Another Adoption!

It’s true we have a brand new member to the family. He is nine months old, has the most beautiful blue eyes and really, really long legs, four of them! After much debate we have decided to name him Lewis. He’s been home a week and well it’s been a long one. I have forgotten how much work a puppy can be. The beach fence is no match for our little explorer and forget about trusting him while I run out! He has no idea what a command is and really doesn’t have much interest in learning them, but we already love him to pieces. Well all but Ben, for some reason Lewis doesn’t like Ben, he’s so scared of him that every time Ben is around Lewis is just about climbing me to hide from him! All in time.

In other news, Mariada is keeping us very busy with soccer; her team is doing well with only one loss. She loves her team and coach and is even thinking she can handle overnight soccer camp this summer! Speaking of overnights she was invited last Friday night to a slumber party and she had a blast! This weekend she will be attending the Ride and Rock event with a friend from school. So socially things are great! She really is doing great!

We are still very busy with Ben’s open house and just getting him ready for collage. We took a day last week to drive over to Ann Arbor and found him a two bedroom apartment, right across from where he has drill every morning at 6:30 AM. He will be living with a fellow ROTC friend. Oh to live in a very small collage apartment, yikes! But they are on the 18th floor and their apartment does overlook the “Big House” So GO BLUE!

Sara will be home in two weeks and we can’t wait! She won’t be home long, she has ski camp at the end of June, but we will take what we can get!

Things are going well and we are feeling pretty blessed.


Lewis is half Mountain Cur and half Border Collie, as soon as I can get him to sit still I'll post a better picture.

A quick update...

Ok, it’s about time for a catch up post isn’t it?!

Spring Break was great, Mariada had fun learning to ski, with just a few moments of frustration, which really is good because learning to ski can be very frustrating! She loved the mountains and enjoyed meeting her big sister! While out in Steamboat we attended the welcome home parade of all the Olympians that live in Steamboat. Very cool to see many of the athletes that we had just been watching! We went out to the hot springs in Strawberry Park and loved spending time with our dear friends Kirk, Cindy and Emily. We even got lucky with the snow and had fresh powder almost every day!

We flew back in to Chicago and spent the day downtown before driving back home. Mariada could not believe downtown! She can’t wait to go back! Thanks to Doug and Mary for putting us up while in Chicago.


Mariada continues to love school and continues to do well. But her favorite thing is her soccer team; she has had two games so far and has a tournament this coming weekend! She loves her team and her coach, the other day after picking her up; she told me that the coach had asked her to introduce herself so she told them that she was adopted from Albania. Then one of her team mates says that’s so cool, can we adopt you and be your second family?! She was smiling from ear to ear, and is always amazed at how nice people in America are.

On to Ben, he received his letter from the Naval Academy letting know that he totally qualified but didn’t make it in. UGH, bummer. So Ben will be going to the University of Michigan next fall with the ROTC program. It’s ridiculously hard to get in to either of these programs and we are so proud of the young man he is, but it’s so hard to watch a dream be taken away from your child. He says that he may try again next year based on how he feels of U of M. Such a good kid.

Sara is back to skiing only a few days a week now and is looking forward to being in Michigan this summer. And we are looking forward to having her! Seeing her over spring break Bob and I both noticed how grown up she is becoming. Drivers education this summer, can’t believe it.

So bob and I, WLDDi is in full swing so Bob is busy, busy, which we couldn’t be happier about. We count our blessings daily. I have been busy driving here there and everywhere! As well as yard work, and house work, getting this place ready for a graduation party! It’s gonna be a fun one!

Okay time to run….


Last weekends game, she scored a goal!
The hot springs!

After a day on the slopes!

Sisters!

First time on skis!

Happy Spring!

Wow! Time flies doesn’t it?!

I’ll just jump right in, things are going great. Mariada loves school and has made it on to the tri-city strikers travel soccer team! She is enjoying her youth group at Church and is very excited about meeting her sister over spring break!

In the last few weeks she has had her third dentist appointment and everything is finished until her next cleaning, she is so happy about that! She has taken a few tests at school and received A’s and B’s on them all, she is reading her third book in three weeks and has made a commercial in Physical Ed on hygiene.

We had our first visit from our SW and all went well, I have two pictures that I can post since the visit required pictures. Mariada still is not happy with her hair so pictures are still not allowed. Though we will be taking them over break so get over it sister! :)

I must say that for the most part things are going really smoothly, we do have a bump ever y now and again, but let’s face it she is a teen and there are tons of new things going on in her life. I.e. rules, family, manners, you get the picture. So far she is willing to listen, although on the way to school this morning I heard “but, Mom” for the first time, ugh.

We leave on Thursday for CO and really all of us are looking forward to it so much, it will be the first time we are all together and I can’t wait to see Mariada gasp at the sight of the beautiful Rocky Mountains, then tell me there is no way she’s skiing down them! I so remember looking at Bob like he was nuts when he first took me out west to ski!

