Just Keeping My Promise

When Katy left for China I promised I'd do better keeping up with the blog so she could see what the family is up to in her absence. Ironically, thanks to Chinese paranoia, she is unable to access this blog, but I've been trying to journal more often anyway. The promise is only to myself at this point so I'll make an entry despite very quiet times.

Actually, we did have a big party yesterday to celebrate Mom and Lyle's 25th wedding anniversary. That was exciting. Cathy and I put it together, so it was certainly not a professional job, but we had a good time and turnout was great. I saw people I hadn't seen in 25 or 30 years, though Mom and Lyle had kept up with many of them. What a blast from the past. But so strange to see people that were the age I am now last time I saw them, now in their senior years. I'm sure my aging face and hair was a shock to their system as well. Anyway, congratulations Mom and Lyle!! Hard to believe the years have passed so quickly.

It has been extremely hot here for about 3 weeks. Most days in the high 90's and several over 100. It is becoming a bit wearisome but finally tonight it seems that a cool front has pushed the worst of the heat wave away--at least for a few days. So we were quite distressed when on Friday afternoon our A/C suddenly up and quit. Having dealt with this earlier in the season, I figured I knew how to fix it and confidently went off to Home Depot for a new fuse. When it didn't work, we settled in for a very long, hot weekend until the A/C repair guys could get around to us. (Well, okay, they could have come on Saturday if we were willing to pay double the hourly rate. At $168 per hour we decided we'd just be hot for the weekend.) But then on Saturday afternoon, our very good friend, Merle, came over to see what he could see. As a long time furnace installer in the past, he knew much more than Jeff did. What he found was a poor wiring job, apparently done when our larger furnace was installed last winter. Cramped and poorly insulated wiring in the switch box had grounded out and sparked a tiny fire. He rewired it and with fingers crossed we turned it back on hoping no damage had been done to the transformer or circuit board. Thankfully, within a half-hour the house was almost back to normal. Praise the Lord and thank you Merle!! What wimps we are! Jeff had a little talk with the furnace installers today. Probably good it was him and not me.

Nikki got a letter from CU last week with the news that her IB scores had earned her 28 credits. She'd been hoping for the 30 that Katelynn received but different choices in course work cost her 2. Still a wonderful headstart on college and she hopes to be able to finish her bachelor's degree in 3 years because of them.

Referrals came from China today for the end of June/first half of July '05 dossiers. Everyone had hoped for a bigger batch, but not many were surprised. At this rate, we may have to wait until next summer for our referral. I'm still hoping and PRAYING for a speed-up. At this point I'd even be happy to travel at Christmas again if it means the shorter wait.

Had a fun phone visit with Jeff's brother Ed tonight. I'm so glad he takes the time and effort to keep up with his little brother. We aren't very good at phone contact around here. We seem to so easily be sucked into our own little universe and just hang out there.

Well, that is the extent of excitement in the Stoll household right now. But we're enjoying our relaxed summer which will draw to a close all too quickly. Katy will be home in two weeks and Nikki will be moving to Boulder in less than a month. And then, all too soon it will be fall and I'll be wishing this 90 and 100 degree heat would be back upon us. Ahh, summer, my favorite season.

Another 25th Anniversary

Isn't She Cute?

A Princess birthday for Mara

Yep, three.

Already Three!

It just seems impossible that another year has already passed and we have celebrated another birthday with Samara. Without a doubt, she is three. She has grown from that adorable and goofy toddler into an increasingly graceful and beautiful, (but still goofy) girl. She continues to bring so much joy into our house and brightens all of our days. As my brother John pointed out about starting a "second" family at this age, "it keeps you young, Laurie." And that it does. (Though I do have to say I have had to stop picking Mara up and carrying her around so much because of screaming body parts.)

Mara has changed in so many ways over the last year. She talks nonstop with an incredible vocabulary and grasp of the English language, including idiom, sarcasm and wit. She is at all costs a "big girl." A year ago that phrase meant nothing to her, now it guides her actions. As in "big girls do this, big girls don't do that." Sometimes she wants to be a "big girl" and fails, but most of the time she is quite successful. She is potty trained, sleeps in a big girl bed, picks out her own clothes and dresses herself, brushes her own teeth, sings the alphabet song perfectly (along with several show tunes,) counts to 10, says her own prayers, (sincere if succinct,) and entertains the family endlessly.

One thing that hasn't changed about Mara is her extreme stubborness. She is indeed a strong-willed child. And as soon as we learn how to properly channel that personality trait, it will be a positive thing in her life. Right now, it challenges our patience as well as our ability to discipline creatively and effectively. Many days I feel like she is winning, but other days I realize how far she has come since we brought her home.

One of our favorite things about Mara is her absolute love of music and all it's related facets. She dearly loves to listen to music and absorbs it quickly, soon singing along with a new CD, in perfect pitch, I might add. Nikki loves to sing a note and have Mara match her. This makes both of them laugh in delight. She can't watch a Disney movie without begging someone to dance with her through the musical numbers and asks when she can take "ballerina" lessons. She has also decided she wants to play the violin "like Bobby." This is fine with us and we are in search of a good teacher who takes children this young. Bobby's wonderful teacher is just a bit too far away in Longmont to make it practical or I'd be signed up already.

Mara has joined the millions of girls worldwide enamored of all things princess. She would live in a pink castle wearing nothing but pink dresses if someone would let her. I've never had quite such a girlie girl before. It is delightful but strange to my sensibilities. She wears her two sundresses first thing when laundry is done and always wants to wear her one nightgown because it is like a dress. Katelynn told me to buy more dresses this summer.

