Ah, where to start.

So life for the last 6 months has been rather insane, in both good and bad ways.

1. Lu is officially ours!!  After two years, we have finally finished the adoption process.

2. We are moving to the South Pacific for about two years.

Aaaand the back story.

About a year ago we saw an add in the local paper for a scholarship opportunity for Belizeans.  Daniel hadn't really been considering a Master's degree, but this scholarship was too good to pass up.  So we thought, eh, let's just try.  Can't hurt.  We sent in the application, and then heard nothing for 6 months, so we thought he didn't get it.

[Aside:  the scholarship is to promote inter- Caribbean relationships, and somehow the South Pacific got included because ??.  When applying for the scholarship, there were only 2 schools offering the degree Daniel wanted.  He applied for a school in the Caribbean, but when applying online was required to checkbox a second choice school.  The only other school offering the degree he wants is in the South Pacific.... and we can see where this is going.]

At the end of July, Daniel got the amazing, out of the blue news that he won the scholarship!  So exciting.  And then we read it again, and saw he had been accepted to the University of the South Pacific..... and then much Google-ing commenced.  We learned that the agriculture campus is in Samoa, and Samoa is really really far away (Samoa actually exists in the future!  There is about a 20 hour time difference from Belize).

Once we got over the excitement, we realized we had a ton of work and stress to go through.  Although Lu had been with us for a year and a half, she was still a foster child, and we needed to get her adoption done.  With Miss M, that process took a year and a half.  With Lu, we had under 6 months before we were expected to be on the other side of the world.



Well, we did it.  As of last friday, Lu is officially ours.  The story is long (and I will probably write about it just to give others an idea what the Belize adoption process is like). I wish there was more excitement but honestly every single step has been a huge fight and so much stress that thinking about it still makes me nauseous.  But we did it.   Daniel's semester is scheduled to start next week, and we will be a tiny bit late, but we are officially, legally all a family and can leave the country together for the first time since we started to foster in 2012.

So YAY.  BUT WAIT.  In a new and exciting (HAHAHA) twist we learned this week that we probably will be going to Fiji instead of Samoa.  Turns out no one thought to mention that the first semester of classes for Daniel's degree are held in a different country (which means different visas and different, you know, plane tickets).  Fortunately (notice the sarcasm indicated by italics) even though Daniel's semester is starting in 5 days, due to the phenomenon that can only be classified as "island time," we did not have plane tickets or accommodations lined up for Samoa.  This, surprisingly, doesn't really bother me, which gives you an idea of how incredibly stressful the last few months have been. Small potatoes compared to adoption in this country with a time deadline. Dealing with four separate tropical countries (Belize, Trinidad where the scholarship is based, Fiji, and Samoa) is a whole new experience of laid back island time, but it will get figured out.  We will get there. We will find somewhere to stay.



The goats have mostly been sold, my car is sold, we have not been able to catch the guinea hens so I guess they are staying. We are slowly packing up and trying to figure out what to bring with us in our 4 suitcases.  4 suitcases for 4 people for the next two years.  (It's a good thing capsule wardrobes are so popular right now).

In summary: We are going somewhere in the South Pacific!  At some point in the future!  And we are incredibly excited!

Every once in a while I start feeling a bit guilty about neglecting this blog, which means it's probably time for another update.

December was a really good month for us.  After over a year and a half of stress, lawyers, and paperwork, our little Miss M's adoption was finalized.

Such joy, and such relief to be done with the process.  At a little over a year and a half old, Miss M rules the house.  She spontaneously dances to any sound-- the cell phone ringing, the guinea hens calling-- and she is good.  One point to nature, because Daniel and I certainly can't nurture dance, we are painfully awkward.  She loves to stay up late and sleep in, her favorite food is pineapple, and she lives in her red rubber boots and a tutu.  For some reason even though she can say 'mommy,' she prefers to call both me and Daniel 'daddy.'  I answer to it :)

We celebrated Lu's one year birthday a few days later...

Everyone goes crazy over her eyelashes.  Lu is an interesting mix of independence and clinginess at this age.  She does not like strangers, but she doesn't really like to be held or cuddled by us either.  She wants to be on the go, exploring and putting everything in her mouth.  Her favorite thing to eat is paper.  She is a bit of a klutz, falling over and banging into things all the time.  I desperately hope she outgrows it, because she is also totally fearless and will fling herself off the couch with glee, leaving us frantically grabbing for an arm or leg.  I predict a future of trick horse riding and emergency room visits. 

