Frustrating Court Date!!!

So frustrating!! Our lawyer told us that we only needed to bring the father to the court date as the mothers wants have no significance in this country!!! Then when we go to the court date the judge says that he's not granting our adoption order until we come back with the mother on Aug 31!! It was really frustrating...especially when we found out from a friend who had adopted before us that our lawyer new that we needed both parents!!! I've always thought that it was very sad that they were going to court to fully give up their children and the mother doesn't even get to come!! I had almost decided to bring her anyways, but then decided that our lawyer might not like that....Boy, should have listened to my first instinct! Anyways, our new court date is Aug 31...which hopefully goes much better than the first one!! Please pray that the Judge grants the order this time!!! and for comfort for the birth parents!!!

Cute babies...and a bad blogger!

I have discovered that I'm not the best blogger....lol...I read some people's blogs that post everyday, or almost everyday!! I can never thing of what to say once a week...let alone once a day....So my excuse is going to be that the internet here is to slow and unreliable for me to post more than once a week...lol...Thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it!!! So...what's new around here...well, we are waiting for our court dates! Edens is on the 24th and Cassidy's is Sept 2! My mom comes in exactly 5 weeks! We seem to be doing a fair bit of waiting!! Teams have just left and its fairly quiet around here!! The kids are out of school on break, and are really enjoying playing with my girls...which I quite enjoy as it gives me a break from trying to figure out how to entertain them!! The weather her the last 3 days has been very cold for some reason! We've had to bring back out our jeans and sweaters...All in all not overly exciting!! but here are some pics of my cutie girls..now that's exciting!! I still don't have any pics of the teeth cause they are still not quite through enough to get a good pic...Although Eden now has both bottom teeth!!!



Someone please come play with me!!


My beautiful girls!! Getting so big.. can't wait for everyone to meet them!!

We have the passports!!

We are praising God!!! He is so amazing...we received the girls passports in 2 weeks and 2 days and they are both correct!!....so amazing!! Our friend and the director of the orphanage where we are working adopted her 2 sons from Zambia as well. It took her 4 months to get their passports and when she finally got them they had spelled the boys' names wrong! All we have left on the Zambian side is their final court dates which are in 2 weeks and 6 days for Eden, and 4 weeks one day for Cassidy!! I'm not really concerned that we won't pass court or that the parents will change their minds until I think about all the what ifs, and what it would feel like to give up our girls now!! I have a peace that everything will go just fine, but the devil likes to sow seeds of doubt and worry in our minds! If he can sway us from trusting than he has done his job well!!

The work here is going well!! Sidney is loving it here and I think will be sad to go home! He has quite easily adapted to the Zambian lifestyle, and quite enjoys coming home anytime of day to play with his girls for a few minutes! They are working on painting the high school right now, and they're also finishing the roof on the annex building. Its starting to get quite warm here and pretty soon it will be very hot to work outside!!

The countdown is on...my mom comes in 6 weeks and 1 day!! I so can't wait to see her I've missed her so much, and I can't wait for the girls to meet their Oma!! One of the things that's been a challenge about being away, and adopting the girls is that no one else gets to meet them or enjoy their cute little quirks!! We waited 4 long years for our girls, but so did our families!!! I know they are really excited to meet them, and I can't wait to show off my beautiful girls! Pics help but its not the same..you can't quite get to know their cute little personality's and funny things they do!!

When I was younger I knew a set of twins who would talk to each other in twin talk....In other words complete gibberish to everybody else..but they knew exactly what the other was saying and would totally crack each other up!! I'm waiting for the days that my girls might do this...At the moment they view each other as more of a challenge to deal with...She's going to steal my toy or cookie or sippy cup!! We are already having to teach them not to pull hair!! Their first tooth is almost to the point where I could take a pic...and I think their second tooth is not far behind!! They are so cute!!

Teeth & Weekend Away!

My baby girls are finally getting some teeth!! and they are both getting the exact same tooth...lol...at the exact same time!!! It's always interesting to see how different their personalities really are! Cassidy has been quite miserable, and very, very whiny while getting this tooth...and Eden, although somewhat whiny has been taking it far better than Cassidy!! But, that doesn't really surprise me...Eden is far more content, and chipper than her younger sister...but...again...shes also the biggest bug. She took full advantage of her sisters more miserable state, and was taking every opportunity to push her buttons!! One thing i've been enjoying though is that they are a lot cuddlier right now!!!

