Cooking 101...

Hannah is finally much more willing to try and do more things... I think knowing that she has a sister that loves to do some of these things, makes her much more willing to try... So, the other night we had a 'cooking class.' It was gourmet cooking at it's best: Hamburger helper. No, not healthy, but there are a lot of easy steps and she had a lot of fun. The end product looks REALLY GROSS, but it tasted good!!! Plus, we were 'mostly' one on one in the kitchen... She had a lot of fun doing this together. It is kind of like polishing her nails: Once I can convince her to try it, she likes it...

BTW: Please ignore my appearance in these pics!!! Ryan was at class all day and I did not go out anywhere. I am not even sure if I had brushed my hair: By looking at it, I did not... :-) And the wall: We are painting the back part of the kitchen that brick red, I just need to finish it...

***If you have the time, Hannah LOVES when you all leave comments about her posts!!!!!!!! She smiles from ear to ear when I read them to her! So, go ahead, make Hannah smile and leave a comment...

PLEASE PRAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please pray with me today!!! Our paperwork for Chun Yan is at CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs) today being studied. CCAA called WACAP (our adoption agency) with a few questions about us. Some were answered with the papers that WACAP already has on us, but one our case worker had to call me about. I am ADD, and anyone who known me when I am not taking my meds (while pregnant and nursing) would say, "Yes, Rebekah is ADD." But, on my low dose of Ritalin, I function great! Without it I function fine, I just have to work really hard to stay on task.

Well, they were questioning ADD and the medicine to see if I would still be able to function and take care of our children without it. PLEASE GOD, LET THEM SEE BEYOND THIS DIAGNOSIS AND MEDICINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did not think that I was really getting attached to Chun Yan, but now I know that I am. I have a knot in my stomach, and I will be so sad if they do not approve us because of some medicine that I take. Surely, someone with ADD has adopted from China before, right???!!!!

Would you please join with me and pray that they rule in our favor and approve us for Chun Yan. They are possibley reviewing the file as I type. WACAP wanted to get back with them before they left the office.

Thank you in advance for your prayers, and I will keep you updated. Something really cool has kept us very busy this past week and that is why I haven't blogged. I will share when I can... If you e-mail me, I will tell you...

Itinerary...

What is this you might ask???

Passengers:
MICAH HUBLEY
REBEKAH HUBLEY
RYAN HUBLEY
HANNAH HUBLEY
6325 DIGITAL WAY STE. 150
INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46278

Flight Information:
Should our flight schedule change, we will notify you by email as early as possible.

May 16, 2009, Flight 123 [Non-Stop] Seat: 11A / 11B / 11C / 11D
Departing Indianapolis, IN (IND) at 12:00 PM
Arriving Atlanta, GA (ATL) at 01:32 PM
--- Connecting To ---
May 16, 2009, Flight 123 [Non-Stop] Seat: 11A / 11C / 11D / 11E
Departing Atlanta, GA (ATL) at 02:52 PM
Arriving Orlando, FL (MCO) at 04:15 PM

May 23, 2009, Flight 123 [Non-Stop] Seat: 11A / 11B / 11C / 11D
Departing Orlando, FL (MCO) at 06:20 PM
Arriving Indianapolis, IN (IND) at 08:40 PM
----------------------------------------------------------

It's our itinerary for Make A Wish!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have not posted much, because we did not have the final details.

Here was our big struggle: Bring all of the kids, or just Hannah and Micah??? Ryan has just wanted to bring the two older older kids from the beginning. Me, on the other hand wanted everyone to enjoy this once in a lifetime adventure. I had a way to do this too... Bring two people with us that could help with the little boys... We would not be taking the boys with us everywhere; just probably to Disney for one of the days. I knew it would be more work, but I was so scared that everything that we have worked towards with Jonas over the last 9 months, bonding, etc. would be jeopardized. Ryan and I have been going back and forth about this since November. Neither one of us were willing to budge... I knew we had to make a decision and I wanted both of us to be on the same page. Otherwise it would be too easy to blame the other if it was not going as planned on the trip.

