Leah laughing at Andrew (another one)

The other day Andrew was playing Dance Revolution on the Playstation. Leah thought it was funny. Enjoy!!



--Rachel

Update on Friday and today

Sorry for no update on Friday. I was just too tired and wanted to escape from this junk for a while.
Well, we are we we wanted to be by the end of today. Friday, we got half of what we wanted done and today we filed with the court clerk. Wednesday we go back and will possibly have to spend ALL day at this courthouse.
Let me describe this courthouse. Concrete, crowded with people, NO AIR CONDITIONING, NO FANS!!! It's around 100 degrees. Those that know me already know that I am quite prone to get hot easily. It was miserable today!
I gave the nurses that took care of the girls in the orphanage an album of the girls. It had pictures in the front from the orphanage and towards the back of since they've been home. They LOVED it! You can see it here:
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9IbsmrJq2YQM
The director asked if they could have another one so they could show it to prospective parents. :) Uh, sure, we'll just whip that right up! :) Seriously, we don't mind, but it's just yet another thing to do before the move.
I think that is all for now. I may do another post later today of non-adoption stuff. :)
--Rachel

Update and something fun

OK, we got about 1/2 done yesterday that we wanted. HOPEFULLY today we'll get the form and go to the court clerk. Now for something fun:

I've been tagged:
This one time in High School, I: got knocked out by a door. Ended up in the ER with a mild concussion. That was my freshman year. I was forever known as the girl who got knocked out by a door. Even had someone come up to me 10 years later and bring it up!

What are you listening to right now: Dora the Explorer (yippie.)

Guilty Pleasure: Right now it's www.etiquettehell.com some pretty funny stuff there!

Favorite Food: Italian and Mexican

Habit I want to break: Staying up too late

Habit I want to keep: Throwing myself into things 100%.

Married or Single? Happily Married for 10 years.

Are you Happy? I am! It's a very stressful time right now with trying to get this adoption done and trying to prepare to move, etc but I am truly happy. :) I have a great husband and 3 beautiful children.

Biggest Pet Peeve: Drivers in Morocco (REALLY bad!!!!)

Chocolate, Vanilla, or neither: Chocolate, always. :)

Dream Vacation: Something with the whole family enjoying each other.

Worst Vacation Idea: Sitting around and relaxing. I want to DO something. I don't want to just sit around. :)

Favorite Book: All time favorite is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Favorite Music: Everything except most Rap

Person You Admire That’s Not a Relative: hm, out of people I know I would say Amy K. who has endured so much. Dina for her attitude in the face of adversity. Ali for her ability to spend her day with 1 year olds an somehow enjoy it (I HATE toddlers!). I know I'm forgetting people so I'll shut up now. :)

People you tag:
Cathy
Jamie
Wendy
Laura

Another baby step

So we went to the office with the guy who wanted to confidential paper before he would sign. He wanted to meet me so Josh came and got me and we went and exchanged some Arabic while I smiled a lot. :) The old guy kept telling Josh over and over that he thought I was pretty. It was sweet the first time. It started to get creepy after the second time! :) Nevertheless, he signed the form and promised the report would be ready in the morning. We called our lawyer and he said we could turn in the papers to the court clerk tomorrow and still go to court next Wednesday.
Is it over yet? :)
--Rachel

One step forward, two steps back - Adoption update

I really look forward to posting about something besides the adoption! :)
So, today Josh and Z went to see the guy with the paper who wanted the form he couldn't have and he wasn't in this morning. They tried again this afternoon and he isn't in but they are going at 9am tomorrow. We are supposed to be in court 2 hours away at 9am so Josh called up the orphanage director and explained what was up and to see if we could see the judge tomorrow afternoon. After some very direct questions, she admitted that we don't actually see the judge tomorrow. Instead we see kind of a court clerk and he reviews all the paperwork and confirms it is there. Then he will send it up to the judge and we can see the judge next Wednesday. *SIGH*
So tomorrow we need to see the guy with the paper and the unrealistic expectation of our confidential form, convince him to just sign the paper, take that to another office where the person there has promised that she will type it up while we wait, then drive 2 hours to see the court clerk to review the paperwork.
While we are there we are going to have to get our FBI check back (They took the notarized translated copy AND the original) so we can get our homestudy released, we are requesting their medical records so we can get the girls a physical for the visa. THey are also due some vaccinations.
We also were told what we needed to get the girls' passports and we got it all and are turning it in tomorrow. They didn't ask for the adoption decree so we are thinking they may process the passport without it! At this point that would not surprise us!
So, if we get the FBI check then we can get our homestudy. If we get the girls' medical records and passports, we can get their physicals done. If we get the homestudy and physicals done we can start the visa process!
We hope tomorrow we can end up with the court clerk so we can get in with the judge next week.
--Rachel

