gorgeous” (we can’t call her cute any more, that’s for babies), but she has a silly streak a mile wide. She has an incredible imagination - even her kindergarten teacher, a 23 year veteran of the classroom, commented on how creative and detailed she was in her ideas and stories. I figure that is saying something!

Basically we are blessed with three amazing and very different kids. Life is crazy, to be sure, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Other highlights from our year:

- In May, Joel completed his EMBA!! Woo hoo!! We always knew he was a smarty, and now he has the paperwork to prove it!

- The girls were flower girls in a dear friend’s wedding in October. They were absolutely adorable and loved the experience. They danced at the reception like there was no tomorrow!

- Joel’s company, went through a re-organization and luckily Joel came out on the good side of it – he is now Senior Director of Strategic Operations. I don’t know what that means either, but he likes the position, finds it challenging and takes trips to Europe about 10 times a year.

- Ruth continues to be a stay at home mom. As you moms know, this mainly involves sitting on the couch, watching TV and eating bon-bons… ;-) It’s a tough life, but someone has to do it.

We hope your 2010 is off to a wonderful start!

Ruth, Joel, Elli, Tori & Ryan

More Fall Fun...

2009-12-04T23:27:00.001-05:00

Tori finishes her soccer season & shows off her trophy. Kids fooling around at home - Ryan is the master of crazy faces! Tori showing her basketball skills at the Y, and ballerina Elli showing her moves :-)
If you click on the collage, you can see the pictures larger...

Fall Pics

2009-12-04T23:15:00.001-05:00

Fun in the leaves...
If you click on the collage, you can see the pictures larger...

Bah Humbug!

2009-11-01T20:59:00.003-05:00

I feel like the Scrooge of Halloween, but I'm just grumpy. A nasty pestilence has descended upon our house and put a major damper on our Halloween festivities. The 104 degree fever, cough, chills, aches, etc. etc., started with Tori on Wed, then with Elli on Thursday. And this bug is nasty! My tough girls are rarely down with an illness for more than 24 hours and don't always pass it to each other - not this thing, whatever it is, it is running rampant through the house. The good news is the girls are doing much better - looks like Elli will go back to school tomorrow, but Tori is still struggling - not sure if she'll be ready or not.

Yesterday, yes, Halloween, dear hubby & Ryan come down with it. Poor pumpkins. Ryan actually sat still on Daddy's lap for over an hour today - he definitely is not feeling well if he sat still for that long. DH is actually considering not going to work tomorrow - he must feel like death warmed over to even entertain that thought... Grump, grump, grump. I should be very grateful that I have not caught this yucky bug. I am believe me, but I'm still grumpy.

With all of this going on, we missed Ryan's party at school, and the girls' party & parade at school. Our trick or treating last night was greatly curtailed. We did make it to a party at our church last Sunday, but I forgot my camera, humph! So I got ONE, yes ONE picture from Halloween this year! How am I going to make a two page spread with that??? (only a scrapbooker would understand that comment).

Here's my pic, thank goodness it is a good one! We did manage to carve/paint the girls' pumpkins, so pics of them are below.

Ryan the pumpkin, Tori the zebra & Elli as Princess Aurora (again!)

Elli with her Kitty Cat pumpkin.
Tori with her elephant - she loves Dumbo & elephants, so when we saw this gourd (or whatever it is) at the pumpkin patch, we decided to get it and try our hand at painting. Not too bad for a first try - the eyes ran a little bit in the rain last night.

Ryan

2009-10-25T21:05:00.002-04:00

Seems like our little man hasn't gotten much air time as of late. Here are some recent pics. This little guy is incredibly busy. Never stops moving. Giving Mom a run for her money, to be sure. But his smile melts my heart and his laugh is as good a pick me up as chocolate! He loves to entertain and he loves it when he can make you laugh.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Flower Girls...

2009-10-04T13:23:00.003-04:00

I went to a wedding yesterday, and let me tell you, the flower girls were the most beautiful little ladies I have ever seen!! :-) Perhaps they look familiar to you....It was an absolutely wonderful day! The bride was absolutely gorgeous (as you can see). The bridesmaids were stunning. The ceremony was beautiful, and the reception was a blast. We feel blessed & honored to have been part of this very special day! Congratulations Bridget & Dustin!We were very proud of our ladies - they held up very well during a very long & exciting day. They lasted pretty well through the ceremony, a bit fidgety, but over all not too bad. They were an absolute blast at the reception - during the cocktail hour, they mingled like crazy & wanted pictures with absolutely everyone! After dinner, they were real dancing machines - moving, spinning & dancing with anyone they could find. The extro-vertedness we observed yesterday absolutely floored us.

Of course we took a million pictures - here is a small sampling. I apologize in advance for being a blatant Mamma-razzi and taking more pictures of my daughters than of the bride ;-). Everyone looked absolutely gorgeous.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Four Years Ago Today...

2009-09-13T11:41:00.004-04:00

...our lives were blessed with two of the most amazing people in the world. My words cannot express how grateful I am to have the honor of guiding and watching these amazing ladies grow.

The words to the song "Something Good" from Sound of Music come to my mind...
For here you are, standing there, loving me
Whether or not you should
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good

I know it's meant to be a romantic song, but I can't help but wonder at how lucky we are to have these wonderful ladies loving us like they do.

God has blessed us indeed...

We celebrated by going out to dinner - we let the girls choose, and they chose Outback - go figure.