Once again I wept for her birthparents this week and prayed for God's comfort to be upon them. And once again I thanked God for his goodness to Jeff and I in allowing us to raise this wonderful little girl. Mara has so often heard me say that I am blessed to be her mother that she now takes my face in her hands and with a big grin loudly says, "you a blessed mama!" Yes I am!!!

And The Results Are. . .

After a long and stressful wait, the IB results have finally been posted. Nikki had a bit of a struggle with her password so couldn't access the scores online, but three days after posting she was finally able to reach Mr. Augenstien who had her results in hand. (Drum roll, please. . .) She did it!!! Her test scores were high enough for her to receive the prestigious IB Diploma she worked so hard for during her high school years. Way to go Nikki!!! We couldn't be more proud!

Now she is just hoping CU will give her as many credits as they gave Katelynn 3 years ago so that she too will be starting with a virtual year of college under her belt. Whew! Two down, two to go. I'm sure Samara and her mei mei will be so excited to consider this program when they reach high school age. Yeah, right.

Congratulations, Nikki! Enjoy your success.

Travel and Stuff

Those of us who are not world travelers this summer are on a "working" vacation with Jeff. We wanted to get away from the usual to enjoy one more family vacation with Nikki before she heads off to college. But with saving for the adoption and gas prices as they are, we decided we couldn't spend a lot. Since Jeff had several agencies around the state he needed to visit this summer, we coordinated and Nikki, Mara and I are tagging along as he visits local agencies in Southern Colorado.

We spent Sunday driving to Cortez and spent Monday and Tuesday touring Mesa Verde. What an amazing and mysterious place. As does everyone, I want to know what possessed these people to build their homes in holes on the sides of rock walls. And how many of their children died as a result of falling? If Mara had lived there it would have been for a very short time. I was a nervous wreck by the time we completed tours of two of the ruins and I'm thankful she doesn't have a spiral fracture in her arm from one of us grabbing and yanking her back from a precipice. On the other hand she was great at climbing the log ladders to get back to the top of the bluff after the tours were over. Mara and I toured ruins on the Mesa top while Jeff and Nikki did the largest, most dangerous cliff dwelling tour. Much more relaxing for me, if a bit dull. Anyway, quite a tribute to "the ancients." They were an amazing people.

On the evening of the 4th we drove to Durango where we met up with Tom, Mark and Alex who had spent their weekend climbing three of Mark's remaining Fourteeners. They were taking a break before heading out for two more. So we enjoyed a dinner together at Francisco's Restaurante Y Cantina then headed outdoors to watch the city's fireworks display. The weather was perfect, we didn't have to be in a certain part of town or at the Stampede to watch them and the company was great. A wonderful, small town 4th of July.

Wednesday Jeff had to actually do some of the work he came for while Nikki, Mara and I enjoyed wandering the streets of Durango with Tom, Mark and Alex. We perused many of the small gift shops and snacked at "designer coffee and ice cream joints." (Tom's term--quite descriptive I think.)

Yesterday we arrived here in Alamosa and after checking into our hotel, headed out to enjoy the Great Sand Dunes. I love this place and it is as much fun as an adult as it was as a child. The wind was a little annoying (and painful as it drilled the sand into our legs and arms) but the temperature was perfect for climbing to a fairly high dune to "see what we could see." I, wanting not to be a sheep, decided we should try a different one from where everyone else was headed. It also was closer and less steep climbing which I thought would make it easier for Mara. Nikki and I got to our goal and could see a bit of mountain on the other side, but mostly just more dunes. Wrong choice but still amazing. Mara begged to be carried at first and fussed when we refused, however when I requested she adjust her attitude she did!! Soon she was running, laughing, giggling and suggesting we all lie down and make "snow" angels. I thought that was an especially creative and observant idea, though I declined to join her. I did take pictures of her and Nikki doing so, however. Mara and Jeff decided 3/4 of the way to the top was adequate and made sand castles while they waited for us.

We miss Katelynn on this trip, but she is taking every opportunity to have fun herself. She is seeing many amazing things in China and is right now making her travel plans for her week-long vacation from classes. Looks like she plans to head to Beijing for a few days and then on to Xi'an. Since she had been to Beijing before she decided she didn't want to spend her entire time there. I don't know what is in Xi'an but something very cool, I'm sure.

She spent her first weekend in China traveling by train to see the Shaolin Temple and the Longmen Grottos. Somewhere along the way she also took a trip to a place called "Hanging Bridge" on Mt. Song. The bridge could be accessed only by a "path" which I am so glad I saw the photo of only after she had safely returned to Shanghai. She has given me permission to post the photos here. My first response to the picture was, "YIPES!" My second response was, "how the heck did they build that thing?"

No news on referrals but the outlook seems positive. China insists it plans to not go beyond 12 months referral time. That would put us getting a referral for Christmas. It would be great to see it sooner but we are going to expect to travel in January or February.

All for now--gotta get back to vacationing. We're headed home tomorrow and I don't want to miss anything.

Travel Photos

The path to the Hanging Bridge. I repeat, YIPES!

Katelynn on the Hanging Bridge which looks much less threatening to me than the path to it.

Mara climbing the ladder to Spruce Tree House

Nikki and Mara making "snow" angels.

Nikki at the "summit" of our chosen dune