Adoption Update

It has been a busy week in Oregon- I just can not say enough how wonderful it is to be in my home town- The weather has been beautiful, I have had some great visits with both friends and family, and have watched the day's fly by bringing us closer to Ellie Marie's arrival....
Speaking of Ellie- Here is a quick update as to what has been going on.  I was given a very unique and amazing opportunity to spend the last weeks of our birth  mom's pregnancy with her- Our Birth mom bravely flew across country to meet me and possibly some of our family and to spend some time where Ellie will be growing up (Matt is in Hawaii until Ellie's birth)-  I can not even put into words what it is like seeing our Birth Mom- It truly is a beautiful experience and I thank God for this privilege. 
For the privacy of all involved in our adoption process, I can not go into any more detail than what I did above- but just wanted to let you all know what is going on-  Thank you so much for all of your prayers and will update my blog as I am able to.

P.S. 3 weeks.......!!!!!

Flying 3100 Miles With Oklie As My Carry-On!

I know I said I was gonna be on vacation and would probably not be blogging all that much.....But........I just had to blog a quick post and tell you that I traveled From Hawaii to the West Coast with Ryan and OKLIE!! She was my 'carry-on' today!
She has flown 2 times before- 1 of which was her flight to Hawaii when we moved- She went as Cargo (under the plane) so I did not get to see how she did flying- The second time she flew a 30 minute inner-island flight and did great-
Planning for Oklie to come with us was quite an ordeal- I had to order a special soft sided dog porter (I found it in a pearl pink color) I also had to take her to the vet to get a Health Certificate no longer than 10 days before she was going to fly (did that on June 1)- She had a special carry on fee ($175)- and was checked over pretty good this morning at the airport........
The airport law says that a dog must be in an airline approved pet carrier at all times- I learned that from the security guard as I was walking Oklie around the Airport-  I'm glad that same security guard was not with us on our stop in Honolulu cause he would have seen me walk her out onto a grassy park like area where people can wait to catch their flights and let her go to the bathroom.........hee!
It was kind of funny but a bit nerve wracking- As we were taking off on our first flight I took Oklie out of her carrier (there I go.......breaking the airport law again) and let her sit on my lap- as the plane was just lifting off she jumped up and howled- Ryan and I both looked at her at the same time and told her to BE QUIET!! She was an angel after that- It might have helped that I let her sit on my lap the ENTIRE flight.
All in all we had a great day flying with Oklie- As I am typing out this blog my girl is laying on the bed, right next to me, in our hotel room conked out- how cute :)

Oklie gearing up to do her Howl

Sitting on my lap

One of the best features of Oklie's bag is that it has wheels!

I couldn't resist snapping a pic of Oklie sleeping right now.

The Edamame Beans and Vacation

They really don't look like much- To tell you the truth, the first time I cooked them I had no clue how you were supposed to eat them- I steamed them..........and steamed them..........and steamed some more........wondering why in the world they never seemed to soften.  I finally gave up and put them on the table what I considered 'less than cooked'- I just added extra butter to compensate for the weird texture (Hey Holly...butta' makes it betta').  As we tried to eat the bean WHOLE we all agreed they were horrible-
I am headed on vacation and trying to use things up in my freezer- I never did get around to throwing out the Edamame beans that my family had dubbed horrible (again, because we tried to eat them whole) away.
In my last blog post I mentioned that our nephew Jess has been in town- For the first night he was here we decided to cook a Tri Tip- I was unsure what to serve with it and did not want to run back to the store to get a side dish- I ran out to the freezer to see if anything looked interesting- There were those Edamame beans!!
I figured they could take up space on the table and have the appearance of green beans- I put them in the micro and quickly heated them up......
Jess sat down at the table took one look at the beans and said....'those are good auntie- my family used to eat them all the time!'
We immediately had him show us how they could possibly be good- He picked one up, held it on it's side and  pinched the beans out of the outer shell............AAAHHH- the outside is only a shell- not meant to be eaten!
The box is almost gone cause they are delicious!
Wanted to mention that I will be on vacation for the next several weeks- I will post updates when I get a chance- If for some reason you do not hear from me for a bit- I WILL BE BACK posting after Ellie is born- I ask that you keep my family, Ellie's birth family, Ellie, and our Attorneys handling our adoption process in your prayers-

Looking forward to talking to you all soon!