So we had a bit of fun re-creating the day... On that special day in 2005, our Elli came walking in the room first - right to Daddy.Then Tori came strolling in - Mommy picked her right up. Tori looked at me for about three seconds and started crying, screaming & trying to get away from Mommy. We've come a long way, baby...A couple of pics of the happy sisters...And finally, our beautiful family. Thank you, God for bringing us together.

Off to School, Take II

2009-09-10T06:25:00.003-04:00

First day of school for Ryan yesterday! Woo Hoo to my big man!! He loved wearing his backpack, (mistakenly pilfered from Grandma H's house during our last visit) & he looked oh-so-cute in his overalls & nice white sneakers. I must say that the outfit he did wear to school was the second choice of the day. He started out in something similar, but Mr. Man, being Mr. Man, got hold of a tube of toothpaste & well, you can guess the rest.

From all accounts he had a good day. He cried when I left him in the room, but it sounded like he had stopped by the time I made it down the hall to the door to the outside. He is a man of very few words, but when I asked him if he had fun, he nodded. I asked him if he read a story, he nodded. I asked him if he made a friend, he nodded. I asked him if he wanted to eat crickets for lunch, he nodded. You get the idea. Hard to tell, but his teachers said he did fine & he seems none the worse for wear.

Here is our handsome man outside of the school building, ready to take on the world.
Ryan & his sisters (always willing to pose...):
And home again after his learning adventures, holding his very first work of art. He's actually saying "cheese" in this picture :-).

Back to School, Take I

2009-09-04T06:24:00.007-04:00

Monday was back to school for Elli & Tori. Or, since the girls are starting Kindergarten, there is no "back" involved, so maybe just "off to school". No matter how you slice it, it has been an exciting week, and a good one overall.
The girls got pretty nervous & shed quite a few tears the night before - mainly fear of the unknown. Luckily, we had gone through soccer camp with Tori & something called "Cool School" with Elli. In both cases, the girls were very nervous to start & even said they didn't want to stay, but once they got going they each loved their activity. It was very nice to be able to say, "Remember how you were scared at {insert activity} on the first day, but then you loved it?" It definitely helped them as well. To top off the whole "going to big girls' school" thing, we have the girls in separate classrooms for the first time so they had to think about.
They are afternoon Kindergarten, so I was a bit worried at how the morning would go, but we kept busy and although the energy level was high all morning, we all stayed up-beat, for the most part. Daddy stayed home from work that day to add to the festive nature of the occasion. At about 12:15, the whole Hanson clan trucked on up to the bus stop, about a block & a half from our house. Unfortunately, as is typical for the first day (as I'm told), the bus was late, so we waited & waited & waited. At long last, the bus arrived & the girls got to step on the school bus "for real" for the first time. What a moment! I loved seeing those two smiling little faces looking out the window (they are just barely tall enough to see out) and waving. Off to school they went, and not a tear was shed, by Elli, Tori, or Mommy! Yahoo!!
They came home just as happy - it was a good day & they didn't seem to mind being apart, or at least they didn't comment on it.
Unfortunately, Tori's first week was cut short as she was sent home Wed. with pink eye. We picked Elli up that day, but Elli had her first solo bus ride on Thursday afternoon & she did fine! Go Elli! Tori's eyes are now back to the beautiful colors that God made them (yes, pink is nice, but not on your eyeball :-), so she should be back in business for Tuesday. Here are some picks of our big day...

Soccer Camp!

2009-08-21T21:12:00.004-04:00

I am so proud of our Tori girl! This week, she attended a soccer camp in our area. It ran from 9 - 12, Mon thru Fri. Since she's just going into Kindergarten, she's never done anything for that length of time for five days, let alone something physical. And of course, I think this was the hottest week of the summer so far - 88F-90F each day, along with the high humidity that is typical in our area. With all that said, our girl did great! She was a bit nervous on the first day, but after that, she went happily each day & never complained.
She received a written eval at the end - among the comments: "Tori follows instructions & responds well to feedback from her coach" - does this school-teacher mommy's heart proud.
I have to say, the program was great. Run by UK Elite, the coaches were from the UK (go figure...). They were great with the kids, very understanding, very enthusiastic... Thanks, Coach Ben!

Two of Tori's fans...

Another fan. Ryan kept practicing his favorite word... Ball... ball... ball... ball... ball... ball... ball... ball... ball... Guessing he will be attending camp with his sister three years from now...

Balloon Fest!

2009-07-26T21:42:00.004-04:00

The girls & I went to a balloon festival today with my sister & her family. We attended the morning ascension (6:45 am) which made for an early morning, but well worth the trip & the early morning wake up. We figured the early hour & the long day would be too much for our little man, so Ryan and Daddy spent the day at home bonding & doing manly things...

First Haircut

2009-07-22T10:09:00.004-04:00

Not Ryan's first haircut, but Mommy's! Bought the handy-dandy hair trimming kit that seems to be required equipment for parents of little boys who don't want to go broke paying for haircuts. Then this morning I single-handedly trimmed the hair of a very squirmy-wormy. Should have waited for back-up... Plenty of lessons learned here - the biggest, um, don't give him a bowl of Cherios to keep him occupied - ended up full of hair - yuck! So here are before & after shots - I won't quit my day job, to be sure... Oh wait, I don't have a day job :-).

Before:

After:

Vacation Pictures

2009-07-21T21:33:00.002-04:00

Way too many pictures from our summer vacation - but I just couldn't cut out any more. And pics from the beach & the water park are still on the water proof disposable! We had a nice, laid back time. We did some fun things, but mostly we enjoyed spending time together.

What service for photo sharing?

