Weekend of Surprises!

We took Mary for the weekend while my parents went to the land.  Little did she know but Friday we surprised her with tickets to The Lion King The Musical!  She thought we were going downtown to sign some paperwork.  We parked in a parking garage around the corner from the theatre.  We walked right down the street and she said, "Oh isn't this where plays are?  I wish I was going to see Lion King".  Well to say she was shocked when we walked right on in the doors would be an understatement! 



Waiting for the show to start!


She loved the show just as much as we did!  Brian nor her had been before so it was their first time, my 2nd. 


We had a surprise this weekend of green beans!  First ones picked for the season all came from one plant. 


Some of our pickings.  We always seem to have at least 5 or more strawberries almost daily ready to be picked!


We have a lot of cucumbers growing!  Only three plants lived that we started from seeds and planted as seedlings.  With so many cucumbers growing on all three I'm sure we will be filled with cucumbers!


First green bean pickings!


Saturday afternoon we intended on surprising Mary by taking her to Geauga Lake Wildwater Kingdom since our Cedar Point Platinum passes get us in for free and free parking, except for it was rainy all morning and afternoon.  We decided to surprise her with Sky Zone instead which is a brand new indoor trampoline park that opened close by.


They got their shoes on and were ready to jump!  Quinn joined us too and played along with the whole surprise saying she was just stopping by and we invited her to join us as we went somewhere quickly.  Mary again was surprised just like last night at the show!


Grasshopper putting her shoes on!


I was dedicated photographer for the day.  Gotta love infertility treatments and all the fun you are out of commission for.  They were the flying trio!!!!




They jumped for a whole hour and while Mary was tired Quinn and Brian agreed a half hour was enough of a workout! haha!


Can you spy Mary?!?!  She's in the far back left!




Jumping into the foam pit!


Brian flying in!


Quinn making a shot!

We all had a great time with a weekend full of surprises, yet we still have Sunday for round out our weekend yet to come!  No surprises planned but never know what we may end up doing!

Shout Out!

This is a SHOUT OUT for Juri's parents!  Where are you?!?!  This little guy has waited and waited and waited and each day spent in the orphanage in Ukraine is one less day without his family!  We have been praying for him on a daily basis for countless months.  Still he waits with the other 147 MILLION orphans worldwide for someone to call him their own.



Juri was seen earlier this month by a family adopting two girls from his group.  They said they would have taken him home without hesitation had they been allowed to adopt more than the two!  He is said to be strong and very motivated to walk.  Chances are with surgery or possibly even just with physical therapy and leg braces this guy will be running around in circles in no time. 



He is known to crawl all over the place so don't think his cerebral palsy that is only affecting his legs stops this guy!  He can walk in a walker but is not getting physical therapy or any appropriate care therefore he has not been able to progress.  He is bright and sharp with quick comments and is known for telling jokes and being quite the jokster!  



Juri has $1976.50 in his grant fund!  That is $31.50 since the last time I shouted out for him, so it has grown slightly.  That is a small dent in the $20,000 it will take to bring him home however he has a strong support group willing to jump in and help fundraise for his forever family.  Most donors don't donate until a family has committed to the child so who knows who else is out there just waiting for a family so they can sow into bring this guy home!



So where are you?!?!?  I'm sure someone has an extra place at their dinner table to welcome one of the least of these.  Amazing he is still waiting seeing that his needs are so minor and likely fixable.  He is mentally on target so will be in mainstream classes with his peers and with proper medical attention when he gets home will grow up to be a normal American boy!  He is too cute, too intelligent, too loving, and above all too worthy of a family to still be waiting.  I guess it will be true that those who wait only get the best because only the best will do for Juri :) 



 "Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." (Matthew 18:5)

Find his profile here: http://reecesrainbow.org/?s=juri

Holding Pattern

For those not familiar with what a holding pattern is, it is a term for usually a circular pattern flown by aircraft awaiting clearance to land at an airport.  As planes wait to land they continue to fly a certain path often over and over again waiting for their specific time to land.  Sometimes they are in a holding pattern due to an overwhelming amount of other aircraft's all trying to land at once, but there is only so many tarmac's that can be used.  Other times they may be in a holding pattern due to a problem on the ground that they have to continue to circle high up above until things can get worked out.  Another reason may be due to rough risky weather.  They will circle high up above the clouds awaiting for the nasty weather to clear up so they can finally land at their destination.  In worse case scenarios they have to turn their plane around and go back to their original departing location and wait to try to come again.

So what does aircraft holding pattern's and tarmac's have to do with anything?  Well we are currently in our own holding patterns.  We have found ourselves here many times flying in the same circular motion over and over again not getting anywhere but still unable to land.  We have left our original destination and have come so close, sometimes within eyes view of the tarmac of our destination but have not been able to land and step foot onto solid ground.  We are left floating up in the air hoping not to run out of gas!  We can look below us through the windows and see the destination we pray we will land at.  If we look hard and squint we can see people and couples already there enjoying themselves and living life while we are stuck in this holding pattern only able to be flying above and watching them in envy.  Our patience has been tested time and time again as we keep going through the holding pattern hoping we get the clearance to finally land. 

