Thanksgiving Travels

Thanksgiving Weekend was filled with family and traveling. We flew from Orlando to Lexington to start our trip. We celebrated Thanksgiving day at Isaac's parents with most of the family. That morning we skyped with Josh and Nikki in Okinawa, Japan, who were cleaning up from their meal with friends and Josh's birthday...they were already heading to bed since it was after midnight there. Next, we talked with Leah who lives in Munich, Germany. She had just gotten home from teaching and was getting ready to order her annual Thanksgiving pizza to tide her over until her celebration with friends on Saturday. We also heard from Aaron and Katie who are currently living in Fairbanks, Alaska, and were having an appetizer party for lunch and a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with friends that evening. We really missed our siblings abroad!

Poor Isaac spent much of his time with Grandma Treesh trying to reacquaint himself with her. Even though she didn't remember hardly any of our names, she did remember that she loves us and reminded us often with hugs and kisses.

Isaac and Daniel had fun monkeying around together. Daniel is such a good kid!

Isaac and I at the Thanksgiving dinner table.

Daniel and Sarah (1st cousin) are helping Grandma get situated. Sarah was a tremendous help with Grandma, and we are so thankful that she is there to lend a hand to both Grandma and her other caregivers. Daniel always had an eye out for Grandma, and I witnessed him taking care of her needs several times...what a sweetie or as Grandma called him "our little boy".

Mark and Jan, we enjoyed spending time with you!

Gabe and Donna receiving their wedding shower gift from the Treesh clan...their wedding is May 21, 2011 on St. Augustine Beach...can't wait!

Jonathan and Abby...Daniel is Abby's son and Jonathan's BFF according to Daniel...Daniel told us all about his love for Jonathan's french toast with powdered sugar on top-yum!

Aleese and Sammy...I think love is in the air!

The guys had to play Yuker as tradition on all Treesh holidays...I played long enough to beat Sammy and Gabe, also a Treesh tradition;)

On Friday, Jan took the girls to lunch at this great tea room in Lexington to celebrate Donna becoming a part of the family. I have a feeling Aleese isn't far behind, and then all the Treesh boys will be officially taken.

Isaac fixed up Mark's car before we jumped in and headed down to Knoxville for a couple of days for a Smith Family Thanksgiving.

More food! My mom cooked everything the boys requested and more and it was all delicious...and then the food coma began to set in...

Dad and Mom in the front, Isaac and I (left), Kari and Neale (middle), and Jack Black, I mean, Perry (right).

And there Jack Black is again! Seriously, I don't understand why my brothers can't take a decent picture and why my dad doesn't take until he gets a good one! At least Neale had the good sense to pick a great girlfriend who tries to keep him in line.

Yes, game day was sad for the Cats, but I got to catch up with Bethany in a Cracker Barrel full of UT orange...lovely. Other than the orange, we had a great time and it was SO good to see her! I love our friendship...we just get each other and always pick up where we left off the way sisters do...I love you, Bethany!

And last, but not least, we celebrated Perry's 21st birthday on Saturday with game food and mom's tenderloin and homemade mac 'n cheese...as if we really needed more food! Notice that Isaac was enjoying every bite-you would think that I don't feed that boy!

We arrived back to Orlando on Sunday night and wandered around the dark parking lot with our rolling luggage and me in 4-inch high-heeled boots until we found our car 20 minutes later...we got the row right, just not the letter of the lot...next time we'll take a photo of our parking spot! We got home at 10:30, threw a load of laundry in, and crashed. It was a crazy weekend, but worth every extra pound gained to spend time with family.

Happy National Adoption Day!