2009-07-20T21:44:00.002-04:00

Hi all,
What services to all of you out there in blogger world use for photo sharing? I know of flickr & smugmug. I want to share pics with friends who can get around on the internet but are not terribly computer savvy. Also would like to publish to facebook and make lo-res slide shows for my blog.

Leave a comment, please!

Thanks,
Ruth

Happy Independence Day!!

2009-07-04T13:00:00.001-04:00

When we first made the decision to build our family through international adoption, the fact that our children would be "immigrants" didn't really cross my mind. Or at least not until we started working on paperwork required by U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Incidentally, this form is the one that had the fateful "check box" where we kind of shrugged our shoulders & said to each other "sure, we'll accept twins.." - but that's an old story...
But you know what, working through this process has made me very grateful to be a citizen of this country and even more grateful that I am able to share these opportunities with my children.

Happy 4th of July, everyone!!

What is the price for 15 extra minutes of peace?

2009-06-26T09:29:00.005-04:00

In my case, about 57 baby wipes....I was finishing my cup of coffee this morning and heard this quiet "swish-swish-swish..." over the monitor. How bad can it be, I thought, no crashes, and no crying. I kept sipping. Ignorance is bliss.

Happy Summer!

2009-06-23T21:24:00.005-04:00

Over a month since a post! How pathetic am I!??! It's not like we haven't had anything going on - girls' birthday, end of school, Ryan's baptism, Ruth's birthday (got a groovy new camera :-), friends birthdays, Father's Day, and now Vacation Bible School at our church. It's been CRAZY!! Lazy days of summer - Ha!

Just posting a few pics from a picnic put on by our adoption agency each year.

He's only been with us 5 months, but he knows to smile for the camera! Here he is saying cheese!

If it weren't for the popsicle-drool, I would absolutely love this pic...

They had face painting and we could not hold the girls back... Elli got her usual - a "beautiful butterfly."
And Tori got her favorite animal du jour - a panda...

Junior Photographers Extraordinaire

2009-05-21T17:29:00.005-04:00

What does it say about you when your five years olds are better photographers that me! That they are exceptionally bright & talented, of course! (or Mommy is a not so hot photog.) Any way, I let Elli & Tori loose with my camera one afternoon, and this is what they came up with. I might not always agree with their choice of subject matter, but most of the shots are pretty good!

Graduation Day!!

2009-05-17T12:31:00.002-04:00

Poor Daddy doesn't get much face time on our blog, but yesterday was a BIG day!! Our oh-so-smart big guy graduated from his executive MBA program. He graduated with a very impressive 3.89 GPA and was also inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society.

Congratulations, Daddy, we're very proud! And we're really looking forward to having you around a lot more!!

Happy Birthday to my Sweet Peas!!

2009-05-07T09:48:00.004-04:00

Feeling a bit sub-standard for not getting this out yesterday, but...

Happy Birthday, Elli & Tori!! Congratulations on the big "5"!!

Hard to believe my sweeties will be stepping on that big yellow school bus in the fall - seems like a minute ago that we saw these faces for the very first time.
We had a nice day yesterday - school field trip, stop at the grocery store to get birthday donuts & balloons, home for their favorite dinner of tacos. They were very excited about their birthday and their gifts this year. We have their kid-party at the park this coming Saturday.

Class clown...

2009-04-21T14:18:00.002-04:00

If only I had a camera in my brain...

Yesterday Elli was having some drama - crying hysterically about something - not important about what. I'm not sure if Ryan sensed a need for comic relief, or was just being his normal silly self, but Ryan comes around the corner with a wash-cloth over his head - hat style, covering most of his face, holding an umbrella in front of him. Bouncing the umbrella and doing a little baby march across the floor. All this, combined with the big baby belly and Ryan's signature throaty laugh, and Mommy couldn't help but start laughing. Even Elli, the reluctant and very upset big sister couldn't resist a giggle. He's such a joy!

Easter

2009-04-20T21:52:00.004-04:00

Hey there! Hope everyone had a great Easter. Ours was very nice - Easter Bunny, Church, brunch & an Egg Hunt.

The Easter Bunny stopped by during the night - he left Ryan this very cool ball... Mr. Man loved it!

Tori with a gift from Grandma - "Cooking with the Cat"

Elli with her basket:

Girls all gussied up & ready for Church.

Okay, it was too bright & too windy to try for pictures in front of the house :-(. Unfortunately, this is one of the few I have of Ryan in his Easter outfit. Hopefully Grandma did better with her pics.

Grandmom, Pop-pop & the gang, after a nice brunch...

Ain't it the truth!

2009-03-15T07:40:00.002-04:00

The sign outside of our church last week said "Some of God's Greatest Gifts are Unanswered Prayers."

I spent over ten years praying to become pregnant, but God sent me three beautiful blessings in His own way. And I know, it's not so much that He didn't answer my prayers, He was just waiting for me to start praying for the right thing!

Thank God for these "unanswered prayers"...

Happy Birthday, Big Man!

2009-03-14T07:12:00.004-04:00

Our Ryan turned two on Friday!
Happy Birthday, big guy! We are so grateful to have you in our lives.

Here he is concentrating on his birthday donut - I just love the white sprinkle stuck to his nose!

Daddy had school, so we went there for dinner & some cake & ice cream. Ryan blew out the candles himself!

Braving the elements during a snowstorm earlier this month.

Goofing around in some of Mommy's running gear...

Trying my cousin's shoes on for size...

They're going to be flower girls!