Today's progress - Adoption related

We are getting everything done for the passports so once the paperwork is final we can turn it all in and get the passports ASAP.
The man that is supposed to sign that paper (hopefully without the confidential form he wants) agreed to our friend to meet with us Wednesday. Unfortunately that is the day of our court date to finalize so we need to meet sooner b/c adoptions at the court are only done on Wednesdays so if we don't do it this Wednesday then we have to wait a whole other week! *SIGH*
So, tomorrow our friend will call and beg for the man to see us tomorrow. We'll see.
--Rachel

Adoption progress - a new week ahead!

Friday, Josh and Moroccan friend (Z) went around and did some more paperwork. One office decided they needed a particular report. Josh explained that another office had it. They insisted that they needed this form. So Josh and Z went to the other office to see if they could get a copy. The other office said "That form is confidential. No one can have it!" Z explained that the other office wants it. She managed to get the two offices to talk to each other but the original office said that they can fill out the form and the boss will view it Monday. If he signs, then there will be no problem. If he wants to see that form, he won't sign.
Basically it's like rules are made up as we go. I think sometimes an individual's curiousity gets intermingled with what is truly required. One example is Josh's monthly pay statement. We have had so many offices ask to see a copy of this including the Ministry of Religion!
The best way I can describe it in US terms is this is like if you went to the DMV for a driver's license and they asked to see your pay statement. If you refuse, then they won't let you have your license even though it technically shouldn't matter how much you money you earn. *SIGH*
So, we'd appreciate prayers, etc that this guy will just sign the stupid paper without the confidential form he is demanding that he really has no need to see. If we could get a copy of this form, we would let the guy see it. We don't care, but we don't have it to show him!
We are scheduled to be in court Wednesday at 9am if everything goes smoothly tomorrow and Tuesday. We would love to see that happen!!!
--Rachel

Pictures of the kids

I'll post about yesterday's adoption adventure later. Enjoy the pictures! :) Leah is in green and Leila is in orange.





I am soooooooooooo glad I shipped this pool over here. It has been such a lifesaver with Andrew. He plays in it several times a day and it sure beats the heat! :)
--Rachel

My head is spinning - More adoption stuff

OK, so yesterday Josh and Moroccan friend went to an office and between them and the director of the orphanage in the other city it was determined that our city and the orphanage's city have different adoption rules. Ooooooooooookay! So, we had to do two extra steps in our city for the orphanage's city requirements. Josh called me around lunchtime and told me he needed 2 copies of various documents (birth certificates, etc). Then on his way home he said that he basically needed 4 copies of EVERYTHING! So our printer/copier was put to the test!
Then late in the afternoon he called me back and said "I need you to listen!" I've learned this is a phrase that I don't like to hear because it seems to mean "You are about to be stressed!" :) He told me that some other official needed to come by the house and she would be there within the hour! OK, first off, it's supper time for the girls and it's not a pretty sight! I'll admit that I wasn't dressed, etc. I had been working on downsizing my kitchen all day. My housekeeper went home VERY happy with all her new kitchen items! :)
So the lady shows up right as I'm about to feed the girls. She was all excited about them, etc. She asked for a picture of the girls. Turns out she wanted US to take a picture of HER with the girls and then print it out for her to take home. We weren't sure if it was something her office required or if she just wanted it for herself. We certainly weren't going to argue with her! By the time she left the girls were covered in mashed bananas, strained peaches, crackers, etc.
Today Josh has to go to two offices and supposedly he'll be done. THEN the only thing left is to go to the courts in the orphanage's city and FINALIZE! Don't get too excited yet. We were supposedly going to be done 4 months ago. I've learned to just be realistic and not expect things to go a particular way and just take it as it comes. :)
We are pleased that we made so much progress this week! I am blown away thinking about all that was accomplished this week.
Although we will be THRILLED to have the Moroccan side done, we still have a LOT to do to get these girls back to the states. We have to file for their visas, get them on Josh's orders, get them on Josh's medical insurance so the vaccinations and medical screenings are covered, travel to Casablanca several times to get this paperwork filed and attempt to finalize in the US the week we arrive!
All that being said, the girls are worth it all! I wouldn't trade them for anything. I've certainly learned to be more patient and rely on faith to get through this adventure. A year from now it will be just a blip on the radar. I probably won't think twice about it since by that time Josh will be in Iraq, Andrew will be on summer vacation at age 7.5 and Leah and Leila will be walking *GASP* and approaching their second birthday!
I'll try to update about today this evening but please forgive me if I don't get to it until tomorrow. These days are leaving us all quite exhausted! :)
--Rachel

Adoption progress, banana eating cat and digital scrapbooking

First, there was some confusion about if we were done with everything in this city or not. One person said we were and another thought we neeeded to go to two more offices. So, Josh and Moroccan friend will go see someone tomorrow morning to make sure everything is done. If not, then they'll get it done. *SIGH* I'll be so glad when this is all over!!!

