Tony Starlight's Supper Club

Andrew and I went on a wonderful date Saturday night. First off, we dropped our munchkins off at our dear friends house and then we went up to the Rose Gardens for a romantic dusk stroll. Since this is where Andrew proposed to me, it holds a very special spot in both of our hearts. Even though it wasn't our anniversary, we still marvelled that it's been over 18 years ago that we stood in that spot and said we would cherish and love each other forever.
Then we ate dinner at our favorite place, The Green Onion...a Persian place near PSU. Susan's ghormeh sabzi and the kabob is amazing. YUM! At eight we had reservations for Tony Starlight's Supper Club show. It was very good...a Neil Diamond impersonation night. Tony did a good job of sounding like Neil as well as keeping the crowd entertained! Afterwards, we tried to crash my sisters house but nobody was home...then we drove around town acting silly and playing 'slug bug'. My husband is my best friend. Yeah, we have some interesting disagreements, but when we are together, we are a riot! And we love being together.
We got home around 1am, giddy like teens without a curfew! Since our kids were spending the night elsewhere, we didn't have to pick them up until the next afternoon.
I highly recommend taking your sweety out...it should be a regular event. We both agreed that we needed to do that more often. And, since we are expanding to being parents of four, not just two, we will need those dates even more! But of course, only after we are all settled in and comfortable with this idea. I am not one to leave my kids often or with just anyone, so it'll be awhile before we go out after the babies are home...which leads me to...there is no word yet on our referral...
Dossier has been in country for one full month. No word at all...I am being patient and my nails are still intact.

Drubek

New well pump, dryer and paint!

When it rains, it pours sometimes. Lately we've been having a few things go 'bad' here and there. A few weeks ago we started having extremely low water pressure. It got to the point that we couldn't run the dishwasher or washing machine because with these new fangled appliances, the pressure was to low to start them! Taking showers was a joke for several days, all my flowers outside died because I couldn't water them. We called the repairmen out and they replaced the expensive pump to our well. Voila! All is back to normal.
Next, my clothes dryer stopped producing heat. Andrew, "Mr. Fix It" said, "No problem...I can replace the thermostat, I've done it before! No Problem!"...Did I say he said "No Problem"?? (Makes me chuckle because he has to try to fix everything before he'll buy a new one!) After he spent a few minutes practically under the dryer, he called me in to say how lucky (blessed) we are that the house did not catch on fire. A wire connecting to a part that connects to the thermostat was completely charred...like it had been soldered. All the insulation and rubber had fried and it was useless. He decided that whatever made it do that was not worth fixing on a 30+ year old dryer! So, off to Sears we went to buy a new one...which IS NOT in our budget.

On the happy side, we did buy new paint for our living room. After several mixing sessions...the Miller paint people gave up and told us to take our paint and shove....I mean, they said they couldn't put any more white in to lighten up my mistake...so to take it home, pour it into a five gallon bucket & add white until we got the desired color. AND WHAT DO YOU KNOW!!!! The color is exactly what I wanted! It's perfect. Good thing we have so much of it, because there is no way Miller Paint has the mix #'s to do it again!

Drubek

CATE COMES HOME!!!!

My heart is overjoyed as I've been following Lu Feng Hong's (Cate) journey to her new home and family in America. Cate is "Little Lulu", the little girl who stole Andrew and my heart and led us to this life changing and amazing adoption adventure. If anyone recalls (or has been following our blog that long) you'll remember that we took an interest in Cate (our Lulu) and decided to adopt her, Lord willing. After contacting the agency in charge of her papers, we were informed that there were 12 families ahead of us. Praise God, because this little girl needed a family! We also soon learned that because of how much I weigh, China would not allow me to adopt from this country. (Crazy!!!)
A few months later, I was contacted online by a lady who said she knew who Cate's new mommy and daddy were, that they had a blog and that they were just waiting to be able to bring her home.
WELL, I'm thrilled to announce to my blog followers that CATE IS COMING HOME! Her mommy, Kim, and sister, Sophie, and grandma are all in China and met her today for the first time. What a lovely child! So serene and content! If you get a chance, go to my favorite blogs and click on their site. You will be blessed.
Drubek

More fun from this week!

