On the adoption front-- here is a brief re-cap of everything that has happened since Jan. '08 in 100 words or less.

We finalized Landon's adoption on April 1--exactly 3 years from the day he first came to our house. There was much rejoicing throughout Spencer land. Landon was one happy boy. He wanted to go out to eat at "Red Crab". He loves shrimp.

Oh- not on the adoption front, but news nonetheless- We had also just moved into a new house about a week before this photo was taken. We wanted a bigger house so our family could grow. It seems to be working.

We had also taken placement of little Tristan (the little blond in the photo). He was placed with us as a possible adoptive placement, but adopting from foster care is unpredictable. Our sweet little guy went back home just 2 weeks ago, and we miss him a lot. Especially Luke. They were very close. I wish his family the best, and pray they will be a good family for Tristan to be raised in. They have all our contact info, but so far, have chosen no contact.

In May we journeyed to Chicago to meet our newest son, whom we named Dylan. Dylan's adoption has been unique for us in that it is an open adoption. He lived with his birth parents until he was 4 months old. They decided at 2 months to make an adoption plan for him, and then went through several files, and weren't able to find the right family. We heard about him through an email on our Reece's Rainbow Yahoo group, and knew we had to send our homestudy. They chose our family, and we are still in awe at that. He comes from a wonderful family of Russian immigrants, who truly wanted to make the best choice for their son. They love him and miss him very much. We are privileged to be able to share our sweet boy with this family. He is pure gold. His birth grandparents just came out for a visit, and it was fun having them here, to show them how much Dylan has grown in the past 5+ months. They brought us all many gifts. Grandma Sveta also made us Blintzes. Yum!!

And all this time, we were still trying to get our sweet Aunika home. She is constantly on our minds. We got news just yesterday that things seem to be moving on her file, and they are hopeful of having her legal status cleared soon. I'm afraid to get my hopes up, but We pray it won't be much longer. We scheduled our homestudy update, and also have to get re-fingerprinted. I hope all our paperwork comes together quickly. We rushed through it all the first time, then sat and waited for a travel date. and waited. and waited. Then all our paperwork started expiring, but we still had no news, so we decided to wait, instead of rush through it all again, just to have it expire before we travelled again. Let me tell you, we get very tired of being asked if we have any news from Serbia, and having to say "no". We are praying that this time, everything will come together, and we can go get our daughter soon.

okay, so that was WAY more than 100 words, but seriously... who's counting?

*warning: picture contains EXTREME cuteness. If you are not used to such extreme cuteness (those of you poor souls not living with a T-21 angel), you may need to avert your eyes.

yes, I know, this outfit is WAY too warm for this time of year in AZ. but he's going to outgrow it before it gets cool enough to wear. and he looks so good in red. the overalls have zip-off legs, so I did take them off to make into shorts, and I rolled up his sleeves. But then I discovered this cute little outfit is going in the give-away pile. No snaps on bottom for easy diaper changes!! ridiculous! I had to take them completely off each time i had to change a diaper. so not worth it. He looks super cute in all his clothes, so we can live without these. He looks super cute bare naked also. what a blessing this sweet boy is.

okay- off to bed now.

another example of why life with a 3 year old is great. Luke has fine motor issues. getting dressed is just beyond his patience level most mornings. this morning I was quite insistent, and this is the result. both shorts and shirt are backwards. as a side note, his unders are inside out and backwards. but he did it himself. Did I leave him that way? you betcha. We ran a multitude of errands today, all with him looking super cute with his backwards clothes. we are carving pumpkins tonight-- should be fun!

my super sexy sock. it's still too warm here for this, so i won't be wearing another "cover-up" sock over it. i'll just be mismatched for awhile.

*gasp* I know-- me-- the sock lady-- mismatched. somehow i'll survive.

So my friend Shawnie asked me at the Buddy Walk why I never update my blog. hmmm.... good question. Answer: I'm too lazy. pure and simple. I think I was taking the whole thing a little too seriously. and that is just not me. I'm going to stop worrying so much, and just write. it will probably be mostly rambling. oh, well. The real me is quite sarcastic. the problem is, sarcasm doesn't come through too well in print. Ya know how in computer world, all caps is considered YELLING??? well, I decided for the purpose of this blog, that when i want to be sarcastic, i'll try to remember to use italics. no promises, though. So another of my problems is that I always think I have to go back and catch up on everything I missed from the past. Now, I'll just write whatever I happen to be thinking about. no agenda, no organization whatsoever. and because I write better when I'm writing to someone else, that's how i'll write my blog-- i'm writing it to all you out there in cyber-land, to my vast following, my fan club of 2. Deal? Oh, and this will not be just an adoption blog. My LIFE is adoption, so this will be a blog about the life and times of the Spencer clan.
nuff said.

*Life with a 3 year old is so much fun! Luke is out digging for dinosaur bones at the moment.
Oh, and I've officially become my mother. I am wearing one of those fancy, super sexy compression stockings. I fell down my *&%O#*&)% stairs a month ago, and my leg is STILL bothering me, and has lots of swelling. sign of getting old I suppose.
Maybe later, if your lucky, I'll share with you my tips for making a fantastic halloween costume.
Love to all my fans,
Lisette