Sunday, January 13, 2008

Tidbits

Adoption News:

Rachel emailed me from Acres of Hope. The Liberian staff is hoping to have JJ's case finalized in Liberian courts this month! It was so encouraging to have news. Rachel warned me that there are several cases needing to make it through this month, so we'll have to take a wait and see approach. I'm just thankful to know where we are at in the process. After finalization, we have three final steps:

1. Apply for and recieve JJ's passport to leave Liberia and travel internationally.

2. Apply for and recieve JJ's visa, giving him permission to enter the U.S.

3. Have him escorted HOME!!!!

Unfortunately, it is still impossible to predict how long these steps will take, but I'm hopeful. : )
Baby News:

My first ultrasound will be this Thursday at 8:30 AM. I hope to have an ultrasound photo to post on Thursday of our little Peanut.

My Big Kids:

Karissa has taken off with her reading. I can not express how much fun Pat and I are having watching her reading. It amazes me that our little girl, who came to us as a blank slate, learned to do that! Her favorite books to read right now are the Step Into Reading Books (especially the Disney Princess ones). They are leveled Steps 1-5. She's reading the Level 2 Books pretty well right now. Instead of reading her a bedtime story tonight, she read to me!

This was my bedtime story tonight. She bought it with her Barnes and Noble giftcard from Grandma and Grandpa Morton- Thanks Joe and Nancy!

I have used the Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons book for both of my girls.
Amy (4) loves to do her reading lessons with me and is 1/4 of the way through the book. The lessons are completely scripted and take less than 15 minutes. I was very inconsistent with Karissa. We started the book when she was four, right in the middle of my season of miscarriages, and it got pushed aside. The thirty lessons or so we were able to do gave her a great foundation for doing a lot of self-teaching after that. The teacher in me is having so much fun with this! : )

We are also having a blast with the Fancy Nancy books. If you have a preschool - early elementary aged little girl in your home, you've got to check out Fancy Nancy from the library. We did and ended up buying two from Barnes and Noble to own. (more Christmas giftcard from Grandma and Grandpa) : )

These are fun books, but I also am having fun reading the girls the Oz books as our bedtime stories. We are on the second book, and I've loved seeing how much they are enjoying the adventure and how good it has been for them to be exposed to higher level vocabulary. I like having balance in the books we read, so that not everything is simple sentence, picture books. There are some great classics that I'm excited to read aloud to the girls. Ok....enough teacher talk.

Have a good night, bloggy friends. : )

4 comments:

Jamie said...

Becky,
So much fun news!! I'm so happy to hear about your e-mail from Rachel; I know how good it feels to have a sense of where you're at in the process! Yay!!! And keep the "teachery" stuff coming! I'm always looking for ideas like these!
Love,
Jamie :0)
p.s. I haven't visited blogs for a while, so I'm just now catching up--I LOVE your new family pic and slideshow! What a beautiful, beautiful family you are!!

Dale said...

I am so glad you have news!!! Oh how I wish he would be ready for me to bring him home to you. I know that would be nothing short of a miracle (unless things don't go well with the bio family appt. on the 22nd) What an incredible honor it would be to escort your son, though. I can't wait to see the ultrasound picture!

Praying for you, girl.
Kim

missy said...

Becky, I'm just so thrilled you have news. Looking forward to that teeny tiny picture of your other baby.

You are such a great friend to link to my candle site. If you ever decide it must go or you are tired of looking at it, please know you won't hurt my feelings. I just appreciate the advertisement for as long as I can get it.

I'll be waiting expectanly for more wonderful news. What a wonderful idea Kim had. Wouldn't that just be amazing if she could bring JJ home to you?

Much love,
Missy

Amber G. said...

Wow, Becky, GREAT NEWS about JJ's finalization scheduled for this month. I will be praying!

I love the pictures on your header. He is SOOOO cute!

I am looking forward to unltrasound pictures of the little one, too. I hope your appointment goes well.

Love,
Amber

P.S.
Happy Birthday to your blog!