This weekend Sidney and I get to go away!!! without the girls!!! Our friends Angela & Scott Visser have offered to watch our girls for the weekend and give us a chance to get away together and relax. We are going to travel to Lusaka (about a 4 hour drive away) where their is a huge craft fair on the last Saturday of every month. It also has the only mall and movie theater in the country!! I am so excited..but will miss my girls!! We may even see 2 movies while we are their as it only costs $2.50 to see the movie, and that includes popcorn and a drink!! I just hope that their is something good playing!

I will post some pics of the girls teeth as soon as they are fully visible!! Otherwise, life here has been good...we are waiting for our court dates which are in 4 weeks...we are also waiting for our Canadian citizenship to come through!! We still don't know whether we will be able to travel to Johannesburg in Sept or Oct! Part of me hopes we can go in Sept as their is 5 weeks before after all the teams leave before my mom comes which will be very quiet....but I also won't mind going in Oct as it will make the time go by very fast and then we go home!! I'm struggling right now with really wanting to go home!! I miss everyone and everything familiar to me! My girls are so worth it though! We have 16 weeks left before we go and although it seems like a really big number I know it will go by fast! The exciting part is that it is only 7 weeks and 2 days until my mom comes!!! CAN NOT WAIT!! I'll try and post again soon!! Miss you all!!

How many people can you fit in a truck?

In Africa having enough seatbelts for everyone is a bit of a flexible rule!! Quite often we will see trucks driving down the road and wonder how on earth they fit that many people in the back!! and could they possibly sandwich one more person in??? The sad part is that quite often in the midst of all those people in the back of that truck is a coffin and they are on their way to a funeral.


Sorry it was hard to get a good pic as I was in a car, and you have to be careful when taking pictures here as most people get quite upset!!

Crawling and Court Dates!!!

My beautiful babies have finally learned how to crawl!!! and boy, they are good! It took them a long time to learn how...but once they realized how to do it they were off like a shot! Cassidy crawled first, and Eden followed suite about 2 weeks later...she was quite frustrated for those 2 weeks though. She could see Cassie getting into everything she wanted too and she knew that she was missing out! My little girls are already so grown up! Its not even 2 months until they are 1!!! One benefit to their being able to crawl is that the screeching has considerably lessened! They are far more content now that they can crawl around and get into everything, they've also discovered how to follow me...doing dishes, making the bed, going to the bathroom!!!

We finally have court dates as well!! We were given dates in July but had to have them changed as it wasn't 90 days later! The magistrate here is allowed to make an exception and waive the 90 day wait period, but when we go to Pretoria to get their visa at the Canadian consulate, we could have run into a lot of trouble. The Canadian consulate knows the rules and is very strict about them. If we don't follow them they can deny us our visa's stating that we must have done something underhanded, or bribed someone. So, we had the court dates changed and have finally gotten knew ones!! Eden's court date is August 24Th and we are supposed to hear about Cassidy's court date today...but it should be the day after Eden's! Yes I know...why do we have to have 2 separate court dates even though they are twins...I have no idea!!! Its two separate dates and two separate judges...apparently cause its 2 different children it requires 2 separate judges and days!! Even though their is no way they would separate twins!!

Well...my babies are getting into trouble, I'll post pics soon!!

The joys of having twins!!!

One of the many joys I have discovered of having twins, is that they gang up on you. Theirs two of them...and only one of me. They already know exactly how to take advantage of my distraction when I'm am dealing with the other one...for example!!! Today Cassidy had a very dirty diaper which required my full attention and both hands!! When I turned around I found this!!!

She pulled out almost the whole box of Kleenex...and would have eaten a few if I hadn't stopped her!! My darling Eden, is the quite, cuddly, and sneaky one of the two. We affectionately call her the little thief...without fail, if Cassidy has something...ie a cookie, sippy cup, toy, food...You name it...Eden almost always finds a way to take if from her!!! Sometimes without Cassie even knowing!! and then she grins and giggles oh so cutely!!! how can you be upset!!