Last night I had half a banana in bowl of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup. Hey, it may sound gross, but it's good! Anyway, when I pulled one banana off of the bunch another came off too and left the very top exposed. I thought it would be ok. I got up in the midde of the night (yay insomnia!) and came into the kitchen to discover that Oreo, our cat, had enjoyed that banana! I didn't know cats liked bananas! He's a weird cat...

I've really gotten in to this digital scrapbooking! I've completed 7 pages of our Disneyland vacation that we took last fall. I've also learned a lot about Adobe Photoshop Elements and Corel Paintshop Pro. Here is a 2 page spread that I did from when we took Andrew to the Build-A-Bear factory:

I'm slowly discovering that it's not too hard to make my own papers, embelishments, etc. digitally. The best part is that I don't have to pack and unpack my supplies over and over and over and over. It's all in my computer! :)
--Rachel

My day

Well I haven't heard back from my friends who were making calls for me today but I think it's going ok. Josh is out of town for his last trip while we are in Morocco. I could whine about it but I'm about to play single mom for 22 months so I think I'll just appreciate that he'll be home Wednesday. :)
I've been wanting to get into digital scrapbooking. The biggest reason is I always have my computer with me; even through the moves. I went 6 months without my supplies to scrapbook the traditional way and I'm looking at going several months without them when we move again. All of my pictures are digital now so it now requires that I print them out and then scrapbook them instead of doing it all digitally. I think when it comes right down to it, it is probably cheaper to do it digitally and have it printed into a book rather than the traditional way. Also, the idea of only having to carry my little laptop as opposed to ALL of the scrapbook supplies I have is quite appealing!
I've done some scrapbooks through shutterfly where you just drag and drop your pictures onto the pages. It's an ok option but I like to do some of my own ideas as well. I made a scrapbook for Andrew's teacher this year using the drag and drop method at shutterfly. I took his first and last name off of the cover, but you can see it here:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9IbsmrJq2ep
Today had the time to play with creating my own layout. I want to do an album of our trip to Disneyland that we took the week before we moved here. I made the first page. It took a while to learn all of the commands in Corel's Paint Shop Pro and how to layer objects, etc but I think once I get the hang of it, it could go much faster. So, here is my first page:

I'm not 100% happy with it, but it's a start and the great thing about digital is that I can continue to tweak it until I send it off to the printer.
--Rachel

Today's recap (adoption process here)

WOW! I am overwhelmed with happiness with all that happened today! Josh went to the office that had our paper at 9:30am this morning. I stayed behind with the girls and tried to wait patiently. Around noon I still had not heard anything so I decided to contact him to see what was happening. I didn't want to call and interupt so I decided to text him. In the states I had a Palm Treo so all the letters of the alphabet were on the keypad. Here I have a basic phone so I tried to text without success. I kept trying to type "any news?" and got the A with no problem but I figured if I hit 6 twice I'd get an N. No such luck. I got an O and after struggling like an idiot for about 5 minutes I discovered that I could do question marks with no problem! :) So I sent "???" and waited. Josh called back a bit later and said that he only had a second and that I had to listen. He told me that he went to the first office and the paper was sent to the police station (the next step), he went there and they did the interview and forwarded to the Department of Health (next step) and that within the hour the inspector and he would be at the house for the inspection! He listed documents that he needed copies of as well. Thankfully we have a copier!

I looked down at what I was wearing. I had not showered yet (I opted for morning nap during the girls' nap instead of shower), my hair was in a knot, I was in my pjs and I looked rough. The girls were in onesies. The house was clean but there was clutter. Toys were all over the living room and papers were scattered all over the second living room (I was sorting through them for the move). Andrew's pjs were still on his bedroom floor from this morning, etc.

I hauled booty and got that house in tip top shape and managed to get the girls dressed in cute little dresses and myself in slacks and a blouse. Meanwhile Andrew came home from school (It was a 1/2 day b/c it was the last day) and I promised that he could have ANYTHING for lunch if he would help! I had just served him lunch as the guys walked in. I used my Arabic as much as possible to flatter him (Yes, I've stooped to that level at this point!!!).