So, I said, "Let me talk to Barb Hartsell, our Social Worker for Jonas's adoption." She is an attachment expert and I value her opinion greatly. We talked and she felt that he would be fine. By the time we will leave, he will have been here just over 1 year. She said that he might digress a little and be clingy when we come back, but she said that Luca probably will too. She felt he would bounce back quick, and at some point I have to leave him. She thought that it would be great for Hannah and Micah to have us all to themselves too! I am such a 'feelings' person though, and I operate sometimes out of guilt, even if what I choose to do is harder on me...

This trip is about Micah, and I have to keep reminding myself about that! So, as it stands now, it will be just the 4 of us. I am sooooooo looking forward to it, and taking care of just the 2 older ones will be a breeze!!!!!!!!!!! What is funny, is the day I made the decision to just take the older 2, was the day that Luca had dumped cereal everywhere, Jonas puked twice in his bed, and then pooped in the tub. I called our Make a Wish person, and said, "This is probably is not the best day to make this decision, but I am!!!" She laughed... The good thing is, if for some reason plans need to change last minute and we feel like everyone needs to go, including our help; Make a Wish will make the arrangements. That made me so much more comfortable with our decision.

So, where will the 2 little boys be staying, you ask? They will stay at our house and we have 2 fabulous, amazing, incredible girls coming to stay with them. I did not think that I would be able to get college students to help, because of finals, etc., but it worked. Jess Mayhew and Anna Kagstrom will be staying here for the week. The boys will be able to keep their same routines and Jonas will still go to school. This is vital, especially for Jonas. He was abandoned to a Haitian orphanage at 15months, brought to GLA soon after, and then up-routed from GLA at 28 months. This boy has had more trauma in his short life than in all of my 31 years. I just don't want him to think he is being left again! Barb said that it would be best for him to stay in his own environment, on his familiar routine, and having Luca there will help too.

The cool thing for those of you that don't know who Jess and Anna are: They are 2 of the girls that took care of Jonas while he was at GLA. Jess was with him for 6 weeks and Anna had him for 9 months. Kristin Vanderwell had him also, the first 2 1/2 months he was there. Kristin, come down that week and make it one big Jonas party!!! lol... Isn't that the coolest thing that we have contact and relationships with his caregivers while he was at GLA. To me, that is priceless!!!

While in Florida, we will be staying at a place called Give Kids the World. Micah was thinking that he wanted to stay at "The Boardwalk" at Disney, but our wish coordinator told us that he would love this place and that only 4 wish granting organizations have the opportunity to use it. She said that we could stay at Disney any time, but would never have the opportunity to stay here again. We are all very happy about where we are staying... they have special things for the kids all week. We will have a 3 day pass to Disney World, 1 day pass to Sea World, and a 1 day pass to Universal. Our Make a Wish trip is from Saturday-Friday, but we are choosing to stay one extra day, and that will be on us. We figured we are already down there, taking a week off of school, so we might as well stay until Saturday. We are not sure if that day will just be to rest, go to the Kennedy Space Center, or take an Everglades Safari. Has anyone ever done the Everglades thing? How far is it from Orlando? We will have most of the day Saturday in Florida, because our plane does not take off until 6:20pm. Ahhhhhhh, I can't wait!!!

I am a big kid and I get SO VERY EXCITED about any vacation: Anything fun for that matter!!! :-) We are less than 3 months away and I can't wait. Ryan and I can really use this 'down time'!!! ;-) I need to start tanning soon, so I don't make any cars wreck from the reflection off my WHITE legs!!!

So, Disney....HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What in the World are the Hubley's Doing???

Okay, so do you remember this post??? (A Sister for Hannah...)

Welllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll...

WE ARE ADOPTING AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know, we can't believe it either... lol... So, how did all of this happen after just that post? Ryan does not always read my blog, but the day after Ryan's mom told him to read it. He read it and watched the video and could not make it through the video. I was SHOCKED!!! Honestly, that post was somewhat a joke because I 'knew' that Ryan would not adopt again. Not that our adoption was bad, he was just fulfilled with the children that we have now. So was I... He said, "If we had a bigger house, I would say go for it." I said, "Really???" I honestly could not believe what my ears were hearing!!! He was definitely not ready to actually adopt again, but was open to the possibility. He thought that Bethel was AMAZING!!!

So, we talked and prayed about it over the next couple weeks, but Ryan still was not there... That was totally fine: I don't want to do anything without him totally in it too!!!

