Goodbye 2009

Saying goodbye to 2009 is bittersweet. 2009 started with sadness and then turned to tragedy,and ended amazingly.2009 will always be the worst and best year of my life and I hope 2010 is filled with only good times and happiness.I hope all of my friends and family have a wonderful new year.We have so many things already planned for 2010 -disney trip, my SIL wedding,Peytons first birthday,and much much more- NEW YEAR NEW MEMORIES !!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Dreaming of a white Christmas.............

Snow,Snow,Snow I cant remember the last time we got this much snow.Thankfully I knew the storm was coming and I hit target friday night to stock up on snow boots,gloves,hats etc. We love love love the snow however I live on a dead end,well my driveway lives on the dead end along with one other house and guess what? They never ever plow us ,so john usually shovels the street but theres just way too much out there. Three phone calls to the town so hopefully we will get plowed if not we will all be out there shoveling the street (meaning the D'angelos because that other house this effects well they are elderly and we are not letting them).

The man in the big red suit

I first took Peyton to see Santa a few weeks back.She loved him from the sidelines,waving and smiling however she is not a fan up close she screamed like I have never heard her scream.The bottom picture was taken just before she realized where she was sitting.The following pictures were taken yesterday-no crying but still not smiling. I promise not to torture her anymore for 2009-santa we will see you next year

My heart and soul

Around june when I realized it would be months before our baby girl came home I threw myself into a project to keep me busy. "The movie". I have planned every detail of this movie from the music to the timing of pictures etc.After hours and hours (it was great therapy) of working on it I had the chance to show it at her baptism on sunday. I have to admit I am so proud of it,there are some details that could be better but I am of course my worst critic. Here you will find the link to it please make sure your volume is up cause the music has so much meaning.****warning****it is about 18 minutes long

http://gallery.me.com/ddangelo6#100000

wordless wednesday seems to be the only thing i blog lol

Wordless Wednesday

Pumpkin picking and the tongue

So today we went pumpkin picking which was early for us this year since we usually go in october.However my son carson reminded us that we missed going last year.Last year everytime we planned to go the weather was bad so today the weather was perfect. I usually get some great photos during this event and I use them to create thankgiving cards for our families. Oh the joys of now trying to get 5 perfect smiles.Little miss Peyton who never takes a picture without smiling decided sticking her tongue out would be more fun,yep so almost every pic you can see her tongue-oh well

wordless wednesday

Peytons first week home

Its so hard to believe Peyton is home yet on the flip side it feels like shes always been with us.It so strange to no longer have adoption stress that I kinda dont know what to do with myself. Peyton keeps us busy but shes soo good,content,sleeping at nite and just plain happy!!Here are some pictures from her first week home.