We celebrated National Adoption Day in Blackshear, GA, at the Love the Least Adoption Conference. We had a great time with lots of laughs! Last night, we road tripped it up to Waycross, GA, and ate dinner at the Rodeo Mexican Restaurant which is housed in an old Shoney's building. The food was good, and we enjoyed hearing the people around us speaking with southern-accents...that's something we don't hear much in the FL melting-pot. We stayed at the Best Western owned by the Patels which would explain the curry we smelled the next morning as we walked out to our car to drive over to the conference. Besides the curry, we were impressed with the BW in this little town. Speaking of little town, there was NO Cracker Barrel to be found for breakfast (a must on every Isaac and Kyle road trip!) so we dined at Chick-fi-la instead (usually our lunch road trip eatery) and were upsold at the register with an extra strawberry-yogurt parfait added to our two chicken biscuit combos. We made it to the conference a couple minutes late, no surprise there, and were greeted in the parking lot which made us feel right at home. The conference started with worship lead by a very talented couple. Next, Susanne Mayernick and Gwen Oatsvall of 147millionorphans gave their families' adoption testimonies and encouraged the attendees to be willing to give up our plans and comforts for God's calling on our lives to adopt and experience joy through obedience to His plan. We also heard from the Oatsvalls on fundraising ideas and tips. Isaac listened to Scott and Mike talk about their adoption journeys from a dad's perspective while I went to the workshop about Special Needs adoption by Gwen and Susanne. We also got to meet several members of the First Baptist of Blackshear church including another family adopting from Ethiopia. We took away with us so many ideas for promoting orphan awareness and God's call to Christians to care for orphans. We are praying that next National Adoption Day we will be involved in bringing an adoption conference to our area.

One Month Waiting...

Today marks One Month on the Waiting List for our babies! This month has been MUCH less stressful than the months before! We've enjoyed the cooler weather in FL, spending time with family and friends, and doing a little bit of nesting...

We started replacing some of the carpet in our home with laminate this summer to help our cat Gracie get over a little habit she struggled with and to prepare for easier clean-up of kid messes, too...here Isaac is relieving the stress of waiting on Immigration and practicing his ninja skills by kicking down the silly half-wall in our entryway which we were both so happy to see gone!

After getting tile-removing acid in his eyes and cutting open his arm on a shard of flying tile, Isaac got smart and put on some protective gear for the rest of the project.

Bebe sent the first UK apparel for the boys and made UK blankets for them, too. Mom is looking forward to taking the boys to Rupp, and Isaac is dreaming of them playing basketball for UK-no pressure, kids!

Saturday, we visited with the Lillys...Adelyn and I matched in our pink shirts and jeans, and she was so proud of her leopard shoes...so cute! Isaac and I enjoyed learning all about Thomas the train and friends from Adelyn and beating her parents in spades while she napped!

Saturday night, we met up with (l-r) Donna and Gabe and Katie and Aaron at a Brazilian steakhouse in Orlando. If you can't see the resemblance in the picture, Gabe, Aaron and Isaac are brothers. Gabe and Donna are getting married in May and live in Jacksonville. Aaron and Katie got married last December and are currently living in Alaska. Aaron and Katie were in Orlando to visit Reformed Theological Seminary where we are hoping and praying they will start attending next summer! We had so much fun catching up and are looking forward to "meeting in the middle" in Orlando at Katie and Aaron's place soon!

Christmas Boutique & Ordering Info

My awesome friend Samantha organized a Christmas Boutique at her home to benefit our adoption. The event was last night, and we had a great time visiting with friends while they shopped for Christmas gifts from the sweet vendors who love the cause of adoption. All of the vendors are holding their orders until Sunday, Nov. 14th for anyone who could not be with us last night.

Isaac got right to the important stuff:massage! Our friend Nelson Cacciatore is a licensed massage therapist and gives great massages! His website is http://www.massagebynelson.com/. Nelson travels to his clients in the Bay Area and is available Monday-Saturday for appointments. Don't let the mohawk fool you-Nelson is one of the kindest, most genuine Christian husband and father we have ever met!

If you haven't been to a Thirty-One Purse Party yet, you are missing out! They have tons of bags and travel necessities in beautiful patterns and almost all of them are monogramable! I love my monogrammed lunch tote, drink coasters, and rolling luggage. Melissa's website is www.mythirtyone.com/melissak, mention host: Samantha Chaney. Orders can be shipped to your home.


