Your Christmas is Most Like: A Very Brady Christmas

For you, it's all about sharing times with family.Even if you all get a bit cheesy at times.

What Movie Is Your Christmas Most Like?

The Time Has Come

On Sunday I will be flying out to Japan for the trip that I won from the Japan Fulbright Memorial fund. I have another blogsite that you may follow that is dedicated to my students so that they can follow my trip.

http://leaptrott.edublogs.org/

Quilt 6 & 7

Today I received quilt pieces 6&7. They were from the same family. One was from our flower girl at our wedding, she was 3 then and now is in college. The other was from her parents. They were our youth pastors when we were in the youth group. I was happy to see the pieces. It put a smile on my face after a very stressful day at work.

A mailbox full of excitement

Today I received in the mail two nice packages. The first one was a check from the Georgia Council of exceptional Children for $200 for a mini grant I won. The only problem is I don't know which grant it was for. I applied for one over a year ago and won only to be told they didn't have the money and took it away. I also apply for one for a divison out of the CEC. The check came with no letter and I have receive no emails or anything. I will somehow have to figure out which of the two it could be so that I spend the money for it's intended purposes. The other package was from the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund. I now know which prefecture I will be staying in once we divide into our groups of 20 from Tokyo. My host city and prfecture is Kiryu, Gunma Japan. I am still very excited about this trip. I think I will call my blog "Where in the World is Mrs. Leaptrott" It is something one of my paraprofessionals wrote down in our lesson plans for when I cover Japan. I like it. It is not very orginal but it will work for my students.

Quilt Square 3&4

Today in the mail I received square 3&4 for our daughters 100 wishes quilt. One from a dear lady at church. It is pink with the work love all over it and the other one is from Mike's parents with Snow White and their names airbrushed on it.

Quilt Square 3 and back to school

I started back to work on Monday. Let me tell you gettin up early(between 5:30-6:00am) is for the birds. I have not minded being at work but I am extremely tired. I also receive quilt square 3 from one of my students and his parents. They haven't completed the wish card but they will eventually get it to me. I already have a full load of students. The new class that they created to help out with our numbers is not serving its purpose but that's o.k. I guess. I am just about ready for them to show up but ready or not come Friday morning they will be there.

Helen

Went to Helen this weekend with a friend for a few days. Did a little hiking, shopping, looking for her a house and adopting a dog. I also took a few moments to take out my camera and took some photos. I really have missed using my "big" camera, my digtal rebel. I miss the feel of it. I have a few shots that I wished I had taken a little more time with because there are some washed out places because of all the white but I didn't really go for shooting, another day maybe.

Farewell to the Candy Man

Today I attended the funeral of one of the greatest men I have ever known. Colonel William LeRoy Kinney died Sunday. This 94 year old man has live a long life showing others how to be Christ like. He has extended his heart to many, many people. He was like a grandfather to me. He and his first wife, Mrs. Ruthie used to baby sit me and my brother and then my other brother and sister after we adopted them. He came into my life when I was just a baby. He was known then as the “Candy Man” at church. He always had candy and hugs for us little ones and this never stopped even after I grew up and moved away. Every time I would visit Zion Baptist Church, I would go and see him and he always gave me a hug and a kiss along with a piece of candy. He even had candy at his funeral. This made everyone smile and cry. He was always willing to help those in need. He would take people to the doctors, pray for them, help out with finance, and call the department of family and children services to help others get on their feet. One lady at DFACS asked how he came to find so many people in need or how did they came to find him. A story was shared today about 2 men who showed (in the pouring rain and soaked to the bone) up after church services wanting a place to crash. The preacher asked him “What do you think?” and the Colonel said that “every man needed a dry bed to sleep in.” That night they put them up in the hotel next to the church. The men asked if they could repay them and they said if you like you can come tomorrow and stack chairs. These guys actually showed up. The Colonel stated that he could count of one hand the number of people who have paid him back. He would do this even if it cost him. Such as the time when the people he put up in the hotel stole everything from the room from towels to the T.V. He was a man who loved everyone regardless. He was an investor, not just in stocks and bond but in the lives of others. He would never take credit for the deeds he has done, but always gave credit to his father in heaven.