2009-03-01T22:14:00.006-05:00

Our very sweet next door neighbor has asked Elli & Tori to be flower girls in her wedding. Mommy was thrilled from the start, the girls are just starting to see how cool this really is. The wedding is in October, but we went this weekend with the bridesmaids to try on dresses:

Tori tried on first - she was very nervous about everyone seeing her. She couldn't get her dress off fast enough. This was the only picture I could get her to stand still for. I snapped it quick, but she still is beautiful, no?

In true Elli fashion, she loved every minute of being in her dress. She gave us a spin, tip-toed around and stood on the "stage" (the little platform that she is standing on). She loves her princess dress and can't wait to steal the show at the wedding!

I'm not sure hif you can tell in the pictures, but the bride has chosen beautiful dresses. The ones the girls will wear are just like the brides maids, but different colors. The dresses have a full skirt with a lot of little gathers on the skirt part of it. I'm not sure what the material is, but it is a soft, silky material.

I can't think of a title!

2009-02-24T13:35:00.008-05:00

It is Tuesday at about 1:35 pm and I'm not quite sure what to do - everyone in the house, including the dog is asleep! It is completely silent here, can you believe that? We had swim lessons this morning which means an hour plus in the pool for all of us, and everyone has konked out as a result. Ah, bliss... I will enjoy this as long as it lasts.

In the meantime, here are some pics...

Ryan's first waffles. Made by his cousin Grant, they are referred to as waff-fuel and are a family tradition. Ryan is sharing his waffles with Grant in this picture.

Next is Ryan looking spiffy at the Chinese New Year party with our local FCC branch.

And here is the whole gang - all gussied up for the occasion. Gong Hay Fat Choy!! The girls will never let us get those top buttons on their shirts buttoned - they are WAY too ticklish. And can you tell Ryan was about ready to fall asleep? Way past nap time for him!

Where did the time go?

2009-02-13T15:07:00.009-05:00

Wow, it has been awhile! What can I say - just as Ryan & I recovered from jet lag/ time change, and Joel went back to work, the house came down with a nasty stomach bug - each of us got hit, except Elli, lucky kid. Luckily the real nasty stuff was short-lived, but we were all dragging for most of a week. We all recovered just in time to get ready for our local Chinese New Year Celebration with FCC. In a moment of insanity, I volunteered to coordinate it this year, of course this was long before I realized I would be picking Ryan up less than a month beforehand! Luckily I got a good bit of support from other members of FCC, so we managed to pull it off. I'm just happy to take a deep breath & finally feel like we are settling in as a family.

One of Ryan's first adventures here at home was to go to our dear neighbors house to watch a football game. It took him a little while to warm up, but once he did, Ryan and his new sisters all had a great time!

We all wore our "team shirts". Except of course Elli who stuck with her pink dress - she decided she would bring her pom-poms andbe a cheerleader.

Not sure why they're all yelling in this photo - but I do love the picture.

Also during that first week, we took a trip to a children's museum. Keeping an eye on all three kids took some getting used to, but I think we all ended up having a good time. Some pics:

So much catching up to do - more coming...

Miles to go...

2009-01-20T04:40:00.003-05:00

Every journey starts with that first step, right? Not sure who said that, but someone brilliant, no doubt. The physical journey is over, but the real important one is just beginning - becoming a family. It doesn't matter how you become a mother, it doesn't happen over night. There are a million little steps along the way. In the first few days, I'm sure Ryan just kind of thought of me as some funny looking lady who holds him a lot and who is willing to feed him. He was pleasant enough, but really didn't show a preference for me over anyone else. This changed just a little bit on Friday - we had been home for about a day, and our neighbors stopped over. Ryan was very outgoing at first, but sometime during their visit, Ryan and I made one of those small, but very important, steps toward being a family - he ran to me, hugged my legs & buried his head right above my knees. I remember doing something similar to my mom when I was little. It was a special moment for me because I could feel that first little step happening...

He is sweet, if only he would sleep!

Pictures from the trip home...

2009-01-17T07:36:00.006-05:00

Play area in Narita Airport, Tokyo:

Meeting my big sisters for the first time:

Playing at home that first night:

Home...

2009-01-16T03:17:00.004-05:00

We are home! Just a little over 24 hours after leaving Taipei, we arrived home. The trip went well - luckily our sweet Ryan was kind enough to sleep through that most of it - he slept for about 8 hours (maybe more) of the long plane ride and two hours home in the car from the airport. He woke up and perked up long enough to charm his Daddy, his new big sisters and his Grandmom & Pop-pop.

We had a nice little welcome at the airport - Daddy & the girls, Grandmom & Pop-pop H and my sister's family including the "favorite cousin". It was all a bit disjointed because we landed early and we moved very quickly through immigration. Mary, Ryan & I got there first, but our fan club still arrived and we caused a good bit of chaos at the airport...

Bad news? It's three am and guess who is raring to go (here's a hint - it's not Mommy!). We kept him up until about 11:00 pm at home time and he did go straight down, but I think that just corresponded with his nap time in Taiwan because after about three hours he was done sleeping. I'm hoping the daylight and the activities of the day will keep him up and we get a few more hours of night time sleeping today. Getting him switched around time-wise will take some time, to be sure, but we will get there. Daddy is taking next week off so we can tag-team a bit to make sure everyone gets some rest.

The girls were sooo thrilled to see baby Ryan - their expectations were so great that I was a little concerned that they may be disappointed, but they were not - they are sooo happy to be big sisters. They were thrilled last night when they got to help me throw away a "stinky diaper" - they have been planning this for months - Mommy hands to Elli, Elli to Tori & Tori puts it in the trash :-). They were so happy to help! They showed him how to use a sippy cup, showed him his new room, they are great girls! Elli & Tori are so sweet with him, Ryan is a sweetheart, and I am the luckiest Mommy in the world!