Happy Spring everybody!




She is so happy that we have added a computer to her desk, but gave me "the look" when told she gets one hour a day to use it. :) It's so funny because I want to give the same look right back, I mean REALLY?

Doctors, Dentists and Shots Oh My....

The last week has been full of Doctor visits, Dentist visits and a few fun things in between.

First was the Doctors, we wanted her to see and meet the family Dr. but after she had a very hard time catching her breath at her first soccer game we moved that appointment up. She had blood work done everything was normal, but the Dr. did hear a heart murmur, so we took her in the heart clinic in Grand Rapids, and everything is fine just a very normal flow murmur. So she was cleared to play in her next game and she was fine, we all think it was just nerves. Amen.

She had to get five shots we don’t know if she had chicken pocks or not so that’s a shot, then school now requires meningitis, and then there is Hep A, HPV and tetanus.

Then there are the teeth, not having your teeth cleaned for 13 years means that it takes two visits, one for the upper and one for the lower. She also had five cavities, so we still have one more visit to the dentist, ugh then braces!

What’s really hard is that this kid can get hit in the face by a soccer ball, or land on her head doing some crazy kick in the middle of a game gets back up and plays like nothing happened, but take her to the Doctors or the Dentist and you have a full blown drama queen on your hands! It all relative isn’t it?

She starts school on Monday and she can’t wait! She is looking forward to making friends. We have been up there three times now, meeting teachers and finding her locker, showing her how the lock works, how lunch works, walking to and from each hour. She’s a little nervous but even more excited. The teachers gave her all her books so she has been going though them letting me know that she gets all most all of it. The only questions have been from math, she wanted to know what cents and dollars are and cups and inches. The rest she gets!

We went to the Grand Rapids museum the other day and she loved learning about Michigan, although she still has a hard time understanding how big it is. She almost fell over when I told her you can fit 9 Albania’s in Michigan. And that it would take 24 hours to drive to Sara. She now knows that we have 50 states and that Colorado is a state not a city!

I am heading out to watch Sara race in the Junior Olympics this weekend and don’t return until next Wednesday so Bob will be taking Mariada to her fist day of school. It’s the first day of the new tri so she only has a half day, then no school on Tuesday which means she doesn’t have to navigate the lunch room until Wednesday. I think she is very happy about that!

All in all things are going well. I think that school will bring us back to normal around here and I know that Mariada is so, so happy that Doctors and Dentist are almost over!

Godspeed Good Friend

I lost a treasured friend today
The little dog who used to lay
His gentle head upon my knee
And share his silent thoughts with me...
He'll come no longer to my call
Retrieve no more his favorite ball
A voice far greater than my own
Has called him to His golden throne.
Although me eyes are filled with tears,
I thank Him for the happy years
He let him spend down here with me
And for his love and loyalty.

Busy Week

Wow! What a week! Bob and Mariada made it in safe late last Friday night. The weekend was spent visiting and meeting Grandma and Grandpa and one great Grandma! Sunday we went to church and meet many friends that were so happy to finally meet our newest daughter. During the last week we ran errands and showed her around her new town. We went over to the local middle school where the principal already had two girl student ambassadors that play soccer for her to meet. When she starts school at the new tri, they will show Mariada around, make sure she knows where her classes are and invite her to have lunch with them. It’s a great program that has already put Mariada at ease about the first day. We went up to have lunch with Dad one day and went shopping for winter boots and sneakers for gym class and of course in-door soccer shoes! Her first game was yesterday; she did well but was very nervous. After the game she told me that she was nervous this week but next game she will not be! Ok then. So far she loves America, she thinks we have a lot of very nice friends and that everything is BIG, SO BIG!

I would love to post a few pictures, but we are in a no pictures allowed mode for now, I hope she is over that soon!

Other great news, Sara has made it into the Jr. Olympics! She is so geeked! And Ben has been awarded a congressional nomination to the Naval Academy! We will know in April if he is accepted, but the nomination is a very big step in the right direction. Lots of stuff going on at the Gezon house!

All Paperwork - Check

Yeah! It's all done! Bob and I spoke this morning and he was so happy to tell me that the paperwork is finished! They could come home today if they wanted, but Bob wants to go up to Shkoder to see Fredi and Prenda so tomorrow he is renting a car and driving up to see them. Mariada also wants to say good-bye to a few more friends and her teacher; I think she wants to show off her new passport and visa!

I am taking the next few days to add a few things to her room and pick up a few more things for her. She needs some more warm winter wear. It is so great to see that God’s plan is coming together to bring home another child for us. I must say that I am impressed that he has such faith in us that we can handle three teens at once!

They don’t land until 11:30 PM on Friday, but the weather looks like it is going to be clear, which given the storms lately is a blessing. But they do have that crazy tight connection in Germany, so let’s hope they have on running shoes because I don’t want to wait one extra day!