The guy was happy with what he saw and said "I can't think of a better home for these girls!" It melted my heart.

As I was writing this Josh called needing some other copies of other documents so I'm not sure if he's still working even more or not but after the guy left he told Josh that he would write his report today and send it to the next office.

If all goes according to plan I should be able to pick up that document on Monday and have a driver take it to Meknes (where the girls were born and where the judge is). We SHOULD be able to get in to see the judge by the end of next week and then all on the Moroccan side will be done.

I am so relieved! I guess that goes without saying! I am so thankful for all who have prayed, sent well wishes, added our names to prayer rolls, etc. It has truly meant the world to us

and I am amazed at all that was accomplished today. Today's tasks usually take weeks but I was hoping for days. Instead we got hours. :)

The girls are napping so I am about to get my shower and we are going to a party at the embassy tonight and will be able to thoroughly enjoy it knowing all that happened today.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Love,

Rachel, etc.

Leila is crawling too!

A good friend of mine was visiting us with her sister in law and Leila decided it was time to crawl!


--Rachel

*SIGH* Little by little

Yesterday morning we found out that our paperwork had not moved in 3 months. Some local friends made calls on our behalf and by the end of the day we got confirmation from two different source that the paperwork had moved. My reaction was "I'll believe it when I see it."

So today, Josh and local friend went to find the paperwork because if it had indeed moved, then he needed to provide information about us. Today at lunch Josh told me that in fact, the paperwork had NOT moved, BUT they found out exactly WHO had it and WHERE her office was. So Josh and friend went to see what her problem was. She simply said that "it takes time." Josh asked if it was because she wanted money but it wasn't. The friend seems to think she has a problem with us because we are Americans. The friend knew her immediate supervisor and he said there was no reason for her to sit on it but that he couldn't make her sign it because he couldn't influence her or something to that effect.

Soooooooooo, we went back to the embassy and gathered with our local friends with connections (minus one who is returning to town tonight). One friend knows a judge and will call him Monday and have the judge call this woman and try to pressure her to move already!

The out of town friend has knows a top guy who I have met with before. The best way to describe his role here would be like the Condie Rice of the US. He was pretty understanding of things when I met with him about a month ago so I'm hopeful about what he can do. I'll meet with the out of town friend on Monday and see if we can get in to see him.

Josh will be out of town 1/2 of the week so yet another friend will escort me to these offices to figure out what they want us to do. UGH! UGH! UGH!

As if that isn't enough I got a call from the health clinic. My lab results were back from a test I did earlier this week. The diagnosis? E coli - - - AGAIN! I got it when we first got here. I have no idea where I got it from. I don't feel too badly. I'm already on antibiotics and the test showed that the virus is reactive to it so I'll be ok. I go back Monday to confirm the antibiotics have worked.

THEN, I kept waiting for Andrew to come home. He never came. I thought his bus was running late. The school finally called me to tell me that all the kids in his class missed the bus. They said the next bus would run in 40 minutes. I needed to be somewhere so I told them I would come get them. I loaded up the girls, drove to the school, unloaded the girls, got through security (which is a pain b/c of the stroller) and when I got to the office they said they sent him on the bus anyway! So, I headed to the house but traffic was horrible! When I got to the house I realized there was no way I could tell if the bus had been by or not. None of my friends lived close by so calling them was not an option. I got upset thinking about how Andrew would have felt if he came home and couldn't get in. I called Josh and he said to stay put in case the bus came and he would go to the school to see if Andrew ended up back there. Meanwhile Leila's sleeping and Leah is screaming her head off. Josh called about 30 minutes later saying he was almost at the school but the principal had called to say Andrew was there.

We agreed to meet at a the American club for dinner. Josh said that when he arrived they implied at first that I simply wasn't home. Josh clarified that I had told them I was coming and it turned out about 4 people were trying to work out the entire mishap but were not communicating with each other. They then fell over themselves apologizing, etc. Andrew was fine. I was too once I realized that he was fine.

I finished off the day with a brownie with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup. :)

Oh and last night a dear friend showed up at my house with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. She said that she had heard that I was having a rough day. It was so sweet. Here is a picture:

We'll pick up on Monday and keep trying! Prayers are appreciated!
--Rachel

Got the test results! :)

Here is a portion of the letter we got today:
We are pleased to report to you the results of the twin zygosity test that you requested. Analysis of the DNA indicates that Leah and Leila are monozygotic, or more commonly referred to as identical twins.

--Rachel