Hubby has absconded with the memory card from the camera, so I don't have any pictures to share right now - will do later, for sure.

Have a great day!!
Ruth

Immigration and the Taipei Zoo...

2009-01-13T08:45:00.005-05:00

Today was, as my title suggests - Immigration and the Taipei Zoo (points for originality).

If you've never adopted internationally, "Immigration" is a step that allows you to bring your child into the country as an immigrant. You have an appointment at the American Consulate in the country from which you are adopting, do a bunch of paperwork, pay some money, then go back the next day to get your child's passport with Visa. Yes, I am over simplifying, but I didn't want to bore the international adoption alumni out there :-). Anyway, we spent two hours chasing Ryan around the waiting room at the immigration office. Came back to the hotel for a bit, then took a little field trip to the Taipei zoo.

Taipei zoo is very nice - the animals were very active and you get fairly close to them - we had a real nice visit. The lions were the best - there was a male & female adult and a cub (not sure which gender) - they were playing with each other! Chasing each other, tackling each other, the little one would pounce on the adults. I've never seen animals so active at a zoo before. Ryan came kind of close to saying "Zebra" and "Giraffe" - he is genius material, to be sure :-) (just like the girls, of course). For all of you waiting folks out there, we (my sister & I ) definitely recommend a visit to the zoo after you pick up your kiddo. Oh, but beware - after Chinese New Year, the new Panda exhibit will be open - they are worried about crowds for the Pandas so you may want to call ahead to make sure you can get in...

Pics...

Got 'im...

2009-01-12T09:24:00.004-05:00

What a day!! Met our little man at about 10:30 this morning.

The foster family was wonderful - foster Mom, foster Dad, older (adult) foster brother were there. Found out that Ryan was leaving behind a very loving foster family, and a 9 year old foster brother who is very close to Ryan. This part of the meeting was definitely bittersweet. But came away with two huge photo albums of pictures, a suitcase full of clothes & toys & the knowledge that Ryan was very loved and well cared for by these great people.

Ryan is great! He is truly a man of action - constantly on the go - he will keep us busy! He does very well in getting his needs communicated, at least so far. But he is very easy going. He did not cry at all during the meeting and when his foster family left, although I'm sure he didn't really know what was happening. Honestly, he has not cried yet! I don't fool myself, I know rough times are ahead, but right now he is definitely going with the flow. We are blessed.

We have about a billion pictures, but I'm going to upload just a few - for your viewing pleasure...

Off to Tainan...

2009-01-10T19:00:00.002-05:00

One step closer... This morning we take the HSR to Tainan. Staying at Hotel Tainan tonight then get Ryan in the morning! It's overwhelming to think about :-)

Yesterday we saw Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, Flower Market, Jade Market, Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, Presidential Palace and just did a lot of walking around Taipei. At night we when to the TungHwa (also called LinJiang) night market. Busy day, lots of fun. I'll try to post pics later, but the ones you are really waiting for are coming tomorrow!

Thanks for following along on our journey!
Ruth

A Day in Taipei...

2009-01-09T17:27:00.006-05:00

I was up a little before 6:00 am this morning and wish I could have slept longer. At least it gives us a good amount of time to plan our day...

Travel over went pretty smoothly. Our stopover was in Tokyo - I've never been to Japan, so that is cool, although we didn't have time to leave the airport. Got into Taipei just a tiny bit late, met our driver Danny & got to the hotel. Tired, but safe & happy.

We are staying at the Grand Hyatt Taipei and had their awesome breakfast buffet yesterday morning. This is a really nice way to sample local food and see what you are getting before you commit to a full portion. We spent almost an hour there - had a blast! Next we walked around the area of the hotel, checked out a small municipal park, City Hall Square. Went to Taipei City hall & the Taipei Discovery Center there.

Then it was on to Taipei 101! Tons to do - a great food court, lots of shops to check out and of course the observation deck. The geek in me was thrilled with the observation deck - the world's tallest building, the world's fastest elevator and a chance to check out the real damper system that prevents the building from swaying in the wind. Too cool. I wish I was still teaching because I would love to bore my students with all the cool things I saw there.

We also checked out a mall called New York, New York, but this was only kind of so-so.

At night we managed to navigate the subway system (which was actually quite easy) and went to the Shihlin Night Market - now that was an experience - tons of people, lots of stuff for sale and food that looked & smelled "interesting". The high light of the evening was getting Chinese New Years outfits for the girls and for Ryan!
Here are some pics...

We're leaving!!

2009-01-07T07:22:00.002-05:00

My sister & I leave today for Taiwan!! Woo Hoo!! We've had some paperwork panic in the past 24 hours. Advice to those still waiting - don't wait until the last minute to start getting stuff together :-). And, of course, sounds like NVC never transmitted our new I-600 with our fingerprint update.

I didn't think the girls would be phased by my leaving (thought it would take a while to sink in), but Tori especially had a hard time when I left. It is so hard leaving them behind, but I know they will have a great time with Grandmom & Pop-pop.

If you are a praying person, please pray for this paperwork to be resolved, that our family staying home stays happy & safe and for our safe travels!! (I don't ask much, do I :-))

Have a great day,
Ruth

It's Christmas Time in the City...

2008-12-11T18:04:00.007-05:00

Finally, a new post! Just a bit belated!! Hope everyone had a great holiday...

More pics at the bottom of the post...

