Dossier

For those who don't know we are in process of adopting a little girl from Ethiopia. Adoption has been on our hearts for a long time so we finally started the process this past January. After a lot of researching and praying we applied with AWAA (http://www.awaa.org/) It is a Christian organization and they been so helpful and supportive in this whole process.

Anyway, after

22 Official documents (all notarized and authenticated with the official seals from Secretary of State) from a total of 5 states (NH, MA, VA, CO, TX)

A total of 79 pages (times 3 since we had to make 3 copies) (Yes that would be 237 pages in total)

3 sets of 20 pictures of our family

4 visa pictures

6 pages of passport copies

3 visits from a social worker

4 trips to the USCIS (fomerly INS)

3 trips to the state Capitol

(Lenka is on first name basis at both of these places and they all know our kids and what they are up to)

Many trips to the Dr. office and I don't remember how many phone calls

I don't even remember how many trip to the post office

and

one trip to the FedEx office

we got the paperwork completed. We still have another 6-10 months of waiting ahead of us.

Sam, Nate and Emma holding the packet a few seconds before we sent it overnight to our adoption agency. (By the way the kids are so excited and they are so encouraging when we feel down. And there are many ups and downs in this process.)
All the papers we worked on in last 5 months.

And here are the official seal from five states.

NH
VA, this one we liked the most. It was also the biggest one in size. When we first saw it we were wondering what size the TX one will be. We were hoping for a really big one since everything is big in Texas but as you can see, we were very disappointed.
MA
CO
TX

May pictures

It seems that the month of May if always filled with lots of activities. Here are some pictures of what has been going on with our lives. But we have even bigger news so check back soon to see what is going on. I love our house in the spring time. (well I love our house all the time) it is just that in the spring with the nice green grass and flowers it feels a little bit different after the long winter.
Fil's mom planted whole bunch of tulips and other flowers around the house last fall. They turned out so beautiful.
Emma with her dolly. She loves all of hers dolls. (As you can see)


This spring the boys are playing soccer. (instead of baseball) for few reasons. One is that we missed the signups and the other that the soccer league is easier to follow in the spring with everything else going on.
AWANA

Also in May the boys are done with Awana. Nate finished his second year in cubbies and will be moving onto the Sparks. It is hard to believe that we just finished a third year in all.

Sam got award for his first book in his first year of Sparks. He (and mom) worked very hard on all those Bible verses.
Emma at the ceremony. What a doll.


Emma with Charlie Taylor. He is such a boy. He is a year younger then her, but weighs much more then her.
Jacob, Jonathan, Emma, Sam and Nate playing together after church.
One of our projects. We built a train out of boxes for their bears.
Our trip to Ikea with Joshua and Sarah Litman.
Spring also brings a lot of work around the house. This year we had three helpers to get the work done.

Also in May we finished our school (Hooray) and the boys already asked when we are starting next year. We all learned so much this year and even thought we are officially done we have been working on some stuff already. I guess with homeschooling school never ends.

Spring Beach

We finally made it to the beach. And it was very nice day too. It is always a little bit cooler by the water however there were kids running around in their swimsuits already. Someone told me a long time ago before we moved here that if you will dip your toe in the ocean in New Hampshire your brain will freeze. Guess what? It is the truth. The water here is so cold even in the summer that I don't think I ever got in it. However our kids love it. They do not swim in it but they love playing by the water around the rocks and the sandy beach.
New Castle Beach has a big park right next to the beach. Actually it is not even known as beach but as a park. Not many people know about it so mainly you see locals with little kids. And it has a bathroom and a shower which all the mom's know is VERY important.


Emma did not know what to think first. She didn't remember the beach and the park from last year so she just stood there for about 10 minutes trying to figure out what was going on. After that she couldn't stop smiling how happy she was.


What a girl. She was caring her little bucket as a purse around the beach.

Is Spring Really Here?

It is hard to believe that spring is finally here. Is it really? Anyway last week I had to get all the plastic bins with summer stuff out. Short sleeve shirts were in order and even shorts were pulled out (I do not know how about you but I always forget what I have in those bins).Here is Sam and Nate with there bananas for Banana split party at Awana. They had fun dressing up bananas. Emma wanted one too but her interest was mainly in eating the bananas.


As you can see Nate is doing great on his bike. I am however surprised he is still in one piece. He rides like kamikaze but he is in control.
On the other had Sam is very careful. They are both doing great riding so I even pulled out our bikes and we raised around our neighborhood.
We will have to figured out what to do with Emma though. I am not sure about you but I am having hard time buying more stuff. After all those strollers (single, double, and jogger) 5 car seats etc. .. I am not so sure about a bike trailer. But Emma will not be riding her own bike for another couple years so if we want to make some bike trips I guess we will have to invest money into another thing with wheels.

Easter Sunday

Happy Easter everybody. I finally got a family picture. We all look nice and springlike however I have to tell you that it was cold outside.
The Steiger Trio.
Emma ready for church.
Easter egg hunt. Yes we had another Easter egg hunt in the snow. (We had one two years earlier). Man you have to love New England. I believe there is no reason for Easter outfits. Way too cold in this part of a country.
Emma with her basket. Last year she was too small to do the egg hunt so she got a big kick out of it.
We were outside only for few minutes since it was so cold.
The boys checking their loot.
Emma enjoying jelly beans.

Our Easter meal.
Boys working on Easter eggs. They enjoyed the whole coloring process. It is like a science class for them.
And here is the oldest scientist in the family.

The busiest girl I know. (And cutest)

Spring (Winter) Wonderland

You are not looking at winter pictures. I couldn't believe my eyes when I woke up. It sure looks all nice and everything but hello it is spring and we are so ready for warm weather.
Nate working on a snowman. Even though we were not thrilled about the snow we finally got to build a snowman (the snow this winter was too powdery to build anything so I guess we couldn't have ended winter without a snowman.) Let's hope this was the last snow storm.
Emma was the only one not happy playing outside in the snow (what a girl). She can barely move in her snowsuit and boots. Hopefully next year she will be more mobile.
Sam working on his snowman.

It sure looks nice, right? (How about on Christmas next year)