Category: adoption

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la madre springs

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Welcome to McCracken Hiking 2009. We are very serious about whipping our little band into hiking shape (including us ring-leaders) so that we can have some serious adventures this summer. They LOVE the “mountains” aka desert rocks. And they are getting less and less wimpy as time goes on. So we ventured up the desert trail and found a fountain of freshness in the middle of oblivion.
Dave and Jena came along, but had to cut their trip short due to a prior engagement. The rest of us put in four miles and about 700 feet in elevation. For the small 40 pounders, that is quite a lot, and we are very proud of their attitudes. I must say that the six year old little princess can out-hike the rest of them when she decides to.
We had a great afternoon. It was 65 degrees and sunny with a little breeze–perfect January weather for a hike. And how adorable is my husband with our kids….

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I can’t wait to scrapbook these pics…is it wrong for me to title the upper pics “mother goose?” :)

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2008 in review (july-december)

JULY was full of wonderful adoption preparations. My girlfriends helped me pack and shop for the kids. My mom helped me put their rooms together. We also met our children over the video for the first time.

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August was….well a cornacoupia of emotions. In short, we became parents–gaining four amazing Spanish-speaking Sunshines. And we spent one hell of a month in Bogota. Another thanks to grandma, grandpa, uncle brian, and tia jena for flying out to help. It feels surreal, doesn’t it?

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SEPTEMBER was the month that saw us home. We drove from LA to LV. We immunized and enrolled our munchkins. And we spent two weeks attacking the lice-infested hair of our daughters.

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OCTOBER was full of rock-climbing, bike riding, and Halloween. Adoption-wise, the kids started to pick up a bit more English, and respond well to school. Their first trip to Logan, UT (7.5 hours) went off without a hitch. These munchkins were born to be our children–they are excellent travelers. And yes, most of our travel is DVD-free! It is possible. :)

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NOVEMBER was the month that Amy (and Mya) and Jes flew into visit. We scrapped, ate Cold Stone ice cream cake for Amy’s 30th, and cruised the strip in the minivan. We spent Thanksgiving with the Penning clan in Logan, UT. While in Logan, we took real autumn family pictures. I believe we have felt more like a family since November.

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DECEMBER was just last month, but it seems likes ages ago. We hit a turning point adoption wise and language wise in December. I like to think it is the spirit of the season that forged us closer together. The children’s language jumped forward during Christmas Break. Also during December, we started to see lots and lots of kisses given freely to us and to each other without Adam and I initiating….what a wonderful feeling. December 2008 is most decidedly a keeper. December also brought Kavika to our door. The jury is still out on how long Kavika will be with us. But for now, he is part of our family.

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a very merry christmas

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!! Okay, so it is January 12th–I know. But I can’t seem to post anything 2009 related until December is caught up. The kids woke up to stuffed stockings and hot chocolate. Grandparents McCracken and fam came over in the afternoon. And Grandparents Penning flew in around 2:00 p.m. The lucky little ninos had both sets of grandparents here to share in their very first Christmas. I will never ever forget that day. Because of our adoption expenses this year, Christmas was a little sparse, but it totally did not matter. The kids were grateful and cheering over their socks. They loved every little dollar trinket in their stocking. And the big gift for the year (two family scooters) were the hit of the day. I continue to be overwhelmed by our children’s gratitude for everything. And I am also overwhelmed by the generosity of grandparents, family, and friends toward our children.

Adam and I strongly disagree that it takes a village to raise a child–but we are blessed to have the companionship, support, and love of the village all around us. The village we have created for our family is the best bonus we could ever hope for. We also realize that although our Christmas was a little on the lean side, it was more than our kids had ever seen or imagined. In addition, there are so very many families either out of work and/or in poorer circumstances than us. Our prayers and thoughts go out to them. And we continue to count our many many blessings.

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One interesting McCracken adoption fact is that the children didn’t really have Christmas at their orphanage. From what we gather, Juan Pablo did get presents from Santa–last year he got his Batman motorcycle and his Spiderman sweat suit, which are both going in his keepsake chest. But he was the only one to receive gifts because he was in the “baby” house. The older kids’ casas did not receive any presents or a visit from Santa. However, they did get to do some kind of activity to participate in. Danny explained to me that all the boys in his house got to go to a big pool and swim last year.

In short, the kids knew about Christmas and had a few glimmers here and there, but now they go to weekly worship service where they learn of the Savior, they pray in the name of Jesus Christ, and they understand a little more of what Christmas is all about. Adam and I did not exchange gifts this year, but Tia Jaime Lynne took the ninos to the dollar store and let them each pick out a present for me and Adam. We received silk hangers, school folders, pin-wheels, and other trinkets. And they were the best, most thoughtful Christmas presents EVER!!!!!!! We wouldn’t change our new world for anything.

