Updates

We still haven't received anything from Estonia, but we have heard they are working on it. We also received 2 new forms to fill out and send back. It feels good to have an assignment.:) It is unlikely that we will be travelling this summer even if we get the documents today. We still need to file our I-800 with USCIS, and I'm guessing that will take at least 6 weeks to process. Then we have to send the approval to Estonia and wait for a court date. The courts close around July 10th and don't reopen until the last week of August,so our chances are pretty slim.:( I'm not really stressing about it, just accepting the idea. Who knows, maybe we will get amazingly lucky, and the papers will come this week. Maybe USCIS will only take 2 weeks, and maybe Estonia will give us a summer court date. Here's hoping!:)

Dan is having a cat scan of his heart today. We are not sure what the doctor is looking for. We were told the ultrasound looked the same as the last one. The last one was supposedly "normal",so why the cat scan? Dan's doctor tends to be verycautious. Hopefully, things are fine.

I ended up having a cortisone injection last Wednesday. I was so scared, but it was fine and not painful. I did have lots of pain over the weekend, though. On Monday morning, my foot felt less numb. The numbness comes right back as soon as I start moving around, but it is less than before. I opted to try another shot yesterday. This one was much more uncomfortable! Afterward, my leg was completely gone. I couldn't even stand up without holding on to something. It hurts ALOT!!! I couldn't go to work today. :( Hopefully, this one works better than the first. If I feel better in a few days, I will have 1 last shot. That is not something I really want to do, but I will if it means I can avoid surgery. It will be a huge bummer if I end up with surgery after putting myself through this!!!!

This has been another grumbling kind of post, sorry. I do have some happier news. Garrett has made the decision to attend the Vineyard Christian School next year.:) We both believe it is a good choice for him. I know it will come with its own set of challenges, but I think he will be happier there. It was an incredibly hard choice for him to make. He loves drama, choir and band, and none of those things will be available to him at VCS. We are hoping to get him involved with one of the teen worship bands there. We are also considering voice lessons and helping him to start an improv club at the school. He may be allowed to swim with the EL team. He will not be on the team and his times will only count for exhibition. Garrett is not competetive enough to care about that. He just wants to swim.

Meredith just celebrated her 14th birthday on April 6th. She is doing very well! She has been asked to join the dance team at church. They perform periodically at the teen worship service. She also has been struggling to fit in, so this is a huge answer to prayer, and a boost to her self-esteem. I need to set up an appointment with the high school guidance counselor to enroll Meredith in band and choir at EL. She wants to continue homeschooling, so I will be trying out high school for the first time. I need to do some homework myself to prepare!!

Connor is also doing well. He is riding his unicycle all over the neighborhood. He sometimes goes 2 miles or more! He is hoping to play spring soccer. He and Meredith are enjoying their parts in the middle school play. Right now, he is working hard to get an A in Algebra this quarter. We just learned that all 7th graders who have less than a 90 average for the year will have to re-take Algebra 1. Connor is NOT happy about this! He is pulling an 88. We were thrilled with that. Connor can be a perfectionist, so we were pleased that he was satisfied with a B. He could have gotten an A all year with a little extra effort. We honestly didn't care if he didn't get into Honors Geometry next year. We just want him to continue to enjoy math. The school has decided that if the students aren't ready for honors level, they shouldn't take geometry until the are ready. The reason I put Connor in school for math is so that I wouldn't have to teach Geometry!!! Yuck! There is no way he will agree to repeat Algebra 1. So, I'm praying he pulls off a high A this quarter!!

There is not much to report on Gavin. He is enjoying our pirate unit study. He has had a blast with co-op this year. He has lots of friends there. We spent an afternoon at the park with co-op friends on Tuesday. It was so nice to sit out in the sun!!!

Medical Stuff

Yesterday, Dan had a 1-yr. follow-up ultrasound of his heart. Last year, the doctor had thought the base of Dan's aorta was enlarged. He put Dan on blood pressure medication and ordered a follow-up ultrasound. The second ultrasound showed a perfectly normal heart and aorta, so the plan was made to take another look in one year. That was yesterday. We are hoping and expecting the results to be normal, but we will be happier once we have heard them.

The day before yesterday, I got the results from my recent MRI. It appears that the same disc L4-L5 has herniated again.:( The radiologist also noted that the L5 vertebrae is slightly tipped out of alignment which may have been a contributing factor in the disc herniating twice. The neurologist who read the MRI is recommending a series of cortisone injections. We have decided to ask for a second opinion. The doctor I saw only does the procedure on Wednesdays and Thursdays which are my work days. I have no benefit time left, so I really can't afford to take off the time. I am also terrified of the procedure itself, and he doesn't offer sedation. There are other local doctors who do the procedure on different days. They also offer sedation for whimps like me. My other reason for wanting a second opinion is that the doctor originally told me he didn't think cortisone injections would help my symptoms of numbness and muscle weakness, and felt they were "not good". At the second appointment he called the same symptoms "not bad", and seemed to dismiss them. Maybe, what he saw on the MRI caused his change of opinion, but he didn't explain it well enough to me.

Water, water, everywhere

Last night we had a big thunderstorm. The rain did not last long, but it was one of those downpours you can barely drive through. Our house sits on a steep ledge next to a river. Well, our old foundation could not keep the water out. We have a sump pump on the lower end of the house which usually keeps us dry. This time, the water came in further up. Of course there is a carpet down there, so we have quite a mess. Fortunately we have a wet vac and a product called Abzorbit, which removes an amazing amount of moisture, so we will get the mess dried up. Now we just need to figure out how to better seal off the foundation so it won't happen again. The timing was perfect since I had already decided to take a week off from school to get the house back under control. Dan is going to take some time off work to help with the basement.


