Down Syndrome Awareness Walk Today!

We had a wonderful time today raising awareness for Down syndrome! It was a bit chilly but we were dressed for it and managed just fine. A huge KUDOS to the DSAW-Fox Cities board and volunteers. The walk gets better and better every year and they do a great job!!

I was humbled by all of the friends that came today to support our family and celebrate our children. Thank you so much!!!! We love you all!

Here are some great photos from Ashley. She is so talented. Thanks so much Ash for sending them so quickly!

Anna and "Big" Rebekah

Isaac

So cute! Isaac being a big brother to Carter.

Our whole "Triple Trouble Team"
I think we ended up with over 40 people! Wow!! We are so blessed! These 3 boys have a lot of folks who love them.
(You can click on the photo to enlarge it.)

Brothers!!!

Four handsome Ukrainian boys!!!

We thought it would be fun to get all of the Ukrainian kids together!
From left to right: Lucas from Krivoy Rog, Carter from Kiev, Jonathan from Kramatorsk, Elijah from Simferopol, and Lilya from Kiev (her and Carter were in the same orphanage). Lilya is a true blooded Ukrainian and did not want to sit on the ground, so that's why Sarah is in the photo too. :-) Or maybe it's because she's a proper young lady.
What an amazing blessing to have all five of these precious treasures in one place!!!!

Sadie and Rebekah

AHHHHHHHH! A great way to end a great day!

Triple Trouble and DS Walk Saturday

The 3rd Annual Down Syndrome Awareness Walk for the Fox Cities will be held this Saturday!  We are very excited about it (even though the weather forecast is crummy). The kids have had a blast the past 2 years. And of course, it is a wonderful way to raise awareness for Down syndrome. If you are local, we would love to have you join us. you can click HERE to register. Find our team called "Triple Trouble". If you can't make it but would like to support our awesome local Ds support group, please see the donation box at the top of my sidebar. Thanks so much for your support! Preregistration closes at noon on Wed to be guaranteed a t-shirt. Registration is available at the walk.

(You can see photos from last year's walk here.)

"Triple Trouble"...why did we name our team "Triple Trouble"?

This might give you a hint...

(By the way, these were the best out of 110 photos!!! Can you tell on the last 2 photos that I had gotten the iPad out? It got the big boys' attention, but then Elijah got VERY mad he couldn't have it and we were done...)

Yep, it's Carter, Jonathan and Elijah! (We were going to name our team the "Cranky 'krainians" but thought better of it...for this year. :-)

11-11-11

Happy Veteran's Day! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of you have served this country and have sacrificed so much to protect our precious freedoms!!! We are SO blessed to live in this country!

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I love the date today! I'm going to schedule this post to autopost at 11:11pm tonight. We'll see if it works! :-)
I'm not being superstitious. It's just fun to write and say.

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Today, we had our readoption hearing for Jonathan at the county courthouse. (The post about Elijah's readoption is HERE.) It really is just a formality so we can get a "Certificate of Birth Facts" from the State of WI, the equivalent to a regular birth certificate for a child born here. He will need this if ever wants to apply for a passport, plus it covers us in case his original Ukrainian birth certificate is ever lost. Anyway, the only thing the judge asked us today was if we had any questions and if we wanted a picture. LOL Sarah and I both forgot our cameras, so we used Pat's phone. If we figure out how to get the photo off there (and if Isaac will stop playing Angry Birds on it), I'll post it here.

So, Jonathan's readoption hearing was on 11-11-11. Elijah's fundraising benefit was on 10-10-10. I wonder what 12-12-12 will bring us in the adoption world. Hee hee...I wonder if our mothers are still upright after reading that...I'm totally joking though!

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GUESS WHAT?!?!  Carter is OUT of the orphanage FOREVER!!!! Praise God!!!!!  Hop on over to Jake and Ashley's blog at http://homeiswhereitsat.blogspot.com. Can't wait to meet that boy! Hopefully on Tuesday! Please pray for them as they finish up the visa processing and for a safe flight home!

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Lots of crazy busy appointments coming up. Earlier this week, I brought Jonathan in for an eye check up. Pretty amazing what they can tell with a non-verbal kid. His eyes are fine. Praise God! She just wants to see him every year to see how he's doing. Elijah gets his eyes checked in a week or so. Both boys have hearing tests this next week too. Yes, I should have brought E in a long time ago, but I didn't have any concerns. Well, if they audiologist could fix "selective listening", that would be a concern I'd bring up. :-)

I've always had mild concerns about Jonathan's hearing. I just never knew if it was hearing thing or a cognitive thing or a ??? (no idea) thing. But last week, I had Sarah come up behind him and bang two metal pan lids together - 12" from his head while he was drinking his bottle. He.did.not.flinch. Hmmm....Then she gave one big BANG. He only batted his eye lids. But yet, when he is laying in his crib with his back away from the door, I can come in and say his name a couple of times and he will turn to me. Hmmm....So, we shall see what the audiologist says. But you know what? If he has hearing loss, we will still love him all the more. If he has an auditory processing problem, we will still love him all the more. If he has nothing wrong and just has a high tolerance to loud noises, we will still love him all the more. :-)

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The cutest thing...Rachel is now walking around the house singing this song. It is way too cute. We'll have to try to get a video of it.

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Just all over the place tonight with this post, so I'd better stop. We are all doing well. I'll try to post some more pictures soon! Have a great weekend!

Court for Carter - Please pray!

Jake and Ashley will stand before a judge tomorrow (2pm EE time, 6am our time) and ask to be named legal parents of Carter Benjamin.  Please pray all goes smoothly! Please pray for favor with the judge/court officials and we hear great news in the morning. One less orphan! Check out their blog here: http://homeiswhereitsat.blogspot.com/

Thanks so much for your prayers. :-)

(Yes, I missed a few days of blogging. I've decided sleep is more important! We had a super busy weekend and I'm still wiped out. I'll share about our weekend in the next few days. :-))

Carter met his Mama and Papa Today!!!

Ds Fact:  Babies born with Ds in Eastern Europe, Russia and several other countries are often given up for adoption. (Bet none of you knew that, did you? Sorry, it's late and my brain is fried.) At least in Ukraine, it is considered a curse. :-(

Ds Blog: http://www.homeiswhereitsat.blogspot.com/  I've been waiting ALL week for this one! WooHoo!!! Jake and Ashley met their son today for the first time! What an absolutely precious meeting! God has answered their prayers! I'm just in awe...I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. (I posted about Jake and Ashley HERE.)










What a doll!!!  Please continue to pray for them. They may have a long in-country stay due to where the orphanage is. Please pray for Carter's bonding and a smooth process from here on out.

One Thing I Know For Sure:  I'm in awe of God's Goodness for so many reasons!