guess who??

Look at the absolutely precious little face that, at last, made it's appearance in my inbox today...


I can't stand it!! Come on LOA!!!

Unfortunately, that's not all we need to have happen to bring our girl home.

First we need to finish a homestudy update. That means that even though we've already completed a ton of paperwork, we still have to complete a ton more. Financials must be recalculated. MVRs must be requested and received from the states in which our drivers licenses were issued. Homestudy visit must be completed.

And, most importantly, little girl clothes must be bought and little girl rooms must be painted and decorated!

a burning question: answered

Lots of people have asked me what car we drive, since we're a family of 10, soon to be 11. The answer isn't super fancy or terribly exciting.

But I'm not gonna lie, I do like my car.




I like it a lot. Leather + DVD + automatic doors = happy momma.

We had an Odyssey that seated 7, but traded it in for one that seated 8 when Sophie came home. Unfortunately, they don't make and Odyssey that seats 9. Or, even better, 20.

So what do we do? How do we get around?

We drive two cars when we have to. Ideally we'd all get around in a big fancy Sprinter Van that seats approximately one million. Kinda like that family- with- 8- kids- that's- on- TV- but- just- divorced. Unfortunately, Dodge has not yet called us up to offer us one for free, or even a fatty discount on the ridiculously high sticker price, so we don't have one.




I know. It makes you giggle just to think of driving one.

Giggle. And sweat. I mean, it's like 20 feet tall! And positively huge! Who wants to bump into an old college roommate driving one of these honkers 'round town?

I do. When you have 8 going on 9 kids, you start to want things you never thought possible. Trust me, it ain't pretty.

But since we didn't win the lottery (it would be hard because we don't even play the lottery) and The Big Guy hasn't told us to start knocking on Dodge's door, my husband drives a 1993 Honda Accord. God love the old girl. She was given to us by some close friends who didn't use it anymore. At the time, we weren't sure if we needed it since we already had 2 cars, but we decided that Chris would drive it. We sold the car he was driving at the time (another, much newer, Honda) and then used that $ to pay off our Odyssey. And to help bring Shepherd home :)

Then we started to save the $400 a month we would have been spending on a car payment. And, to date, we've saved close to $8000.



She's starting to look pretty good now, eh?




Sooooo, what are why are we talking cars now?

We've moved to New England. And winter is a few short months away. Last year they had "hundreds of inches" of snow in this area, per the kindly gentleman at the Lowe's checkout. He then proceeded to chuckle when I told him we were from the South.

Yes, I am panicking already.

So, while we still aren't going to go buy take out a loan for a Sprinter, we are planning on buying a new(er) car soon. We've done our research and pared it down to one car that we can not only afford, but that we actually want to drive. Nothing personal, Dodge Caravan, you're just not my style.



The Honda Pilot. It seats 8 and has 4 wheel-drive. Pretty good gas mileage for a SUV, and it is very well rated.

Chris is heading out to look at one today, hoping to trade-in his old(er) Honda in the process. We'll see what he comes home with.

dining room. done.

Lest you think I had a leisurely weekend, what follows is proof positive that I worked my hiney off. Well, not off. Not even a little bit off. But I did work pretty darn hard.

Without further ado... our dining room.

BEFORE. Then after. Just so you know.

Please forgive the very poor photos. I took them on my iPhone, I cannot seem to use my Nikon in the house for anything larger than a dinner plate.

Thankfully my kid's heads are smaller than dinner plates.

Onto the pictures!



I know. Beauty, isn't it? The border? The coordinating upper and lower wallpaper choices?

So... so... 1989!

(No making fun of the dirty dog bed. I just moved, you know. And if you must know, I've already thrown it into the washer.)



Here I'd already tackled the issue of the border edges showing through the paint...

a little spackle... a little primer... no more edges!

And yes, I did paint right over the wallpaper. Well, first I put a solid coat of primer over the wallpaper and then painted. Why? Because I'm lazy. And because I pulled the wallpaper down in our bedroom and it took me a full 4 days to complete that room.

I'm still having nightmares in which I'm standing, ankle deep, in wallpaper scraps.

Not. worth. it.



Here we are mid-paint job. Since we were using such a dark color, we needed two coats (actually we could have used 3 but I'm too cheap to buy another gallon). This was after the first coat.


Voila! All done! I'm going to change out the light fixture and add some curtains, but that's pretty much all she wrote for this room.


