I talked to the adoption agency today. They got our I-171H and now have everything they need to send our Dossier to Korea! They said that Monday is their mail day and that they Fed-Ex any dossier's they have every Monday. So Monday is the day our dossier will be going to Korea. She said she'll let us know when it goes out and from that moment on we will be officially "waiting" for a referral. She said the current wait time is about 6 months. We've been told in the past because we are open to so many special needs that we will possibly get a referral sooner, but have also been told to expect it to be six months. So that's what we're trying to do. The wait is hard enough - we don't need to make it harder on ourselves by having too high of expectations. The agency will email us when the dossier is in the mail so stay tuned for a "paper pregnant" post!
I had a sinus infection a few weeks ago. It was miserable! I haven't ever had one before. I did some research and discovered that for many sinus infections you don't need antibiotics to clear it up. In fact, it's better not to have your body have to rely on the meds because it will less likely be able to fight it in the future. Actually, ear infections are the same. Our pediatrician told us that most ear infections will clear up on their own and antibiotics will only help it to clear up a few days faster. Needless to say, I was trying to find relief. I remembered that my friend, who often gets sinus infections, swears by the Neti Pot. I was a little apprehensive, but I decided to try it. Wow. It was the strangest feeling I have ever felt. Good and bad at the same time. But it did clear out "junk" and helped me to breath a little better. Who knew?
Orin lost another friend recently. Our neighbors moved back to Tanzania, taking Tessa with them. If I asked Orin who he played with at school, he's say Tessa every time. They moved here in March and she has been Orin's best friend since Adon left. The beginning of the summer is a time when a lot of people leave. The graduate school ends for the summer and a lot of people leave to take their assignments overseas. The playgroup I am a part that is for families here on the center lost over half of it's members (about 5 out of 10) last month. It amazes me to think of all of the places around the world where I have friends living. We're adjusting to loosing friends just as we make them. But it's a blessing to have them around, even if just for a while.
We decided to take Damien to the library with us on a Saturday. We go all of the time during the week, so we thought we'd take him so he could enjoy it with us. Before going, Damien looked up some of his favorite books as a kid. We found quite a few of them. They are great! It's fun to have a different perspective when picking out books. The kids favorite has to be "Tikki, Tikki, Tembo." But they also loved, "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," Harold and the Purple Crayon" just to name a few. He also picked up "Where the Sidewalk Ends." It's a book of poetry (real poetry, not just rhyming stuff) for young children. He has been reading a few to them every night and they love it. I guess it's never to early to introduce your kids to good literature. They definitely have their favorites that they ask him to read often. The author of the book is Shel Silverstein, the same man who wrote, "The Giving Tree" which is one of my favorite kids books. Below is a picture of Caiah at the library waiting for Story Time to start. We go every Wednesday while Orin is at school. It's a fun time for just the two of us. The Baby Bop doll he is holding lives at the library. The first day we visited last September, Caiah adopted that doll and every single time we've gone since then (which is a lot), the first thing he runs to is Baby Bop and carries it around the entire time.
Caiah cuddling with Daddy right after waking up from a nap. I love that he still does this! It's 15 minutes or more of free cuddle time (you know, without having to bribe him with something). :-) Daddy only gets it on the weekend so it's even more special.
Since we were enjoying our LONG drive back from CO on Father's Day, we celebrated a week later. We made daddy cards ahead of time and made him a special breakfast that morning. The kids love doing this stuff. They each made a card with their hand print and we wrote down five things they love to do with daddy. 
Micaiah's said similar things. I should have made him go first because of course he would copy everything Orin said. Micaiah did say that he loves when daddy makes "Mama Banola Bars" (the granola bars I make that the kids LIVE off of and daddy has never once made). :-) He also said he loves when daddy tickles him and play cars. I love it! Oh, and doesn't Orin's name look so good? I'm just impressed that it's legible.
Random picture of Orin enjoying an audio book during rest time. 
Although we have a pool on the center, expensive repairs need to be done to it and it still hasn't opened yet. Since March the kids have been talking about when the pool would open and they could swim. So I've been trying to find other ways to let the kids cool off this summer. Today I bought the cheapest sprinkler and hose I could find, put it in the front yard and turned the kids loose. They had a blast. I have a feeling this will give us tons of fun until the pool opens up (hopefully) in a few weeks. I think all of the fun we'll have will be well worth the $12.
The United Artist theatre near us has been offering free movies every Tuesday and Wednesday this summer. It's so great. Not only do they show the movie for two days, they show both a G and PG movie. We had looked at going to the AMC summer movies (they offer them for $1) but they were almost all PG, plus they were only shown on Wednesday when Orin goes to school. The kids are really enjoying these extra treats each week.
That bag of Cheerios's lasts Micaiah through the entire movie. He eats slow when he's focused.
I have been wanting to get bunk beds for the kids for a while now. Orin has been sleeping on the floor in our room since his run-in with the "monster" in January. It's been time to get him out for a while. But he was scared to death of the guest room (our third bedroom) and was almost as scared of his room. Plus, the set up with two twin beds right beside each other made the temptation for play instead of sleep so hard. I thought I'd be able to go on Craig's List and find some great cheap ones in a flash. Boy was I wrong. Did you know that new bunk beds range from about $200 - over $1000! Even on Craig's list most ran over $100. After about a month of stalking I finally found some for $50. They aren't new and have some dents, but they are perfect! The kids were so excited. We had been talking about it for a while. We got the beds over 3 weeks ago and Orin has gone to bed in his room every night since! There have been two or three nights where he has still come to the room with us in the middle of the night saying he was scared so we just keep his sleeping bag handy. We're totally fine with this arrangement. Oh, and Micaiah sleeps on the bottom at night, but he's been taking his naps on the top just for fun.
Orin "helping" daddy put up the bed. They did this the entire time.
Caiah helping pick up the twin bed frames.
Before bed Caiah puts his cars into the "spaceship". 
He then likes to line them up on the white bookshelf. He is very particular about it and is so proud of his work (as you can see by his face!)
Success! The first time they fell asleep in their new bed. Damien was doubtful that the bunk beds would really help Orin. I'm glad he was wrong!
That night when we went to bed, Damien was actually sad about the empty sleeping bag on the floor where Orin usually slept. I had to take a last picture of it.
The kids playing on the beds the next day. Our only problem has been when Orin doesn't want Micaiah on top and then a fight ensues. Luckily, he's usually happy to have him up there.
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