June 2014
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| Picking up Sophie from the airport |
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| College students and toddlers both like naps. |
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| Soph is still smiling after a week with us. Amazing! |
Visiting the Toledo Zoo
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| "Umm… I don't think so." |
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| Toledo zoo got the thumbs up from us! |
Saturday, October 4, 2014
June 2014
Visiting the Toledo Zoo
Friday, October 3, 2014
L.O.A.
Letter. of. Acceptance.
China's official "yes, you're approved to bring this boy home". It arrived at the end of July- 64 days into the wait. We waited an excruciating 121 days for Maddy's LOA. I am still scarred. Comparatively, this seemed fast.
With this very special paper's arrival, we were only 10-14 weeks away from being in China. So for anyone doing the math… it's time to go!
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| Practicing our "happy" faces. |
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| Pain? Excitement? Mom promising ice cream for taking a picture? It's anyone's guess. |
Thursday, July 31, 2014
About A Boy
A few months after bringing Maddy home, Chris and I began to talk about a sibling for her. If we were matched with a child before our one year anniversary, Maddy's dossier could be updated and re-used. In the spring, there was a file of a little girl that we requested from our agency. We didn't get it but our agency reminded us that we needed to have our medical checklist on file to view child files. So, Chris and I took a precious hour and headed to one of favorite spots Buster's to make out our check list (to use the lingo-MCC). After meeting amazing children and families from our travel group, we found ourselves more open to certain conditions.
It's no secret that my husband wanted a daughter. We have 4 nieces- now teenagers- who are the best things since sliced bread and he always wanted a girl just as neat as they are. And by neat, I don't mean tidy, I mean cool. Definitely, not tidy. So, when we began our journey to Mads, we were pursuing a daughter.
This time, I asked Chris if he saw another daughter in our family. But he paused and thought. Some friends of ours were adopting a little boy, Tate and we were following the journey. And gosh darn it, was he adorable. So, we marked 'either'.
In the following months, we reviewed a few files that we saw on our agency's website. We almost said yes to a little girl about a 1.5 years younger than Maddy but something wasn't right. In about August, while reviewing another file, we realized it wasn't the children, it was us. After our move and new jobs, we weren't in the right place emotionally and decided to place our MCC on 'hold" and just focus getting our family settled in and feeling secure and happy.
Fast forward to December. Sometime in early December, Chris asked me what I wanted for my birthday because while a month away, I take a long time to think. I spent a few days thinking and finally had the courage to ask to begin a new dossier in January. Even if it took the whole 6 months and we had a long wait to referral, I wanted to be ready for our next child. I had a feeling he or she was out there. A few days later, I received an email from our agency asking if we wanted to unsuspend our MCC or completely remove it and start again later. Chris and I discussed this to which he answered "if we are going to start a dossier next month and just re-do the MCC, why not just use this one?". So practical, that one. However, we agreed that I would revise it to exactly the picture God had painted for me. (Secret:I knew it was a boy. I had for a long time, so much so that I referred to our next child as 'him'.) So I updated our MCC and went on my way, thinking, where I would start in January and how we should settle in for a long wait since I was so specific.
Exactly 1 week later, CCAI's phone number showed up on my phone. What?!? Most likely something went awry with our MCC or we needed to get something for the follow up of Maddy's paperwork, right? I was at work so I couldn't' directly take the call but listened to the message. A file?! After a quick page to Chris, we agreed he would call back and then let me know what was going on. I planned to hear from him that evening- whenever I got home- when we could discuss things further.
Nope. Within 15 minutes, I had a page "where are you? Need to talk to you now." Whoa, something must be big if he's coming upstairs out of the OR suites.
And big it was. The look on Chris's face when he walked into the back conference room told me pretty much everything I needed to know. He had seen our child. But even more convincing, his first words were "it's a boy". Sure enough in my email inbox sat pictures and information about a nearly 1 year old boy. And from the moment I saw his eyes, my heart melted. Just like Maddy, we knew, there's our son. For the following 24h, we looked at his file, called our friends and colleagues (again, work comes with benefits) and scouted out resources. By the next morning, our decision was made. This time, Chris made the call and had the fun of hearing "congratulations on your new son!".
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It's no secret that my husband wanted a daughter. We have 4 nieces- now teenagers- who are the best things since sliced bread and he always wanted a girl just as neat as they are. And by neat, I don't mean tidy, I mean cool. Definitely, not tidy. So, when we began our journey to Mads, we were pursuing a daughter.
This time, I asked Chris if he saw another daughter in our family. But he paused and thought. Some friends of ours were adopting a little boy, Tate and we were following the journey. And gosh darn it, was he adorable. So, we marked 'either'.
In the following months, we reviewed a few files that we saw on our agency's website. We almost said yes to a little girl about a 1.5 years younger than Maddy but something wasn't right. In about August, while reviewing another file, we realized it wasn't the children, it was us. After our move and new jobs, we weren't in the right place emotionally and decided to place our MCC on 'hold" and just focus getting our family settled in and feeling secure and happy.
Fast forward to December. Sometime in early December, Chris asked me what I wanted for my birthday because while a month away, I take a long time to think. I spent a few days thinking and finally had the courage to ask to begin a new dossier in January. Even if it took the whole 6 months and we had a long wait to referral, I wanted to be ready for our next child. I had a feeling he or she was out there. A few days later, I received an email from our agency asking if we wanted to unsuspend our MCC or completely remove it and start again later. Chris and I discussed this to which he answered "if we are going to start a dossier next month and just re-do the MCC, why not just use this one?". So practical, that one. However, we agreed that I would revise it to exactly the picture God had painted for me. (Secret:I knew it was a boy. I had for a long time, so much so that I referred to our next child as 'him'.) So I updated our MCC and went on my way, thinking, where I would start in January and how we should settle in for a long wait since I was so specific.