My mom is coming on Tuesday so you can expect more of this sort of stuff, if you enjoy it. If not, just close your eyes and come back in a few weeks. It'll all be over then. :)

So far we've knocked out the family room, living room, hallway and stairway, girls' room and our bedroom. We've got a couple more rooms to go, but it's starting to feel a lot more like home 'round here!

peanut **update**

**Miss Peanut (name forthcoming) has been fully sponsored! Thank you so much to Leeanne and Julie for stepping forward to help this little one have the brightest future possible :)

And thanks so much to those of you who contacted me about Peanut after Leeanne and Julie, I hope you'll decide to sponsor a different child in the clubfoot casting unit!**


Just look at this little peanut.

Isn't she as cute as she can be??

She is a new arrival to the clubfoot unit at An Orphan's Wish. I'd tell you what her name is, but she doesn't have one.

Yet :)

If you would like to sponsor this little one, contact me at chrisnstefanie@gmail.com and we'll let you choose her 'American' name, if you'd like!

Really, she deserves something much lovelier than 'peanut'.





Sponsorship is $35 a month and each child needs 2 sponsors. Typically the clubfoot kiddos stay in the unit for 6-9 months. During this time, they settle in, complete all the necessary serial castings and then move to through full time brace wear.

The change in their little feet during the serial casting process is nothing short of amazing (see Shep's pics in my sidebar). As her sponsor you'll get reports and pictures to keep you updated on her progress... you will be so blessed by truly changing the life of a child in such a big way!

Vivi news!

Since the move, amongst other things we've had to "update", we are required to get a home study update to bring Vivi home. Thankfully it's not an entirely new home study (praise God!) but it has required a good bit of paperwork. Hopefully, getting the update completed and to USCIS won't delay our travel at all. God willing.

We requested an update on Miss Vivi recently, since we hadn't gotten any new news from her orphanage since February.

I asked about 10 questions, asking for her current height and weight and all the other things she might possibly be up to.

What are her favorite foods?

What are her favorite things to do?

Is she walking? Is she talking?

Can we please, prettypleasewithacherryontop, have a new picture of our girl?


Here's the word we received yesterday:

"She can only walk with support such as by holding on an adult’s hands.

We put correcting shoes on her feet and it’s been improving. Now she only wears it at night. No need during the day.

She can only speak one or two words

She is not a picky eater and she does not have a favorite food. She likes playing with all kinds of toy."

No new picture, I'm afraid.

But news, and good news at that: she's out of her casts and into her brace for her clubfoot!! I am certain this is why her walking has been so delayed, they have been working to correct her feet for many months. It's awesome to hear her feet have not only been corrected, but she can stand and is beginning to walk with help!

Awwww, and she's talking, too... I can just imagine that tiny voice... I wonder what 'words' she can say?

Ooooooh, I just wanna squeeze her!

But no favorite foods? No favorite toys?

Could this possibly mean she's an easy-to-please, happy-go-lucky child?

That might be the best news of all.

vote!

i <3 my kids

I love my kids.

And I love to capture their individual 'beauty' whenever I get the chance.





I like to get right up in their grill and either try to just leave well enough alone, wanting to capture the simplicity of the moment...





or do something silly to get a reaction.


I took all these close-ups at the beach, where it seemed that every other minute my kids were doing something I wanted to capture.





Like trying to escape the madness of the fam get some fresh air on the back porch...





or laying on the couch.

I so love my kids.

official family photo

I spent a good bit of the month of July taking pictures: pictures of my kiddos, pictures of our time on the road, the places we went, the people we saw. But secretly, I longed to get a family picture, a really good family picture, to represent our summer together.

It didn't happen.

But I did get a picture I am happy with. I mean, we're all there. And smiling, even! The weather at the beach was perfect, every stinkin' day I'm tellin' ya. But the day that we went out to take pictures, there were gale force winds. Seriously. And yet there we were: dressed, hair fixed, with a willing photographer... we were gonna take the dadgum pictures.


That's why my head is cocked to the side like I'm a 41 year old aspiring Mouseketeer. I was trying, in vain, to keep my flying hair out of everyone else's face.


But, did you notice, we're all smiling? :)




I did, however, get this one. I absolutely love it, it's already framed and on my dresser.



Evidently, gale force winds work for Zach and Tori.

a big fly

And, just so I don't get comfy knee-deep in wallpaper scraps and empty primer cans, a new fly has entered the ointment.


And it's a big one.




This is what has been coming way too close to my backyard as of late. And way to close to the vernal pools that make the land behind our house "protected area"...


at least that's what we thought until these guys showed up.