My grandparents lived in New York City, and we would visit once or twice a year. I have many memories of walking the streets of New York, visiting the Statue of Liberty, Radio City Music Hall, I can't remember all of the adventures, but my mom always had a plan and we would ride the subway and walk and walk and walk. I think it is these fond memories that made me anxious to bring the Elli & Tori into New York. My sister has been mentioning it for a couple of years now, and this year it finally seemed like they were ready for the adventure. What an adventure it was - and my girls were troopers!!

We left my sister's, where we stayed the night before, a little before 9:00 am, and we got back to her house a bit after 8:00 pm. In between, it was go, go, go and lots of walking and lots of crowds, but I am proud to say the girls held up very well - no stroller, all walking except for about 8 blocks at the very end of the day where a kind uncle and kind cousins took turns giving the girls rides on their shoulders.

I don't know the city that well, so I kind of blindly followed my sister around, but this is what we did:
Got off the train at Penn Station, checked out Macy's windows.

Went into Macy's to see Santa - too cool!!

Lord & Taylor's windows - my favorite windows

Bryant Park - I didn't really know this place, but it was very nice. They had an ice skating rink and there were all these little shops set up in what looked like mini-green houses.

Walked thru Times Square - talk about crowds

Stopped at ToysRUs in Times Square - this place was crazy, way too crowded and just not set up well. If you've never been there, they do have a very cool indoor ferris wheel with cars that are themed after all kinds of toys - Little people, Nickelodeon, My Little Pony, Cabbage Patch Kids, etc. etc. Didn't get to ride this time, though.

Windows at Saks

Windows at Cartier

The World of Disney Store!! - too cool - got photos with Chip & Dale & Goofy. They also had a great deal where you got 25% off a purchase of $50 or more, so we had to shop just a bit :-)

Headed back down 5th Avenue - this is where the crowds started to get to me. I had one daughter by each hand and at one point I was worried that they were going to get swept away in the crowd. Obviously, we were all fine.

Stopped at Rockefeller Center to see the tree & skating rink. At Rockefeller Center there were some folks selling balloon animals for $1. We got one for each of the girls - they kind of looked liked scepters - you know, like a king or queen carries.

After that, it was time to head home, we walked straight back to the train station... We weren't on 5th Avenue any more, probably 4th, or 6th. It was dark and a lot of street performers had come out. Two memorable ones were Elmo, and Santa. Probably my favorite image of the day is my daughter, Elli sitting on top of her uncle's shoulders, wacking Elmo over the head (repeatedly, yikes!!) with her balloon-scepter-thingy. Luckily it was just a balloon & Elmo had a hard head, so I don't think he even knew what was happening :-)

It was a fun day! And except for the train & shopping, it was all free!

Introducing....

2008-12-01T06:40:00.006-05:00

... Ryan Hsin-Yu Hanson. He is officially our son!!

He's not with us yet, he's still waiting in Taiwan, but our adoption has been finalized! It's funny how it happens with adoption, but at some point before November 20th, Ryan became our son! Taiwan is 13 hours ahead of us, so it may very well have happened in the middle of the night - while I was sleeping, or maybe I was tucking the girls into bed. Who knows, but somewhere along the line a judge signed & stamped a document finalizing our adoption and making Ryan our son!!!

Ryan is 19 months old now and we will be bringing him home in January. Wahoo!!!

Halloween!

2008-11-15T21:07:00.004-05:00

Halloween! What an exciting time! Tori never really decided on her costume, but luckily she didn't have to. We had three events and she wore three different costumes. For our church party, she was "Uniqua" from the Backyardigans TV show. For her Preschool party she was a chicken. And for the actual trick-or-treating night, she was the cheerleader.
Elli is so consistent - she wore her most beautiful Ariel dress-up dress to every event. She looked great - she even won "prettiest" at our church's party.
Enjoy the pics!!

A haunted gingerbread house that the girls made with Daddy:

The girls at the church party:

At the Preschool Parade:

The big night! Trick or Treat!!

I love Disney!!

2008-11-13T21:06:00.003-05:00

I know I am miles behind on posts - you have adorable Halloween pics and tales of Tori's soccer exploits coming soon, I promise! But right now, I want to share a nice thing that happened today...

The girls and I went to Orlando to visit Grandmom & Pop-pop, and of course we made a couple of visits to the magical land of Mickey Mouse & friends. Adorable pictures of the girls will follow, but here's my story to share.

Tuesday we went to Magic Kingdom - it was the second day in a row at a park, so we were all pretty tired. I didn't have the energy to argue, so I relent and let the girls carry their loveys around the park. Elli uses a pink hand towel. Yes, you read that right, a pink hand towel - long story. Anyway, Tori has attached herself to a small fleece blanket with a bear head. Of course we only have one of these and it is "retired" aka no-longer-manufactured-so-Mommy-can't-buy-a-new-one-if-this-gets-lost. Okay, you know where this is going... We get back to the car, very tired after a very fun, but very long day and no Bear!! Ugh!! Tori took it in stride - good kid that she is. It's kind of the the deal we have - if she decides to carry it around, she has to accept the fact that it might get lost somewhere along the way. We headed home and I promised her I would call lost & found.

So I called lost and found today, but honestly didn't have much hope that we would find our little bear in the big, big, haystack known as the Magic Kingdom. I waited on hold for about 20 minutes, then get through to an operator. I tell her the date & place we lost Bear and give her a brief description. She goes to check. About 5 min later, she is back - "Is there a name written on the tag?" she asks. "Yes," I tell her, "Tori Hanson". SHE HAS IT!! Yahoo!! To top it off, Disney will mail it back to me at no charge! Happiness!!