There are two questions we get asked on an almost constant basis.  Are you pregnant yet?  Are you fostering yet?  Two questions that plague almost every conversation we have with family and friends.  We are blessed to have others interested and invested in our lives.  We hold no ill feelings towards such questions and actually when asked, both remind me each time how many people we have praying for us and in our cheering section!  We know we are not in this alone and that we have others who take the time to be involved.  At the same time, often our answers are vague and have always been that we are still waiting.  When it comes to making a life as well as fostering a life there is TONS of waiting.  You get used to having to rush rush rush to depart your original place and get on the plane, you wait your flight length, then just when you think you will be landing you find yourself in a holding pattern unable to land at your destination and it is all out of your control. 

Becoming foster parents has been a journey we have set out on since January of this year.  It has been almost 7 months mostly filled with waiting.  Every class, every phone call, every home visit, every document has brought us that much closer to our destination of being certified.  We have been in the final holding pattern for quite a few weeks now.  We were told everything has been submitted for state approval which can take up to 8 weeks.  8 weeks really means nothing to us as we have no specific deadline date able to be given so it may be less or more depending on how long the state is taking to process.  We are not the only ones flying high up above the tarmac so we have to wait our turn for us to be processed and given clearance to land.  We were called once by our social worker about 3 weeks ago as the state wanted clarification on a few simple things that our social worker had not included in our home study (date when we were engaged etc.).  To be honest we are just taking our seats and sitting in this circular holding pattern of waiting unsure of when we will get the call that we have been approved.  Once we are approved we will be able to land but before we can leave the airport we will have to have one more training course (only one Saturday for a few hours) but right after they will let us go out and start our adventure in this new location of our lives.  We will start receiving calls of different excursions of children needing placements and will decide which ones we will embark on. 

Having a baby has had us in a much longer holding pattern, over 2 years to be exact.  Not only have we been in this holding pattern, but at the end of each month we have had to return to our original place of departure to wait out our next flight.  Sometimes that next flight has come back to back months and others we have had to take off several months and wait for the next opportunity to fly again.  We have boarded different planes that have given us different medical protocols but thus far all planes have had to return to our departed locations for us to wait out the next plane.  Flying with insurance has made it possible to go on so many trips however all the deductibles and fee's we pay out of pocket have added up to be quite costly too.  One plane a year ago landed on the tarmac but was not able to stay so our original joy of finally landing was soon turned into anguish and defeat as we returned right back to where we had come from.  That plane caused us to have to go through two medical procedures in order to fix the plane a few months spaced out from each other so it can take off again yet left us unable to fly for months on end.  We are currently thousands of miles up in the air on our current flight and have gotten to where we want to be but are in the holding pattern high above the tarmac.  The tarmac is once again in very close sight and we pray as we always do that in the coming weeks our circling holding pattern will be ended and we will be able to land for a second time, but this time to stay the whole duration. 

Quinn's Grad Party & Garden Semi-Success

Saturday we celebrated with Quinn her graduation from high school.  I didn't take very many pictures because to be honest I brought my camera then forgot I had it.  This is my official Quinn was at her grad party photographic proof!


There was lots of food!


Cake photo




Our graduation gift was gladly received!  We have told Quinn that every college student needs a warm snuggie to get through college.  She was adamantly against the thought of owning a snuggie but she could not resist the Gryffindor snuggie, she is now officially ready for college life!


While the grad party was going on our puppies were all partying at our house!  We had 6 dogs in all, our two whippets, my brothers two cane corsos, and my parents two labs were all in the house.  No worries, all were caged while we were gone so no harm to the house was done!


We had our first ripe tomato except for it was squishy and melted looking.  Not sure why but we did get some intense heat rip through our area and we are thinking it got overcooked in the sun!


Our second ripe tomato!


All looked great until.....


The bottom was rotted and soft.  This tomato had that from the start before it was even ripe and from research it looks like it is blossom-end rot.  Known for affecting the first fruit of the season which these were our first.  From reading up it's due to lack of calcium (common of first produce so not too alarming), can develop due to drought (we had a week of high humidity and a heat wave in the 90's this past week), and excessive rainy weather (we had 10 straight days of rain right before the heat wave).  Seeing that we've had two of the three and our other green tomatoes seem to be doing well and not have the soft spot we are not too worried about it.  We can't stop the rain but we are keeping them nice and hydrated during the hot days but we still consider it a success seeing that we had our first two ripe tomatoes! 


We also enjoyed our first ripe blueberry!  Brian and I shared it each with a tiny bite but we both approved!  We didn't expect to get any fruit from the blackberry, raspberry, or blueberry bush but 3 points thus far for blueberry plant which is in the lead for fruition! 

GT in Columbus

I joined Brian in Columbus on his business trip this week.  The great thing of joining is I've been able to spend the days with my brother and nephew and briefly my sister-in-law.  We aren't returning home until Friday but figure I'd share some cute pictures of happenings with my nephew thus far!


He is a Thomas & Friends addict.  Every train is a choo choo and he's learning to distinguish them by names such as "Omas" for Thomas and "Encer" for Spencer. 