To Ethiopia and back

Ethiopia
Day 1:
We landed in Ethiopia around 8 am. It was so surreal thinking Peyton was so close. We headed off the plane down the escalator to the first desk we saw and was told to wait on this very long line. We finally got to the end when they told us we needed to get our visa first UGH-For those of you traveling at the end of the escalator make a left to get your visa then go stand on the customs line. Then it was on to baggage ,thankfully everything made it safely. As we walked through security I could see tons of people waiting for family members John made an immediate right out of the door but stopped to look at the crowd of people and all the way to left were 2 men holding the sign "better future adoptions" I started yelling to John and screaming over to them I was soo excited. Baisa our driver and Beryihien (we will called him Ber) drove us to the guesthouse. Aguitu (Our director)was at the entrance of the guesthouse waiting for us with tears streaming down her face.I went over to her and we hugged and cried. We chatted for a bit and Beti(our cook) made us a yummy breakfast.When Breakfast was over Aguitu asked if we would like to go get our baby,of course we said yes. I was feeling every emotion as we drove down the road to the care center.As soon as we reached the gate my eyes started to well up and by the time I got inside the care center the tears were flowing. The head Nanny took us into the second infant room as I looked quickly at all the cribs searching for peyton. The nanny lifted her up and handed her to me and I cried so hard I couldnt breath (john was crying too but he wont admit it)so we went and sat in the lounge area. As I sat down I looked up and Aguitu,the nannies and Beisa and Bir were all crying with me.I couldnt believe how beautiful Peyton was. We headed back to the guesthouse with peyton where the nanny offered to take her so we can rest but I told her we needed to just have some time with her.
The rest of the night we spent just loving on her
Day 2
We had to bring Peyton back to the care center so the staff could take her to the clinic for medicals.We decided while she was gone we would stay at the care center(which ended up being about 3.5 hours). We had so many care packages to give out from families waiting to bring their kids home. We decided to pull each child into the lounge area seperately so those that didnt get care packs werent upset. As the children came in I took out their packages and explained that they were from their families ,as I spoke the nanny translated. The children were sooo excited and I was excited to do this for them. Then we needed to take pictures for the families so we started with the babies.The nannies were great they brought each baby out to me. All of the babies were so cute and I got to hold 2 very special babies Bona and Gadissa. It meant so much to be able to hold these too babies as I know their mommies and they long to hold them. After the care packs and the pictures it was time to play with the kids (my favorite part). I really was unsure how this would go with language barriers ,would they even want to play with us,etc. Some of the children were shy and unsure of us,others were curious and then there was little Ebsa who just wrapped his arms around my leg. I sat on the floor while john gave out some picture books we brought.The older children were so excited to show off there english and Sitota and Yohanas took the magna doodles we brought and showed me how they write their names. Little Hyat and Deratu loved my long hair and kept playing with it taking my clips out and putting them back in.John of course found a little boy Mathaus(sp?) to play with the football we brought. Then it was lunch time (for those wondering they had pasta).We had such a wonderful time.The kids were happy and so easy to play with.There was about 15 of them and we love all of them.
After the care center we went to the Hilton to exchange our money. It is frowned upon to bring your children out in public so we took a nanny Chaltu with us. Chaltu was with Peyton all day and had not eaten anything so while at the hilton we fed Chaltu and bought drinks for Baisa and Ber. It was a fun time getting to know them.
Day 3
The nannies picked up Peyton today to take her for HIV testing so we decided to go shopping at the Mercato (ethiopias largest market) Aguitu sent our driver with us so he could haggle the prices. The mercato was nuts,parking took us a half hour. Baisa took us into a tradional clothing booth and we made a huge pile but the guy wouldnt give us a price til the end. After he told us our total I nearly fell over(i was told everything in ET was dirt cheap and this was not).Our driver haggled a little but we believed we were still paying way to much(later on we found out we paid about 5 times higher then we should have).I do not recommend the Mercato to those traveling its crazy and as soon as the vendors saw us they were all over us. Next up we went back to the care center as we pulled up it was potty time there was about 8 potty chairs lined up and the kids were all sittin goin potty it was the cutest thing.We brought our poloroid camera-The kids loved this watching their faces magically appear!!!We had another great day with the children.