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Go here for more pics!!! And I can’t close a Christmas post without at least one video…for all of our videos go to www.youtube.com and search for adam 89117. We have five Christmas videos housed there.
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more spoilage, please

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Right before leaving for Thanksgiving in Logan, we glittered new stockings for our growing family. We also put up Christmas lights, decorated the house, and did some Christmas shopping. The kids had a blast, and they definitely know what Christmas is. I knew that we would be gone until the very end of Thanksgiving weekend so I wanted to get a jump start.

We also made our way to Jaimee and Brian’s home for Thanksgiving. They hosted for the whole family this year, and it was wonderful. Jaimee out did herself on decorations and food. Brian even smoked a turkey and a brisket for us to munch on through the weekend. We did miss my brother Mike and his family. Their work schedule caused them to stay back in Yakima. We missed them very very much. Oh yeah, I made the cute little turkey name holders…thanks for letting me place them on the magnificently dressed table, Jaimee.

We ate, and ate, and ate. We visited the Lights at Temple Square. We played games. We ate some more. We went fourwheeling and walking. We opened presents. And, finally, we ate some more.

5708571157175735Since we wouldn’t all be together for Christmas this year, we celebrated a little early. Grandma and aunties were way too generous. The boys wore their new little suits today with pride. And the girls wore their new little fluffy dresses. Thanks, grandma. Here are a few more pics from the weekend.

5757576357665769I guess there is no hiding Christmas from the kids anymore. :) Apparently, they never celebrated Christmas in the orphanage, and never received gifts. It’s a bright new world for these four little munchkins. We are blessed to be a part of it. The best of it all is that they are so thankful for everything they receive–and they treasure even their “smallest” gifts. The little writing books from the $1.00 bin were the hit of the drive home, mom. Amazing!

Our children are fantastic travelers. Not much complaining, and not any fighting either. And yes, that is without any movies playing in the car. I think they know that to be Rach and Adam’s kids, they have to be good travelers. I have no qualms about driving to Washington next summer with them. We are so lucky!!!!!!!!

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target.com, you just lost our business

Yeah, that’s right, you heard us. We have many friends and family who have generously provided us with hundreds of dollars in Target gift cards for our adoption. This has been a huge blessing for us because we live in Logan, UT where there is not currently a Target store. We are in the process of picking and purchasing a point-and-shoot digital camera for our trip to Colombia. So logically we decided to use some of our Target money to purchase the camera we were looking for.

Adam just tried purchasing the item online at target.com, but was unable to use the number of gift cards it would require. Okay, understandable. Adam then called customer service so that they could help him finish the purchase over the phone. Pretty simple, right? Not asking much. We are wanting and willing to give Target a few hundred dollars.

What was the call center’s response, you ask? “Well, maybe you could go to a Target store and combine the gift cards there.” There was a small exchange over us not having a Target, and something about how they use the exact same screen we use to order things so there is absolutely no possible way to override the system….blah blah blah! When Adam asked to speak to a superior, he was met with the “our calls are recorded for quality….”

The bottom line: we’re buying our camera from B&H, which we prefer anyway. The same camera is $50 cheaper, there is no sales tax, and shipping takes less time. Oh yeah, we love B&H and have never been dissappointed with their service. Buy all your camera stuff from them–they’re great!

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are you crazy too?

I would usually post this sort of thing on our adoption blog, but thought it more fittingly placed here. Adam and I had a four hour psychological evaluation last week. Colombians place psychologists and their adoption evaluations in high importance. As part of our evaluation, we took the MMPI II personality test per Colombia’s request. This is a long true/false 567 question test. The main purpose of this test is to detect which, if any, personal, social, or behavioral problems an individual who is troubled may posess.

Here are a few of our favorites (remember they are t/f statements):

1. I have felt posessed by evil spirits at times.

2.  At times I feel like swearing.

3. Parts of my body often have feelings like burning, tingling, crawling, or like “going to sleep”.

4. I’ve never vomitted blood or coughed up blood.

5. Once a week or oftener I suddenly feel hot all over, for no reason.

6. Someone has been trying to influence my mind.

7. At one or more times in my life, I felt that someone was making me do things by hypnotizing me.

We will get our personal results back at our follow-up consult. The psychologist said not to expect much out of it though (which is supposed to be good). That shows how well he knows us, right? Oh yeah, he also said that we both appear to have strong egos! Maybe he does know us better than we thought. :)