With Childlike Wonder

Family and friends are the most important parts of anyone’s life.  It doesn’t matter how rich you are or how poor you are.  It doesn’t matter if you have had a terrible day…or week.  It doesn’t matter what type of clothes you wear or if you drive the latest car.  What really matters are your family and friends.

This past weekend, Lisa and I had the chance to spend some time with our friends, Rod and Corrinna Middleton and their daughter Hailey.  Rod is the director of the Fish Hatchery at Cave Run Lake and does an excellent job.  Corrinna works for the Dept. of Water and Sewage.  Hailey is just entering the first grade….and it seems like only yesterday when she was born!

We spent the weekend together doing what we do best….namely shopping and eating…LOL!  Lisa and I went to visit them at the Fish Hatchery on Friday night.  We played on the trampoline with Hailey and also played ball and with the Frisbee.  It was a great afternoon to be outdoors.  Later on, the grownups had some time to play cards.  We love to play Canasta…a popular card game from the 1940s!  We are just keeping traditions alive and well!  HA!

The next morning, we all woke up early and got ready for our day of fun in Lexington.  Of course, the drive there was easy thanks to the wonderful built-in DVD player in the Toyota Sienna.  I’ll be the first one to admit that I love these vehicles.  It will come in very handy when we get Jacob!  There is tons of room and with the built-in entertainment center….they are very child-friendly!

Once we were in Lexington, we took some time to shop a little.  What is trip to Lexington without a little shopping?  I’ll admit that I didn’t really need anything.  I ended up purchasing two cool t-shirts.  One of them was a Goonies shirt from that 1980s movie.  I loved that movie when I was young…and I still watch it today, thanks to the magic of DVD.  The other one was a Sesame Street shirt.  I’m a huge Muppets nut…as some of you know already!  LOL!

Finally though, we headed to Rupp Arena for the main attraction of the day…the Ringling Bros. and Barnum Bailey Circus.  We had all been looking forward to taking Hailey to the circus.  She was very excited to see all the animals and clowns.  Plus, I have to admit, I was very excited to see the circus because I had never been to a BIG circus like this before.  It took up the whole floor at Rupp!

The show was amazing.  There were all sorts of trained animal acts.  We saw dancing elephants, trained tigers, and prancing zebras!  There were cool dog tricks and neat ponies and horses.  One elephant even painted a picture!  Hailey loved all the animal acts.

The rest of the circus was indeed magical.  There were several acts of illusion throughout the show.  For instance, they were cutting people in half, turning clowns into tigers, and even making elephants disappear!  I thought that the way that they incorporated a magic show into the circus was a great idea.  Zing Zang Zoom were the magic words that transported the entire audience into a fantasy world for two solid hours.  I can see why they call it the Greatest Show on Earth.

One of the scariest parts of the circus for me was the trained tiger act.  I’m sure that this man was a trained professional, but those tigers were snarling and clawing at him like crazy!  I just knew that we were going to experience one of those “moments when it all went bad.”  I could picture myself on the news saying “I saw the whole thing.  It was awful!”  But…the man looked danger right in the face and went on with the show. 

It was great being at the circus with Hailey.  Lisa and I are looking forward to being able to take Jacob to the circus next year.  We are still planning on hopefully getting to travel to Russia for the first time sometime in September.  Keep praying for us!  We appreciate all of the positive words and comments from everyone.  Your love and support is much appreciated!

Looking back on this weekend, I can honestly say that I had a great time.  I hope that everyone was able to take some time this past week to enjoy time with their family or friends.  I want to end this article by wishing my mom and dad a happy 43rd anniversary!  They celebrated it on Monday, August 30th.  We took them out to eat at Long John Silver’s (their favorite place to eat!).  Then we had some ice cream and cake and gave them their presents.  They are the best parents anyone could ever ask for!  I love you Mom and Dad!

Until next week….class dismissed!

Making Changes

Lisa and I have been in the process of adopting for….well, it seems like forever, but in truth it has been for around 3 years.  As most of you know, we were originally in the Vietnam program, but it shut down and still hasn’t reopened.  We stayed in the program for a while but got frustrated at the slow progress and switched to the Russian program

The Russian program has moved a lot faster.  In the past several months, we have completed our home visit from social workers, completed all paperwork, and have been fingerprinted by the Homeland Security office to get our approval for international adoption.  All of our paperwork is in Russia now and we have even been assigned a region.  We will be adopting from Yaroslavl.  It is about 150 miles north of Moscow.