Day 4
Today we left Peyton most of the day with the nanny. driving around in Ethiopia is not safe and then you add in the fact its rainy season and the dirt roads are just horrible so it was best to leave her back.John being a doctor he wanted to visit the hospital.Aguitu took us to the government hospital where Bontu passed away(yea this was an emotional experience). Nothing can ever prepare you for what you see in Ethiopia and the hospital was extremely eye opening. The government hospital offers free care for the orphanage children although if the can get to the pediatric hospital its much better.We met with the hospital surgeon and he gave us a tour-it was heart wrenching,so many people barely any doctors,nothing looked sterile.On the childrens floor the cribs looked rusted and mothers were sitting on the floor holding there ill children. We walked passed the delivery room which was filled with about 8 mothers in labor there outside glass windows looking in were about 30 family members watching. The resources are limited if someone has surgery the family is responsible for the changing,feedind and paying for and getting any pain meds(therefore most dont get pain meds).The hospital had a first class floor that was a little cleaner-this floor was for patients who pay out of pocket. It is hard to imagine that in the year 2009 people live like this.We take so much for granted.After the hospital we met with the head of the health Bureau to discuss a foundation we are starting in Bontus name that will help with medical resources.After that we went and visited a small orphanage about 20 minutes away.It was small but sooo clean and the children were all clean,dressed well and the girls hair were done beautifully.We played with the kids for a bit but I was missing Peyton so we needed to get back.After spending the rest of the day with Peyton it was time to get ready to go to the cultral dinner show.Aguitu treated us 2 other families,BFAS attorney and his wife,the driver,guide and accountant.We had a great time and I even attempted some ethiopian dancing (not by choice) hopefully my dear friends holly and Jen will erase that video!!!!!! for those traveling i highly recomend the Faskika show (sp?).
Day 4
EMBASSY DAY-this is the final step. The embassy approves youradoption and issues Peyton her visa.This process was very smooth.One family had a small glitch but with the MOWA paperwork but the agency staff were on top of it and it was taken care of quickly.I needed to do some more shopping so we went to the Haile Salassie store(sp?) this store is government run and has fixed prices and the prices were good!!!That evening we had a bonfire and coffee ceremony at our guest house and yummy food that our cook Beti made.It was great to just relax with the other families.
Day 5
This was our busyiest day and our last day.We left Peyton the whole day but I really needed to see some more of Ethiopia. Aguitu picked us up and took us to Tewahedo church.It is the first church in Ethiopia and its way up in the mountains.The scenery going up was amazing.The church was beautiful and so much history.Many people live on the grounds of the church,many of them sick with Aids and Hiv-they believe living there will heal them.I highly recommend visiting this church.Then we went back to the Haile Salassie store but they were closing for lunch. So we picked up the other families and headed to the care center to say goodbye with a pit stop at Robero to buy coffee(highly recommend) At the care center we had the chance to meet Bontus birthmom which was emotional and I think I may have caused more harm then good.I gave her a photo album of Bontu and hugged her and had Aguitu explain we were starting a foundation in her name but she was too upset and walked away.not sure what I expected but it was just hard. The nannies had a coffee ceremony for us which was so sweet. I went and hugged the head nanny and cried with her (i just love her) then we said goodbye to the children and some of them cried. I had a hard time leaving the care center.all of these children have families coming for them except 1 little boy. He was the one who sat on my lap and snuggled up to me.He has no family coming for him,hes been there for months and it breaks my heart that he may never have a family and all his friends will leave and he will still be there.I pretty much cried about this for 2 hours. If anyone reading this may be interested in him please let me know-it is my mission to find him a home-he is around 5 or 6 and sweet as can be.
We dropped the families off and head back to Haile salassie to finish shopping.Then it was a mad dash to pack and get to the airport.We got to the airport 4 hours early just so we can get a bassinet on the plane.Highly recomend getting the bassinet Peyton slept 12 of the 17 hours on that plane.

