We never forget Rocky even on vacation

I saw this rock and I thought of Rocky right away. It had a heart in it. I should have saved it but my husband calls me a hoarder already so I just took a picture.

Mini Vacation

Every year or summer we plan a vacation. This year because of the adoption funds are tight so we had to plan something small. We went away last weekend to Michigan City in Indiana. We were 6 blocks from lake Michigan and went to the beach. We also visited the dunes which were huge and interesting. We stayed in a cabin with no TV or no internet. Also no one in our family has data phones so we had a nice time just talking and spending time together.

We all loved the beach. I had so much fun in the waves. I kept thinking of Rocky though. I kept thinking what would he think of all this water and the jumping in the waves. I saw all these children playing in the sand and picking up rocks. All I kept thinking was what would Rocky like to do if he was here. I brought his picture with us and put it on the fridge.

We saw so many wild animals. There was a six point deer about 10 ft away from us. Sommer and I just watched him as he walked by. We also had nightly visitors that ate all of Titans and Pebbles food. So the next night we were prepared. I took my camera out and flashed my red light out in the bushes and I bet I saw 4 pairs of eyes out there. Then I saw this one in the open. I don't think he needs any more food

We loved the family time. Here are some pictures of the time we spent together. Family is so important. My kids are everything to me.

Thanks to Rocky's Guardian Angel. If it wasn't for this person we would have some very difficult times. I can't thank this person enough for all of the help we have gotten from her. We love you dearly. This person has helped us financially donating $2000 to help us. This person is by no means wealthy but has a heart of gold. We can't thank her enough. 


Thanks to this very special person.....

Haven't heard much lately :(

Our adoption worker has been out of town so we have not heard much lately. We are waiting on the 30 day CONA (court of non appeal). After Aug 3 he is legally ours and no one can take him away from us. Going through this adoption process has impacted me in so many ways. Who knew you could love a child you have never met, thousands of miles away, and yet you feel he is yours. The moment I saw Rocky I knew he was our child. All I think about is the first time I get to touch him and hold him (never let go). I have never wished a summer away like I am wishing this one. I want him to come home now. We still plan on traveling probably in October/November

Dan and I went to the fair for date night tonight. It was a blast but all we could talk about our little Rocky. How is he going to react to all the animals there? Has he ever seen an animal as big as those cows and pigs? We saw an animal in the petting zoo from Africa it was a Auodad. The sad part is Rocky probably has never seen one of those. Has he ever swam in a pool or lake before? Has he ever been tickled so hard that he can't stop laughing? What about a bubble bath? In the US we have babies and they grow up with all these things around them. Rocky is 4 and all these things will be new to a 4yr old. He has never held a pencil before. For goodness sakes he never had a birthday party with cake and candles. All these things we take for granted. Going to the fridge when we are hungry or getting water out of our faucet. I know I will spoil him so much but he will deserve every bit of it.

As everyone knows Dan and I are teachers and don't make a ton of money. We will give him the life he deserves. He doesn't need a Mercedes, to travel all over the world, or go to the best college. All he needs is love. We will spoil him dearly with all of our love.

I also want to say I have come to know many people adopting and became good friends with some of the moms. Kylie White has been my supporter through a lot of our adoption process. We will be close to traveling together and she has supported me on my good days and bad days. I learned that she and her husband are the most giving people I will ever come to know. I have had some rough days lately and Kylie has been there with words of strength to get me through these days. They are an amazing family. They are adopting a boy and girl from the Congo (beautiful kids by the way). They are so lucky. Their family is beautiful.

I also met Blair and her sense and my sense of this adoption process with our adoption worker are so similar. I can't wait to get messages from her. We are always on the same wave length. She makes me laugh in her messages. She is adopting a little boy age 3 from the same orphanage as we are. We always say they are buddies. Messages from Blair are the best. We are overly sensitive and worry more than others do. We read into things way too much but that makes life interesting.

Sara Gentry is a wonderful mom and very strong at heart. We have been in the same stage of adoption process as well. She recently lost her referral which was devastating to her family but had a new referral within a day or two. It doesn't make it easier for them but their family will pull through and welcome their new little girl with open arms. Sara seems to have so much energy. Reading her posts on facebook wear me down. We have had a lot of heart to heart talks and she is always there to support me.

