Saturday, January 19, 2008

Another Interesting Week

Last week started out on an official note with Ethan's Recognition of Foreign Adoption hearing. We traipsed on down to the courthouse VERY early in the morning with the dynamic duo and hoped for the best. When we did Katie's in 2006 we waited almost 3 hours to be seen and it was not easy to keep her happy for that long in such a confined space. We were not looking forward to the prospect of a deja vu experience times 2. We prepared the diaper bag as if we were heading off to battle and hoped for the best.

We are happy to report that we had our hearing and received our final judgement in record time although we were less than impressed with the judge who was, shall I say, less than warm to us and when asked to take a picture with our family rolled her eyes at the prospect. The hearing itself was very cut and dry until the moment when we were asked if we had come into the country on the correct visa, Ethan decided to let out a tremendous burp as his affirmative response...too funny.


Eating raisins while "patiently" waiting for the hearing the take place


Photo with Judge Friendly


We celebrated in the evening at home with Chinese food (what else?) and had some fun with the kiddos. A huge thanks to Viv who reminded me to celebrate the day :)

Mr. E has been giving all of us a tremendous run for our money this week. He has taken his mischievous ways to a whole new level and even two of his therapists noticed that he has been a bit tough to deal with. They are thrilled with his progress though and for that I am grateful. To illustrate my point I will give you the following pic as exhibit A. I will set the stage for you....

Justin's girlfriend Judy and I were talking in the kitchen on Friday morning after I had taken Katie to preschool. All of the sudden Ethan yells "Mom!!" I run into the family room to this....now what is wrong with this picture?!? Also if you look closely you will notice the bruise on his chin, which happened as he was careening around the family room and fell into the corner of the fireplace.


Marc warned me that there would be many days like this with a boy but I always came back with the smug retort "I have already raised a son so I know how boys are" Well, I had not yet met my spicy boy from Jiangxi :) Justin was the kind of kid that would give most people the false sense of security that boys would all be that easy...right!!

Katie is doing wonderfully and her teachers cannot stop raving about her. She has also become a non stop yacker and is as dramatic as the day is long. Today, we had friends over for lunch and we had to keep reminding her to say excuse me as she must have interrupted us at least 100 times to tell us something that was VERY important, sing a song or just be her sweet cute self.

Before I end my post I would just like to put out a request: If anyone has seen this man...........

Please tell him that we are looking for him. It is my son Justin, who we never see anymore as his law school work is so intense. He cannot keep his nose out of his books long enough to see the light of day. Please tell him we miss him as does his girl, Judy, who is equally busy getting her masters. I used to think I wanted to be a lawyer but after seeing Justin working at this level I think that ship has already sailed.....

5 comments:

M3 said...

Ah yes, the chair-in-high-places trick... We know it well, and also the bruises (sigh).

(Did you see the funny anon comment on my last blog post asking how the girls got up on top of the dresser? I just laughed and thought "that person clearly is not living with two-year-olds!")

Vivian M said...

Congratulations on your recognition of foreign adoption! We did not have the same judge - ours kept telling hubby that if we got divorced he would have to pay child support! (Don't worry, it's cheaper for him to stay married anyway, lol).
As for the chair on the table bit...that's not just a boy trick. You just have been lucky with the first two! Kerri is a handful and a half...can keep up with Ethan anyday!
I will put out an all points bulletin on Justin, he won't be able to step foot into Canada!
Glad you celebrated...take advantage of every opportunity!

Anonymous said...

Look at you and your new look. Very cool. Kids look great. Glad all went well in court. Wish us well. We do this on the 7th.

Kathryn said...

Sounds like your judge must be related to our social worker who we lovingly refer to as Mr. Personality!!!

I remember hitting the books when I was studying it is all too consuming!!! I much rather be dealing with 40 two year olds than go back to school!!!!!

Tammie said...

In the event of a flood, Ethan & Katie Starr will be totally prepared to continue watching their favorite shows. Too cute! It's good to know that Ethan is coming out of his shell. I see lots of love, fun & mischief at your house in the coming years!

BTW, great pic of the missing son! He's such a handsome guy.