Please continue to pray for Garrett!! On Thursday, he spent the day at the Vineyard Christian School. He had a good day, and he liked the school, but he is having a hard time to make a choice. We are meeting with the principal tomorrow. Also, yesterday, was a very bad day for him. He is feeling pretty miserable right now, and he has a very busy week ahead of him. This has been a tough year for him. It is so hard to see our kids hurting!!!

This post is kind of depressing. We actually had alot of fun this weekend! Friday night, our great friends the Marquis drove up from Massachussetts to watch Dan perform in, Drood. They were able to come visit on Saturday morning. We had so much fun!!

If You Don't Have Anything Nice to Say......

This blog has been very quiet. I have not trusted myself to write anything but complaints and grumbling, and who wants to read that? So, I am going to try to be good.

Dan has been performing in, Drood, and doing amazingly well! He is always good, but he is exceptionally good in this show. The amount of lines he had to learn is staggering! He also has to sing a tongue-twister of a song with an accent. He is so good. I never get tired of watching him perform!!! The really amazing thing is that he hurt his back on Monday, and he has been performing every night in pain.:( He is feeling a bit better, but he is still sore every night and stiff every morning, poor guy.

Garrett and Meredith have been rehearsing for our church's Easter production. Each year the teens get to perform a dance number called Ashton. It is so fun! While Jesus is alone praying, angels appear to protect him. Shortly after the angels arrive, demons slither onto the scene and a battle begins. There are lots of special effects with strobe lights and glow-in-the-dark costumes. It is very intense, and the kids give it their all. In the end, the demons are cast down and the angels minister to Jesus. It is a vey powerful number. Can you guess who plays an angel and who plays a demon?:)

Meredith and Connor are also auditioning right now for the spring play at AMS. They both auditioned well yesterday, so I am hopeful that they will make it into the show. This is Meredith's last chance to perform at the middle school. The spring show is always very emotional, especially for the girls and the parents. Everyone is in tears on the last day. There are not many boy parts in this play, so Connor is more likely to be the disappointed one. He will handle it well, but I sure hope he doesn't have to!

Gavin is soon to be leaving to spend 2 days at his friend Josh's house. My parents are on vacation so I needed to find a babysitter for part of Wedesday and Thursday. My friend, Steph, offered to take him for the two days. He and Josh have been buddies all their lives.:)

I went to the neurologist last week, and did not get good news. He is afraid I may need surgery again.:( I was scheduled to have an MRI on Friday, but I just got a call to go this afternoon at 4:00. So, I am off to get ready.

One complaint- NO NEWS FROM ESTONIA. Bummer!

What Now?

Many people have been asking what our next step will be in the adoption process. Unfortunately, it is WAITING.:( Here is what we have to wait for:
1. Documents from Estonia
When we receive these we can then file our I-800 with USCIS.
2. Approval from USCIS
When we get this form we send it back to Estonia.
3. A court date for the adoption
When we get this, we pack up and go to Estonia for 2-3 weeks. While we are there we will have Andreas with us, but we will still be waiting for his paperwork so that we can legally bring him home.

Please pray for us! This is going to be the hardest part. Now that we have had him with us, it is amazingly hard to be away from him!! I am thankful that we got to spend time at his orphanage. I know he is loved and adored by his caretakers and older brothers. I know he is well fed, that he is clean and dry and warm. He is quite happy and content. So I can't really worry about him.

Please don't think for a minute that he is better off there, though. He had a small taste of having a Daddy and he LOVED it!! He also loved being held and cuddled for as long as he needed/wanted to be. It is hard to know how much he understands, but I am convinced that he knew he couldn't have us and his "home" at the orphanage. As excited as he was to return to his comfort zone, he was still sad to leave us.

To cope with the waiting, I have a list of things to keep me busy. Wanna see it?
1. I am knitting a shawl for the caregiver we spent the most time with. She loves those boys so much!! She deserves something special.
2. I will have to knit pretty scarves/shawls for the other 3 caregivers who most likely love the boys just as much.
3. Re-read Our Own, a great book on older child adoption.
4. Check out and possibly join a yahoo group for parents of Ds kids.
5. Find a few good books about Down syndrome.
6. Check into the school programs that will be available to us once we get Andreas home.

That ought to keep me occupied when I am not homeschooling or transporting kids. Thank the Lord, I have four great kids at home to keep me busy!

We Are Safely Home (I prefer winter in Estonia)

Look what we came home to.










This was bare when we left last Tuesday.









Sure is alot of work!











I think I might be in Narnia.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Remember that movie? Our return journey is beginning to feel like that. Everything went well until we landed in Detroit. Everyone was talking about the big snowstorm in Maine, and whether or not we would fly out. Dan and I had already been travelling for over 24hrs., so we were hoping the flight would be cancelled and we could crash in a real bed for the night. We flew out to Portland, but couldn't land. Finally, they flew us back to Albany,NY where we were supposed to be bussed to Portland. I did NOT want to board a bus for a 6+ hr. drive at 1am. I was so relieved when the announcement came that busses were unavailable so we would be put up for the night at the Holiday Inn. We checked in at 2am and slept in a wonderful,big, cozy bed until 6am. Then we had the luxury of a hot shower and hot coffee!! Now we are sitting in the baggage claim area, waiting for the bus to arrive. All of the passengers have familiar Maine accents, and everyone is friedly and chatting like old friends. It is great to be(almost)home!!!

Hopefully, I will get a chance to post more pictures and a short video of the little man. Thanks for the encouraging comments and prayers during our trip. We certainly felt a peace and calm we did not expect. Love to all,
Alice and Dan