We told the kids what we were thinking and Hannah and Micah were thrilled: Especially Hannah!!! (Luca and Jonas count, but don't really have a clue... lol...) I told Hannah that she was blind just like her, and she was sooooooooooo happy!!! She was also happy that Chun Yan was older than her: 2 months older to be exact. Micah said the funniest thing, "I think we will have enough kids in our family now!" Too funny... This is from the kid that asked if we could bring all of the kids home from GLA that did not have a mommy and daddy yet...Maybe he is rethinking...

So, I started researching about Chun Yan. This is where it gets crazy. One of my blog friends is adopting from Bethel, and I did not even know it. I mean, I knew that she was adopting a blind girl from China, but I had never put 2 and 2 together. She told me that her little girl, Calliandra and Chun Yan are really good friends and that she had a bunch of pics. Are you kidding me??? Someone that I know, who only lives 2 1/2 hours away is adopting Chun Yan's best friend... That is God!!! Heather, Calliandra's adoptive mom, connected me with some other Bethel parents and volunteers on Facebook, and I started digging. I also contacted the director of Bethel to get as much info on Chun Yan as possible. Ryan and I had a lot of questions.

Next, Delphine, the director of Bethel, gave me a list of agencies that China works with to adopt special needs kids. One agency I knew of: WACAP. So, I called and she was on the list and we would need to pay $50 to get her file. I gave all of this info to Ryan and asked if he wanted me to get it? He said, "Okay, because we would never be able to make a decision without it..."BUT I AM NOT SAYING YES..." ;-)

So, I got her file and I also filled out a pre-application for WACAP. I was really feeling it now. Absolutely nothing wrong with her but her eyesight... She has microphthalmia..small eyes... She is very smart and reads braille in Chinese/English, and can speak some English too. Very helpful to us... I do not know any Chinese, but will be learning some... So, I showed Ryan the profile and he was still not there. Hannah would talk about her daily and would talk to Ryan daily about it too. I told Hannah that it was up to Daddy, and she never let up. ( You go girl... lol...)

About two weeks ago Ryan and I were talking about everything, and I said, "So, what do you think?" He thought about it....and said, "Let's go for it..." Then he said, "I must be losing my mind!!" lol... Actually, we are losing our minds and our desires, and really following what God has called us to do, wether it look completely crazy or not!!!

So, the next day I called WACAP and told our Waiting Children Coordinator and she was very happy!!! She sent me out the next round of paperwork and questionaires. I hate paperwork!!! The first adoption paperwork was fun and new... well, I am over fun and new... :-) I got to work and turned in the first set of forms last week and sent in a deposit of $500 for us to be approved by China. Mailing that check just made everything seem so real. (or surreal, I am not sure...) I just finished our formal application for WACAP last night and I will overnight some other papers to WA tomorrow and then we will wait and see.

Something that I found funny about China's application: Send in 6 dignified photos of your family. lol... Dignified to China means no bathing suits... Okay, Jonas came home in May, and ALL of our pics as a family involved water this summer, or it was hot out and I was wearing a halter top tank. And, there were really cute photos of Jonas and Luca, but Luca was wearing his doggy harness... :-) I searched and searched and finally found 6 decent ones. Don't you think China would have loved the photos of Luca feeding Jonas cat food, or him naked by the fish tank, or painting with poop, etc... So, I guess we aren't dignified...but we have a ton of fun together...

So, I am sure that you have a ton of questions for us, and feel free to ask... I will post answers to them in my next post, but I am tired of typing!!! I think I covered most everything, but probably not... :-) Also, I did not check for typos... I am too tired to re-read this, so hopefully it makes sense...

Oh, silly me, you probably want to see pics, huh... She is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!! One very cool thing: Chun Yan and Hannah are 1" and 1 lb. of each other. Chun Yan is taller...that tells you how short Hannah is!!! So, they can share clothes........... yeah..................

Snow Anyone???

Luca LOVES the snow!!! But, it has either been too cold for him to go out with Micah, or I cannot go out with him, because of Jonas and Hannah wanting to stay in; so often he watches from the window. Saturdays are usually good days to out and play because Ryan is home. But, he is finishing up his Masters in a few weeks, and his classes are every other Saturday. These past few weeks he has gone every Saturday, so Luca has not gotten out much.

