Life as a Lewis

Today is a pretty big day for Brian. He has his college exit interview, which will officially end his educational career (for the second time!). I am so proud of him for the way he has worked sacrificially for our family to get this second degree so he can start a new career. A career that has helped us to adopt Rory and will allow me to be a stay at home mom. He has done so well, but it has taken alot of work on his part and I just want to tell him thank you! The exit interview today is a big deal because he has to turn in a huge project, which is basically the sum total of all his college work for the last 18 months. I think that the interview itself is just technically a formality since he's been a star student in the Teacher Education Department, but it will be a relief to finally have that finished. We would like for him to continue on and get a master's degree, but I think he's ready to take a couple of years off before undertaking that! I have one page that I've ...

Rory is 14 months old today! I hope that she had a fun day with her foster family. I would imagine that she is walking by now. At 12 months, she wasn't quite walking on her own, but close according to the social worker's reports. We are still waiting for her legals, but am hopeful they might arrive this week. I am feeling quite anxious about it all, and I feel the burden of this wait weighing heavy on me. Its been 5 weeks, and we haven't even started the big wait for our immigration paperwork. While we're on Rory and adoption, just a little rant from me. Over the last several weeks, I have had so many crazy, uninformed comments made to me that I've about had it! So let this be a public service announcement: PLEASE think before you speak! This is only one small example, but if one more person tells me how great it is that we won't have to deal with the infant/newborn/sleepless nights/endless bottles stage, I think I'll scream. Does anyone really think that ...

It's back to work this morning! I'll admit to being a bit cranky and tired, but hopefully some coffee will wake me up nicely. Camden's newest phrase is, "see how much I've growed, mommy/daddy." It's the first thing out of his mouth every single morning! Here is another picture of Camden and Cheyenne. I actually did not stage this one - they were playing peek-a-boo with the tree. Here is the Lewis family at Thanksgiving dinner. Unfortunately, these pictures I took did not come out that well, but here it is anyway.

I am finally taking a quick moment to blog and say a belated Happy Thanksgiving. We have had a very busy week! Between cleaning and preparing for company and all the dozens of small projects around the house that you always plan to take care of, but never do until company is coming, we were very busy the first part of last week. We spent a couple of days visiting with Brian's brother, sister-in-law, and niece. We had a great Thanksgiving with the Lewis's. My parents arrived Thanksgiving night. Camden was so excited to see them. I think he probably drove my dad nuts - he wouldn't leave his side for 3 days straight. We did the standard Black Friday shopping and I got quite a few Christmas presents bought. My mom bought Rory this adorable dress from Gymboree along with polka dot tights to go with it. It is adorable! We also bought new luggage so that we would be prepared for our trip to Korea. We spent Saturday shopping for a Christmas tree and finally brought home a beautiful...

I've never taken "leaf" pictures with Camden so I wanted to make sure I did so this year, but Camden had other ideas. He really wanted to play in the leaves, but wanted nothing to do with pictures. So it finally happened. We resorted to potty humor to get laughs. As soon as the inappropriate noises started, so did the smiles. Now, how to explain that those inappropriate noises are not appropriate in every day life! We're spending today cooking, running errands, and getting the house ready for company. We're excited to see Brian's younger brother, sister-in-law and our niece. And my parents arrive tomorrow night. Camden is so excited to see them. We've been counting down the "sleeps."

My favorite day of the month is here - lunch bunch! And it's my turn to choose the restaurant this month. I'm pretty sure we're heading out to Pei Wei ! What makes today even better is that it's our last day of work before Thanksgiving break - we have 5 whole days off! Woohoo! Here's a random Camden tidbit for you. His new favorite word is dude. It's hilarious!

Let the shopping begin! I've noticed the last couple of weeks that traffic and crowds have gotten busier, but today I made a quick trip to Target on my lunch hour and boy was it crazy! I'm sure that it will only get worse from now until Christmas. I love Christmas shopping and all the good sales, but I will admit that standing in lines is not so much fun. Today was one hectic work day. I'm glad I don't have days like this too often. I like to be busy, but this wasn't busy - it was madness! Too many deadlines all happening at one time. Tomorrow will be similar, but it's my last day of work for the week so that will make it manageable. Camden is having so much fun at school this week. They're learning all about the pilgrims and Indians, making lots of cute Thanksgiving crafts, etc. Today he came home with an Indian head dress and vest as well as a Thanksgiving placemat they had decorated with their hand prints and then laminated. There are so many cute things ...

