Barbie Car Skiing...

So, when I was growing up, we went to the lake to water ski. Bless these kiddos hearts...Paw-paw has sold his boat. No water skiing for them. They have decided "skiing" behind the Barbie car is just as fun (although, I believe falling on the concrete might be a little more painful).

Can someone tell me why the girls in the car get the helmets??

Maggie is chasing Emily and towing Luke...how safe is this?

Now, this is a bad idea...Abby is NOT known as our best driver.

Just a Fun Story designed to make you laugh...

*This story is designed for the light-hearted :-)
So today Mike and I went (and took the kids) to get our Police Clearance letters for our dossier. We tried going to a local police station, but they said we weren't in their jurisdiction. So, we had to go downtown. When we adopted Abby, we had to go downtown also...it was a piece of cake. The officer was so amazingly kind, talkative, friendly, and FAST. What a difference 3 years makes...
Our entire brood enters the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. Picture a marble lobby with a glass window on the left for Records and one on the right for Pistol Permits. We head to the left to explain what we need. A sweet, sweet girl behind the counter says, "No problem, I will get someone right up." Whew, I am thinking, "Good, this will be easy again."...not so much. About 5 minutes later, a stern-looking, tall officer walks to the glass doors and says, "Yes." (not a question, a statement).
I say, "Yes, ma'm. We are here to get these Police Clearance Letters for an adoption.(showing her our old letters)."
She says, "If you have these, why do you need more?"
Great. I say, "Ma'm, these are 3 years old, not originals, and this is a different adoption."
Officer Sweetie Pie yanks the forms and our drivers' licenses out of my hand and storms away.
Mike and I look at each other. This could be bad. I say (almost in tears, simply because I have had many people be rude along this paperwork chase road), "Why can't anyone just be happy when doing their job?"
We sit the kids down to wait. Now remember...Records to the left, Pistol Permits to the right. In walks a man (I think he had a name tag that said, "Hello My Name is: Serial Killer."), he heads to the Pistol Permits window. I look at Mike...surely this isn't going to be easy for him. "Ma'm, I need to renew my concealed weapons permit," says Mr. Serial Killer. "Yes sir," she says, "that will be $10." And out walks Mr. Serial Killer with his renewed permit. Seriously?
Here comes Officer Sweetie Pie. She opens the glass door, and practically throws the documents and our licenses at us...so much so, that my license fell to the floor. I look at the documents - OH NO!!! She didn't notarize them - AAAAAAAHHHHHH. Deep breath.
"Ma'm," I say, "these aren't notarized."
Officer Sweetie Pie: "Were your others notarized?"
Me: "Yes Ma'm, see right here?"
Officer Sweetie Pie yanks the documents from me and storms away again. We all sit back down to wait again. Enter the leader of the local gang (you think I am making this up...), and he heads straight for...you got it, the Pistol Permits window. "Ma'm, I need to get a pistol permit," says Baby Face. "Sure thing, honey. Just fill this out, and that will be $10." AAAAAAAAHHHHH. No way. Baby Face walks out with his new permit.
Here comes Officer Sweetie Pie. This time, I sent Mike over - I couldn't handle it again. He walks over to the glass door..."Thank you." he says. Not a word from Officer Sweetie Pie...she just threw the documents at us and walked away.
We laughed so hard when we got in the car, that I thought we were all going to have accidents. I decided that I really, really need a concealed weapons permit. During our afternoon prayer time, my much wiser than Mommy child prayed, "Lord, please let those ladies at the police station come to know you, if they don't already know You."
Soooo thankful for my kiddos perception of experiences!! :-)

HAPPY Monday!!

I love the weekends...I love being able to have Daddy home to play and spend time together as a family. But recently, I have grown to really, really look forward to Mondays. Why? Because government offices are open, which means our paperwork is one day closer to being completed...also Ch*na's offices are open, which means files are being worked on... :-)

Today is an especially GREAT Monday! We woke up to a precious gift - photos of Landon "seeing" us for the first time...being told that he has a forever family, and being given a gift that we had sent with our friends to go with the album we sent. We were told that he was very excited to find out he has a forever family (I am not sure that he looks too, too excited, perhaps a little overwhelmed :-) We were told that all the kids are excited that he has a family coming to get him...they told everyone there at New Day. How fun!

Landon looking at the album and pictures that his big siblings drew for him

Landon seeing his new home and big siblings :-)

Landon and the Percy flashlight we sent...I think this might have been the biggest hit...

Please pray with us for Landon...that the Lord would prepare his heart for us...this will be a huge transition for him.

Just a Little P.S....

I realized that many of you may not know that we are pursuing Landon's foster brother...well, we are...pursuing his foster brother, that is. :-) Our goal is to bring them home as forever brothers. They are foster brothers from the same orphanage. We actually began pursuing him before Landon...for some reason there is and has been silence. We have been told by our agency that we cannot ask Ch*na again...and that is okay...it is in the Lord's hands. He directs the hearts of Kings. Therefore, if Landon's little foster brother is meant to be in our family, God will make it happen. (That is my very brief explanation regarding the last sentence on the previous post...which I am sure might have confused some of you :-)

Doin' Our Happy Dance....

Homestudy has been sent to Immigration!!! Yeah! So, for those of you who are so sweet and try to understand the process with me...our homestudy was completed this week. I was hoping and praying that we could get it FedEx'd to Immigration by today. This morning, our agency called and said that it was finalized, but not notarized and not ready to go yet - probably next week, they said. Big sigh..."Oh well, I told myself...that is okay, it can go out next week...it is okay...it is okay :-)."

For those of you who have adopted internationally before, you know that getting the homestudy done and off to immigration is a HUGE load off....especially when you know the little one(s) that you are trying to bring home - you know their name(s), face(s), and long to hold them and have them home. A precious family just shared bits and pieces with us about our little Landon, which made us long to have him home all that much more. They recently visited his foster home to help and serve alongside all the amazing workers there at New Day. They said Landon is BUSY...always moving...unstoppable...Sounds tiring, but OH so exciting!! All this just fueled our desire to have our documents off to Immigration today.

So, back to my story...as of this morning, it wasn't ready...couldn't go out. I have been wrestling with the Sovereignty of God v. Petitioning Him as our Father, so I prayed, "You know, Lord...I know you are sovereign, so whatever You want is fine, no it is more than fine, it is perfect. But, just remind me today that our prayers matter." This afternoon at 3:15, my phone rang - "Nikki, your homestudy is ready!" We dropped ALL our plans for this evening/afternoon, and we made the long drive to our agency to pick up the homestudy...then, the drive all over to try to find a FedEx drop off location that hadn't had pick-up yet (because by the time everything was packaged and ready to go, it was 5:50p.m.). I about took out a UPS man trying to run to the FedEx drop box that I finally found (I know you are proud Aunt Jan :-)...no offense to UPS, but they dropped my documents in water last time...

All that to say, one more BIG step closer to being DTC!!! (Dossier to Ch*na :-) Please keep praying for word on Landon's foster brother's file...

Some of our news!! Introducing...

LANDON!!

Here is the newest addition to the Symasek Clan! Currently waiting for us at New Day Foster Home in Be*jing! We are working furiously on paperwork...hang on little guy - don't grow up too fast - we're coming!

BIG BIG News Coming Soon!!! (out of Ch*na...)