So we've decided that we lost Bear when we were waiting in line to see Ariel. Ariel has been cuddling with Bear since Tuesday, but Bear missed Tori too much and asked Ariel to send him back home to her :-).

I guess this may sound like a silly story to many, but it warms this mommy's heart.

Go Disney!!

Post edited on Saturday, Nov. 15th:

Bear arrived in our mailbox today :-). Tori was thrilled to have her friend back & learned all about Ariel's underwater world. Here's our happy girl:

Ya know, at least this one federal agency ain't so bad...

2008-10-27T20:52:00.002-04:00

I just have to say that I had a very pleasant experience with our local USCIS office today. Our fingerprints are about to expire and I wasn't quite sure how to go about renewing them - I didn't want to drive all the way down to the fingerprint place only to find that I didn't have the right form, or the right amount of money, or... whatever.

Anyway, I went to the USCIS website first and found an email for our local office and the adoption division to boot. So I sent an email, not really expecting a response, but I thought what the heck, email's free.

To my delight, I got a good response within a couple of hours. They sent me the form I needed, told me what I needed to do, and it won't cost anything!

I thought this would be a big mess, but look at this - I know what I need to do and it didn't take a million phone calls to find out. What a nice thing to happen :-)

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

2008-10-23T21:36:00.003-04:00

The post may be late, but the celebration wasn't - we celebrated Daddy's birthday last week.

The girls presented Daddy with one of their hand-decorated cakes and plenty of hugs & kisses.

Happy birthday, Daddy Joel!! We all love you!!

Time to Catch Up

2008-10-23T21:10:00.004-04:00

I had to turn off the Phillies game - I think I'm a jinx! Last time I saw a game was in the National League championships and the pitcher got off to a lousy start in the first inning. They ended up losing like 9-2. Now we were watching game 2 in the World Series and the Phillies pitcher got off to a lousy start again. Hopefully I turned the TV off in time :-)...

Anyway, got word yesterday (after two emails), that my documents did arrive at the adoption agency in Utah and they will hopefully go out to Taiwan this week. I guess that would mean tomorrow.

The girls & I have kept busy going to "Pumpkin Parties," as we've taken to calling them. Many of the pumpkin patches around here have these festivals - face painting, pumpkin painting, moon bounces, etc. Funny thing is we still haven't purchased our carving pumpkins - been waiting for Daddy to be around to do that. Have to get around to that this weekend, though - we're running out of time! Here are some picks of the festivities...

For some reason, this one makes me of "Les Miserables."

Paperwork is on the way!! - Again...

2008-10-12T07:04:00.002-04:00

It seems like deja vu, all over again, doesn't it? I just wanted to note that my documents have been state certified and were sent by Fed Ex to the TECO office (Taiwan's equivalent of a consulate) on Thursday, October 9th. Delivery was attempted on the 10th, but the TECO office was closed - it was Ten-Ten day, a national holiday for Taiwan. Best I can figure it is like their version of our 4th of July - a holiday that celebrates the beginning of the country.

Pray with me that everything is okay with the docs this time and they move onto Utah, then Taiwan quickly.

By the way, for anyone in PA, I used Paperchasing4U (http://paperchasing4u.tripod.com/courier/) to handle the paperwork in Harrisburg. They were wonderful. They were very fast, reasonably priced and so kind to work with. I highly recommend them!

Sunny Days....

2008-10-09T08:31:00.007-04:00

...chasing the clouds away.... (to the tune of Sesame Street). Of course we don't watch Sesame Street in my house because Elli is afraid of Mr. Noodle, from Elmo's World - but I digress.

Anyway, Daddy got home on Saturday & life seems to be back to normal. Mommy gets a break every once in a while, the Halloween costume crisis seems to have been resolved (at least for now), and our adoption papework is winging its way back to us from the state. Now all I need is an update on our Ryan - I'm never happy, huh?

When hubby got home, he brought these cool slippers for the girls - they are shaped like wooden shoes (he was in Holland, among other places). Mommy would have liked a pair for herself (yes, I'm an overgrown kid). He also brought some yummy chocolate from Switzerland. Here's a pic of Tori in her slippers - Elli didn't wear hers long enough for a picture.

Before Daddy got home, the girls & I went to a pumpkin patch. Tori wanted a small pumpkin, Elli wanted "medium". The girls were quite adventurous until we noticed that there were bugs on some of the pumpkins. Oh my goodness, if Elli could have flown out of that pumpkin patch, she would have.

Here is a pic of the girls at the pumpkin place. I think I have to work with them a little on the way they pose for pictures - in this one, I firmly believe that Elli is just scratching her leg, not hiking her dress up...

What a Week!

2008-10-04T07:29:00.004-04:00

It's been a tough one, but looks like we will all make it through un-scathed. Hubby has been away for the week and the girls have been going through a tough phase. To top it off, I got a call from my adoption agency yesterday afternoon to let me know that they messed up our paperwork for Ryan, preventing our case from being entered into the courts and delaying the process even further. We've had better weeks, that's for sure.

Looking forward to Daddy getting home and life getting back to normal.

This & That

2008-09-30T19:26:00.008-04:00

It's been pretty quiet around here - not literally, of course (remember, two four year olds in the house), but event-wise.