Thursday brought cooler weather but that didn't stop KE and her precious family (two of her children, *R* & baby *A* are from Ethiopia and we met online!) from coming out and enjoying a GREAT fall day at DayBreak Park! The Lewis River was on the cooler side, too but not too bad when we were intently searching for crawdad's (crayfish), minnows and snails! Little *A* is a great creek investigator and sidekick! We had a ball turning over rocks and learning about what likes to hide under there! I loved sharing my neck of the woods with my new friends. I'm definetly a country chick (who loves a great pair of shoes) and wouldn't trade the country life for anything. After I picked up Chloe and Elliot from school, we all headed up the hill to our house for some trampoline jumping, goat kissing (ok, that was all me, but the kids thought it was funny!) and little *E* enjoyed Elliot's matchbox car collection. Sweet, mischevious *R* was a complete delight as always and baby *A* just makes me wanna eat him up! These children are such a joy! Can you tell I enjoyed our visit a lot??!!
To KE's dismay, she accidentally left her Ergo...a total necessity, especially with four little ones! We were able to meet up today and return it. Sweet little *A* made my whole week by asking when she could come out again and "live at your house!"
I love company and sharing the great outdoors!
drubek

Dove Events - Children's Museum

What fun! We went to Dove's planned event at the Children's Museum in Portland. We were there to meet Dove's attorney from Ethiopia, Sintayehu. A soft spoken & friendly man. We hope we will be seeing him soon in Addis in a few more months!
As we pulled up to the parking lot, we saw more mini vans than I've ever seen in my life. All lined up, in various colors and similar shapes, children spilling out from every door. What makes this event different than any other time I've been in similar places is that we were ALL there to fellowship with other families who are or have already adopted from Ethiopia! The little brown babies with bright, expressive eyes, beautiful curls and pudgy little bellies capture your heart as soon as you lay eyes on them. There were children of all ages, glowing with health and happiness.
What an amazing time. We met many families. Some were in the same stage as we are...waiting to be matched. Most had already traveled and we were able to go 'ga-ga' over their precious children. Everyone was so helpful and again, our family is SO, SO blessed that we found Dove!
God is Good!!
drubek

Upright Double Bass = Who Knew???

What has practically more options, colors and sizes than most automobiles, is as expensive and requires a plane ticket when traveling? If you guessed the Upright Bass, then you've obviously bought one before! Who knew it could be this exhausting to find a 1/4 size bass, let alone figure out what is the best instrument for the buck! To inexperienced buyers like us, we had to wade through figuring out what size, (there was a conflicting opinion from everyone we talked to!) which maker (the ones from China, USA or Germany?), laminated plywood, hand carved from maple...spruce...electric...rockabilly...psychobilly...jazz...orchestra! Yes, that's it...that's the set up we need. "Oooh, the bright green one w/ yellow flames, that is AWESOME!!!" "No, we don't need that one! Can't use that in an orchestra!!!" "Why not???" "I don't want plain old cherry colored varnish! I want a prettier brown or blonde!" "Maybe a little more orange!". "Narrow it down to three and see who has the best customer service!!" "I feel like I researched this *&@!!! bass all day long and didn't come up with a thing!!" "Nothing on craigslist again?" "Nothing within 300 miles?" "Nothing in Denver? You could have a longer layover and pick it up!?" "Oh, there's one in Pleasanton...an Engelhardt!" "Oh, doesn't have an ebony fingerboard?, OK"...

AND this was all AFTER we determined that there are none to rent or own here in our immediate area or on ebay! Yep, ebay. Searching for an upright bass on ebay, of all things!

Why are we buying a bass? Elliot is taking it up in addition to his piano. His school has started an orchestra and he is very excited about learning a new instrument! The bass has always been one of his favorites. For the record, NONE of the above quotes were his. The picky, cranky and irritable conversations were all from his delightful mommy and daddy. Purchasing an upright bass is HARD work! The good news is we have found a company who seems reputable and customer friendly from S. Cal. If everything works out as planned, we'll be able to pick up Elliot's new big, bad, stringed machine this weekend from the Southwest Airlines cargo dock.

Three or four years ago Chloe got her drums. If I recall, it was as simple as Andrew going online, choosing what she needed, picking out a cool turquoise color and BAM! They arrived. Very simple. Maybe we shoulda gotten the green bass with yellow flames! =D

At least this has given us two weeks of something other than biting our nails waiting for a referral! This weekend we are meeting our Ethiopian attorney. He is here visiting our agency, Dove. They have planned several events that sound very fun. One night will be dinner at Dalo's Kitchen to try different Ethiopian foods. Definitely looking forward to that!

drubek

"Our" Awesome River!

The East Fork of the Lewis River, where we love to play!
Chloe, Sam and Elliot in the river
This water feels GREAT!
1, 2, 3! Everyone under at the same time!

Preparing for toddlers...again!

Here are the trikes, just waiting to be ridden again!Elliot helping with additions to the play structure
Ell and Daddy working together
The old play structure...improvements coming soon!
Time to play!