Harry Potter Day at the Historical Museum!

Today we went to "Harry Potter Day" that the Historical Society hosted. The kids got to ride a carriage to "Hogwarts", go to a Potions class, play Quidditch, and of course, find the Horcruxes.

Nevaeh wearing the "Sorting Hat. She made it into Gryffindor!

Eli is also in Gryffindor!

Drinking "Butterbeer" in Azkaban

Eli throwing a quaffle to score a some points for his team

Eli trying to catch the Golden Snitch!

Professor Snape showing the class how to make a special potion

Of course after we came home the kids needed to have their own "Quidditch field" in the yard!

The kids (and grown ups!) had a lot of fun. It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Tomorrow Eli starts camp and will be gone from 8 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon. It will be a good way for Eli (and me!) to get used to him being gone all day before first grade starts.

On Thursday our documents are being dropped off at the Embassy and our appointment is the week after! As long as everything goes okay Merveille will be home in September!! I had a mini freak-out last night thinking everything will go wrong and our amazing caseworker called me at 10:30pm just to calm me down. She really has been wonderful and definately goes above and beyond her job description. So, thank you "J" for everything and I know it will all work out!

Eli's Harry Potter Obsession

Eli has recently become obsessed with Harry Potter. He has been listening to the books on CD and has seen all of the movies. On the playground he has been playing Harry Potter and assigns different characters to each of his friends (Eli is of course, Harry Potter). He has been saving his allowance to buy Harry Potter lego sets. He has been running around the house shouting "Flipendo!" while pointing his finger at things and making what I can only guess are wand noises. This was an extremely hot week with today being the hottest. Think 100 degrees with oppressive humidy. I knew we would be spending the day inside after their swimming lessons and with the way that the two of them have been arguing lately I wanted to find something different for the kids to do. I suggested making "the world's longest mural" and both kids were excited. Eli of course suggested making a Harry Potter mural. He talked Nevaeh into it and we began. The kids worked on it for an hour and a half! I was hoping that it would last thirty minutes, but they really got into it. I was the one that ended up having to stop them because we had to get ready to go somewhere.
Eli working on Hogwarts Castle while Nevaeh works on Hagrid's Hut

Eli and Nevaeh standing under "The Wold of Harry Potter" (Eli insisted that he could spell it himself)
Eli pointing out Voldemort and the Dementors that he made
It took up almost the entire length of the living room wall!

Every child deserves a bed...

Currently the kids at AFDECO (the orphanage where Merveille lives) do not have beds to sleep in. They sleep on concrete slabs. Another adoptive mom has started a fundraiser to be able to buy bunkbeds for the kids. Please check out her blog and help out in any way that you can-a donation (tax decutable) or by spreading the word about this fundraiser.
More information can be found at http://beds4cohensbuddies.blogspot.com/

Good News Today!

Today we found out that the embassy appointment will be in August, which means Merveille should be home by September! Woo Hoo!! This will be one summer that I am going to want to go by quickly. I cannot wait to have all of my children in my house to tuck into bed at night. To listen to all three of them playing and laughing together. To see how Nevaeh is as a big sister. To hear Eli read a story to his little brother. To have all three sitting on my lap. I cannot wait to meet my son.

Eli has three days of kindergarten left. I can't believe how quickly it went by. Considering the original plan was to homeschool and we did not even register him for school until a month before it started, I have been very happy with how this school year has gone. He loves school. He's made some good friends and he had an amazing teacher. I think she is the reason that he has had such an awesome school year. She really understood his personality and knew when to push him and when to let him be. He's a pretty easy-going kid, but he definately has some quirks that can be difficult to work with...shyness, stubbornness, and perfectionism, just to name a few.

This week we all sat down and made our "Summer Fun 2011" list. Hopefully this will keep us so busy and having so much fun that August will be here before we know it. It's basically just a chart of everything that we want to do this summer. Anything from going to the amusement park to making S'mores. It hangs on a wall in the main living area and I will check off each activity as we do it. I'll also hang pictures around the chart of all of us having fun doing the things on the list. It'll be a nice keepsake at the end of summer. I did something similar last year and the kids loved looking at the door it was hung on. I didn't think to do pictures last time, so I'm sure the kids will like it even more.

The "list". I still need to hang it on the wall but we've got one thing checked off so far! Obviously I am not too crafty and I cannot even write in a staight line, but it'll do the job.

Woo Hoo! I600 Approval!!

We received the I600 approval today! This means that we are getting close to bringing Merveille home! Next step is the Embassy appointment in Kinshasa. Hopefully that will be in a few weeks. Then we wait for the VISA and then his exit letter and then he comes HOME!! So, yes, we still have some more waiting to do, but we are getting close. If all goes well, then Merveille will be home some time this summer!!!

Another new picture

We received another picture of Merveille today. He's smiling! I cannot wait to hold him in my arms and hear him giggle. Hopefully soon. I have been smiling all day because of this picture :)

New Picture!

Our amazing case worker "J" is in the Congo trying to smooth out the adoption process and get things moving along. Today she went to AFDECO and saw all of the kids. Here is the picture that she sent to us. I love that Merveille seems so comfortable in her arms.