Richie and Jordan at the orphanage

First bath in a bath tub!

Playing at Mary's

Sight seeing at the Chella (sp?) -Ancient Roman and Aarabic Ruins

Dallas and Cohen -Jordan in the background

at Kafala!

Adoption Update

Sorry it has been so long since I have contacted anyone! Thank you to everyone that has had a hand in taking care of my kids!!!!!! We haven't been able to have computer access till about a half hour ago.

On Tuesday we closed the Morocco side of the adoption "Kafala". So the kids are legally ours here!!! We have had custody of Yasine (aka- Jordan) since that day! He has been so much fun! The kids there never leave the orphanage unless they are going to the doctor. So Yasine had only left the orphanage once in his 2 year life!!! Everything is new to him. The wind blowing in the windows as you drive, and the wind blowing the bag in the car- he was acting like the bag was alive!! He is fine with everything and isn't even on sensory overload like you would expect! He loves it and has only had a few tantrums since we got him. That is where communication would come in really handy. He is picking up on it really fast though. He already answers to Jordan and a few other commands. Dallas has loved having him around!

Nofel (aka- Cohen) couldn't come with us on Tuesday because according to their culture, he had to be circumcized first and then they carry them around for 2-3 days straight and take care of them in certain ways, so he had to stay and we will go get him as soon as the passport are ready.

Richie leaves in the morning to come home. I'm scared to be here on my own, but hopefully we will make it all work out. All that is left is to pick up the passports, birth certificates, and Nofel, on hopefully Monday or Tuesday and then as soon as possible get into the Consulate office and have there blood work done through a dr there, as soon as we can do that, it's only a few days after that till we get their visas and as soon as Delta can get us home - we are there!!!! You just have to schedule an appointment at the consulate and we don't know how far out they are. So we'll let you know as soon as we know.

I am going to try to post some pictures, but we haven't had much luck with being able to do that so we'll see. If there are new ones on here, you'll know it was a success. if not- I will try to send an email to a few of you with pictures if that will even work and you can spead them and send them around to everyone.

Thanks again! We appreciate everything that everyone is doing!! It sounds like everything is going good! I hope that is really the case! We will now have email until we leave, but can only call on select times. Take care and we'll talk to you soon!! Cindy

Here are our 2 boys!!!

We hope this all works out! Nothing is ever for sure until it's sign and sealed here, so we are still holding our breath. On Saturday, they told us that Yasine was 1 year and 9 months & on Tuesday, they told us he turned 2 on June 4th. So we don't know exactly how old he is yet. And the younger one is younger than we wanted to go but he is the one that we felt good about. His name is Nofel and he is supposedly 6 months or so, it kind of changes too. When they find these babies, they have a doctor guess how old they are and assign them a birthday. On Saturday, Nofel wasn't available, his mom was coming back for him, but he was so cute and we were asking about him & thought we couldn't have him. But on Tuesday, he was one of the babies that the nurses brought in to see if I wanted. So now - he is supposedly available. Like I said, until everything is signed and sealed--NOTHING is for sure!!!! We'll try to post more info later as we can. I hope all is well there and a very special Thank You to every one that is helping us out while we are gone!!! Sorry for the change of plans for everyone who is involved in that, but hopefully in the end it is going to ensure a quicker process! Take care and hopefully I will see you in about 2 weeks or so instead of 3-4 more.

Yasine

They are on a very strict schedule and he was so tired by the time we took pictures of him. We'll try to post a better one after Saturday. But it made it fun because he was so cuddly. They have so many nurses that they go to anyone and call all of them mama so I am already known as mama- along with everyone else :)

Our friend here, Mary, is also doing the adoption process, and we think that the little boy that she is adopting is best buddies with Yasine and they are always together. So were excited that they can still grow up somewhat together. It will be fun. I'll post pictures of them later too.

Nofel

Dallas is so excited about Nofel because he wanted a younger one. It will be a little tricky for a little bit with him and my baby being so close, but others do it all the time, so we'll make it work. But he is such a good natured baby. Some of our friends that go to the orphanage all the time say that he is very content and good natured. I haven't heard him cry yet!

Wish us Luck!

We're off in the morning! I can't believe it's really happening! It all feels like a dream. Include us in your prayers that all will go safe, smooth, and really quick. Me and the girls have been crying all evening, it's hard to leave for a week- let alone when you know it's going to be atleast 3. I don't know if I will have computer access there, but if I can I will post pictures of the boys as soon as we know. If not it will be the end of July atleast and we'll be a family of 6 (soon to be 7) !!!!! See ya! Cindy

We're goin' for it!!!

