Giving thanks and Christmas is coming!

Now that the long Thanksgiving weekend is coming to a close, I finally have time to update everyone on our holiday.  On Thursday, we had the BEST turkey ever.  I made tandoori turkey (although no, I do not have the correct oven for it) and it was the moistest and most flavorful turkey I have ever eaten.  The fact that parts of it were red made it even more awesome.  The leftovers 3 days later are tender and melt in your mouth.

We took advantage of having everyone home and put up the Christmas tree and decorated it. Jonah and Shawn set it up, and then Jonah, Solveig and I decorated it.  Anju kind of floated around ooooing and aaaahing like she was on Wheel of Fortune.  The kids were able to play outside for large chunks of time, since it was only in the 40's and we don't have any snow.  Solveig couldn't believe she was riding her bike over Thanksgiving break!

Friday morning, we got the kids up at their regular get-on-the-bus time around 6 a.m. and headed 35 miles to the nearest "real" town to go Black Friday shopping.  We had a blast and got some great deals.  Shawn and I have always gone BF shopping together and since we usually visited family over Thanksgiving, we would leave the kids at home and go at 4 or 5.  However, the last couple years it's just been us at our own home, so we've started the tradition of all of us going together and finishing our morning with pancakes.  

We got home around noon, ate, napped and were ready to head back to Bemidji for the Christmas parade.  They have an evening parade with floats lit up with twinkling Christmas lights and several units of work horses pulling carriages.  It is definitely a cultural experience if you aren't from this neck of the woods.  The first unit after the flags was a group of snowmen/elves/etc. doing Michael Jackson's "Thriller".

The most fun part, of course, was talking with our friends who accompanied us to this unique northern MN experience, and watching the kids run into the street for candy wearing their winter coats, snowpants and mittens.  I think Jonah had his entire Thermos of hot cocoa gone before the parade even started!

Anju takes it all in

Enjoying hot cocoa

When we got home after a brief shopping excursion (I needed to pick up a few things for the kids while Shawn entertained them in the Target food court), we were welcomed by night 1 of our Christmas lights in the yard.   Thanksgiving together with the beginning of Advent today marked the beginning to a wonderful holiday season!  

Celebrating our Family

It is customary for adoptive families to honor their child's "Gotcha" day every year to commemorate the day that the child first joined their parents.  In our case, and with Indian adoptions especially, it is hard to know what day to celebrate: the first day we saw her at the orphanage and started bonding with her, the day we took her to the hotel and were fully responsible for her, the day we brought her home, or the day she was adopted and officially joined our family (10 months later)?

We decided to celebrate the day that we all came together as a family, Nov. 20.   That was the day our new family unit of 5 was formed.  One year ago, our first meal together was pizzas that Shawn and I picked up on our drive home from the airport.  Anju loved that first taste of American pizza, and the cookies that Grandma Carolyn had prepared for dessert.  

So, we decided that the proper celebration would be a pizza party.  I had considered an Indian meal or yummy Indian chicken tikka pizza, but the older kids aren't big on Indian food (except for the breads, lassis and rice) and I figured crying and whining about the "gross" food might wreck the spirit of the day.

Shawn prepared the crusts, and all of us helped flatten them into the pans.  Solveig, Jonah and Anju worked on the kids' pizza, while Shawn made the grown-ups (onions).  Anju helped put the turkey pepperoni on- putting a bunch of pieces on about 2 inches of the pizza.  They turned out great and everyone had fun making them. For dessert, we had an Oreo Blizzard cake from DQ.  

Anju begins her special day by sharing breakfast with baby Priyanka (totally her idea).

Priyanka needed to be in the high chair, and Anju in mama's chair.

Anju had no idea what we were celebrating, but eventually, she will.  Solveig and Jonah remembered, though.  I heard Jonah ask Anju from his room where they were playing Lincoln Logs together, "Anju, do you remember when you were in an orphanage?"  "Do you remember living with aunties?" "Are you in OUR family now?"  She responded affirmatively to each.  

We now put an end to all the "firsts" of the calendar year.  She will now have her second Thanksgiving, her second Christmas, her second birthday celebration.  We are excited to see how far she has come in a year and excitedly look forward to what God has in store for her future. 

Solveig's Memory (Guest poster: Solveig)

Solveig and Anju on their first day together- November 20, 2008

It's almost November 20, the first night Anju came. It was the best day ever since Jonah was born.  She came home in her snowsuit, because it was 14 degrees out.  At home she was with Mom, mostly.   Sometimes with Dad.  She wouldn't go with me yet. At bedtime, she had Mom carry her upstairs.  I turned The Lion King CD on my DVD player.  I danced to the music for Anju.  I treated or at least tried to treat her like a princess. After all, I had been playing with Jonah for 8 years.  I needed a girl.  Anyway, sometime during the night, she cried and I took her to sleep in my bed.  Anju only wanted to play though.  She kept me awake all night.  When my Grandma came in my room at 6:00 to wake me up for school, I was awake.