Exactly 1 week later, CCAI's phone number showed up on my phone. What?!? Most likely something went awry with our MCC or we needed to get something for the follow up of Maddy's paperwork, right? I was at work so I couldn't' directly take the call but listened to the message. A file?! After a quick page to Chris, we agreed he would call back and then let me know what was going on. I planned to hear from him that evening- whenever I got home- when we could discuss things further.
Nope. Within 15 minutes, I had a page "where are you? Need to talk to you now." Whoa, something must be big if he's coming upstairs out of the OR suites.
And big it was. The look on Chris's face when he walked into the back conference room told me pretty much everything I needed to know. He had seen our child. But even more convincing, his first words were "it's a boy". Sure enough in my email inbox sat pictures and information about a nearly 1 year old boy. And from the moment I saw his eyes, my heart melted. Just like Maddy, we knew, there's our son. For the following 24h, we looked at his file, called our friends and colleagues (again, work comes with benefits) and scouted out resources. By the next morning, our decision was made. This time, Chris made the call and had the fun of hearing "congratulations on your new son!".
What a wonderful Christmas present.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Once was so nice...
…we're doing it twice.
Team Roark has been busy this winter. Yes, the usual stuff- current jobs, future jobs, preschool, swim lessons.
But there's more. Team Roark is growing.
By one.
For the dozen people still following our blog… drum roll, please.
Please follow us on our journey as we bring home our son, Max.
(Yes, you are correct that he's incredibly adorable and his eyes melt your heart.)
Team Roark has been busy this winter. Yes, the usual stuff- current jobs, future jobs, preschool, swim lessons.
But there's more. Team Roark is growing.
By one.
For the dozen people still following our blog… drum roll, please.
Please follow us on our journey as we bring home our son, Max.
(Yes, you are correct that he's incredibly adorable and his eyes melt your heart.)
Brown eyes
I spent my life wanting blue eyes. My mom has beautiful blue eyes and I wanted to have eyes like her. But alas, no matter how many carrots I ate, my eyes remained brown.
For anyone who is unaware, enough carrots will turn your eyes blue, according to my mother.
My darling brother, who has lovely cornflower blue eyes, used to stick his tongue out and exclaim "I don't have to eat carrots, my eyes are already blue!".
But then Maddy came into my life. Sometime, a few weeks ago, she stopped her perpetual motion before bed, held my face and looked straight into my eyes.
"Mama, wu have brown eyes. Just like me. We the same."
All those years of wishing for blue eyes vanished in that moment. Not only did that comment make me appreciate what God gave me but know exactly why. I may not have answers for all her future questions. But we share something.
Yes, my sweet girl and I have brown eyes. We the same.
For anyone who is unaware, enough carrots will turn your eyes blue, according to my mother.
My darling brother, who has lovely cornflower blue eyes, used to stick his tongue out and exclaim "I don't have to eat carrots, my eyes are already blue!".
But then Maddy came into my life. Sometime, a few weeks ago, she stopped her perpetual motion before bed, held my face and looked straight into my eyes.
"Mama, wu have brown eyes. Just like me. We the same."
All those years of wishing for blue eyes vanished in that moment. Not only did that comment make me appreciate what God gave me but know exactly why. I may not have answers for all her future questions. But we share something.
Yes, my sweet girl and I have brown eyes. We the same.
Saturday, May 3, 2014
First Day of Preschool
Maddy started preschool at the end of January. She was clearly ready- ready to make friends, ready to learn. And as much as I wanted her to be ready from a development standpoint, my heart ached. Because once preschool starts, school starts.
And that means she's already growing up on us.
Right before our eyes, our tiny girl has blossomed. She is far from the baby we met in Zhengzhou. She's a vibrant, talkative little girl. Or "Big Girl" as she tells me.
So, while she was ready, I was not. But that will probably always be the case. The day we take her to college, it will feel like we just hugged her for the first time in China.
No one said parenting was going to be easy.
And that means she's already growing up on us.
Right before our eyes, our tiny girl has blossomed. She is far from the baby we met in Zhengzhou. She's a vibrant, talkative little girl. Or "Big Girl" as she tells me.
So, while she was ready, I was not. But that will probably always be the case. The day we take her to college, it will feel like we just hugged her for the first time in China.
No one said parenting was going to be easy.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Eternal Winter
It is not lost of me (or most people, I think) that the movie Frozen debuted during one of the longest and harshest winters on record. It took a lot of creative thinking, many hours at the mall play center and local indoor playgrounds and heavy layering to make it through. The beautiful piles of snow in the pics below look romantic and playful but I am yet to be wistful for them.
In the words of Maddy's favorite character from Frozen " I like to close my eyes and imagine what's it will be like when summer does come."
In the words of Maddy's favorite character from Frozen " I like to close my eyes and imagine what's it will be like when summer does come."
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| Living among nature has its downfalls. Jeep vs deer. Jeep wins. |
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| What a helper! |
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| Taking a walk in the snow. |
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| Mama's birthday. |
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| The cake, while delicious, had some cosmetic flaws. But I have a husband who bakes for me, so I won't complain. |
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| Making our pizza dough |
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| These two are the best! |
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| Heading out to birthday dinner. Steak + glass of wine= happy girl |
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| Snowbunnies! |
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