Well, we purchased flight tickets today for Morocco!!! Richie, Dallas, and Me leave on June 26th (in 2 weeks) ! Richie only has to be there 1 week and then he will return to be with kids and go back to work, but Dallas and Me have to stay and complete paper work for about the next month or till when ever it's done and then Richie has to come again to bring them home. It's a long time, but hopefully in the grand picture, it will feel like a blink in time! We hopefully have enough connections now that it's going to happen.

We know everyone probably thinks we are crazy! And honestly looking in from the outside, I would think I am crazy too!, But for the last year we have worked on this and felt strongly that we were supposed to make it happen! We've had a lot of tears when things weren't working out and a lot of tears over the good testimony building times too!

We are really excited and I'm very glad that Dallas is able to come to be my sidekick through the whole thing! It's scary enough being in a foreign country for a month, but if I didn't have him there for comfort, I'd honestly be more scared! Our friend has lived there for several years and says it is a very safe place and there is no need what so ever to be scared, but when it's you that has to do it - that only goes so far.

Any and all prayers are greatly appreciated! I'll post pictures and news when we get back and let you know what happens!

Adoption Update!

Well, they always say adoption is an emotional roller coaster and after the past year, I will definitely agree! One day it seems achievable, and the next day you may get a email that makes it seem like there is no way it will work out. Sometimes things including your own thoughts about it even change by the hour.

I just wanted to let everyone know that in the past week we have gotten a few of the emails that we have been waiting for to be able to take the next step. One was from a U.S. couple who happens to live in Morocco and have just finished their adoption process and she emailed the process step by step including names of people to help you during certain steps. We had been waiting for that for at least a month or two so we were really excited to finally get that. Some of what she said inspired me to try to contact the Moroccan Embassy in Washington D.C.. After a couple days of trying, several times a day, and no one ever answering and their machines full, I finally got a hold of a receptionist. After explaining why I was calling, he informed me that the Embassy probably couldn't help but he just happened to have a really good friend who has adopted twice from Morocco- come to find out - through the very same orphanage! - and he was sure that he would help us with any questions that we had.

Finally! I was so excited! When you deal with a 3rd world country without a government like ours, it is all about the "who you knows" and the "fee's" (bribes) that you are willing to pay. So it is very scary to trust that once you get there, they will even help you.

So I called the receptionist's friend and he was so excited to help us. He has a friend that lives in Morocco who helped him through the process both times, who's brother is the Governor there and has "pull" like others don't. We contacted him yesterday and are hopeful that he will be able to help us, but we need a few more things worked out still before we buy our tickets but there is at least a light at the end of the tunnel! Just in time too, we have almost exactly enough time left to arrange to get there, complete the adoption and get back before I am to far along in my pregnancy to travel.

All needs to go well from here on to be able to make it happen, so we'll see but at least there is hope. If it is meant to be - it will be! We'll let you know!

Update

Sorry I had to repost the Spring Spectacular slideshow because for some reason it wouldn't load. And an update on the Guitar Hero, 2 days after I posted the Guitar Hero post, Dallas had already passed 11 songs off on the Medium and Micailey has started passing off Mediums too. This may not be a big deal to some of you, but I'm excited for them to be able to keep up and improve so fast at age 7 & 9, with hardly any musical experience.

Girls Spring Spectacular

Guitar Hero

Our latest Addiction

Ok, so the Sunday before Memorial Day, Richie played his brothers Guitar Hero for the first time ever. He has played the piano since he was 7 and played the drums all through High School and College, so he is very musically and rhythmically (if that is a word) talented. So Monday(not even a full 24 hours later) he had purchased his own Guitar Hero. He only played about 5 songs on the Easy setting before he moved on to the Mediums and has almost passed all of those off and can pass some of the Hards off too. He also has my two oldest kids addicted. Dallas has now passed off all of the Easy songs but is scared to move on to Mediums because they are really hard! Micailey is picking up really fast too and I think she only has about 10 songs left before she has completed all of the Easy ones. For any of you who haven't played it, there are 42 songs in each setting and a few battles, so they have done quite well! All I can say is if it teaches them the rhythm and coordination that quickly and easily and gets their chores done with no complaining first thing in the morning -so that they can play it-, I guess it makes up for the cost. I just wish they had a PG setting for the Clothing, hair do's, and tattoo's.