Steph

Jess........

We've had the privilege of having our nephew Jess visit us for a couple of weeks- The below pictures are for  Jess's family- so that they can be a part of what he's been up to-

Thank You so much Wayne, Heidy, Lyd, and Kate for letting Jess come over- We are enjoying him so much!

The Plumeria is in bloom- It makes Beautiful Flower Lei's

I love you Jess

I love you Ryno

Ta Da!!

Jess and Josiah (one of Ryan's friends) Wrestling at Ryan's Birthday party 

:)

The Audience watching the wrestle

Jess and Isaiah

Jess saying 'Hi' To his dad, mom, and sisters

BBQ'in hot dogs at Ryan's Birthday Party

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR RYAN CHASE- HE IS 12 TODAY!!

One Month Four Days

I added a little something fun at the top of this blog a week or so ago- An Internet company called Lily Pie offers 'Tickers' that you can down load on your blog for free- Tickers automatically count down on a daily basis whatever event you choose- Some of the Ticker Choices cracked me up........Breast Feeding?? Hang on, I'm going to go to their site and click on that choice- wonder what it will count down.........From the best I could understand I think it counts how many days you have breast fed- Ryan breast fed until he was 2 -can you imagine the counter on that Ticker- My friend Christy W. was my biggest fan- she thought it was gross  Great that Ryan Breast Fed for so long  :)
Our little Ellie Marie's Lily Pie Ticker reads 'One Month Four Day's'...........................................
Please know that my mommy's heart is so so so excited- Of course, with that excitement is also a very real and clear understanding that Adoption is a day by day journey- It has the potential to 'status' change at anytime-  Tonight I Thank God that I can write about our continued progress in our adoption process- That we are almost 6 weeks into our status of: 'CHOSEN BY A BIRTH MOM' and that we have about 5 weeks left until we meet Ellie......
We can hardly wait!

Going Through The Adoption Process With Black Whisker Hair in My Nose......

I looked in the mirror last night and something caught my attention-
I went in REAL close for a second look to make sure what I was seeing was WHAT I WAS SEEING!!
Dude...............I've got black whisker hair starting to grow in my nose
WHAT THE HECK???
Nuff Said :)
P.S. This post is lovingly dedicated to my friend Kristi S. from Oregon- I know she will find humor in this post and I miss hearing her laugh....................The below pictures are for you Kristi!
hee! hee! hee! hee! hee!

The Wounded Hyena meets the Obnoxious Car Alarm

 If you mix a wounded hyena with an obnoxious car alarm you would have the sound that comes out of my Ryan's French Horn- I am thinking, after attending Ryan's one and only concert a few weeks back, that he's been playing that horn so horrible at home on purpose- Just so he could get out of practicing :) The sound that came out of his French Horn mixed with all of the other band instruments at the concert was..........................
SO BEAUTIFUL!
The setting of the concert was in a large AIR CONDITIONED (which is a novelty here) Auditorium- The kids, which were in ages from 6th-8th grade, were dressed so spiffy in their matching band shirts, black pants, and black shoes-  The band instructor had about a million lei's around her neck (which gave her the appearance of having a brace around her neck- LOL).  It is a standard tradition here in Hawaii to bring a lei (a flowered necklace) as a welcoming or thank you gift- Thus the reason the band instructor had so many around her neck.
It really was a wonderful night- listening to hundreds of kids playing several different instruments- all of the instruments harmonizing together to make a beautiful sound.

Ryan's friend Isaiah- who plays the Trumpet

The Air Conditioned Auditorium