The verdict on... (a post full of pictures)

...Oregon: I can say for sure that I LOVE the fall here. I am a Michigan autumn girl, and Alabama's falls never compared. The air is crisp, the leaves are beautiful shades of yellow, orange, and red. I love driving down TV highway staring in the face of Mt. Hood...so much so, I'm bound to get into an accident one day, because I fail to keep my eyes on the road. The natural beauty here is amazing, and it is nice to live somewhere where they strive to keep it that way.

I have never lived anywhere that had recycling bins larger than the garbage cans

...Homeschooling: Love/hate. I love having control over what my kids learn and how they learn it. I hate not having a break...ever. I love being able to share in so many learning moments with my kids. I hate being solely responsible for their education (it is a bit daunting). I am not using a curriculum this year. We are sort of winging it. I love the freedom and creativity that comes with this teaching, but I also worry we are missing things.

This was our "goo" day. (hence the shirtless children)

...Adjusting: The adjustment has been better than expected. I came to realize one night that I have been the sole constant in my children's lives lately. Everything has changed...and I mean everything!!!! Considering all of this, they have done remarkably well. I think that it was good for my adoptees. They came to see that no matter what changes, our family remains. Trey and Luke have done well, with the exception of one night. Gary has been in and out for the last month: traveling with his old job, a trip to house hunt, and then gone for 2 weeks of training for his new job. We picked him up from the airport late one night. Trey was awake when Gary got in the car, and he was excited to see his daddy. But then he fell asleep. Once we got home and tried to put the kids in bed, Trey screamed when Gary laid in bed with him. He kept screaming hysterically, "I want MOMMY!!!!!". The next morning Trey told Gary, "I didn't want you to sleep with me last night, because I didn't remember you". Such a sad moment for a daddy :( But, he is home now, and we can begin finding "normal" again.

A fun day at OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry)

Today was our very first down day in the last month. We painted mini-pumpkins. There is a lot to say, but I am too tired to say it, so I will let our happy pictures from the day suffice.

He is yelling at Ana for trying to eat her paint.

He was so proud of his pumpkin :)

As was she.

Play Group

We were so blessed to be invited to the Northwestern Down syndrome association playgroup by the Nine family. The Nine's adopted Vahnya from Russia, and they came home just a month before us. Our kids hit it off really well, and the older girls are amazing. They are totally in my books as prime babysitters ;) I know you don't really care about anything but the pictures, so here they are.

The Eastern Europeans

More *better* pictures on FB that the Nine's tagged me in :)

Our new home

Loooooooooooooooong story short, we ended up in the townhome that Trey loved. Got the keys today, and I love it too :) Here are the pictures:

This is our "lawn". Thank God we don't have to mow that ourselves ;)

Traveling Home

It has been an emotional week to say the least. I can't even get into everything that has happened, because there simply is not enough time. And it might make your head spin and your stomach queasy (kind of like me ;)

This week brought more tears than expected. Every play-date, errand, doctor's appointment, day of school, meant the end of something. Trey actually asked at one point, "is everything we do going to be the last time?". I think we must have said that a lot in our efforts to make our children understand what was happening.

We are here in Portland, living out out of a hotel for at least a week (don't ask how it's going! Let's just say I have to make a Target run to buy a magic eraser, which I really hope will remove ink) until everything we own shows up. It is beautiful here (even with the drizzle we have had all day). The grass is lush and green, there are pine trees everywhere, and even all of the shops and restaurants are very clean and well maintained. The kids have been begging all day to ride one of the trains to downtown, and I think we will do that tomorrow, but I know they are going to love having a train system (every little boys dream)!

As for how two long flights went with 4 kids, because I know you are all dying to know, it was great. We could not have expected anything more from our kids. Luke was a little restless due to lack of sleep, but other than that we had minimal tears, no whining (a complete miracle), and lots of cooperation from everyone. Thanks to those who prayed for us (and I know you did, because this kind of travel would have been impossible without prayers).

Here are some pictures from our adventures this week.

One lady packed our whole house in a day, and Trey really enjoyed helping out :)

I've never seen my closet so clean!

There is our whole house, loaded into a truck.

This just fascinated me, so I had to take a picture. I've never watched cars being loaded onto a semi before. Apparently, they typically load them on top of each other, but since we have a van there wasn't enough room so they had to go one behind the other, leaving the driver no more room on his truck for the other load he was supposed to pick up.

