Happy Thanksgiving

Well, I guess it is time to come out of hiding. For reasons I don't care to express here, October and November 2008 will not go down in my records as the best of times, but as the fog seems to be lifting, I figured I would post. I am sitting at the computer with my little peanut in my lap smelling the smells of thanksgiving bubbling away in the kitchen. It is very quiet... something I have grown accustomed to not having at home very often. All of my boys are off playing flag football with a sister church of ours in Parker. And, for I believe only the second time in our 15 years of marriage, and I believe the first time since having had children, we will be spending Thanksgiving just us. I guess it is a good time to just stop and be thankful for just that... our little family. God has been good to us through all of life's difficulties and has continued to knit our hearts together. While we are not where we want to be yet, Ellie has come such a long way in her attachment since last Thanksgiving. I am so thankful for that. I am also thankful for three healthy and growing children with incredible individual gifts and personalities. They are a blessing that I still cannot truly believe that I we have been given. I am also so very thankful for my husband, Milan. He is a good man, an amazing father, such a hard worker, and has such a big heart- far bigger than many people know or appreciate. I am lucky to be his partner. While we will not be together today, I am also so thankful for our extended families and for the never ending support and love that they give us. We are blessed beyond measure. Friends like the Gritters, the Finleys, the Gesses and others are also precious beyond measure to us and we again thank God for their friendship.
I hope that today finds you all thankful for those in your life that love you, extend grace to you, and hold you up through the good and bad. We all have much to be thankful for regardless of our circumstances. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

I Loved This...

I am hoping to get the kids to the Palin rally tomorrow in Colorado Springs... should be a great educational experience for them. I must admit, I wish she were on the top of the ticket. Anyway, I loved this video from SNL on Saturday.

Reformation Day Party

Last night was the Reformation Day Party for our church. Stefany Gess planned and basically implemented nearly all of it herself. She is amazing and did a fantastic job. The kids had a great time. Elijah's comment was that it was the most fun he has had in his entire life. The kids looked great in their costumes (I am sure glad to be done sewing for a while) and they learned about the reformers and what happened at the time of the Reformation through games and characters. I have loaded some pictures in the album below. Milan was Martin Luther and I was his later wife, Katharina Von Bora.

Reformation Day Party

Halloween Trick or Treating

We went trick or treating with the kids last night. Ellie was a lady bug, Elijah decided last minute on Darth Vader and Noah went in his Reformation Day costume. We will have our Reformation Day party tonight which they will all dress up for in period costumes. They sure look cute.

Big Day

Friday was a big day this week. It began with Elijah getting his cast off... after 6 weeks, I was more than ready for that. Note to self: ALWAYS get a waterproof cast in future- call ahead to be sure.
All looked good, but we were told that he needed to take it easy for another two weeks- even given the choice of casting for another two weeks. We opted for take it easy. Pray that my energetic little boy understands that concept.
The afternoon started with Eliana's final hearing for validation of her adoption. All went well and she is officially in the eyes of both China, the US and Colorado our little girl. We will actually get a birth cirtificate with our names as her parents on it... pretty cool.

Waiting for the hearing to begin... Ellie played peek-a-boo to pass the time.

Being questioned by the judge

Almost done...

Ellie on the way home

This has been a wild few weeks even by Norgauer standards, and it was nice to end this week on that note. There are still a few dips and turns on the radar so we are bracing for those. In the immediate future, we are looking forward to a nice time this afternoon celebrating the graduation of our dear friends the Gesses. They have both worked so hard to finish their degrees with such busy schedules. I think they even put us to shame.

Nana's Little Chefs

The kids got a package from Nana today that was lots of fun. She made them chef hats and aprons and sent a Cooking with Grandma cookbook for kids. She always has a way of making things special with the kids. They looked really cute and can't wait to cook something fun!
Thanks Nana!

Fall Colors

We love to drive up into the local mountains and see the beautiful fall colors each year. Colorado is such a beautiful place to live. I sometimes can't believe that we have such easy access to these kinds of views. It was a great little break after a bit of a stressful week.

Fall Colors

One of this weeks new stresses has to do with Eliana's possible exposure to that Chinese tainted milk you may have heard about in the news. She seems perfectly healthy, so I am not too panicked, more angry. Some children who have been fed the tainted milk and are otherwise asymptomatic, have been found to still have kidney stones. The kidney stones are actually made of melamine- you know like your old cheap college furniture. I just can't believe that people would knowingly put such a dangerous chemical into milk for human consumption just to make a buck. Unfortunately, the formula brand that Ellie was fed in China is among the tainted brands. While it has been confirmed to be happening in 2008, it is now suspected to have gone back as far as 2006. That is where we come in. So, at this point, we have an appointment with Ellie's doctor and we will discuss where to proceed from there. For those of you that faithfully pray for her and our family, please add this issue to the list. We pray that all will be normal, but of course dread the possibility that she may have yet another obstacle to overcome.
A new development on the more positive side of things is that we finally had our last appointment with our social worker and are therefore finished with sending reports back to China. We also have Ellie's final court date here in Colorado to validate her adoption on next Friday. The end of the nearly four years of paper chasing is almost over. YEAH!! She will be officially and every way ours in the eyes of China, the U.S. and the state of Colorado- it will even say so on her birth certificate. How cool is that?