The best is hearing him yell "Oww Awoord!" for all aboard or when he crashes them and goes "Uhoh dey cwash!"  So most of my time spent visiting with them has been spent playing "choo choo's".


I asked his Aunt Mary if she wanted me to dress him up like something and send her a picture to my parents phones.  She agreed and thought she was so smart and told me to dress him like a princess because they don't have princess dresses at his house.  She thought she was being all sneaky with her request saying I will never be able to get a princess GT picture....well guess what?!?!  While she went to bed I borrowed one of her princess dresses and brought it down here with me!


He got a kick out of the dress!


Even did some dancing with Uncle Brian!


Of course he found some time to play with his trains too in it :)


Arielle and GJ went out to dinner and we watched him Wednesday night.  Fed him then took him for a swim at their pool.  He thought he was all cool laying like Uncle Brian in the water loungers!




Ready to walk back home!

Pymatuning Camping & Garden Progress

Of course before every trip we go on there is the last minute projects the night before!  We finally installed our canopy that I got for Christmas, which may not sound too bad except for it was from not this Christmas but the one prior!  Ok so 19 months later at around 11 p.m., the night before we embark, it found its new home on our camper thanks to the help of my parents.

Here we were ready to head out to Pymatuning State Park for the weekend!  We met there our friends from college who came from MI as well as PA.  It was a perfect weekend for camping with amazing weather with surprisingly not even a drop of rain - a new change for us as it always at least sprinkles every time we camp!


We ended up with a perfect camping site.  We reserved it ahead of time online knowing that sites go quickly.  Just by a stroke of pure luck we ended up with the best site, we walked the entire campground and know for sure we wouldn't trade our spot for any other.  As we drove in we got very nervous seeing how sardined many of the campers were and how most were in the beating sun.  I may have gone into a small panic attack thinking we would have the same fate.  Boy were we relieved when we pulled into our roomey foresty site.  Thanks to a light camper we were able to turn it sideways on the pad to give us more privacy.  We ended up with no neighbors on either side though the whole campground seemed full!

The dogs became comfortable right away on their first camping trip!


The lake is absolutely beautiful!  Notice Brian in the background out on the rocks casting a line!




Of course the pups loved being loved on!  Everywhere we went they drew everyone's attention and were pet by more people than I think they ever have been.  Even one guy approached us when we were sitting by the lake asking if they were whippets and if he could pet them as he's never seen a live one before.  One of the very few who knows what a whippet is and doesn't just assume they are greyhounds.  Of course the boys loved being treated like royalty! 




So pretty and made me wish I had brought my real DSLR camera, yet even all these phone pictures came out nice but it was gorgeous in person!


Of course Tucker enjoyed people watching from the unzipped windows!


I saw at a camper store lights made to fit on ones awning arms to provide bright light for eating, playing cards, etc. at night.  They retailed for over $100 but it got my mind racing.  We ended up going to Walmart and found a two pack of battery operated LED light strips for $20 that we fastened onto each of the arms and it even had a remote that looks like a light switch.  All it took was a flip of a switch and then there was bright lights, perfect cost effective alternative!


Our spare extra large cage worked great for the dogs to share.  We didn't want to haul two cages so took Levi's old cage and it worked perfectly!  The two get along so well that we didn't worry about any confrontation and they weren't left unattended for lengthy amounts of time.  It saved space and both had enough room to lay down.


We had such a great time with awesome friends!  Wish we would have taken more pictures together but we were too busy enjoying each others company and attracting state patrol cops :)  Yup we were approached at around 1 a.m. around our fire by a state ranger who insisted we were not 21 and demanded id's.  We told him we were all 24 but he stated "no way".  He proceeded to call all of our id's in to check for warrants or outstanding tickets.  He was unbelievably rude and no worries I am filing my complaint but he didn't ruin the fun and we carried on despite his warning of ticketing us if he has to return!  Sometimes those guys are on such power trips. 


When we came home we decided to invest in an inexpensive soaker hose.  After only one use we have no regrets and wonder why we didn't get one from the beginning.  We turned it on and cut the grass and came back to very happy watered plants! 


We definitely are getting stakes for all the tomato plants that have all just taken off!


One of the plants with all its tomatoes, can't wait for them to ripen up! 


Look closely in the center you can see the start of a pepper! 


Green bean pods are sprouting!


Cucumbers are flowering  after we weren't sure if they would live but they are looking great and thriving! 


We bought a new umbrella for our patio set and because they were out of it in stock we bought the display for a deep discount plus used our 20% off coupon so paid less than half of what it retails for, plus it tilts!  It was actually less than the cheap crappy patio umbrellas they had!  Believe it or not we had such intense storms last week that our old umbrella had accidentally flew over the fence into our neighbors side yard!  It had been left open and wasn't fastened in tight enough to the base that the wind picked it up and flew it right over the 6 ft fence.  Luckily no damage was done but it was quite the sight to come home to our mangled umbrella remarkably on the other side of the fence!  We had just talked about potentially getting a new one because our 2 year old one had faded but because it was still working fine I saw now reason to dish out money for a new one that will just fade in time too.  Well a broken mangled umbrella was the permission to replace it!