Partylite candles also joined us last night, and we learned that they've added a gourmet food line to their business too. The iced snowberries candle smells amazing and their treats are yummy! Diana's website is www.partylite.biz/dianakilty, mention host: Samantha Weisweaver. Orders can be shipped to your home.


Susan's business is called "That's Sew Sassy". She started sewing the cutest little girl clothes after her daughter was born and that passion has grown into a successful business. She now offers custom clothing for girls and boys, gorgeous bags, monogrammed towels, pillows, burp cloths, bibs, and probably can make any linen look like a million bucks!

Susan's website is http://www.thatssewsassy.com/; mention Christmas Gift Boutique. Although we are expected boys, they will definitely be sporting Susan's cute clothing!


Mary Kay came last night to beatify us with their fall/winter line of makeup and skin care products. To order: www.marykay.com/kweckowski, mention: Christmas Gift Boutique.


I caught Jenn and Katie sampling Tastefully Simple's fall/winter snacks. We all loved Nana's Apple Cake, Absolutely Almond Pound Cake, and the Warm Cheesy Chive dip...just to name a few, although I've never ordered anything from TS that I didn't devour! To look at TS's offerings go to: www.tastefullysimple.com/web/vmanalang, send your order to vmanalang@gmail.com and mention: Christmas Gift Boutique. Orders will be shipped to your home.

Pampered Chef's Danielle could not be with us last night but sent catalogs for ordering their awesome kitchen gadgets. Danielle's website is www.pamperedchef.biz/pamperedchefdanielle, mention: host Kyle Treesh

Premier Jewelry's Lorraine could not be with us last night but sent catalogs for ordering their beautiful jewels. Lorraine's email is chicpremier@yahoo.com, email for catalog and ordering info.

Thanks to Samantha and her family for hosting us in their home, contributing to our adoption fund, and celebrating our soon-to-be family! We are so blessed to have such amazing friends and fellow believers that love us and support God's direction for our family. Isaac and my prayer for this event is that others who wish to adopt but are unsure of how to fund the adoption will see that "God funds what He favors" and that there are creative ways to cover all of the expenses. Afterall, the 147 million orphans around the globe are priceless children who need families!

Christmas Boutique Fundraiser

Contact info for the vendors will be posted soon for those of you who want to order but cannot come to the boutique! Many thanks to Samantha for organizing this event!

Girl Time

Isaac and I attended the LifeCare of Brandon Gala on October 14th at the Tampa Hyatt. As usual, LifeCare pulled out all the stops for a great night for an awesome cause. Isaac and I were blessed to be asked to host a table this year, and we had such a good time with our friends that joined us to support LifeCare. And yes, Tara and I wore the same dress! Great minds think (& dress) alike! The ladies did enjoy dressing up-the boys, not so much.

The next day, Katie, Sam and I attended a weekend "Women of Faith" conference. We stayed in the governor's suite at the Tampa Marriott Waterside thanks to a packed hotel and a booking mistake! I enjoyed being "sleeping beauty" Saturday morning while Sam and Katie ran a combined 15 miles along Bayshore Blvd...overachievers, these girls! My favorites from the conference were Mandisa's mini-concert, Anita Renfroe's comedy routine, and Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman's testimony. And when I came home on Saturday night, Isaac had finished his honey-do list for the weekend-awesome!

We made the Waiting List!!!

Yea!!! We made the waiting list tonight! Natalie, our caseworker with Gladney, sent us an email this evening congratulating us on finishing our dossier and completing this phase of the adoption process including our long CIS wait. Now, we get to wait some more, but this time for pictures of our sweet little babies! Baby pictures are much more exciting to wait for than an immigration document;) The current wait for a single baby under 12 months with Gladney is 8 months until referral, however, because we have requested siblings, our wait could not be estimated. Our wait may be shorter or longer than this...it all depends on our specifics matching up with our specific children at that specific time...it is going to have to be a God-thing, truly! For us, we are just excited to finally be paper-pregnant...it is becoming very real now that we will be parents next year! Praise God for answered prayers!