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Lazy weekend day...

Today Juddy had his last day of "dribbling dinosaurs". He walked away feeling quite proud after getting 8 shots in the basket!
Another milestone for Drew too, as he drove the go-kart up and down the driveway and learned how to work the gas and brake. He did so well and felt like such a big boy...which he is.





This silver pendant arrived yesterday and I love it. It is "Born in my...heart" and on the back "my sweet girl". I love it! I will wear it and think of bringing our daughter home. I have been busy working on our dossier (documents to send to Ethiopia) and know each time I get to check something off my list that we are that much closer!

Andy is on-call this weekend, but hasn't been called away, which is great! Jack Jack is recovering from double ear infections and is on his 3rd antibiotic in the last 3 weeks. We just had a sleepless night the other night. Those nights are rough, but the day after is the real struggle! I think he has the same sort of chronic ear infections that Juddy had as a little guy...I suspect tubes are in Jack's future. Juddy and Jack are alike in so many ways both physcially and personality!
That's today...March 29, 2008~

It's official...our homestudy has been approved!!

At last, we received the word today that our homestudy is approved! Yeh! It was a long process, which I won't go too far into because I am just glad it is over! What it comes down to is that the homestudy and placements agencies believe we are fit parents and therefore capable of adopting a daughter! There is some validation in our parenting! It really feels like a big milestone in this adoption journey. However, don't be decieved, there is still a long journey ahead of us. I have to get the homestudy certified by the state and another copy goes to the Homeland Security & Immigration department for approval. Then we pull all of our documents, of which I have almost everything already ready to go, and send those to the agency, who then send it on for more approval by the Ethiopian Embassy and then finally to Ethiopia......enough of all that. Needless to say, it is a task oriented process. But instead of gaining baby weight and more stretch marks, I am gaining baby patience and stretching my energies to complete every little task to bring her home! I have a stack of paperwork to go over with Andy...I better do it while he is having a glass of wine. Basketball is on so it may be a challenge! Actually, Andy is really excited and the wine was for us to celebrate this milestone!



Today I completed a painting for Andy which I have been working on for a while. It is based on a quote by Lucian de Crescenzo (not sure who he is..) that I found. The quote "We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing eachother". I love that quote and what it represents. For me, it was the perfect painting to express my relationship with Andy. That's today, March 27, 2008 -a day in the life of the Rikkers!

Today March 26, 2008

I am moving forward full force in planning for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation fundraising event! It is quite and undertaking since it will be at our home and could possibly be quite large! I hope alot of people feel moved to come. The fantastic band, Clear Blue Betty, have volunteered their time and talent to perform for us. This is huge! They are so wonderful to give of themselves and their music is fantastic! Check them out! Then I am gathering all sorts of items for the silent auction....Dad got K-Swiss to donate items and also outfit me for the AIDS Walk Africa. How amazing is that! Margo will be donating yoga items from Nike (she is a Nike sponsored athlete and is currently in Mallorca, Spain for 6 weeks!). Then I have many artists donating paintings. My mentor, Debbie Meyer, who is a light in my life for one. She is an amazing artist and teacher. My mother has even been working on pieces! Go Mom! I will also be submitting some of my own work. (This is photo above is one of my latest pieces that I painted from a scene in a Germany park that we ran across when we lived abroad). Anyway, there is so much to do and so many people to contact...rent the snowcone machine, moon walk etc... I will fit it all in because it is something I am really excited about!

It is peacefully quiet here at he moment. Juddy & Drew are at school and Jack is napping and I have time to myself. ahhhh. In these moments I am thinking about our daughter so often. I just ordered a wonderful pendant from http://www.etsy.com/ (fantastic artist's website!). The artist is listed under "Junkposse" and she creates jewerly from salvaged silver. I found the perfect pendant for my charm braclete! It is a heart with africa on it and then say "born in my" with another pendant on top. So, "Born in my heart" africa pendant....how perfect is that. I had it engraved on the back "My sweet girl", which of course is what my Mom called me, and I will of course call my sweet girl. She is never far from my thoughts...just as when you literally carry your child in your body. This is an amazing journey. Right now I am thinking so often of her birth mother and for her well-being. She and our daughter have quite a journey ahead of them and they are in my heart.

The boys are doing well. That photo above is of our freckle-faced boy, Drew. Juddy is going to be an acrobat in the Kindergarten Circus! This is a very big deal in the life of a kindergartener! Jack is into everything, crawling and climbing, but remains snuggly. He is saying words like Dada (his favorite person in the world!), ball, hi/bye. He is almost 17 months old and has the best curly "mullet" hair-do going. I love it! Drew had a big moment yesterday when he mastered using scissors! It was so exciting to see him be successful, as he struggles with his fine motor skills. He used a pair of surgical scissors and for some reason they really helped him get the hang of it. He didn't want to stop cutting things! It is in those moments you realize what an honor it is to watch a child grow. When you really see, right before your eyes, your baby growing and changing. That is what it is all about.

Cabo San Lucas

Andy and I had a week away last week to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico with our dear friends, Dan & Marcie! What a blast we all had! It is a beautiful location on the Sea of Cortez and cusp of the Pacific Ocean. The rock formations, a.k.a. the arch, is a beautiful site. We enjoyed ourselves at the all-inclusive Riu Palace...where they gave us too much of their awesome food and drinks. I loved the guacamole that was even served at the breakfast buffet! Also, the "miami vice" mix of pina colada/strawberry daquiri was a favorite drink by the pool. The ocean there was beautiful, but had a very strong current, not good after a few too many miami vice drinks!! We loved whale watching and really got quite close to a mother and baby sperm whales. Now that is a sight! The dune buggie 3 hour tour was rough...I knew it wouldn't be my thing once I had googles, helmet and bandana on my face. After a long ride through the desert I was never more excited to be poolside! More than anything, Andy and I enjoyed having time to ourselves. We missed the boys terribly and it was awful to know that Jack was having the very difficult time with us away. But we all survived the seperation. We arrived home at night and the welcome the next morning was beautiful. The boys were so full of smiles, hugs..and so were Mommy & Daddy! It was wonderful and may have been the best part of the trip!

Let's start blogging!

I have wanted to document our lives in some way as they seem to be passing as quickly as "they" always said it would. So, I am trying to catch up with the times and here I am blogging!

One of my goals is to share the "days of our lives" so to speak. To say out loud...the good and the bad. The joys and tears we feel. Another reason I want to document our lives is for our daughter. Since she has been "born in our hearts" I don't have the ordinary documentation of the pregnancy, like I had with the boys. But my heart certainly feels very pregnant with our love for her. She will be coming to us in the next year and while there is much that is unknown, we trust that she will be brought into our lives just as God intends in uniting us! We remind ourselves of this when we feel frustrated that we have very little control in the matter. But really, in life how much can we control? It is a good lesson in patience and I know it she is worth waiting for.

So, here I set off on sharing with friends and family, and maybe even some unknown friends out there in cyberspace, what our family is living and feeling today..March 25, 2008.