Oh the cuteness.....

It is Halloween tomorrow, also known around here as Samuel's birthday! We are sharing this time with my sister and 2 of her beautiful children! We are looking forward to a great time, some fun trick-or-treating, and some major photo shoots of all the girls!! :))

Here's some recent pics....



Having a bath cause our cousins are coming to see us!

We are getting ready! Have to get all cleaned up.

Love, love, love the bath!!

I can stick my tongue out farther than you!!

No way, I don't think so!!!

A Gymboree advertisement.... :))) (unofficial of course!!)

With all this cuteness going on...

we should get something for this, don't you think??

Mom, how much did you pay for this?

Wow!! Really, it was on sale!!! Nice!

(for my husband!! hee hee)




Madalyn is so proud to be standing and starting to do all

these wonderful big people things!

Well, sorry for the lack of posts! It has just been plain busy around here.

By the time we get up and are done with breakfast and all the girls are fed, changed and dressed,

it is practically time to start over and do "lunch". :) Then we do naps and I try to get a little laundry done. ( Maybe I will get lucky and get a shower in there as well!). By then, it is time for dinner. Add in 4 rowdy boys about 3:15 every day and it is pure chaos in the afternoons!

I am sure it will get better, settle down, and we will all be in our groove soon! Don't get me wrong! I am so very thankful for this crazy-ness! It could be soooo much worse!!! I am thankful for what we have, for these little girls that God knew would fit perfectly into our family! Without a doubt, I know these 2 girls are supposed to be here! That is the most awesome feeling! It is because ADOPTION is God's idea!!!!

CONSIDER DOING IT YOURSELF!! CONSIDER ADOPTING!! THERE ARE MANY ORPHANS THAT STILL DESPERATELY NEED HOMES!! I CAN'T SAY THAT ENOUGH!!!

Especially sweet Alina! Do you see the button here on our blog? She so needs a family right now!! It will be so difficult to adopt her after she is moved to the institution! I am not sure she will even be able to be adopted once there!!! It is not right and not fair!! There are families I know that can tell you how it is to adopt from the institution where she would go! It is NOT easy and she doesn't deserve to have to go there at all!!!

Please help save Alina! Please pray for her!! Donate to her adoption fund at reecesrainbow.org! She deserves it and so does her future family!! I know they are coming, I just hope it is not too late!!!

We are having so much fun with these girls!! We bonded with them so quickly and easily and we are rejoicing in every new accomplishment and little thing they do! Anna is so animated and has such a great personality! She is just so fun to interact with! Victoria is improving on a daily basis. She has gone from being very passive and just hanging out watching what is going on, to making little bits of eye contact, showing interest in what is going on around her, being interested in toys, making more eye contact, smiling in response to someone talking to her, feeling toys with an open hand and then trying to hold them, and then putting them in her mouth. It is awesome to see these little changes, but hard to realize just how much our little girl has missed! She is so precious and could possibly be getting tired of the many kisses and hugs she is always receiving!

Here's our sweet Toria...



Justin is loving the girls and being the "big brother" to them!



Reading books and telling the girls stories...what a patient guy with all those hands coming in to help!!




And the proud big/little sister. She is the queen bee so far. Until Anna figures things out, too... it is only a matter of time.......

All the girls.............

Maybe I've been deprived and all for so long, but I am seriously enjoying these little girls! I have been the mom to only boys for almost 21 yrs now, and I have to say that pink is soooo much fun!!

We are Home!

Well it took a couple days, but I finally found a minute to post a few pictures. We made it home Wednesday evening to a wonderful surprise party at the airport! We were so tired after the trip and so were the girls, but it was very nice to be welcomed home by so many people that have totally supported us throughout this whole process! Thank you guys sooo much!! We were totally surprised and honored!!

The girls are doing remarkably well, especially with the changes they have been through lately! They are still adjusting, but doing pretty good! They've been to the doctor already and are scheduled for bloodwork and echocardiograms and other such stuff in the next couple of weeks, but the report is good so far. We were a bit worried about how the high altitude that we live at here in Colorado would be hard on Victoria with her heart issues, but her O2 sats were great! What a relief! They are still very small. Anna weighed 15 lbs (at 20 months) and Victoria weighed 13 lbs (at 22 months).

Our little trio! Madalyn, Victoria, Anna

The whole crew (minus 2) - the boys are pretty thrilled with their new sisters!

Samuel and Victoria

Madalyn grabbing Anna's barette and funny boys in the background!

Little bitty pretty one!

I think Victoria likes the princess swing.

The Trio again. Youngest to oldest is also biggest to smallest...

After only a few days, Victoria is already pushing herself up to sitting! She tries so hard! She was just never given the chance before!

Check this out!!!!

Right here is some some seriously important paperwork!! It took many months of work and preparation to actually get these! Many hours of blood, sweat, and tears! Ok, well maybe not blood. :) Actually come to think of it, we did have to give blood once! Anyway, we have a court decree, 2 original birth certificates, and 2 passports with Visas all bearing the names of
Victoria Margaret Hope Westbrook and Anna Michal Faith Westbrook.

Woohoo, that is amazing! Thanks to all of you who prayed! We could not have gotten through this without you!




