A local hero found

Matt Maupin was captured in Iraq on April 9, 2004. Until today he was the only unidentified captive of this current war. Today his family got word that his body has been found. It is a sad story that we have been following since we moved to Ohio, Matt is from this area and his family is still here.
Our prayers go out to his family and friends. His parents have been all over the news and seem so peaceful. They have been missing their son for as long as we have known of Abby, I could not imagine thier pains and loss.
After all this time, they are now able to put their son to rest. Our hearts go out to Matt. He is finally coming home.

A HERO

A walk through the garden.....

Today was nice enough outside to start cleaning up the flower beds. Most of the leaves were taken care of last fall so not much clean up this year! A far cry from our first spring here. I look back to then and realize much we have done in 3 years. It's fun, being outside working on the yard. We look forward to doing it again and again! I take care of the flowers, the lawn is all Kevin. Abby enjoys her swing set (borrowed from a neighbor) and digging in the dirt. She's going to be a good gardener, I can tell. She has patience and knows things take time as well as care. We are currently growing some seedlings inside. Carrots, Eda Mame, sunflowers and chives. We also have a "head" of crest seeds starting. Abby made a funny face on a baby food jar and says, "when it grows, I can give it a hair cut!".

I took a few pictures of our "signs of spring". Cannot wait to start seeing some leaves on our trees. Maybe in a few weeks.

I wonder how many times the lawn will need to be mowed this year? Last year we mowed only 10 times. We were so dry nothing grew! Our grass is green today, neighbor just mowed. (we both get a chuckle about how tidy our neighbors yard is. When we first oved in, we thought, ya like them................but realistically, who has the time? Or money? We must get 10 calls a week about mowing or servicing. I honestly tell them that my yard looking greener than my neighbors is not our priority, please take me off your call list!

But, I'm looking forward to another season of it!

K

Home study approved ......again! :)

Well, a big day for us! We got word from our Social Worker that our home study has been approved by Holt for the Thailand program. Gosh....what-a-relief......we knew we would be! She said that she mailed out 4 fresh notarized copies to us today! We should have all documents in hand by tomorrow,with the exception of documentation from Holt that should be on it's way to us now that they have seen and approved the home study. So here we go......hopefully by next week I will be traveling to Columbus for state certification. Then we will send it to NY for Thai Authentication...........

......it's really just too much at this point. I remember the relief we felt last August when we finalized our dossier for Mongolia. It felt like weight off our shoulders. Since then, we have experience that tells us it ain't over yet............but we'll try to stay hopeful.

Out our kitchen windows we can see a neighbors side yard very well. We don't know then, but see the dad and son play baseball almost every week. The other day they were out and I noticed Kevin watching them. I could see in his eyes what he was thinking about.....our son. Sure enough, not 2 hours later he was playing ball with Abby in our yard. It was so nice seeing and listening to them together, him teaching her, her telling him she KNOWS the rules (typical 4 1/2 year old!). ...... It makes for a great memory!


What I took from that was Thankfulness....Thank God we have Abby. The time was just right for her. Because of that, I have faith in the timing now. I am pretty sure Shaun will be with us by Christmas 2010....................it's not that far off! (hey, I am trying to be positive!)

Does anyone watch the Apprentice? Well, the cowboy, I am blanking on his name.....anyways, last night he sang a song called "you're gonna miss this". I am NOT a country fan, but I will try downloading that song. It really touched me. From feelings of being a little girl, to being me, today. It made me think of my Dad too, which was a great feeling. Anyways, I wish I remembered his name now, but I am actually a fan............ahhhh Trace Adkins?? Am I right? Well, don't tell anyone, but I like THIS country song! SHHHHHH

Kathleen

Lucky-Lucky

A bit of adoption news is spreading on my yahoo groups.....................Holt has temporarily stopped taking applications for their Thailand program...............we are lucky, lucky, lucky!!!!

Since many other international programs are changing, Holt has seen a flood of applications for Thailand. The wait has lengthened and not enough children are available. We feel so lucky knowing that we are OKAY! The wait will be a long one, but we have a spot. We got word this morning from our local social worker that our home study has been updated. She will e-mail it to Holt for a final look through. Once we have it in hand, we send it with all other documents to the state department for certification. Once that is done, we will have it couriered to the Thai Embassy in NY for authentication. Then, we send it all to Holt and it goes to Thailand...................................................to wait!

We have been told to expect about 10 months for a referral of a boy, then another 7-9 months for travel. It will be a tough wait, but one we look forward to starting. Once the papers are off, our job is done. Except for the thoughts, the prayers, and the dreams along with Abby's anticipation.

Timing....................we are learning is not in our control. But the timing has been to our advantage. If we were just now learning of Mongolia's changes, we may not have another option. Thank GOD, for timing. Everything happens for a reason :)

So like my Mom always told me................we'll take it one day at a time.