Notes:
Peyton-when we first got her she was very limp didnt move much,no crying,no sound and didnt move her arms and legs(they keep them so wrapped there) by day 2 with her she was cooing,blowing bubbles and kicking her feet,day 3 she started tring to role over and by the end of the week she can grab at toys.Her head was very wobbly but each day she has better head support.Her head is alittle square shaped but thats from laying on her back all the time.

Guest house- BFAS guest house includes nanny,cook,driver,3 meals and laundry-Everything there was wonderful I wish I could have taken the cook and nanny home!!!

Ethiopia- Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw.I cried everyday.I saw mothers with children on their backs at our van window begging for money,Children half naked no shoes begging for money,people just laying on the streets,sidewalks anywhere.I had to turn down children begging,look away at these desperate mothers. The driving is Ethipia is like nothing I have ever seen.Drivers have the right away not people and drivers can turn,drive on the wrong side,cut people off and no one gets mad(no road rage its amazing).It so overwhelming you feel like theres nothing you can do.Its hard to imagine people live like this children digging in garbage for food. The problems seem so huge.Ethiopia will forever be imprinted on my heart.

shes home

we are home with peyton

WE Passed!!!!!

We passed court today and we are leaving in a few hours !!!!!

No desire to Blog

So I have had no desire to blog- I still have no desire to blog because I want to blog about happy things but I continue to stress over the fact that my daughter is growing up without us. So where are we-leaving for Africa on wed aug 19th but as of right now Peyton is not coming home. We decided to continue with our trip since John has the time off and the kids are still on summer break. We were hoping to have a court date before we left but as luck would have it our new court date is Aug 19th the day we leave. I will most likely not know if we passed that day since I will be on a plane. The plan is to try and bring Peyton home but if thats not possible John will fly back to Ethiopia when its time to go get her. So im trying to think of the positive which is holding my baby baby girl !!!

court delay yet again

Well no court for us today-We are tentavively rescheduled for friday-I dont even know what to say

Court date !!!!!

Yes we have a date July 27 court date----woohoo I will post m ore when we get back from vacation

Update no Update

There really is no update its been over a month now since the courts stopped hearing abandonment cases out of Addis and there really is no end in sight, How am I doing? Its very strange how at peace I am right now. I don't have that crazy cant do anything feeling.I guess cause there really is nothing I can do. I'm not sure how long I will feel this way maybe tomorrow I will be pulling my hair out but for now I am okay and dreaming about the day Peyton is in our arms

yahoo and other agrevations

One thing I learned along this journey is how no one cares about others adoptions.Everyone(few exceptions ) are out for them selves. With all the issues of abandonment I decided to join a few yahoo groups for support and information.What I found were people bashing my agency and my friends and yes I got caught up in it.Maybe I said a few things I regret but not half as mean as the things said to me.I in turn decided to leave as there is enough stress in this journey.So i find out some are suspcious of my journey and posted my blog.So welcome to my new readers.What you will find here is my agonizing journey.One that I wouldnt wish on my worst enemy.All I have written is raw emotion and is the true me. I support my agency and my friends.My journey truely stinks but it is mine I am so emotionaly spent I can no longer deal with anyone other then my true friends.For those of you with your children home-they are home and be thankful-for those of you waiting-be thankful for what happened to me cause it caused great change for you. I am just a mother trying desperatly to get my daughter home and do not need to be attacked by the heartless

Sick to my stomach

Well I am starting to believe adoption just is not in our future. Our court date is less then 2 days away and it looks like its not happening. The ethiopian courts stopped hearing abandonment cases last friday and of course this effects us. I really can not express how I feel at this point.Im shakey and sick to the point of throwing up. I am seriuosly at the point that some meds may be in order. I cant sleep,breath or anything for that matter.Yet again we are so close and any hapiness coming to us has been ripped away. I was praying for some sorta miracle today but yet again the day is over and all I can do is cry.

Court Date!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday we recieved our court date -Are you ready for this MAY 15 yep 2 weeks away. The courts decided to expedite our case because we had lost a baby that was Legally Ours.So if all goes well and we pass court we leave may 27.I still can not believe it!!!!!!!!!!!! I am very excited and nervous at the same time.I think I will be a ball of nerves up until she is in our arms. God is good and I believe he will keep her safe til we get there.So let the madness begin-Packing,shopping,more shopping LOL.Oh and Peyton will be 2.5 months when placed in our arms.I can see some sunshine coming through the dark clouds!!!!