One of the blogs that I read, Mck Mamma, they live up North somewhere where it is REALLY COLD. So, sometimes she brings the snow inside to either the sink or the bathtub. GENIOUS!!!! Why have I never thought of this before??? So, we tried it and it was a HUGE HIT!!! These pics are a couple weeks old, but never the less, adorable. I love that he insisted on still wearing his mittens... And look, he is clothed... We are making progress!!! :-)

After...

Here is the result of a couple hours of hair pampering. She did a really good job! I love the highlights and it just makes me cheery and wish for summer! My hair used to be more blonde than Hannah's, but as I have gotten older it has gotten darker. Especially with pregnancy. I used to have VERY curly hair too, but pregnancy did that in too!!! Oh, what we do for our children... :-) It is not my normal girl, but since it was free, I didn't care who did it.

I don't normally wear my hair curled under, but I was not complaining as she fixed my hair. My eyes were shut and I was just soaking up the peace and relaxation! She could have just played with my hair for another hour or so...it felt sooooo good!

AFTER

BEFORE

Before and After...

Here I am now:



You will have to wait for a couple hours to see the after. In the fall, I won a highlight, cut, and style at a carnival at Hannah's school. I GET TO USE IT TODAY, AND I AM SOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!

My mom was supposed to watch Luca and Jonas, and she kinda bailed on me this morning.:-( But, thanks to my amazing and ALWAYS SO HELPFUL mother-in-law, I can still go and get pampered!!!!!

THANK YOU JUDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have not done anything to my hair since right before going to pick up Jonas, in May... I might have gotten it trimmed once, but I don't think so... So, it is time, and the best thing about it, is that it is FREE!!!!!!!!!

On another note, I have not been blogging at all this past week, and there is a reason which I hope to share with you tonight... Some REALLY COOL things have been going on at the Hubley house! Until then, you just have to wait... :-)

Hannah and The Special Birds...

Written by: Hannah Hubley
Photographed by: Rebekah Hubley

Emma(cardinal), Maria(robin), Laura(chick 1), Sarah(chick 2), and Hannah are best friends. My mom was taking some pictures of me and them. There were 2 birds and 2 little baby chicks. They were very special! First, they napped on my lap. I had a big smile on my face. Next I held them up by my face. When I smiled, I laughed.

I have a bag. It is for my 4 friends. But all 4 friends are different. One bird and one chick have a sticker on them. But now both stickers are taken off. I didn't want the stickers. Me and Jacey played a game. I bet no one knows what cheep birds are!!! A cheep bird is someone who has a bag. They carry some birds and chicks in the bag.

Here's how we play the game... Me and Jacey(Hannah's cousin) share the same bag. First we have to connect the sounds by playing how they sound different. And then we take turns putting one in the bag. Next I hold one end and Jacey holds the other end, and we have to walk to the dining room. If I make it to the dining room, we have a winning team. Then, we know that I keep on playing with them.

THE END...







Just a little bit of fun on a teacher in-service day--no school today.

A Poem for Parents

Enjoy this, it was sent to me by our Children's Pastor...

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray my sanity to keep.
For if some peace I do not find,
I'm pretty sure I'll lose my mind.

I pray I find a little quiet
Far from the daily family riot
May I lie back--not have to think
about what they're stuffing down the sink,
or who they're with, or where they're at
and what they're doing to the cat.

I pray for time all to myself
(did something just fall off a shelf?)

To cuddle in my nice, soft bed
(Oh no, another goldfish--dead!)

Some silent moments for goodness sake
(Did I just hear a window break?)

And that I need not cook or clean--
(well heck, I've got the right to dream)

Yes now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray my wits about me keep,
But as I look around I know--
I must have lost them long ago!

Author Unknown

GOING ON STRIKE...

Yes, you heard it here first!!! At this moment, 2:27 pm, I am going on strike as "MOM"!!!

The morning went pretty well. Hannah and Micah off to school at 8:15. I had a few minutes to myself, before getting Jonas and Luca up. Jonas had school today, but he has been really snotty so I was going to let him sleep in and decide if he was going. He woke up VERY snotty, but no fever. So, I called the school and asked if any of his therapies were today. They told me he had OT , so I told them I would bring him in for that, but not to class so he did not slime all of the toys up with snot. They appreciated that! :-) (oh, I forgot... before I took Jonas to school, Luca 'poured' himself a bowl of grape nuts ceareal) He poured it all right--all over the floor... :-(

Therapy was okay--he was not his typical self, but did good. So, after therapy Luca, Jonas, and I head home. I get them lunch, and off to naps. I put Jonas down first and then get Luca to bed. I checked on Jonas after putting Luca down, and he had puked hotdogs and pancakes all throughout the bed. (NICE...) He does not have the stomach flu, he sometimes plays with his fingers in his mouth and gets too many in and gags himself. So, I was not feeling sorry for him...

