A very very long post of pictures...Recent pictures of Erin too

Happiness is not in our circumstances, but in ourselves. It is not something we see, like a raibow, or feel, like the heat of a fire. Happiness is something we are. (by John B. Sheerin)

We have closed out the first decade of 2000, and now have enter the second decade of 2010. The first decade brought home 4 daughters , the second decade will bring home another daughter, along with having two daughter graduating from High School.
(I am not sure why this is all underline and I can't turn it off)

The couple of days leading up to Christmas were very exciting as we were getting little glimpse of Erin's life. We also got our new passports on Christmas Eve, so that is done. Christmas Eve afternoon, we spent the day opening presents, everyone was happy with their present and surprised by a few of them. Monika was just as excited watching people open the gift she gave to them as she was getting the gifts. Christmas Eve night we were at Dave's parents house. All the kids had a lot of fun and the parents and Jade enjoyed talking.

Christmas Day was Jesus birthday. We braved the roads and drove 2 1/2 hours up to my parents place. We brought 2 vans along since Dave would only be staying up until Sunday night and I had the chance to stay up there for a week. The roads and snow got to be challenging at times,but we all made it up there in one piece.

At my parents, the kids (big and small) had a blast sledding, snowmobiling, snowman making, snowball fights, playing games, talking, and just hanging out. Even though we were missing my brother and his wife along with 2 of their kids, and then another neice, it was so nice. We do theme suppers and this year we did Italian. It was wonderful. My niece Cassie and her awesome boyfriend Koudai along with me took the younger girls snow tubing on Monday. We all had a blast and the girls are big enough to be able to go down by themselves. As much as I am enjoying some of their independence, I know in the future I am going to miss their dependecy on their Mom and dad.

While up there, I finished watching Prison break (had one season and the bonus DVD left to watch), started and finished two books, watched some other movies, taught my girls new games, played on the Wii, watched all the different birds on the feeders including 5 different types of woodpeckers, started cutting out material for 300 hats for CNY, visisting with my parents and realaxing. It was wonderful and wasn't ready to come home other then wanting internet again. It was so peaceful up there and help prepared me for the changes that are coming upl

There are so far 3 huge changes going on for 2010 that we already know of. The first one is, I am no longer working as a staff educator at work. In the beginning of December I was informed that they were combining jobs and switching job duties. Because of this, I no longer "qualified" for either position and at the time they didn't have any positions available for me to work on the floor. Needless to say I became very emotional, not knowing how we going to continue with the adoption of Erin without my job. I looked into some of the other places, and would have to take a huge paid cut which would have meant we fall below the requirements. Dave and I did a lot of talking and trying to figure out what to do, explore many options. We had decided that we were going to keep on track with Erin's adoption and put it in God's hands and he would guide us. A week later, a job on the floor open up, the bad news it is night shift. So starting on the 10th, I will be switching over working 10:30 PM to 7 AM. I am not happy with this but am thankful that I am still working and that I am with the same company. Things do change frequently, so we will see what happens. The time isn't good as I become more or less a single parent with Tax Season starting up for Dave, This year he will also have to work on Sunday, so he won't have a day off until later in Feb. I haven't figure out the weekends yet on when I will get to sleep along with taking the kids to all their activities, but I know that it will work out. I will now be working every other weekend and Holiday.
The second change will be the adoption of Erin. Knowing that she will be home this year sounds so wonderful and especially now that we have gotten the recent updates and pictures (they are posted at the bottom this lengthy post, also one picture is posted just to the right of this post). We are working hard with the fundraising and saving money. we have had 20 shirts purchased so far with the fundraiser and have made a little bit of money from it. We are thankful for that.
The third change is I am the only one not in school now. Dave has decided to go back to school for Computer forensics. It should take him 18 months to complete it. He is very excited about this.
Now all the pictures
Monika with her cousin Scott. She states this is her favorite cousin (sorry to all the other cousins). Scott doesn't live by us, so she only sees him once or twice a year, but she is practically glue to his hip. On her Christmas list she wanted 10 pictures of him, which he gave to her.


Jade with her big catch. She made sure everyone knew that she got the biggest fish now
Monika looking at the pictures from Scott
Waiting to start opening gifts
Monika playing with Pam (my parents neighbor)
Jenny fell asleep almost at the supper table, and took a little power nap before opening presents. Dave is content with her on his lap and reading a book
Koudai and awesome sledder. Here he is going down the hill with Monika (green hat), Trisha (on his back) and Katie(on the right)
Cassie and Koudai sharing laughs
Cassie and Katie
Monika
Nell giving Monika a kiss while Cassie and Jenny pose for a picture
Santa Claus (aka Koudai) and Jenny What a nice visit
Katie with Santa Clause
Monika and Santa Claus
Monika, Katie and Jenny ready to go
Monika pulling and Katie pushing Jenny and Steven up the hill
A friend of Jade's, Scarlett came up to....
Our snowman
Monika
Jenny
Jenny and Jade
Monika with one of her new games
Katie loves penguins right now...
Jenny with one of her games
Jade with one of the 2 Timberwolve games tickets

Below are the 5 pictures that we got of Erin, she isn't happy to have her picture taken and has the looks in some of them of don't mess with me. Jenny might have met her match in the Pout Queen.
a little smirk

aha....a smile.....

Thank you lord for these pictures, it help to feel more connected to her, knowing this is what she looks like. Now just have to wait for our social worker to get the homestudy done.