He also shared in the excitement of others and never forgot them. I had told him a while back that Mike and I were adopting from China and when I went to see him last month while he was very sick asked me about my China doll and when I was going to get her. I told him it would be a while. This is a man that I would have loved for my daughter to have met. I just hope that I can in some small way be able to exhibit the Character of Christ that this man has. Good bye, I love you and will miss you.

The photos was taken in January of 2006 with his 2nd wife Bobbie whom he has been married to for 10 years after the death of his first wife, Mrs. Ruthie Kinney.

WE'RE IN BEIJING!

Or at least or paperwork is. I have tracked it from Atlanta, GA to Memphis, TN to Anchorage AK to Beijing China. What a trip!

So What!!!

So What if I talk to Squirrels! I also take thier picture. See Peacefullness from Mike's blog for futher explanation.

We are DTC Finally!

As of today (yesterday) July 14th, we are finally DTC (Dossier to China). Sorry I check my email at midnight. This has got to be one of the happiest moments yet. We can officially begin the countdown. As I said before wait time to referral is 13 months and then another month before we travel. Lets all pray that the time does not go up. I am attaching photos of the finished product.

Quilt Square 2

After somewhat of a depressing week of still waiting on the final piece of paperwork before sending everything to China and logging on to the agency web site to see that waiting time to referral is now 13 months plus 1 month before receiveing our travel arrangement. The time continues to go up. Hopefully by the middle of next week we will finally be DTC (Dossier to China) and we can start counting. So something to make me smile came in the mail and it was the 2nd square to the quilt all the way from Charleston SC from Kate Heare. If you are interesting in participating please see the Need Help! from a previous post. Only need 98 more to go.

FIREWORKS!!!!

Last night for the 4th we went downtown to River blast. We haven't gone to see fireworks in a while. It was a nice evening. I had a funnel cake and some cotton candy while Mike had some BBQ and beer. The fireworks were really nice but unlike what we heard about last year the music was not really there. We heard last year that the music was loud and seemed to be in rhythm with the fireworks. This year there must have been something wrong. We were very close to the truck and could not hear the music over the PA's. They sound system was working fine because we heard the announcements but that was it. We still enjoy the fireworks and relaxing under the sky trying to count stars before everything go started. I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July celebration.

Approval 2

Well before the paperwork goes to China has to go to Atlanta to get authenticated first, this will take about 2 weeks then everything goes to China.

IT'S HERE!!!!

Today we received our approval from Homeland Security! It took 6 weeks for this to arrive. I have faxed a copy to our agency. Hopefully on Wednesday (because of the holiday) our paperwork will be sent to China and we can officially begin the long wait for a referral. As of today the wait is 12 months. Hopefully it will not go up to much as some of the rumors that I have read have suggested. So in just a little over a year I will finally be a mother.

Birthday Blast!!!

For my birthday this year, I got confined to quarters for 48 hours. As most of you know that I don't know how to be still for that long. Friday night I got a sore throat and did not feel good all weekend. I tried to go to prompt care on Sunday but my insurance doesn't cover them. So today I finally get to go to the doctor to find out I have strep throat. I have never had this before and pray that I never again will and will never wish this on anyone not even my enemies. I am sorry that I haven't post photos from our vacation yet but will try to do so tomorrow while I am sitting around. For those of you whom I have contaminated I do apologize. I did so without the knowledge of what I had. I do want to thank my sweet husband for bringing home birthday cookies and sorbet, and for fixing me a birthday punch. But I will not dwell on the bad. I am happy to be here among all of my friends. I love each and everyone of you.

Japanese Name

I thought this was interesting because I am getting ready to go to Japan in November.

Your Japanese Name Is...

Moe Genji

What's your Japanese Name?

Lost Ankel

Well as many of you know that I tend to be a little accident prone. I think I have an invisible red target on me that says "Hit Me!" I was playing ball on Tuesday night and a line drive caught me just above the left inside ankel. I have a bruise the size of Texas (or at least the size of a softball, maybe a little bigger.) My ankel is swollen but you should have seen it before the swelling went down. My leg looked deformed. It sort of hurts to walk. I have really bad timing because we are going to New York on Sunday and we will be doing a lot of walking. I also had an x-ray taken and should find out tomorrow if I have a hairline fracture. The doc said it just looked like a really bad hemotoma (a big bruise) but wanted to make sure there was no fracture. The only real treatment for it would be to stay off of it. ha ha.