I get him in the tub, and strip his crib. I have been meaning to lower his crib all the way down since he is standing now, so I thought now would be a good time. I pulled the crib out, cleaned the base boards behind the crib, wipe the crib down, and change everything... Meanwhile, he is playing in the tub (the rooms are right next to each other, so I could here him the whole time...I am not leaving him 'alone' in the tub...if you were wondering...) So, I go into get him out and see some nice surprises floating in the water--you guessed it--poop...) Sigh... So, I take him out of the tub, remove the turds, empty the bath water, clean the tub, put him back in to re-wash him, and then get him out. I love clean babies!!!! I lotioned him all up, got his hair nice and soft, and dressed him a second time for his nap.

Meanwhile, I still hear Luca playing around in his room. I go into rock him, and put him back down. He is settled, so I check on Jonas one more time... AGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH.... He did it again... Yep, put his fingers down his throat and he puked everywhere--in the PERFECTLY CLEAN crib!!! this time there was no bath... I took his clothes off, wiped him off with wipes, redressed him--for a 3rd time in 2 hours, and layed him down.

I AM ON STRIKE NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The house is quiet now, and I see a mountain of dishes looking back at me. Hannah and Micah will be home in less than 1 hour, and I am BEAT!!! Ryan is working late tonight... :-(

These are days that I daydream that tomorrow is the day that I am flying out for a week to the Bahamas, or somewhere warm with palm trees...

Back to reality...It is 17 degrees outside...

No NEVER...Not LUCA...

Sorry for blogging hiatus! I have had plenty of material, I just haven't been that ambitious...January and February in the North does this to me every year... I can't complain about the sun not being around this Winter, it has, but it hasn't been much above 20 degrees very much since the middle of December. I am a warm weather kind of girl that is stuck in the Midwest! (Hannah totally agrees with me on my last statement. She got off the bus on Monday, and said, "This is a great day! It's a new month, and that means that we are one month closer to Spring!") That's my girl!!!

So, are you thinking, What is "No Never...Not LUCA..."? Well, I will tell you! I read a blog called "My Charming Kids". She does a post every Monday called, "Not Me Monday". In this post she goes over her last week and posts things that she has done or how she has reacted to things, but she always writes it in a way that she "didn't do it". She opens it up to her readers to join in, and I often thought it would be great therapy to tell you things that I absolutely 'never' did in the last week. Like, there is no way that I washed my son with cold water last week to get the poop off of him. No way, not me, that would be cruel!!! So, that is how it goes.

So, I am taking a spin off of her post and making my own: I am hoping that it is not a weekly post, but the way Luca is, you can probably count on a lot of these!!! lol...

So, here goes my first "No NEVER...Not LUCA"

Nope, there is no way that Luca could have had time to go up to the bathroom, that I swear I had locked, while I was changing Jonas's poopy diaper, and gotten into the top drawer of a container, gotten out the toothpaste, which he calls the gross one, eat a lot of it, smear it on himself, and then proceed to throw it in the toilet. "No NEVER...Not LUCA"

There is also no way that Luca, when I had him sitting on the counter, not being able to touch ANYTHING, grabbed my watch and through it in the bathtub...filled with water and Jonas getting a bath. "No NEVER...Not LUCA"

There is also ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that after getting in that much trouble that Luca would proceed to 'fold' Jonas in half and lay on top of him in the bathtub and try to 'drown' him! "No NEVER...Not LUCA"

He also did not whine and cry all day long. Nope, not him... "No NEVER...Not LUCA"

Okay, you can see my secrets now: I need to clean the toilet tomorrow... :-) I HATE throwing things away that are not all out! Like lotion; I cut the bottle in 1/2 at the end and scrape out everything before I throw it away! But, I do have my limits...The toothpaste--yah, it went in the trash! ;-)

You see his remorse, right?!?!

This was too cute! He is asleep with his fingers under the door jam...