This gentleman (a term I am using quite loosely) was none too happy when I showed up: arm-waving and iPhone-picture-snapping. My heart was beating a mile a minute, which had nothing to do with the fact that I had to sprint 300 feet and I haven't worked out since Sophie came home. That's for sure.

Or that I was much closer than the 300 feet clearance recommended around this big, bad, chopping machine.


I was just scared.


I did manage to get some words blurted out, and he replied by asking me if I was from Massachusetts. I'm still not sure what that meant.


He then proceeded to tell me it was a shame that 'people like me' moved to this area. Evidently I'm spoiling it for everyone who enjoys watching as entire forests fall to the ground. I told him I appreciated the sentiment.


Not.


Hopefully this will be the last we see of this guy, and all his little friends. Evidently they are harvesting timber. I've never been this close to this kind of thing and I've gotta say, I'm going to hug my paper and wood products a bit closer. It's truly sad to see these big trees go.

last day

Today is the last day to enter the Wild Olive giveaway!




We are giving away two kids tees and one adult tee... 'cuz every mama that likes to get something new for her kiddos loves to get something new for herself.

Am I right or am I right?

And, when you enter, you help us celebrate the launch of our new kids' tees, AND help raise funds to support Love Without Boundaries. Good and good.

I just got mine the other day and they are so stinkin' cute.



And if you're not the lucky winner (we'll announce the big winner tomorrow), you can still get yours from the Wild Olive store :) And, between now and the end of August, 25% of the profits from the sale of all 'chosen' tees will go to LWB!

P.S. If you purchase three or more tees, use the code FREESHIPKIDS to get free shipping!

did you know

Did you know that it is exactly 17 steps between the hallway upstairs and the foyer in our new house?

How do I know this?

Because that's how many steps Sophie took between the time she stepped in dog poo and the time I realized she was still running.

With poo still on her foot.

Seventeen little foot marks... from the hallway... through my bedroom... down the stairs.

Turns out the dog ate one of Jude's Thomas the Train board books. And then bit into the tube of Desitin.

Evidently the combination of cardboard and zinc oxide turned his stomach.

He then proceeded to vomit three times.

It hasn't been the best day ever.



BUT... yay! I am finally online again!! This big ol' Mac looks positively HUGE after staring at my iPhone for the last six weeks. I can't wait to check in on you guys, I've missed my Google Reader terribly!

go. give.

My wonderful, long-time buddy Kris recently got news that TA is on it's way for her beautiful daughter, Ellis Gao Mei!

Her fundraiser ends tomorrow, and she's giving away some amazing stuff... go check it out!

Just look at that precious face!! How can you resist?

Help bring Ellis HOME!!

arrived. at last.

Surfacing for a moment, just to say 'hey' and let the extended fam know we are alive and well.

It's been crazy. So crazy I hesitate to revisit it, but it includes two very long (11+) hour days driving up the east coast. Six children, two dogs and one adult to rein them all in (yours truly), one whopper headache and as a cherry on the top, an almost fender bender that ended with my 44 ounce soda sitting in an icy puddle at my feet.

Fun.

But we've got a few days under our belts up here in New England now, the movers have come and gone and things are starting to have a teeny tiny, dare I say it, sense of normalcy. A new normal. And I like it.

The weather here is amazing. No A/C units up here, just open windows. While I love the open air, my hair does not, but we'll find a straightening iron solution soon.

The house is great. Gorgeous yard. Well kept. Inside is clean as a whistle, the people that lived there before us took wonderful care of it (much unlike our last house) and for that we are so grateful. But the house is lacking in, well, ahem... everything other than tiny floral prints. On the walls, in the drawers, on the curtains. Sorta makes me a bit nauseous after a while. Needless to say, there will be posts on paint, spackle and wallpaper removal forthcoming.

We don't currently have cable at our house, still waiting on that, but by Monday, I should be up and running on my desktop at home. For now, I'm snacking on some lukewarm McD's french fries and using their extraordinarily slow wi-fi. Not complaining, though.

I also wanted to pop in to announce something very exciting over at Wild Olive... check out the new button in my sidebar!!

We've come up with a new line of kids' tees! And we've partnered up with Love Without Boundaries to donate an additional portion of our profits from the sale of 'chosen' (both boys and girls) to LWB's amazing efforts on the behalf of orphans in China.

AND, to celebrate, we're giving away tees! It's super easy to enter, and you'll not only be spreading the word about Wild Olive, but also about Love Without Boundaries.

P.S. In the coming days, I'll be posting about another way to win some free tees from Wild Olive.

Okay. I'll give you a hint. It has to do with No Hands But Ours. And the family stories page. And how we want to add YOURS :)