Amy True is my true Best Friend in all of this. We all love Amy. If it wasn't for Amy I would not have Rocky right now. She has a beautiful family. She adopted one of her girls from the DRC. I have spoke with her many times on the phone and over email about so many things. We connected and I would be lost with out her. She might be coming to Wisconsin so we can do lunch. Yipee.

I have also met many more people (Kristen, Danielle G, Rachel, Adam etc) and also I have not listed some but to everyone out there that has touched my life during this adoption process I thank you. it isn't easy. We are having some money issues because we need to come up with so much more for travel. We are going to have 1 more fundraiser and we hope that it will help. We need to raise $4000 for plane tickets and another $4000 for travel. at times I want to cry. I would adopt so many more children if we had the funds to do it but this is taking a toll on us. We can only do so much. I know people say God works miracles. But I am not here to ask for money. I am here to thank him for bringing Rocky to us. That is what the big picture is about. We can't take money with us when we die so use it now for our beautiful new son. WE LOVE U ROCKY!!!!

My son had his senior pics taken the other day and they showed me his pics on a slide show and I balled like a baby. They grow up too fast. he looked so good in every picture they took. He was working at the fair and directing traffic for parking tonight. He is such a good kid. I am so blessed

My daughter Sommer got a job at Aeropostle in the mall. She is so excited she will be an asset to their team. She was also asked to be a model for a photographer here in town. She is all about that. She doesn't get paid but she gets all the pictures and boy does she love pics of herself. She takes them all the time with my phone. I look at my phone and there are new pics of Sommer on there. So she is excited about that.

Thanks again for reading my blog

Heidi

Shopping ~ Shopping ~ and MORE Shopping

We are getting ready for Rocky to come home. Dan and I went shopping at Gymboree (dan's fav store for kids) and Oshkosh by' Gosh yesterday. We want to buy so much stuff but have to hold off because we have no idea what sizes to buy. Our adoption worker guessed he might be a 4T and size 10 shoe but who knows until we get there. So we are looking for elastic waist items. We also only want to buy a limited number of shorts because he won't be wearing them once we come back from the Congo. It is going to be cold here. He will be in for a surprise. So we bought about 5 short outfits and we will wait until the back to school sales go on to buy him some pants. We still won't buy very much because we will wait until he comes home and then take him shopping to make sure things fit. I have a friend going to his orphanage at the end of July and maybe she can take some measurements. I would like to get a good fitting shoe for him to come home in.

We are all so excited that we got the judgement but now on the judgement we saw our name was spelled wrong...ouch. Not sure what that means I am still waiting to hear back from our adoption worker. I know we have a long last name and I wanted to cry when I saw the wrong spelling. Thanks to my husband Dan for the name.

Here are some pics of the clothes we bought. One shirt Dan picked out that I love is "Best Day Ever" that will be the shirt when we go to the DGM and get the exit letter saying we can leave country and come home. I thought that shirt would be perfect for him for that specials day!

I also bought this adorable small backpack (gray dog below). I am going to give it to him to keep snacks and toys in here for when we are in the airport and waiting at the DGM. As you can see we are getting very 

excited!!!

Heat Heat Heat

Maybe Rocky will like this heat but it is getting to be unbearable for me and everyone else. We had the 4th yesterday and it was so hard to enjoy. The fireworks were GREAT! I kept thinking of Rocky and how much he will enjoy them next year. To live in our country where he has a family that loves him and a free country. What more could he ask for.

We still are looking for donations and thanks to all that have helped so far. It is financially draining on us.   We keep plugging away applying for grants and doing what we can to raise money. Something has to happen one of these days.

We are going to have a fall fundraiser called "Rocky's Road Home" more details to come.

Thanks for reading our blog and keep cool.

Judgement Today!

Today I got an email from Vanessa our adoption worker that we got the judgement. I think this means Rocky has our name now but we have to now wait 30 days for the Act of Adoption. After the Act of Adoption we have to get his birth cert., passport, visa and etc. We are so very excited it is moving so quickly.

My last day of summer school was today so I will now be catching up on some of my cleaning, scrapbooking, organizing and hopefully getting more excerise with my sister. We plan on going swimming a lot.