SOCIAL WORKER VISIT AND OTHER STUFF

Wednesday Bob, Owen and I met with our social worker for the last "official"time. We had our one year follow up visit which is required by China, it is the last one that is required to complete the adoption process. It is so funny to me that we as adopted parents need to be followed for a year by a social worker when there are many parents that have biological children that walked out of a hospital and never need to be seen again! I can name several of these parents that need to be followed but aren't. Anyway, back to our visit.....We had a very nice visit with her and she could not believe how far Owen has come. He was being his adorable self as usual, this visit she really got to see his personality, our last visit was right after Owen's Cleft Palate Surgery and he was still not back to his normal. Bob and I both felt a little sad that that chapter of our adoption journey is over, our agency has been a HUGE part of our lives for the last three years, It is almost exactly three years that we started this process. Not sure if I ever mentioned that the day I wrote the check to our agency was the day that Owen was born, of course we had no idea that our son was being brought into the world just as we started preparing to be a family!!!

Of course we can still be very much involved with with them, they have functions through out the year and we do plan on attending as many of them as we can.

Saturday we go to pick up our camper, we are all very excited and can't wait to get it home. We have our first adventure already planned, we are going to Hershey Park and staying at their camp group for two nights and going to the Hershey Park Halloween Festivities. I am hoping a fun time will be had by all! My parents plan on meeting us at the RV store and perhaps look into buying a new camper themselves. They currently have one but are thinking of upgrading to a bigger one.

Sunday is the Annual Decorate the House for Fall/Halloween!! I LOVE this time of year!!! The weather is perfect, pumpkin picking and apple picking is so much fun and you get to wear all the great fall sweaters and jeans!!! Last year we decorated but we were still waiting to travel to China to pick up Owen and I was a little less in the spirit because I was really wanting to travel and meet the little guy.

Next week is a busy week for the McGrath's, Owen has two appointments one is for Early Intervention and the other is for the CPSE which is early intervention but for the 3 year and up crowed which is what he will be next month and my dad is going for his biopsy, can not wait for that to be over, still have fingers eyes and toes crossed that all comes out fine!!! By the way, thanks for the emails sent to me asking me about my dad, I do appreciate them!!

UPDATE ON MY DAD

He needs to go for a biopsy on October 2nd, so we wait again. True to my dad's nature he is handling all this so well, of course the rest of us are not. He is such a wonderful man, the thought of him possibly being sick is just too much for me to bare. Owen needs him to be around for a very long time, he has so much to offer him and Owen loves his Papa. I've attached a couple of my favorite pictures of the two of them.

KEEP US IN YOUR THOUGHTS TODAY

My daddy is going to a specialist today for some test, please keep us in your thoughts and prays that the news is good and he is going to be o.k.!

Thanks!

MANY FAMILY VACATIONS IN OUR FUTURE!

We took a ride yesterday to upstate New York (about 3 hours away) to look at a light weight pop up trailer. Bob and I have always loved camping but hadn't done much of it. We both went camping with our parents when we were younger, we both love the outdoors and we wanted to share that with Owen.

We looked at this pop up about 2 years ago but decided to wait because we knew we would be traveling to China and had to save all our money for that trip but now that we are home and our family is complete we decided that now was the right time.

We were suppose to go to the RV show in Hershey, PA this weekend but the weather wasn't going to be very nice and my parents couldn't go with us and we usually go with them, so we decided instead to take the ride to see this pop up, boy are we glad we did. The salesman was very nice didn't try to up sell us in any way, definitely a plus in my book. We knew as soon as we looked at it that it was the pop up for us so we did the necessary paper work and we are the proud owners of a 2008 Livin Light Pop Up Trailer. I forgot the camera so I downloaded pictures from the website, but it is the exact pop up as the one we bought.

Unfortunately we won't get any use out of it this year but next year I know we will be spending many fun weekends in the open air making lasting family memories.

Remembering 9/11

I am sorry I didn't post sooner, it has been a very busy few weeks in our house. I did not want to let this sad day go without remembrance.

Last year on 9/11 Bob and I were in lower Manhattan getting our finger prints taken again, it was a day of excitement for us because this would be the last time we would need to be fingerprinted for our adoption, we would be traveling to bring Owen home just a few short weeks later but it was also a day of sadness and overwhelming feeling of lose, it doesn't matter that it is 7 years later I still carry a feeling of sadness that I know will never be lifted.

This year was a little different then past 9/11 anniversaries, usually I watch all the ceremonies and news cast relating to this day. This year I did not, I felt that Owen is too young to understand and I know that I would not be able to watch without crying, I just didn't want to expose my son to that just yet. He gets very upset when I cry and will run over to me and wipe my face with his hand. So instead this year, I went to St. Patricks Cathedral said a pray had my moment of reflection and went on with my day.....being Owen's mom.