A Sad Moment

As most of you know by know that Mike and I are in the process of adopting a little girl from China. What most of you do not know is that on Thursday we were asked to become the adoptive parents are a young lady locally. It was a very exciting but confusing moment. It was what we originally wanted. Over the weekend I went to visit my parents and was doing a lot of thinking about having a newborn verses and toddler. I was having a hard time knowing which direction to take. I know deep in my heart I would not have been able to turn this baby down but I also didn't want to let the China dream go. I was trying to figure out also if we could do both but I know that would have been very difficult. Yesterday when I got home and went to my friend's house she had told me that the young lady had a miscarriage. It really bothered me, I didn't think that it should but it was like a part of me had been lost. I really had a hard time sleeping last night thinking about the baby and her mother. Below is a poem that I wrote as I was dealing with my fealings about both babies. I now know that I will go to China but am saddened at the thought of it knowing that this little life has been lost.


How do you make a decission so drast
One waiting child has now become two.
Which path to take- I do not know.
How can you leave either child who needs you too.
Oh! What to do? What to do.
One Child has been born in my heart and here comes number 2.
Oh! What to do? What to do?
How do you kow what is right?
When God has placed them both in your site.
Oh! God! Oh! God! Please tell me what's right
When both are so precious in our sight.
Oh! What to do? What to do?
Path number 1 or path number 2
Either path will leave one behind
Oh! What to do?

Immigration

Today we had our fingerprints done at immigration. I will have to say it was the smoothest transaction that we have done to this date. We got there early, went in and was out in 20 minutes. So we are now one more step closer. We now wait upon approval from immigration and once we get it our Dossier (paperwork) will be sent to China

Quilt Square 1

I received my first quit square today. It was from my class with all thier names on it.

Split Lip

Here's a photo of my busted lip that required 2 stiches. It's amazing how fast the body can heal. A little less that one week later you can barely tell what happened. I think that the stiches really did help because it closed up the gap in the lip and kept it from scabbing and scarring too much. This is a lovely self portrait I took at a red light on my way to the E.R.

BIG MOUTH

This can be taken several ways. Most of you know that I am know for talking aka having a big mouth, but not everyone knows that I have recently aquired a physically big mouth. I'll attach photo later, It's at school on my classroom camera. Tuesday night warming up for the ball game I was tossing the ball with my team mates. I turn to say something to the girl on my right who just threw the ball, and then turned to prepare for the other girl to throw me the ball, little did I know that she had already done so, so when I turned it was there right on my face. Needless to say it busted my mouth. They asked if I was O.K. because I continued to hold my mouth and then looked down at my hand and it was covered with blood and they were saying "oh my gosh!" So, I missed the first couple of innings while I iced my mouth and waited for it to quit pouring blood. After the game I had Holly, my best friend who is an nurse look at it and she thought it needed a stich. I headed to promt care at 8:05 to find out that they closed at 8:00. I then headed to the E.R. at Doctor's and stayed there until about midnight. I ended up with 2 stiches in my lip.

On a brighter note, we got our appointment for our FBI fingerprints for next Friday, May 19th, the last day of school. I have had perfect attendance up to this point working on getting a bonus which I will now loose. I am o.k. with that because it puts us a little closer to getting our paper work into China. This process has had some unexpected delays due to life, It is still looking like we will get our daughter in June 2007.

Dossier and I 600A

On Friday I mailed off our Dossier Packet (the paperwork that will eventually be sent to China) to our adoption agency to be authincated by the Great State of Georgia. Saturday, I sent in our first payment for the adoption and then mailed of our I 600A petition to (adopt an orphan) to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. So hopefully soon we will get our approval and get our second set of fingerprints done. I also want to thank all those who have already agreed to help in the "100 good wishes quilt" I know it will be very special becuase it will be from all of you, my friends and family.

WE'RE APPROVED!!!!!