Okay days and Really bad days

So today started out as an okay day but somewhere it went bad,As I can not hold back my tears anymore. It has been about 7 weeks since we found out our baby girl passed away.Some days I still can not believe it.As the weather is getting nicer out I think about all those long walks we would have taken while the boys were at school.I finally went in her room this past week and emptied out her suitcase then I proceeded to reaarange the room for the third time. With each new referral I found it easier to reaarange the room for the newest baby.As I sat there in her room I wonder is this new baby the one we will bring home or is there more heartache on the horizon. As we try to get excited about this referral I feel guilty for our baby girl-so how do I balance it all? How do we open our hearts? How do we not worry about this baby? I can tell you I need to find a way to balance it all because its starting to affect my mommy duties,my wife duties and my household duties not to mention my diet ,sleep,etc. Maybe it was too soon to accept a referral but I also can not imagine being stuck in limbo in this process. So as I have no idea what each day brings please pray we can figure out how to balance it all

Referral

Yes Today we officially accepted a referral for a beautiful baby girl. She is almost a month old.Please pray shes stays healthy and strong until we can get to her.We are not allowed to post a picture of her cute little face so here are here adorable little feet

Where do we go from here?

So this is the big question "where do we go from here? Its hard to imagine but there are people,family,friends etc that think our adoption is over. OVER??? Yes I am still sad,angry and frustrated but over? no. As I think about the future it scares me.How will we love another child the same way,How will I not worry every second of everyday she is not with us,And How will I survive WAITING,waiting for medicals,waiting for court dates,waiting for travel .I am not a good waiter,I am not a patient person, And I question why and what god has planned for my family. So here I sit in what I call Limbo. I still cry everyday for our baby girl,I still stare at every picture I have of her. So where do I go from here I really dont know,its such a strange feeling I can not explain.For the past year I have thought about,planned,shopped for this baby and now nothing.Adoption was a daily conversation in the D'Angelo house and now nothing.And that kinda sums it all up i guess "nothing"
Ok im rambling and not making sense at this point.Just wanted everyone to know we are officialy back on the list

Our Adoption

Hello everyone, this is John. Just want to thank everyone for their prayers and support.
As most of you know our hearts were broken not to long ago by news none of us expected. One moment we were at a high point in our lives as we prepared to travel to bring our little girl Bontu home and the next minute we were crushed by the unbelievable news that she had become ill and had passed away during the night.
I am sure many of you have questions about what has happened; so do we. Unfortunately we still don’t know much, only that Bontu had began having vomiting and diarrhea and was brought to the government hospital by the woman who we have been working with from the adoption agency. Apparently Bontu appeared a little dehydrated and was to be kept overnight for IV fluids and unexpectedly died during the night. As is the case with all the children in the orphanages in Ethiopia she did have a medical exam several months earlier which included negative blood work for hepatitis and HIV; i.e. to the best of our knowledge she was healthy. We may never know the exact diagnosis or details; did she succumb to an overwhelming infection, did she have some other underlying problem such as a congenital heart defect? Although we may never know, we do know that things that we take for granted everyday here in the United States don’t exist in the world of the 4 million plus orphans all across Ethiopia. In this 3rd world country children are often malnourished, not vaccinated, and many live in crowded orphanages with scores of other children who serve as reservoirs for infectious diseases. Medical care is limited at best and not routinely available. In fact, Ethiopia not only has a very high maternal mortality rate with 1 in 14 mothers dying during child birth; it ranks number 15 in the world in regards to its infant mortality rate with an average of 90 children per every 1000 not surviving beyond 1 year. To give you a reference in the US the rate is 6 per 1000, Iraq 45 per 1000, and Haiti 62 per 1000. In fact most of the countries listed higher than Ethiopia are on the same continent and I never heard of most of them. I guess the reason I am writing all of this is because as we grieve the loss of our Bontu, we realize that her tragic story is what drew us to Ethiopia in the first place. We choose Ethiopia because that is where we felt the greatest need was, and unfortunately this is a place where the story of Bontu is not an unfamiliar one.
So with heavy hearts we need to acknowledge that our journey to Kennedy has ended in tragedy; but we need to push on, we need to not let this stop us; to do so would be an insult in our minds to Bontu and to her mother who made an unbelievably selfless decision to relinquish her daughter out of love and hope for a better future; only to loose her in the end. So we lost our Bontu; our Kennedy, but we will move on to make a difference in the life of another child, in doing so we are not “replacing” Bontu; but we will never forget Kennedy Bontu - our daughter that we have seen only in photos but who’s face is forever imprinted on our hearts.
We do not know what the timeline will be as our adoption journey continues. It may take a few weeks or 6 months, we don’t know. We don’t know what name we will choose for this child. We do know we will be blessed with a child, and we will not forget the struggles of those we can’t bring home. I personally will not forget that my daughter died most likely due to some physical challenge that her body faced that would have been manageable here in the US. With that knowledge I will be dedicating myself to helping out in some way utilizing the gifts God has provided me. I may in the future ask you all for your support as we work with our adoption agency to improve the medical resources available to the children in their care and do what we can to try to prevent the tragedy of Bontu’s story from becoming there own.
We thank you all for your support, and God Bless.

