Ahhh...Fall!

School is in full swing. The air is getting cooler. Our annual camping trip to Crabtree Falls is coming up. So...it must be Fall. This is definitely my favorite time of year because 1) the summer's in CLT are nearly unbearable and 2) well...you'll have to wait til the end of the post for the biggest reason why Fall is my favorite (I doubt it will shock any of you).

Fun with Mr. Potatohead! Check out Daniel and Luis' attempts at putting a Mr. Potatohead together. Be sure to note the shoes (or zapatos as we say) for ears on Daniel's and the tongue for hair on Luis'. Pretty awesome! And they were so proud of their creations.

We really are making progress with the dogs. Every morning, Samuel helps me put the dogs in their crates, then the twins spend a couple of minutes taunting them while working up the courage to stick their hands through the bars. ALL of them now let the dogs give besos to their hands. This is followed by a lot of squealing. We still can't all be in the same room (only Samuel is OK with hanging out with the dogs), but I consider the fact that they are willing to touch the dogs at all a real victory.

On Sunday we went to this really cool event called "Touch-A-Truck". It was like it was created just for our boys, but it is really a fundraiser for lung cancer research (which is a cause very dear to me because I lost both my grandmother and - just this year - my aunt to this horrible disease). There were all sorts of trucks/vehicles for the boys to sit in/on. It was AWESOME!!! One of their favorites was the army helicopter.

I have this great video of the boys running around with other kids while all of us parents stand in line to make sure that our children are able to experience the helicopter. I will have to upload it to YouTube since it is sort of long.

How cute are they? You might be thinking, "Where is Daniel?" This is about the time when mama was rushing to the restroom which was quite a hike while carrying a 30-something pound kid who kept reminding me repeatedly that he needed to "chi-chi". Can anyone explain to me why children always have to go when there is NO bathroom convenient? Is it one of Murphy's Laws?

Lastly, the real reason I am glad it is fall - TV is back!!!! I am beyond excited to be in the midst of premiere week. I have many shows that I love, and we have plenty of room on the DVR. Why else do you think we get the kids in bed by 8 PM?

Just a few more updates: Samuel has gotten a sticker from his teacher everyday this week. In fact, I think he is up to 6 stickers in a row. This is a great little victory for us because it means that he is understanding Papa when he tells him to listen to his teacher and not worry about what the other kids are doing. We are very close to figuring out what to do with the twins while I go to work. We have a couple things to work out, but I should be ready to go full-time next week.

Visapalooza Recap....

Spoiler Alert:

We have Visas.

After 15 hours of driving in the last two days...we have the coolest looking passport stamp thing I've ever seen. Seriously....for those who have got the Visa stamp, doesn't it just look cool?

Our visa task was kicked off when we got our plane tickets, shortly after we overnighted a key letter to Raleigh to have it apostilled.

While this has been typically a very quick process, there was a delay, and on Monday of this week Andi called the state to ask the question first postulated by Marvin Gaye, "Hey, what's going on?" They said they didn't have the documents at all, and even though it was signed for, they didn't have any record of our request. We got 2 new copies of the letter on Monday night, notarized, then I was off to Raleigh on Tuesday. Upon arriving in Raleigh (without expanding too much), I was told again that they had no record of our documents, and that the letters I brought wouldn't work. Andrea explained this to the consulate, who said we'd be fine with just a notarized copy when applying in person. Live and learn we thought...I drove home....went to work....to come home to find....the copies of the letters sent back, fully completed, by the state. Wow. I do have some perspective a day later, but if I would written about this yesterday, this would read more like an episode of HBO's Deadwood.

The drive to Hotlanta today was a joy. A chance to test drive our van, see how far you can really drive once the LCD screen reads '0 miles to empty', and just a chance for us to dialogue about our thoughts, hopes, and fears with all that is going on.

The employees at the consulate couldn't be nicer. They asked to see pics of our boys, the paperwork was in perfect order....Andrea has been the organizational queen (did you really think I would play a part in that...)...and we hit the road, visas in hand, and got her home for her work & friends shower tonight.

2 more days to go...we HOPE we have solutions for both dogs....lots of loose ends to tie down.....sigh!

Well folks....I think these guys said it best...

We're leaving together
but still it's farewell....
.......will things ever be the same again?
It's the final countdown.

Yeah, in the end it's all Life Changing

It's Troy here....for those of you who were worried that Andrea had me locked in the garage, that simply was not true (although your concern is appreciated). A nice run on the greenway helped me find something to write about. Also, Andrea is quite sick. I came back from Harris Teeter with enough cold medicine that I'm sure I'm now on some watchlist in North Carolina for starting a meth lab. Which depending how the fundraising goes is something we may look into (I'm of course kidding..... Really...just kidding...can't say that enough).

It's snowing in Charlotte as I write this. This is nice after the drought, as our brown yard is now white. Green is likely at least a year away. I just got back from running 11 miles, which in 37 degree and raining weather, gave me time to clear my head, while the rest of me was freezing. The thought that stayed in my head throughout the run as I thought about the adoption, was "are we ready for this"?

The phrase we continually hear is that "this will change your life." While my first reaction is to be flip (as comedian Louis CK said..."Of course my life is changing...now I have a BABY"), we of course recognize this as a life-changing event. Getting a dog changed our lives, getting a second dog changed our lives (the merit of this decision is still being debated), getting a Trader Joe's down the street from us changed our lives -and yes, this will be the biggest change of all. When the words "this will change your life" are spoken as a soft warning, I tend to appreciate and value it. It comes across from parents saying, enjoy your free time now, and truly providing constructive and thoughtful advice.

When those words come across with a touch of disbelief, they are frequently coupled with phrases like "do you know what you're getting yourself into?" & "are you sure you're ready for this?". I'm always caught slightly off guard by these questions. Do I say that we think that most parents are martyrs and we expect this to be pretty easy and wait for a reaction? We of course do and don't know what we are getting ourselves into. Are we doing our best to fundraise, work extra jobs, get our house as bebe ready as possible? Of course. Are we going to be surprised, challenged, caught off guard, amazed and a myriad of others things we don't know about? We expect and welcome this.

Being 100% ready for kids would mean buying cold medicine the day before they get sick; placing a pile of pillows down on the deck right before they fall and break their arm. All this to say, we truly trust in God's provision and believe that we will be as ready as we need to be. We probably weren't "ready" to be married, but the last almost 5 years have been amazing and I wouldn't change a thing (maybe the Seahawks/Packers game, but that's likely out of my power).

We are currently working on many phases of the process at all times, and it seems more and more real ever day. Reading others blogs, especially those traveling right now (like the Armstrong's wonderful blog), have become addicting - as we share the excitment of those traveling, and can't help put ourselves in the experiences that await us.

We look forward to being ready and being not ready. After years and years of waiting to bring home our bebes, we would certainly have it no other way.

Much Love,
Troy and Andi

Have you met Baxter?

The little guy on the right is our latest addition to the Eisenberger clan. He is cute and getting bigger every day. He is sweet and always has this air of wonder and curiosity. He loves his "big sister" and she loves him--they play, fight, sleep and repeat all day long. It is neat to see how well Sylvia takes care of him and the amount of patience she has for him, even when he is yanking on her ears. They make our house feel fuller.

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We long for an affection altogether ignorant of our faults. Heaven has accorded this to us in the uncritical canine attachment. ~George Eliot