We are officially approved by our adoption agency to become adoptive parents as of yesterday. Sorry I didn't blog yesterday but I was busy finishing up some last minute paperwork for our adoption. We have our homestudy and follow up complete and can now send it to immigration. We are finally moving on to the next step. We still have a long way to go before we bring home our little girl but we are one step closer.

Before and After

As I mentioned before I am adding some pictures that I had taken on a previous trip to Biolxi and a few that were taken this week. The first one is of one of the casino's Treasure Island or Treasure bay prior to the hurricane. There are photos of it now in previous blogs. Notice how far the ship has been moved. The next 2 are of the Hurricane Camile Memorial and the following 3 are of the Church and bell tower.

more pics

Need Help!

O.K. your are probally thinking something is seriously wrong seeing how I have 2 posts within one day. But it's not that kind of help. I was thinking that I might do something for my little girl while I wait and this is where you come in. I have been reading a lot of blogs lately and there are a few traditions that are common in China. I have read about the "100 wishes quilt". I'm including some instructions that I copied from another blog.

Here's what you do:
Choose a 100% cotton fabric that you like. It can be from a fabric store, fabric you already have, or something that is special to you. (Why 100% cotton? Blends tend to be problematic - don't know why, that's just what the experts tell me.)
Prewash the fabric so it shrinks and is clean; then iron it so that it is straight enough for cutting.
Cut two squares of 100% cotton, washable fabric - use 8"x8"
Add your wish. The wish can be your own words and thoughts, a favorite poem or quote, or whatever. Place it on a 3" x 5" or a 4" x 6" card with a scrap of your fabric glued to the card. Your wish card can be as simple or as elaborate as you'd like. If you feel creative and want to decorate it, that's great too. Your wish can be deep and thought-provoking or something as simple and fun as a wish for a lifetime of great hair days. For those of you who are really into it, you can include a picture of yourself so she can see who sent her the wish.
"An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break." --An ancient Chinese belief

Robin, I would like to do it the way we did Kate's wedding quilt. What do you think. I'm am going to send a letter to other friend and family at a later date along with a few photos that I still have from Kate's.

I would also like for you to send in a photo of your self along with your wish card that way later I can make a scrap book for her to keep. Please do not use the name Katie at this time because we are not sure that is what we are going to name her. We are looking into finding a name that sound a little more Chinese maybe like Kim Lee or something. Lee is also a family name (Mike's side)

for the few friends who read this please comment and let me know what you think about helping me do a quilt. It's something that we have right about a year to accomplish. Do you think we can do it Robin. Later I'll post a few of the pictures from Kate's quilt.

CHOCOLATE HEAVEN

Can you say, "I've died and gone to heaven" that is Chocolate heaven. I have to say that I haven't had a lot to do while here in Biloxi but I have eaten very good. All the meals but one we have eaten here at our hotel the one at the other Casino was also good and for dessert they had Mississippi Mud like my grandmother use to make. She made it for me on my 16th birthday. But back here at the hotel for lunch yesterday and today and then for dinner we ate the buffet. Lots of vegetables, shrimp, and tonight crab legs and sushi. All so good. For dessert they have fresh pineapple, grapes, strawberries, honeydew, and cantaloupe and 2 chocolate fountains (white chocolate and chocolate) I dizzled (A LOT) of both types of chocolate unto the fruit. Yummy!!! It's so good and I'm sooooo full. I am hoping that tomorrow we'll eat here one last time and I'll eat one more time in Chocolate Heaven. I told Mike that when I die and go to heaven I will have this in heaven but it gets better because I'll be able to eat ALL I want and not get sick or fat. I am also showing a few more photos that I took while here. Maybe some of us can come back and help out at a later date. The destruction is everywhere.

P.S. Did I mention that Mike's fingerprints came in yesterday and that our homestudy is ready to pick up. Oh well, I'll have to wait until Monday. We now can finally have our follow up which is suspose to be done rather quickly and then we can finally send it off to imigration requesting to bring an orphaned child into the county and then it all goes to China. YEAH!!!

