Another Christmas Down

Another Christmas down...another year coming to an end. Owen has now experienced three Christmas seasons in his lifetime. This one being the only one he will remember...at least for a couple months. He got a pair of car on fire rubber boots from his auntie and uncle...featured in the picture above. Another present of note is a new book called Fast Friends (based on the Cars movie). We have read it 50 times already. "He's sure and steady, Mater thinks he ready to become as fast as a race car." Can't get it out of my head.

We spent 8 days up in Cheney with family, while Matt stayed behind and worked. Somebody has to bring home the bacon. Cheney was filled with snow...3 feet of snow. Maybe more. Owen got to sled once. Grandpa pulled him around in the "Thundercat" (only the best sled from my childhood). However, Owen didn't want to sit in it alone...so Grandpa got to pull around an extra 120 pounds (me) in addition to Owen's 30 pounds. Whip! Whip!

Most of you know that my mom had a couple of tumors found over the past couple of weeks. I am happy to report that everything is going really good and that in a couple weeks she will hopefully never have to worry about them again. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers as she went through doctors appointments.

Adoption update: I plan to call immigration on January 5 to find out the status of our paperwork. I am trying not to call more than once a month. Last time I called was December 3. I think I am being pretty patient...really proud of myself :). My hope is that we will have a referral before the end of January...might be too optimistic but you never know.

Have a safe and happy new years!

It is SOOOO cold!

This week has been freezing. I think back to the time when Matt and I were thinking about moving up to Alaska to teach in remote villages...and even planning to have kids and raise them up there for a couple of years. What was I thinking??? Cold weather bites. At least we have some light during the day.

And, snow in the Tri-Cities. Not uncommon, but not that common. Mainly because it has actually stayed for more than 5 hours. Owen experienced the first snow he can remember this week. We put him in his snow pants for the first time. And...put him in some shoes. Ooops. No snowboots. Grandma bought him some snowboots a couple weeks ago, but they are two hours away. He didn't seem to mind at all. And, since the snow is so dry, his feet didn't get wet.



Matt is sitting in the room next to me playing star wars on the Wii. We love our Wii. Just got it last week. I picked up Wii Fit last Friday. Lucky! They sell out everywhere 15 minutes after a store opens the doors. It was just sitting on a counter at a game store. We both have been doing yoga, aerobics, strength training, and balance exercises. It really is a good workout. Maybe not a complete aerobic workout, but definitely a good strength and core workout.

Owen and I will be heading up to Spokane once the snow lets up. The airport is closed and they are getting dumped on right now.

Hiking Badger Mtn.

Owen and I took a great hike last Saturday. We hiked up the local "mountain." A hike we have done before. This one was special because we couldn't have asked for better weather for a December hike. We went with some folks from my work. Tim carried Owen up the mountain and I carried him back down. What a great day.



We are getting excited for Christmas to come. We will be heading up to Cheney for a couple days while Matt stays home and works.

Adoption update: absolutely nothing! Still waiting on paperwork.

Thanksgiving Festivities

Thanksgiving was lots of fun this year. I enjoy the holidays much more now that we have Owen. It is exciting to see him excited about celebrations. Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Kim, and Uncle Greg came down for 3 days. Owen was in seventh heaven. Attention all around! Auntie Janell spent Thanksgiving with a friend of hers, but we get to see her on Christmas.



We ate the usual. Turkey, Kim's homemade stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, orange-cottage cheese dessert, Kim's homemade applecrisp, roles...I think I am on my third meal of left overs. We finally finished off the stuffing today at lunch.

Like last year we did the Turkey Trot. A Thanksgiving morning run along the Columbia River benefiting the Red Cross. The weather was cold, but tolerable. I just remembered that I have everyone's t-shirt in the back of the van. Kim came in first...that is what she tells us anyways.

I got a new camera for Christmas. It was delivered today. So an early present. And, I love it. It is a digital SLR. It makes the best sound when it takes a picture. I could click it all day long. The pictures it takes are amazing. I was messing around with it while Owen was taking a bath tonight.



We bought and put up our tree today. Only the lights made it on. The ornaments will have to come tomorrow.



Hope everyone's Thanksgiving was great.

The Hair

I took a poll last month: Grow Owen's hair out or cut it.

Grow it out won...by a landslide. His hair is curly when it is long...so his uncle wanted to relive his glory days through Owen's long hair. It is getting really long and fluffy! Not sure when we will cut it. I guess when people start asking how old our little girl is.

Adoption update: I talked to our adoption counselor today. She is sending our dossier to the US Embassy - Burkina Faso on Monday. I didn't know this, but they can process our dossier and send it to country for processing...and even possibly identify a baby for us. They just can't officially refer a baby to us until our paperwork has passed through immigration. And that takes forever.

The Zoo

The much awaited Zoo pictures have arrived. What great friends when they are behind a 2-inch thick piece of glass. At a visit to the local pet store this week Owen's favorite animal was the snake. "These are the store's snakes, sweetie. They are just for looking."

Pumpkin patch adventures

True to tradition, we went to a pumpkin patch to pick out our halloween pumpkins. We picked one closer to home this year...should have stayed with the tried and true. Their tractor was broken and they kept saying they were fixing it...and only 10 more minutes. Finally after an hour we left with some quickly chosen pumpkins laying on the ground by the checkout stand. Owen, however, got to play in a wheat sand box and see kittens. I definitely see a kitty in his future.

Zipper...

Yesterday while I was making lunch I constructed a little fort for Owen to play in. He didn't really get that he couldn't push on the walls so it ended up falling over several times. While I was in the kitchen I heard him say "Zipper" in a hushed little voice. Didn't think much of it. Yes, there are zippers on the couch cushions. A couple minutes later I said "Owen, lunch time." He said, "Owen playing with this stuff." I walked over and...

OK...so not such a good blogger

Well...I haven't even sent this blog website out to anyone yet to view. So today is my day. I am going to add some pictures and write a little tidbit about our weekend.

We went to Bellevue to visit Uncle Greg and Auntie Kim for Owen's 2nd birthday. October 26! Saturday was spent at the Woodland Park Zoo. Owen's favorite animals were the hippo and the python. But...I think the highlight was the excavator working on building the new penguin home. Maybe next time we'll save some $$ and head to a local construction site. Coincidently, Owen's best bud here in Richland, Emmett, was also at the zoo...so they got to hook up for about 10 minutes. The weather was cold, but sunny and calm. Great day for the zoo. Pictures are really cute...but on Grandpa's camera. So once I get him to send them to me I will upload.

Owen and I have come down with super irritating colds this week. We have just been bumming around the house.

Adoption update: our paperwork is finally complete, all clearances have been received, and it is being sent to U.S. Immigration for processing. This should take until at least Christmas. Once approval is received, the Burkina Faso government can start processing our dossier. Traveling maybe in March-April timeframe??? In the mean time, you can enjoy these cute pictures from an orphanage my adoption agency works with in Burkina.

More later...someday soon.

My first day of blogging...

Hello all...I decided to join the movement of blogging. The adoption community that I have joined is really into blogging...so I definitely need to join in. Lets get everyone up-to-date.

We are a family of three. Matt, husband and father, Tanya, wife and mother, and Owen, adorable 22 month old little boy. We are currently in the process of adopting from Burkina Faso in West Africa. We are ready to grow our family and are so excited to be doing it through adoption.

My blog will be dedicated to our everyday happenings...Owen's growth and fun times, and our progress toward bringing home our new baby.