In memory of Our beautiful baby girl

I have decided to post Bontus photo in memory of her.We love her so much.I pray everyday that somehow we get through this,I pray for her birth mom who is weeping as well,I pray for our agency who has been nothing but wonderful and I pray for all of the other families that you never have to endure this pain. We take for granted all that we have here in the united states. My baby was healthy but a simple stomach bug took her away from us forever. I think about her every minute of everyday and through all of I still need to be a mom to my children which is not an easy task.Please keep praying us through this

Pray for us

This has been the hardest journey of my life.Our beautiful baby girl passed away this week and the pain is unbearable.I can not even write anymore

Passed court early

I still can hardly believe it.We were sceduled for court March 5th and here it is Feb 26 and we have passed. This has been a great week last night I recieved video of our baby girl and today she is ours!! We lleave March 11th oh my so much to do.No pictures to post yet our agency doesnt allow it but soon.Kennedy will be home

Nursery pictures

So the nursery is done we just need our baby girl!!! Our court date is 2 weeks from today so we are almost at the finish line!!!

Gods plan???

I keep trying to tell myself God has a plan.I may not like his plan or agree with it but he has a plan. It has taken me a few days to post this.I have been feeling all sorts of emotions and was a little depressed for awhile but Im starting to feel better. Last saturday we lost our referral for Tingirt.Her mother took her from the orphanage and I will spare the rest of the details because it is too heart wrenching to post. I feel like someone has ripped my heart out.We love her so much even though we have never met her.We had plans for her,dreamt of her being a part of our family. The same day we lost Tingirt we were offered the referral of Bontu a 3 month old baby girl. Her referral was coupled with the news of Tingirt.Way too much to handle. It took me an hour to open the attachment to view Bontu and Im gonna be honest I was not excited I had no feeling and I feel so sad about that. Bontu is a beautiful litle girl but I wanted Tingirt she was my daughter. After about 5 days of uncontrollable crying I am happy to say we signed the acceptence papers for Bontu. We have decided to leave 1 picture of Tingirt up for she will forever have a place in my heart. I am very guarded this time and feel terrible but I know when Bontu is placed in my arms I will know she is ours forever. We were able to keep our march 5th court date so we are almost at the finish line. For whatever reason God wants Bontu to be with our family and I have to trust in his plan.Please pray for our family

