Summertime....

Well, we have been in DC for a month now, and what a busy month it has been!  Sometimes I wonder how I can be busy ALL day long, but at the end of the day there is still so much to do!?  But all in all we have had a great few weeks including house guests, two trips to downtown DC, more tooth extractions, and a road trip (yes, again!) to Georgia to see family and friends!  And of course the usual crazy amount of adoption paperwork as we try and wrap up this home study.

So here are a few fun pics...

Nay at the Kids' Crusade water play night

Zach learning to milk a cow at the Folk Festival in DC

Kids hard at work...OK maybe these were only fun for me:)

Sunset on the Potomac - 4th of July

My "Little Professor" at the Smithsonian...how am I old enough to have my toys on display?????

All the cousins at Stone Mountain

Braves game at Turner Field...yes, Chipper hit a homer just for me that night!

But with this many kids, you know I didn't see much of the game!

My beautiful Mema at her nursing home in Adel, GA... about the only thing she said all night that I understood was "OH, Really!??" after telling her I made homemade biscuits for dinner.  Not sure why that fact amused her?

Molly is home from Nana's house!  

Nana having a "tall" moment

Sissy in front of the SI Native American History Museum

I think I am officially "summered out" and ready for the routine that the new school year will bring.  Guess that means I should start getting the school room ready...the only room not yet unpacked!

FOUND...

Well tomorrow will be a week since our belongings arrived here in Maryland, and this has definitely been a week of "lost" and "found."  The lost computer charger has now been found in the suitcase that traveled all 3,000 miles with me across the US in a very hidden place, therefore I am actually able to complete adoption paperwork and blog again!  The lost hairdryer has now been found, therefore my hair looks normal again (until I walk outside anyway).  The lost poles for the laundry sorter have now been found.  Next time I will know to look in a box marked "garage" for those, even though they were originally located in the laundry room.  Nathyn's lost football card album has been found, only to now be unable to find the football cards that started that search in the first place!  But I think my favorite thing that I have found so far was something I didn't even quite realize had been lost for years...time with my kids!  I have played Bey Blades with Zachary, done puzzles with Nathyn, had a facial and a hair do by Alyssa, picnicked at the base pool, and even sat and watched an entire movie with them!  Trivial to some I suppose, but a pretty big deal to someone who has spent more of the last 16 years with other people's kids than my own!

Sometimes things are lost and we search diligently to find them because they are so important!  This morning I was reading from my devotional Jesus Calling.  The title for today was "I Speak to You Continually."  It was a reminder to look for the ways God communicates to us in every day people and occurrences.  And it ended with one of my favorite verses:  Jeremiah 29:13.  "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Finding stuff in boxes, finding time with my kids, and finding my Lord.  So glad they are all being FOUND!

Lewis and Clark statue by the Mississippi River

in St. Louis...and a few modern day explorers.

Surprise!!

Well, we finally made it to Maryland, and our household goods should arrive tomorrow.  So hopefully after about 2-3 days of unpacking chaos, normal Saylor life will return!  Although since I am no longer teaching, don't know anyone within 500 miles, and have no idea where anything is located in this town, I am not sure what "normal" will be?  But I am looking forward to finding out.

On our 8th day of our cross country trip, I received an email from our agency with an update we had requested weeks ago.  Truthfully, with all of the craziness of leaving CA and being crammed in a van with three kids and our cat, the long wait for this update hadn't even been on my mind.  So you can imagine my wonderful surprise when I saw an email from WACAP with the words "update" and "pics"!  It is the only information we have received other than what was in his initial agency file.  And guess who is growing up??

It is Mycah Ryan Saylor!

He looks like such a big boy compared to his earlier pics. 

Look at the cuteness!!

We also found out that he is in the Qingyuan City SWI (orphanage), not in a foster home.  He has been healthy recently and is not currently on medication.  The last part surprised me, as his file diagnosis (Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia) would necessitate daily meds.  (Apparently we need to make quick friends with the pediatric endocrinologist at Andrews AFB!)  He weighs about 30 lbs and is 36 inches tall, which puts him somewhere in between a 2T and 3T I think.  Looks like he will fit right in with the rest of my skinny boys:)  So can't wait for him to come home...nothing like "expecting" for 12 months!  I pray it goes quickly for both of us!

OH, So close!!

Two thousand, seven hundred miles later, we are ALMOST "home."  Driving through Colorado was quite beautiful.  Apparently Nathyn's "dream came true" when we drove through Denver and saw the Broncos' stadium!  He was beside himself that we actually stopped there!

After our stop in Denver, we stopped in Colorado Springs for a quick visit to Whit's End at the Focus on the Family Headquarters.  The kids enjoyed the Adventures in Odyssey memorabilia and the soda shoppe!