I won't go into the gory details of how our day went, but suffice it to say that it did entail waiting and driving at fast speeds and waiting in traffic and sitting in hallways waiting for doors to open and paperwork to be done! :)) The main common factor in all of this is as usual the waiting. I am beginning to think that God has been trying to tell me something all along this adoption journey. Cause I know this is not the first time I have complained about waiting. Hmmm....

Well anyway, we are busy packing up and getting ready to head to the airport in about 10 hours. Yes that will be about 6 pm Colorado time that we will be heading to the airport. And by 10 pm Colorado time, we should be landing in Frankfort! Just so you know!! Please think of us as you go to bed tonight and maybe say a prayer or 2 for safe flights and the girls to do well!

We told the girls we were leaving on a big airplane tomorrow and heading home to America.




Ummmm...where's that??



Oh, yea, the place you guys keep talking about nonstop! Sounds good to us!

Just a quick update. We had our first Embassy appointment today. It was really cool! We got to walk right in front of this huge line of people out front waiting to get in. Apparently they were waiting to get visas to come to the U.S. It was the same way inside, too. They knew we were there and called us right up and started giving us the paperwork we needed. Made us feel quite proud to be Americans! I did feel kinda funny cause the other people were just looking at us. But, it was just so nice after all the waiting we have done the last few weeks. Who am I kidding, more like the last few months! And they had some awesome pictures in there of the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone and a Native American father and son in Sante Fe. It really made us think of home!!

Anyway, we were told by our facilitator that the girls' passports are done, but they won't be available to be picked up until tomorrow. That is really good news, but the pessimist in me says I am not believing anything until I have those babies in my hot little hands! :)) We have to get them in the morning so we can get the girls' medical appointments done for the Embassy. Then we will have to go back to the Embassy at 2pm to finish up and get their visas.

The girls are doing pretty good still. They are adjusting remarkably well actually. But we are still pretty concerned about Victoria's health. She is so small and thin, and we feel like we won't really know how she is doing until we get her home and take her to our most awesome doctor. :) I don't think we will really get much of an idea even tomorrow at her medical appointment. Maybe, but I don't know. Anyway, please pray for her to stay as healthy as possible and stable until we can get her home! She just seems so fragile, but I know she's a fighter! She has made it this far!!
Anna is doing so great! She is so happy and such a funny girl! She is busy and active and smart and she loves her food!! Look out, Madalyn, your big sister is coming and she's gonna keep you on your toes!!

Well, I thought you might rather see pictures of the girls instead of random stuff, so here's a few pics from this weekend. It has been a rather long weekend for us for some reason. We are so ready to come home! Please pray that the girls' passports will be ready in time for Tuesday's appt at the Embassy. It would be wonderful if they were ready a little early, like say, tomorrow!! We are a little nervous that it's not gonna get done because of our recent experiences with getting court decrees and birth certificates....

Anna sticking out her tongue. This is what I think of this place!

Anna's always fascinated with Victoria, especially her binky.

Mom!! She took my binky again!!

Life is just not fair!!!

Anyway, we are just really needing your prayers right now! We want to be home! Our kids at home need us there, Anna and Victoria need to be there.... Have I said we just want to be home yet?? :)

Dressed up like the little old ladies around here. (hee hee)


Seriously, mom? I will get you back for this!

Here's a cute video of Anna in the bath. She loves the water!!

Saturday

For lunch today, we went to a little Italian place right next to TGI Fridays. We got to meet 2 of the families that we missed meeting the other night. (We didn't get to go the other night because our paper chasing escapades kept Mark out so long and it was too late to go. )

Anyway, we had pizza and salad today and it was yummy! The girls had their first experience in a restaurant and they did great. Everyone thought they were adorable and loved on them a bunch! :)

We met the Bachman and the deLlanos families! Thanks you guys, we had a really great time!! It would be nice if we could get together with other American families every day here! We have met many families in the "relatively" short time that we have been in this country, all or most adopting children with Down syndrome, or at least mostly are all RR families! That really is amazing and such a blessing for all these children that are finding families! Many many thanks to Andrea Roberts and Reece's Rainbow for helping us all find our children!! We know where all these little ones would be if it weren't for you and your little Reece!

Random Fun Stuff

A cool statue we saw when we came back the 2nd time. It really is huge! Don't know what it is but it kinda reminded us of the Statue of Liberty in a "missing the U.S.A." sort of way.

Ok, here's a "where's waldo" game.

It's actually a "where's the Golden Arches" game.

Who can find the McDonalds in this picture?? Look closely.

And some parking on the sidewalk.

More parking on the sidewalk. This always cracks us up for some reason.

Another find the Golden Arches picture. I'll admit, this one is a little tougher.

If you can't find it, the closer up picture is at the bottom of this post. Don't cheat and look there first!!!

Riding the Metro

You have to go way down under the ground to get on. Some places its farther down then others. There are many, many people that ride this every day!!

Here's The Longest Escalator I Have Ever Seen:

About to get on....

Looking waaaay up. See the tiny hole at the top of the lights, that's the top.

Looking down...



Looking down again....way down.

Looking up again, a little closer.

Almost to the top...

This escalator really kind of freaks me out. I am a little bit afraid of heights, maybe that is why. It can make you feel kinda off balance if you look down too long.


Ok, here's the close up pic. Can you find the McDonald's now? :)