Brian and I went out for our combined birthdays on Friday night (his is Dec. 7), and had a wonderful dinner at Maggiano's. I had chicken pesto linguini and Brian had baked sausage ziti with creme brulee for dinner - so good! My birthday surprise was tickets to a Steven Curtis Chapman concert with Bethany Dillon and Sanctus Real . We had so much fun! I like SCC's music anyway, but then there is the big adoption connection that makes it even better. It is his organization that gave us a $3,000 grant to help bring Rory home. I love concerts! Something about seeing the musicians live and seeing all that talent up close and personal is so exciting. Saturday we were busy with grocery shopping for all the upcoming Thanksgiving festivities and running errands. I'm coming down with a cold so I came home for a nap while Brian took Camden to the fall festival (or festibal as Camden puts it) at his school and then ran errands. They were gone most of the day, so I had some quiet time....

Our weather has been so wierd this year, but after a muggy 75 yesterday complete with severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings, our high temp today is supposed to be 49. I'm headed to Starbucks this morning to use one of my birthday giftcards. A little birdie told me that their holiday flavors are out, and I can't wait to have a Peppermint Mocha - I bet they've even pulled out their cheery red holiday cups! Not much else to say today, but I do have two layouts finished! This picture of William and Xavier cracks me up! They were wrestling and William got pinned. Xavier was having the time of his life rocking back and forth on top of him and giggling. William, however, was not so pleased.

Three weeks ago today Rory's paperwork went to Korea. I know you're all hoping that I do not post a weekly countdown, but I felt like it today. We're still waiting for her legal paperwork from Korea which will allow us to file immigration paperwork, and I'm also hoping for an update and new pictures soon, but who knows! There is one phrase in Rory's paperwork that I've been meaning to share. It's one of the very first things I read about her. And I quote, "As she is rather strong-willed, she does what she wants to do." I seriously laughed out loud when I read that. She's my daughter already! Here are a few more pictures that we received October 22 - all taken October 3.

I had a nice birthday yesterday - lots of calls and emails and good wishes. We're not officially celebrating until Friday night. Brian actually has it all planned out and it's a surprise. Well, he did let me have input on the restaurant and he suggested Maggiano's . We went there 2 years ago for my birthday, and I LOVED it. We thought about going last year, but were just getting started in the adoption process and decided not to spend the money. I almost decided to be responsible this year as well, but I figure since we'll be going down to one income soon he might never offer again so I took him up on it! I can't wait for the weekend! Brian's first day in his class was good. It was his official first day as a teacher, and he said the day just flew by. The kids seem well-behaved and he was happy with them. He stayed late rearranging the room last night and just trying to get things ready so that it feels more like his room. I helped him average grades for progres...

I was trying really hard to come up with a title for today, but I'm drawing a blank! I'm actually kind of drawing a blank for anything to say as well, but I did think of a fun memory that happened 4 years ago today. On my 28th birthday (you can do the math to see how terribly old I am today), we had received Camden's referral, but had not officially accepted it yet, and we were really struggling to choose a name for him. I was sure of the name, but as usual Brian and I were not on the same page. But on my birthday card, Brian wrote me a sweet note telling me how wonderful I am I'm sure (insert sarcasm here) and at the very end, he wrote "P.S. Look at the back of this card for a fun surprise." I turned the card over and it said, "Happy Birthday - you win. Camden Eli it is." Isn't that fun! Here's a picture Brian took of Camden wearing his Halloween shirt. We had to cheat and take these pictures the weekend after Halloween since it fell on a We...

I think the sleepover was a success! Camden and the girls had a ton of fun giggling, running around, playing together, and watching movies. I will admit that Camden was fairly loud, obnoxious, and very possessive of his toys, but he wasn't mean, and I think it's probably pretty typical 4 year old behavior. For the most part, though, they had a blast! Brian and I had fun with them although I will admit that going from 1 child to 3 was a pretty big leap and more work than I imagined, but fun. Here's a quick example of how boys and girls are different: They were watching Mulan (which Camden was less than thrilled about). Emily would cover her eyes during the "bad parts" which was anytime the soldiers were visible. As the fight scene started, she covered her eyes and said she didn't want to watch the bad part. Camden looked at her like she was nuts and said, "this isn't the bad part. This is just the mean men fighting and killing each other." Okay, I...