It's very surreal watching the entire contents of your home along with your cars drive off down the street in a giant truck.

Sitting one last time in our empty house. They all have on their "Oregon" shirts :)

Our luggage...

4 massive car seats, a double stroller, 3 checked bags, and 3 carry-ons

being silly on the plane

And, we're off...

Trey LOVING the train :)

Just a few Oregon "Fun Facts":

• It's pronounced "Ore-gEn" NOT "Ore-gOn"
• It is illegal to pump your own gas in Oregon
• Oregon is the only state to have a 2-sided flag
• The hazelnut is the state nut (and I'm pretty sure it's the only state to have a state nut)
• There is a coffee shop on every corner
• And it does in fact drizzle a lot

A comedy of errors

Today was a day that made me laugh and cry (mostly cry, and the laughter tended to turn into crying most times). We started out the day as usual, dragging 4 kids out the door, dropping 2 at school, and heading to the cardiologist with the remaining 2 (I think I can do the drive to UAB's 4th Ave parking deck in my sleep). We go to the cardiologist a lot (obviously), and we are always in and out quickly. But not today. Oh no, the devil declared full-on warfare today. So, as we are waiting and waiting, Ana does a nice little number in her diaper. No big deal. I take the kids to the bathroom pull out the changing pad, lay Ana down, get my wipes ready, grab the diaper...WAIT! There is no diaper. It is in the van in a parking deck a few blocks away. So, as mommies often do, I decide to improvise. Don't ask, and I won't tell. Let's just say that Ana walked out of the bathroom wearing a semi-clean diaper.

We race out of the cardiologist office to attempt to get to the boys' school on time to pick them up. And yes, I stopped long enough to make sure Ana was wearing a completely clean diaper. We make it in time, and we head home. I open the door of the house to a ringing phone, 5 blinking messages on the answering machine, 4 kids begging for lunch among other things, and an e-mail from a couple who was on their way to pick up something I was selling on Craigslist.

After feeding the kids, putting the 2 littles down for naps, and responding to a few calls and e-mails, I receive a call from Gary. He is house-hunting right now and has only a few days to find us a new address. We had scheduled to view 8 or 9 properties in 2 days time. However, all morning Gary had been receiving calls from all of the rental management companies letting him know that the properties we had scheduled viewings for had rented in the last few days. We went from 8-9 available properties to view down to 3!!! So, I busily start hunting online again. As I call to schedule appointments the responses are the same: "that one is not available until November," "that one currently has a contract on it," or nobody answers AND they never call back. We are moving our family of 6 to Portland in a few days and we have nowhere to live...AWESOME!!!! I start getting desperate and expanding our search, compromising on budget and on things that were high on our priority list (like a yard). I find a townhouse that has enough space for us, no yard, and 2 attached neighbors. As I pull it up online and prepare to call to schedule a showing (practically crying, I might add), Trey looks at the picture and says, "look it's perfect! We can live in this one, somebody else can live on this side, and somebody else on the other side. That way we can have friends!" Thank you, God for 5 year-old wisdom-once again. So, I call the rental company, give the poor woman my sob story about moving so soon and not having a place to live (with 4 kids). Her response is a comical, "you sound stressed about that". I assure her I am, but also tell her, "I am going to take a deep breath now and beg you to allow my husband to view this town house today". She asks for my husband's name, and when I give it to her she says, "Ohhhhh, yeah. You guys were scheduled to see two other properties today that were rented". Yes. Yes we were. She agrees to show him the property at 3pm. As she is showing him the home she says, "by the way, I am showing this property right after you at 4". SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?!?!?!? At this point I think we should own a rental property in Portland. But since we own nothing but a house we can't sell in Birmingham, instead it just stresses me out! We were almost freaked out enough to just take the first thing available, but faith prevailed and we did not.

After leaving the town home, Gary received a call from the rental agent. Apparently either my stressed out phone call moved her, OR (and I'm leaning this way) it was her deep love for her niece with Down syndrome that made her identify with our family. But, she pulled some strings and found a way to allow us to view a property that we had inquired about a few weeks ago that is not even available yet. Gary will check it out tomorrow, and I am so grateful to her for doing that.

And on top of all of that, I had to say an official good-bye to one of my nearest and dearest today. She started crying, and I started crying...again. Really not fun. Love you, Angela!!!

Just hoping that tomorrow comes with less stress, less crying, more laughing (real laughing, not the half-laughing/half-crying I've been doing all day), AND an address :)