SHIPPED WRECKED

Well we made good time getting here to Biloxi. We drove along the coast because we could not check in until 4pm which ended up being more like 5 pm. It was unbelievable the destruction that remains after Hurricane Katrina. We I was going to do the "SPA" thing, only after retracing my steps about 5 times did I ask where it was only to find out that it left with Katrina. So now, Mike is playing poker and I sit here typing this blog. Tomorrow I am heading out to the beach and to take some more photos. The photos I took today are "drive by's" window rolled down camera snapping so they are not my best work but it is enough to see the destruction. We stopped by the casino that was the pirate ship and it was gutted along with the rest of the casino. The ship part used to be somewhat behind the main building so it was slightly up rooted. When I get home I'll locate some of the pictures I took the last time we were here so that you can see before and after.

The prints are in the mail

Well today our homestudy caseworker called and said that Mike's fingerprints are in the mail. That means that they will probally arrive tomorrow or early next week, then we will get our final copy of our homestudy. Then we will have one more homestudy followup conducted by our adoption agency Hope for Children. As soon as that is completed we can finally send our request to bring an orphan child into the country. After about another month we will finally be able to send in our paperwork to China. Then we wait, and wait. After about 10 months we will get a referal (a picture and health description of a child that has been matched to us) once we accept and say that we accept this child we wait another 6-8 weeks before we can travel to China. So, after talking to my caseworker we figure it will be May or June 2007 before we can go and get our little girl. In the mean time I will go to Japan and put my energies into the follow up work I have to do for that (teaching, lesson plans, presentations to the communities etc.)

Watch out Japan Here I Come!!!

Well as some of you know, I applied for the Japanese Fulbrite Memorial Scholarship Fund. back at the beginning of the school year. I WON!!! I will travel for 3 weeks in November to Japan where I will travel across the country visiting different schools and learning about their history and culture. It is all expense paid except for little things. I had to write a paper talking about me, how I plan to present this when I get back and my reasons for wanting to paticipate. I did it last year and was an alternate but this year I am a WINNER!!!

Need a tissue

I found this online today. It was not meant to be watched by myself but I did and I did cry.

Adoption1
Video sent by ludo

AN ACT OF LOVE

They say "How can you do such a thing
as to leave your child on the street"

but this is what I see...
I see an act of love

You loved this child that you could not kill
you left this child for others to find

so that she could find love
in this heart of mine.

Friends

Tonight for dinner we had some friends over to cook out on the grill, (hamburgers, hotdogs,and a veggie burger). This is something we haven't done in a while but I really miss it. We just sit, hang out of the deck, watch a little Sponge Bob (for the little ones) and do a lot of talking and laughing. Now that the nice weather is coming back this is something we'll have to do a little more often.

Two Second High

Well, I called our case worker today and she asked me if I had any questions for her and I said yes," about the fingerprints". She said there in and I said "YES!!!!!" Then she said "only yours Mikes were illegible. He has to do them again." (We've waited over 2 months for them to arrive and I didn't want to wait 2 more) What a let down. This continues to hold us up to move on to the next leg of our journey. However, she did find out that she can have them expidited. Yeah! so we have to wait a little longer but not as long as I imagined. It's hard to believe that I will one day be the mother of an adorable baby girl! Most of you have been asking what are we planning to name her. Well at the moment and for the last several months she has been come to known as "Katie Hope" short for Katherine, but of course that could all change when we see her picture for the first time.

waiting arrival of fingerprints

Well we have finished our home study it is about 99% finished except for the statement about our fingerprints which have yet to arrive. Once they arrive we'll have our homestudy notarized, a short follow up from our agency and then sent to our adoption agency and immigration requesting permission/approval to bring in an orphan child into the country. Once we receive their approval our papers will be sent to China(all of which are sitting and waiting on the finalized homestudy) then we wait some more, the waiting time is now up to 10 months instead of 8. About the trip to Atlanta, it went fine, not as detailed as I wished the training was but it was still informative. In the mean time I'll wait, and Robin and I will talk "PINK" , we'll go shopping at the Jr. League of Augusta HUGE yardsale this Saturday and She and I along with Rita and others will have a blast. Robin and I are also both registered with Tot Trade to go to their HUGE consignment sale in Columbia at the end of the month.