 With Anju. 

She was and always will be my sister.

.......and I helped!

Anju and Gingy

If you don't live in MN, you may not know that in order to have lovely outdoor Christmas lights to turn on the day after Thanksgiving, you have to put them up in early November.  Usually the snow hits in late October, and by mid-to-late November, you're putting up lights in 15 degrees and a foot of snow.  Let me tell you from past experience, you don't want to do that if at all possible.  This year, it snowed early, but our November has been stellar.  Our high today was in the low 50's!  With the forcast calling for rain and snow, and cold temps sure to arrive soon, I figured the days of being able to put up the lights without bundling up and getting frostbitten fingers were waning.

Last year we didn't have any lights, as we were otherwise occupied (meaning there were about 100 things more pressing) before going to India, and afterward, I was physically unable to separate myself from my little princess even if I had wanted to brave the extreme cold temps to do it- which I didn't.  So, two years after their last use, I was digging out lights to test them and finding our decorations and extension cords.  

With it getting dark soon after my older kids get off the bus, I decided the only way this was going to get done was if Anju helped.  And I use that term loosely, of course.  She was actually helpful sometimes.  She carried things for me.  She handed me lights.  Her eyes lit up when she saw the decorations (her first time) and lights and that made me happy and want to continue- which was a BIG help and encouragement for me.  Mostly, I gave her tasks like holding onto the end of an extension cord I wasn't even using, or holding empty light boxes, but she was beaming with pride to be helping her mom.  

The paperwork never ends!

Anju's passport pic for her citizenship certificate application

Yesterday I collected a stack of documents from my pile of adoption-related papers (and that is a serious pile), photocopied them, filled out a form, wrote a big check, and handed the stack to my husband who mailed them to the USCIS office.  Hopefully, Anju's certificate of citizenship will be processed with no problems.

Again, a reminder.  Anju became an American citizen when she was adopted in September, but has nothing to prove that.  This certificate will allow her to prove that she is a US citizen.  The Department of Human Services knows she is a citizen because she was adopted by US citizens.  However, her immigrant status will not change at USCIS unless we apply for this certificate.  It also makes it MUCH easier to get a US passport, which we are also getting for her, since that is a much more mobile and convenient way of proving citizenship (like at the Social Security office).

I found varying instructions as to what documents should be enclosed with the application.  Our agency sent a list with 20 or so things needed.  Another document they sent had 3.  The internet had anything from 1-20.  Some said 3 pictures, some said 2.  The instructions for the application itself are vague, as it is not only for adopted kids, but anyone who has immigrated.  The questions are easy, it's the accompanying documents that was a tad confusing.   The form said that you don't have to send documents the USCIS already has in your immigration file.  Huh.  

So, I sent the things I deemed really necessary: a copy of her adoption decree and new MN issued birth certificate along with a few other things that seemed appropriate.  They'll contact us with further requests for documents if needed.  I found it funny that one thing they desire you to include is a proof of citizenship.  Duh--don't have that, hence the application!  (Actually, that's what the adoption decree means, but since people don't realize that, you need something else to prove you are a US citizen.)

A year ago we were at the Embassy in Delhi standing in line after line, then sitting under a picture of President Bush on the wall of a cramped waiting room with Indians hoping to come to America and one other adoptive family.  We handed over a stack of documents, left, and returned the next day with more documents.  Then they handed us a packet of papers in a sealed envelope for USCIS in the US that we weren't allowed to open.  Those are the documents that USCIS has that we don't need to resubmit.  The ones we couldn't see because we couldn't open the envelope.  

That's America!

Artwork and a Breakthrough!

With no school (conference day) on Friday, Solveig and Jonah came along with Anju to storytime at the library.  The topic was families.  When Anju had no interest in doing the craft project, I took her out to the kids' section to do peg puzzles.  Solveig did the project- a multimedia self-portrait- for Anju instead.  Great job, Solveig!

We watched an episode of "Get Smart" and an episode of "Liberty's Kids" from our DVD collection with the kids in the evening.  Jonah crawled up on my lap to snuggle and believe it or not, Anju crawled up and said "two" and signed "share".  The two kids who usually scrap and fight over whose mama I am were giving each other 5's and hugs and willingly sharing their mom as we watched "Liberty's Kids" together.  Breakthrough!

Looking Back

A year ago today I met my daughter for the first time.  I took this picture within a minute or two of being introduced to her.  She was scared and wouldn't come out of the playtent.  An auntie eventually had to scoop her out, after which she immediately crawled away from me.

  My account- Shawn's account

And, my "Aben Baby" today!  Love you, Anju!  Being your mother (and the process of becoming her) has been one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life, and I look forward to many more years with you!