Adoption and new friendships

I have so many friends from every journey of my life.Whether they are from High School,through adoption,PTA ,Through my children,MA,PA ,Etc they have all supported us on this adoption journey. My Adoption friends will always be dear to my heart.They understand my ups and downs coupled with my craziness. Only they can truly understand how I am feeling. So this post is dedicated to them. To Gail you are the BFAS cheerleader.You seem to take us from an unhappy place to a more pleasant one. I imagine you are the type of person that lights up a room when you walk it. I tend to think of you as the Mama bear of the group. What ever you say has such a calming effect I don't believe we could make it through all the venting without you. Meg you are a wealth of information, you always know whats going on. We made it through the formula scare together and i am so happy we talked on the phone that day. You have had a difficult journey but yet you stand tall and I admire that. Jen you say everything I feel LOL. You have been named the ass kicker of our group but I don't really see it that way you just speak what you are thinking. I remember the day you received your referral I was soooo excited for you. I am soo glad you crossed over to BFAS with me . Kimberly the great list keeper-what can I say without you we would not have a list to obsess over.I think everyone appreciates the work you put into the list for us. Your day is coming soon I just feel it.I think I may cry when you get the call. Kelie who I'm not sure has a blog or at least i can not find it. Thank you for your encouraging words. We only started really talking and I'm happy to get to know you.Theresa words will never be enough of a thank you.Without Theresa I know I would not have survived this process. She is the first person I turn to good or bad news. She knows how to calm me. She is defiantly my adoption BFF buddy LOL. We began this process together and I pray we continue it together(praying we travel together). These ladies will forever be in my heart.I pray everyday for their journeys.I do hope someday we have a chance to meet!!!

adoption refreashed

Okay so this week was one of those manic adoption weeks.W hat do i mean by that?You see on occasion through this process i get such sadness,anger,frustration,etc.I have been flying high since our referral on December 12.Well what goes up must come down.This week i started feeling the stress again how much longer and oh my what if we don't pass court on march 5th how can i handle that?I want her home yesterday and threes nothing i can do.I long to hold her and comfort her and who is doing that for her now? I worry how do these little ones stay healthy as I who will only be there for a week prepare for all sorts of scary vaccines.Vaccines for illness that would devastate one.So you see its been a rough week.On these weeks John just stays away ,he just doesn't get it.Don't get me wrong he worries he just doesn't obsess.So why to i headline this post refreshed? Someone from the adoption agency just returned from Ethiopia and announced she had lots of pics and that if we sent her our referral picture she may have a picture of our daughter OH MY!!! Well my email of course was giving me trouble and kept edgetting bumped back as others from my agency started receiving picture.I seriously was crying at this point.Well i have made some amazing friends through this journey one of them being Meg .Meg sent the women and email and a few minutes later there was our beautiful daughter in the most amazing picture(she really is photogenic).So see I think I can survive a few more weeks.This picture was exactly what I needed!!!!

2009-What is coming

As I think about 2009 I think about all the things we have happening this year.Here's a few:
The cool thing happening
Carson will turn 10
Caitlyn will turn 20
Brian(my brother) will be 30
John will turn 40
I think that's pretty cool.
Like I said John will turn 40 this year.it doesn't seem to bother him but he has made it clear no surprise parties oh well!! John also has to take his medical boards again this year.The has to take them every 10 years.So this will take away some family time as he will be in study mode until September.

Caitlyn will leave her teen years behind this year and enter adulthood WOW!!!She will finally get her driving licence back on her birthday(yeah she lost it on her 19th bday for speeding and zero tolerance,a very hard lesson learned).Caitlyn also has her first dance solo this year and we are so excited for her.

Zachary will enter his teen years by turning 13 in just a few weeks.He already exhibits typical teen behavior-moody,sleeps allot,etc.Zachary will be confirmed in our church this year which is a huge deal.In our church you do not receive communion til you make your confirmation.And the best part for some reason hes the only one this year so we keep calling it the Zachary show.

Aiden will finish up at the elementary school this year and begin junior high. I am so scared for him! He is my mush,my sweetness and I am not sure he will survive.Aiden will also play his second season of flag football and he is soo excited.

Carson my baby turning 10!!! I can not believe it. Carson will enter 4th grade in September whoa!!He will play his 6th season of tackle football and his 4th season of baseball FUN FUN.

Kennedy will be placed in our arms this year.She will also celebrate her first Birthday towards the end of the year.For that matter she will celebrate many firsts with us

As for me on March 5th I will return to being a stay at home mom(and looking forward to it).I will get to travel out of the country for the first time and hold my baby girl for the first time.

I welcome 2009 and all it has to bring!!!Happy New Year!!