Driving through Kansas was, well, mostly not beautiful.  Our overnight stop in Oakley was apparently VERY close to a stockyard.  The look on the kids' faces was priceless when we were unloading at the hotel!  Next we stopped in Kansas City which was much nicer!  Although we were in a nice hotel, there was no pool.  So the kids were not vary happy with me to say the least.  However, we were surrounded by lots of fantastic restaurants!  And after way too many fast-food stops, The Melting Pot was absolutely irresistible! Then off to St. Louis where we saw the Arch...inside and out!

And then there was the mighty Mississippi!

And then off we swam to Scott AFB to visit the Brakmans for a night.  And now we are settled in to our TLF at Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio.  

Although we will be "home" tomorrow, I already miss our California home.

For those of you who tune in for adoption updates, the next one will be for you, and it's a good one!

Almost Halfway!

Our trip so far has been pretty great!  With the exception of the snow near Tahoe, the 60 mph crosswinds in Nevada, the owl that ran into my headlight, and the Denali that ran into my back bumper in the parking lot, it has actually been incredible!  And for my GA/FL people who have never been out this way, the drive through Nevada, and most of Utah, on 80 is worse than the drive from Macon to Lake City on I-75.  There was NOTHING on that road for over 100 miles sometimes.  Except for the kamikaze owl that tried to take out my driver side headlight and a cool coyote watching our van pass by from the side of the road.  Interstate 70 was not much better, but day 3 proved to be fantastic!  We started off at Arches National Park...

Took a short hike to see the sites (you can see Delicate Arch way in the background)...

Completed their Jr Ranger Program (the 12 year-old was less than thrilled!)...

And then headed to Colorado!  The kids had been BEGGING to go to Target, since the small amount of money they had been given was apparently burning a hole in their pocket.  But by this time in the trip I had a couple of things I needed as well, so once we reached civilization, we stopped.  Being that this is Colorado and all, and being that Nathyn is a HUGE Manning fan, he was on the hunt for Broncos gear!  And he was beside himself when we located the sports section and he found what he was looking for!  He even made sure to thank every Target employee we passed for having "Broncos stuff."  He is now the proud owner of a hat and a shirt.

We finally arrived in Glenwood Springs, and the kids were overjoyed to discover the hotel pool!

And then today we visited the huge pool and water slides that are fed by the hot springs here.  And Grammy...the kids think it smells like your water here:)

Tomorrow we head to Kansas!  It is a little hard to get excited about that stop??  But Nay is SO hoping we pass the Broncos stadium on our drive through Denver!

In adoption news, we got a little update from the orphanage today.  It seems our little guy has been healthy lately, resides in the orphanage and not with a foster family, and is close to his care givers.  There were a couple of things that concerned me about his diagnosis and lack of treatment, but it was just another reminder about how incredibly important it is to bring him home ASAP!  Don't forget that you can help, too, by shopping through our Amazon link (no special codes required) and going out to dinner (click on the CoupAide link to the right!).  Thanks to all who have already done so.  Everyone can make a difference!

What a Week!

So much has happened in the last week, that it would take thousands of words to express!  But since a picture is worth a thousand words, maybe I can shorten this post.

This week we have...

had a toothache,

had two teeth pulled,

said goodbye to wonderful teachers and friends,

said goodbye to the best school in the world,

watched all our worldly goods drive away,

sent Molly to visit Nana (please pray for her...the dog I mean!),

celebrated Nay's 8 year old birthday (a week early),

passed the base pool swim test (only took 5 years!),

said goodbye to more wonderful friends **sigh**,

said goodbye to our California life,

and are heading off into the wild blue yonder!  

California to Maryland, here we go!

Excited!

"Well, DUH!" you may say, seeing that I just posted some incredible news.  However, this has been quite the roller coaster ride so far, and excitement had not yet been one of the emotions I was experiencing.  Anticipation, anxiety, hope, anxiety, overwhelmed, anxiety, what was I thinking??, anxiety...you get the point (even though I am totally sure that was not correctly punctuated...I was a math major).  The only thing I can relate this experience to is how I felt when I first found out I was pregnant with our first child, Zachary.  I wanted to be excited...I knew I should be excited...felt guilty for NOT being excited...but I wasn't.  Not that I didn't want to be pregnant, because I did!  But then there were the thoughts like "what if I miscarry?" or "What if something is wrong with him?" or "What if I can't handle this and I am not a good mom?"  and a million other "what ifs" that ran through my mind.  It has been the same this time with only slight variations.  "What if the agency doesn't like my answers for the 20 page questionnaire?"  "What if China doesn't grant our PA (Preliminary Approval)?"  And again, "What if I can't handle this and I am not a good mom?"  And the other million "what ifs."

But along with our news of PA that came on Tuesday, came relief!  And tagging along right behind was EXCITEMENT!  To be honest, many of those "what ifs" continue to run through my head on a pretty regular basis.  I am sure some of them have worn quite a path by now!  But now every time they come, I just think about this...

A little boy thousands of miles away who has never known a mother's love, has never wrestled with his daddy, or played in the yard sprinklers on hot days with his brothers and sister.  And I am EXCITED to see the story that God is writing for this little boy!  (And, yes, he still lacks an English name, but we are working on that!)