I'm having a good morning - I'm watching a piece on the Today Show about Michael Jordan and his son who is playing for the University of Illinois this season. I grew up LOVING Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, and I'm still fascinated even though he's been retired for years. I can remember being in early high school and when he retired (for the first time) after his father passed away, we were allowed to go into the library and watch it live on TV. I grew up about 3 hours from Chicago so you can understand the obsession! Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled blog info! We're having our first sleepover tonight. My friend Kathy is having a girls night with some women from church, so we're keeping Emily and Meredith - her 2 and 5 year old. Camden is so excited. The first thing he said when I told him last night was, "Ooooh, I'm going to let Emily play football with me outside." Now, Emily is a girly girl. I'm pretty sure there will be no foo...

Those of you who know me well, know that I can be a bit. . ummm, what's the word. . . particular maybe when it comes to anything involving children's clothing and bedding (I can hear my family laughing now - particular is probably not the word they would choose). I waited a long time for the privilege and fun of buying cute baby clothes and decorating nurseries, and I intend to thoroughly enjoy the retail part of having children. :) So, when I found a cute Pottery Barn nursery set on sale for about 65% off, I snatched it right up. The problem is that it just wasn't quite what I wanted. Well, I put it off and put it off and finally Tuesday night about 8:30 p.m. I had had enough. I went and packaged it all up, marched myself off to PBK during my lunch hour Wednesday, went through the grueling process of returning many, many items and found exactly what I wanted. Well, not exactly what I wanted. I had to buy the sheets in the store, ordered the bumper pad online, back-ordered ...

I hope you have a great birthday! Thanks for letting me share the weekend with you! Me, Becky, and Micah before our big night out at The Melting Pot.

It's back to work today! I actually slept so well while I was in Oklahoma that I came back feeling very refreshed. Honestly, I don't know when is the last time I've slept so well or for so long! Of course, last night was back to our nightly routine of me not falling asleep for hours, Camden waking up several times for various reasons (bathroom, bloody nose, knocking on our door at all hours just to say he loves us, which would be sweet if it weren't the middle of the night!). I promised a little more information about Rory. She is currently living with a foster family who is taking very good care of her. As of October 3, she weighed 18 lbs and is a very petite little thing (Camden weighed 19.3 lbs at 8 months!). She wasn't quite walking on her own, but from remarks made from the caseworker she seemed close. She has 5 teeth (which you can see in her cute smile). Here is what needs to happen in order to bring her home. Our paperwork has been sent to Korea. The Korean ...

I feel like I've been keeping secrets for so long with the trip, Rory, etc. that I haven't been able to blog about so many things happening in our lives, so you might want to settle in - I've got a long weekend recap for you! I left work early on Thursday in order to make my flight. First we got stuck in traffic, then I went to the wrong airline to check in, then the security line was FOREVER long!! I barely made it to my gate in time, but my flight was completely uneventful, and the only flight out of 4 that I had to share a seat. I made it to Tulsa at 8:55 p.m. and Micah picked me up and was so excited about Becky's surprise. Micah had told Becky that a group of girls from her Bible study were going to stop by late after dinner and so when we arrived at the house, we parked on the street (the porch light was off) and he called her to ask if her friends had arrived yet. As he was asking her if her friends were there, I knocked on the door. I could hear her talking to M...

I don't have time this morning to write about my trip, but here are some pages from the weekend. I'm off to the airport! Version 1 Version 2 (can you tell I'm undecided on which one to use)

I have been keeping lots of secrets the last several weeks! The first secret is my location - I'm blogging from Owasso, Oklahoma today! Micah's birthday present to Becky is me! I left Nashville yesterday and flew to OK last night and showed up on her doorstep. She was VERY surprised to see me, and Micah got the great reaction he was hoping for. I'm here until Monday, so I'm looking forward to spending lots of time with Becky, Micah, and the boys. We're headed to The Melting Pot for a birthday dinner tonight and then tomorrow is set aside for scrapping. I've got Brian's laptop and my EHD set up, and Becky has her MAC set up and ready to go. The second secret I've been keeping is something I'll let Camden share with you. Are you ready?? Rory Katherine Sarang Lewis was born September 27, 2006. We were introduced to her October 21, and have somehow managed to keep a secret for almost two weeks so that I could tell Becky about her new niece in person! She...

Anyone else excited it's November? November finally feels like fall. I really love the Thanksgiving season and then the days leading up to Christmas. Of course, my favorite day of the year is the day after Thanksgiving when we get to have the best shopping trip of the year! I mentioned yesterday that I was sad Camden wasn't going to get to go trick-or-treating, but he got a ton of candy and gifts from people at church last night so he's totally set! He thought it was a party just for him. Our church people are sweet to him. Traffic has been horrible the last several days so I need to get headed out the door soon. Enjoy the first day of November!