And Kobe came to visit over Christmas.  

Random picture, but one of the few I have where his face is not a total blur because this kid never stops moving.  He's 3 1/2 now, and goes to pre-school where he lives with his family, which frankly must be the saving grace for them, because at the end of the day Daniel and I would collapse in an exhausted stupor from trying to keep up with him.  He is a smart little guy, and remembers everything about living with us.  As soon as he walked in the door he started begging to milk the cow.  Daniel took one side of the udders, and gave Kobe the other, and Kobe would sit there patiently and slowly milk, getting a cup or 2 of milk all by himself.  Then he would carefully carry the little bucket in to show me.  Daniel loved to point out to everyone that Kobe is already a better milker then I am. 

(which is pure strategy on my part-- if I don't know how to milk then I can't be out there at 6am milking, right??)

and now, for the rest of the story....

(Anyone else listen to Paul Harvey on road trips growing up or am I the only one who will get this post title?)

The Babe's social worker came to our house to give us the news that he would be going back to his family.  We had a pretty good idea that it was coming; the social worker seemed enthusiastic about the Babe's family's efforts over the past few months, and had told us the judge would not consider his foster family at all in the court's decision.  But still, we held on to a little bit of hope.  When we heard the decision, I lost my breath and felt numb at the same time.  So you can imagine we weren't really in the right state of mind for what she told us next.

Social has been inundated with children this month. We need homes.  Are you interested in a newborn?

My husband and I are Catholic, and believe that marriages should be open to new life.  Our situation has turned out a bit different from most families who have to consider adding another biological child to their family, but we try and follow the same guidelines.  We have actually never "gone looking" for babies (besides signing up for fostering), but somehow babies keep coming.  When we get a call that there is a baby that needs a home, our question is: do we have any grave reason not to accept this child?

We need a little time to think about it, we said.

To add to our emotions, in December we had been in the exact same situation.  We got a phone call-- there is a baby due in a week and the people who were going to adopt have backed out.  Would you be willing to adopt this baby?  At that point we had a 2 1/2 year old and a 7 month old.  I had a ticket to go to the States a week after the due date to take my boards.   We took 2 days to decide: Yes.  We will take him. 5 days later he was born.

He was with us for 2 days, we gave him the perfect name and admired his 5 dimples and fattened him up.  Then we got a call: his birth mother changed her mind. We had to give him back.

In Belize, the mom has 90 days after the child's birth to change her mind about adoption.  In that time, the adoptive family can care for the child, but has no right to keep the baby if the mom decides she made the wrong decision.  We knew this, but were still quite blindsided by her decision.  No one had been given any indication that she was uncertain about her decision at any time.  But we had no legal rights to him, so the day after we got the phone call we handed him back to his mom.

So as you can imagine, we had a lot to think about when the social worker told us about the newborn.  This new baby most likely would eventually be up for adoption, but there is always a chance it won't happen.  We will be sad about our little Babes, and oh by the way we have an 8-month old and I babysit a 2 1/2 year old 5 days a week.

And.... a week after our Babes went to his family, we went to the city to pick up little Lu :)

So this is our life right now.  It is crazy and I seriously question my sanity at least once a day, usually when everyone is crying at the same time.  The pace is a lot different, more "I-need-more-hands" then "little-boy-with-SO-MUCH-ENERGY." Another challenge has been getting out of the house with three under three.  The current solution is front pack, stroller, and leash, although sometimes I end up carrying the stroller occupant....while still wearing the baby in the carrier.  I'm getting a good workout.

 Lu and Miss M are 7 1/2 months apart.  Hopefully both of them will be with us forever.  I can't wait till they are old enough to play together, I am so excited to have 2 little girls who are almost-twins.

I hope this explains a bit also why we don't let friends know ahead of time our plans.  It can be so uncertain, and it just makes it that much harder to have to send emails and explain that we don't have our baby any more...  we are excited, and want to tell everyone, but we need to be sensible.  With Lu our parents didn't even know till the evening after we got her! I can't imagine we will be adding more kiddos anytime soon, cause two babies and a toddler seem to be our limit.... give us a year or two to recover.