Preparing for the Internationally Adopted Child

Tomorrow we will travel to Atlanta to a meeting on Preparing for the Internationally Adopted Child. It will be a long day. Immediately after a long day of work with will go through rush hour traffic to get to the area of I-85 and 2-85 near the Perimeter Mall. The meeting last until 9:00 and then we will travel back home only to get to bed by midnight if I'm lucky. Oh well it's worth it. I think this adoption thing is going to take a little longer than we first expected, Mike's a little more ok with that than I am. I guess it will be nice to almost finish up the next school year and then take a "Maternity Leave" seeing how I have over 70+ days built up for that purpose and then have the summer off and possibly not go back and be a stay at home mom.

A Bear and Roses

Yester day was Valentine's day. I have to say that I had a great one. The kids at school were great and then Mike came home with roses. We had a great dinner (rice, sushi, crab dip, squash stir fry, and salmon). I receive candy, candles and a teddy bear from my students.

Father/Daughter Dance

Last night was the Vineyard's annual Father/Daughter Dance. I was the offical photographer and I took lots of pictures. I also invited my father. It was a night of fun, good food, laughter and dancing.

I PASSED

Yeah!!! I passed my praxis test. So now after 4 years of college and 13 years of experience I am "HIGHLY QUALIFIED!" Or should I say I am highly qualified for now until they change the rules again. That's ok. I am very satisified with my scores.

Tonight I took photos at my school dance. I painted my own background. It was fun. It was splattered painted with pink, purple, red and white. I think it looked really nice when the kids stood in front of it. I will be taking photos again tomorrow at the Vineyard's annual "Father/Daughter Dance" but I will also be dancing with my father. This is always fun. Maybe again this year I'll dance on his feet like I did when I was a little girl. The last time I did this at the dance by the end of the night all of the little girls were dancing on thier father's feet. I'll let you know more about this after the dance.

Home visit complete!

Well we just completed our in house visit of our home study. Our case worker met with Mike and I together, toured our home, and asked lots of questions. We were questioned on our marriage, how we handle conflict, how we will deal with discipline, how we will handle telling/teaching our child about adoption,what kind of child do we want(healthy, with or without disabilities, etc.), how we will handle loss in adoption, what values do we want to instill in our child and many more. I think things went well. It is kind of neat to really sit down with your spouse and discuss these things. We will get a copy of the report in about a month and then we will send it to immigration, and to our adoption agency to get approval. I have to admit I was a little nervous and had lots of nervous energy and was very hungry we it was all over, so we went to SAN JOSE to eat (my favorite!!) Will update you more as things progress.

Tired Puppy

Let me tell you that I am one tired puppy. I have been cleaning my house for 2 days straight not to mention on MLK holiday I spent the entire day scrubbing baseboards and floors. My house is about spotless. That is not really the point of the homestudy but it was a really good motivator to do things that do not usually get done. The main purpose is to make sure the house is safe for a child to be raised in, sure they want it somewhat clean. Clean but lived in. They understand that things will not be purfect. I love the way my house looks when it is really clean but I have a really hard time doing that considered I could place first in a "Miss Messy USA" contest. It's not so much that I am a slob but that I am a packrat. I have things that I don't ever throw away because someone special gave it too me. My friend Holly had to help me do a little throwing away. The In-home homestudy is Thursday. One step closer and many more to go.

2nd Visit of Home Study

On Thursday, I had the second visit to our home study. This was my interview with the caseworker alone. I had to talk mostly about my childhood. I have to admit that I had a really good childhood. I have good memories but I have had family issues also. The visit wasn't so bad once I got relaxed and talking. Mike has his visit next and then we have one together. We still have a long way in this process but time will pass before we know it.

Test

Well, I just got through taking the Praxis. I had to take this test so that I can become a "HIGHLY QUALIFIED" teacher. Don't worry about the fact that I have 13 years of experience plus a college degree and I teach students with moderate intellectual disabilities (an IQ of 55 or below) I have to be qualified to teach math, social studies, science, and language arts, even tough I don't really teach these skills I teach basic life skill. I do teach some reading but it's mostly functional words and signs. In math I teach my students how to count, tell time and count basic money. That's ok. I'll do what I have to so that I can keep my job. I'll let you know in 4 weeks how I did.