I got a care package off to Ryan on Thursday - hopefully in time to make to Taiwan in this shipment (they ship care packages once a month). Here are the contents:

Hippo/rattle/teething ring that Tori picked out at IKEA
Froggy sleeper
Eagles Jersey
Small photo album with pictures of Mom, Dad & big sisters.
Small DVD player
Dora the Explorer DVD
Go, Diego, Go! DVD (We're not TV fanatics - this is something the adoption agency recommended to help Ryan get used to hearing English.)

That's all we could fit this time - it all had to fit in a gallon size Ziploc bag, so it's pretty tight. For next time, I hope to make a video of all of us - reading stories & what have you...

Saturday was another rain out for soccer, but the team pictures were scheduled, so we still had those. I snapped a few pictures while the girls were in their "uniforms" - so here you go...

On Saturday we also attended a "Harvest Moon" festival organized by our local FCC (Families with Children from China). Yours truly made up a few really cool (if I do say so myself :-)) carnival-type games with a Beijing Olympics theme. I just love those mascots from the Olympics! The girls & tried mooncakes for the first time - they're pretty yummy!! We also met up with Aunt Mary & "friends" to celebrate Claire's birthday.

Sports Page!!

2008-09-23T07:24:00.004-04:00

Saturday, Sept. 20th was an auspicious day in family sports... The girls had their first soccer practice/game & Ruth ran in a 5K!

Because of the race I wasn't able to attend the soccer, but reports are that the girls did pretty well. As we expected, Tori was pretty focused - her uncle says she has a real nose for the ball! Daddy says she's good at moving the ball, but doesn't have a "shot" (as in a shot at the goal). So she's four, no doubt the shot will come in time :-). Luckily, there were no daisies on the field. If there were, we suspect Elli would have been picking them :-). As it was, she did well - stayed on task and kept right with the ball. She's not very assertive during play, but she seemed to have a good time, which is what counts.

Ruth's race was good - I ran with my sister & we improved our time by 2 minutes over last year! We placed 4th & 5th in our age group - just out of the medals, darn! We're just running for fun, so it isn't a big deal.
Here are some pics:

An Update on Ryan

2008-09-16T07:24:00.005-04:00

It was a nice suprise to open my mail yesterday morning and see an update on Ryan - he's getting so big! He seems to be doing well developmentally & he certainly looks like a happy baby. One comment gave me a little concern - "He is very active!" :-) I'm used to my two girls, I wonder what I'm in for with this active little guy. Definitely looking forward to finding out!

*Pictures removed. Since Ryan is in foster care & "protected" by the Taiwanese government, they ask that we do not publish his pictures in any public forum. Contact Ruth if you'd like to see the pics. You can take my for for it - he's really cute :-)

The Anniversary of our Family

2008-09-12T11:15:00.006-04:00

September 11, three years ago, hubby & I boarded a plane to Hong Kong to pick up our girls. Three years ago September 13, we were united with two amazing ladies. Our lives will never be the same again. Thank God!!

You don't have Mommy's eyes,
and you don't have Daddy's hair
But you have our hearts forever,
You're the answer to many prayers.

I am overwhelmed at the wonderful gift God has given in entrusting our children to us and allowing us to be so close to these amazing individuals. Thank you, God for filling the holes in my heart that could only be filled by these two souls. Thank you for making us a family.

Mole and the Baby Bird...

2008-09-11T21:13:00.000-04:00

My girls are four now and they are starting to understand how they came to be our family. The book "Over the Moon: An Adoption Tale" by Karen Katz has been a big help, Elli will recite, almost verbatim from the book: "We grew in another lady's tummy, but she couldn't take care of us, so Mommy & Daddy came to adopt us." They know that they came from China, and they know that there were nice ladies who took care of them until Mommy & Daddy were able to come get them.

But lately I've been a little worried about how to handle the deeper questions that can't be far down the line... Today I ran across a book in the library, "Mole and the Baby Bird" by Marjorie Newman that might be helpful. The story is about a mole who finds a baby bird who has fallen out of her nest. The mole takes the bird home, nurses her to health, but doesn't want to release back to the wild where she will be happiest. Ultimately, of course, mole realizes that the bird needs to be where she can fly & be happy. So I was thinking that this story could be useful in explaining why the "tummy lady" had to decide that she couldn't take care of Elli & Tori. It's somewhere to start, anyway and I was very happy to find something on their level that gives me a place to start.

First day of school!!

2008-09-08T21:41:00.000-04:00

Elli & Tori started school today! Yahoo!! The girls were happy to go, but I have to admit that Mommy probably had the biggest smile in the crew :-). Here they are, before and after their big day!

Too bad the girls don't like having their pictures taken :-)

Paperwork is on the way!!

2008-09-06T20:30:00.000-04:00

Hanna made herself felt in our area today, so the day was yucky! Light showers off & on in the morning, downpours off & on in the afternoon. The result - a Saturday in the house for the girls & I, while hubby was away at a college football game.

We did do one important thing today, though - we got our papers for TECO in the mail! Yahoo!! Spent Friday running around with notarizing & verifying, then put everything together this morning. At least I hope I have everything together, as many times as I checked the website & went through the papers, I hope I didn't forget anything!!

Hello, World!

2008-09-05T17:14:00.001-04:00

Hello out there! This is Ruth, and my hubby & I have two beautiful daughters who came to us through the miracle of adoption, and we just got our referral for our third child - a boy this time. So we are Three Times Lucky!! Elli & Tori are four years old, and were born in China. Their soon-to-be little brother is almost 18 months now and he is wating for us in Taiwan. I'm posting a couple of pictures - first one of the girls, then our soon-to-be son, Ryan. *Picture of Ryan removed at request of Taiwanese social services. Contact Ruth to see pics.

The girls at a 4-H fair.