All we are waiting on now is our phone call from the agency, Children’s Hope International, informing us of our referral.  That will give us about a week’s time to get everything ready and travel to Russia.  Believe me…we are more than ready!

On our first trip to Russia, we will finally get to meet our child at the orphanage.  We will get to visit for 3 or 4 days while we are there.  During this time, we can feed and play with him.  We can also help with changing diapers and other things.  Of course, we will have our own medical examination of him and will be in contact with the good people at UK.  They have an international adoption medical unit and will be able to give us advice on the adoption.

At the end of the week, we will decide whether or not to complete the adoption.  Our agency has informed us that they have excellent records of couples accepting their first referral.  I have all the faith in the world that everything will work out for us as well.  If we agree to complete the adoption, we will sign the paperwork and then travel back to the USA while everything goes through the courts.

When it is time for us to go before the judge in Russia, they will call us.  At that time, we will have about 2 or 3 days to get back to Russia and have our appearance in court.  According to our agency and other people who have adopted, the process in court takes about 2 hours.  When the judge approves the adoption, we will have to wait 10 days until we can legally pick up our child from the orphanage.  We will stay in Russia during this time.  We can visit the orphanage during our wait, thankfully.

After we pick him up from the orphanage, we will have to spend more time in Russia getting his paperwork together so that he can leave the country.  We will also have to get him a passport and visit the American Embassy in Russia.  Finally, we will get to come home.  Of course, we will need a little time at home to start bonding before we rush back into work and such.

Most people have kids and take it for granted that this is something that is just naturally going to happen.  For those of us who can’t…for whatever reason…the process is a little bit more than just letting nature take its course.  There are piles of paperwork, late nights of worrying that everything is going okay, and then having to travel halfway around the world to pick up our child.  However, it is a process that will be more than worth it in the end.

I know that there is a long way to go still on this journey to complete our family.  However, can I dare say that I see the light at the end of tunnel?  We are expecting a phone call at any time.  In fact, we are hoping to complete this adoption by the end of the year. 

I will keep you all informed as we continue along this path.  Please keep us in your thoughts!

Until next week…class dismissed!

Hatfield Reunion 2010

Me in front of the John Deere tractor used for the hay ride.

Lisa and me

Me with my long lost "sister" Carey Moore! LOL!

Summer wouldn't be summer without family reunions. This summer, I once again had the honor of attending the Hatfield reunion with my wife Lisa. It was even better this year because we were able to take my mother-in-law Janet with us. Janet was originally a Hatfield, if you were wondering how a Fugate got invited into the clan! LOL!

On a hot and sunny Friday morning, we all loaded into the van. The good people at Nim Henson Geriatric Center even packed up all of Janet's medicines that she would need for the weekend. They are just really good people!

Off we headed to Yatesville Lake in Louisa. The Hatfields always rent out all of the cabins at Creekside Cabins and RV Park. It is a great location to relax and unwind. There are 8 cabins that get rented out. Plus there is lots of room for the rest of the family who like to bring their RVs.

When we arrived, we saw the familiar "big tent" that they rent for the weekend. This year, the family also rented several of the inflatable rides that are very popular right now. As we got closer, I saw that they had rented an obstacle course, water slide, and one where two people try to knock each other off a pedestal with large padded javelins. These were mainly meant for the kids...but the adults enjoyed them also. This was especially true late at night when jousting contests took place! LOL!

We quickly unloaded the van and made ourselves at home. We hadn't seen most of these people in a year, since last year's reunion. However, thanks to Facebook, we have been keeping up with each other a little better. What did we ever do before Facebook? It is truly a wonderful thing...especially if you use it to keep in contact with people who live in other counties or states.

The first night, we had the annual auction which helps to raise money for the reunion. Yours truly was once again chosen to be auctioneer. I am not complaining though. I love it.

We had a great dinner of traditional summer foods....hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, etc. Then, everyone piled onto stacks of hay pulled by an antique John Deere tractor for a hayride around the community. I wonder what people thought when they saw all of us riding through their neighborhood. Of course, I had on my lovely straw hat that my "long long sister" Carey Moore had given me. We are so much alike! We decided over the span of the weekend that we are surely brother and sister who got accidentally separated at birth...LOL!

After dinner, we held the Hatfield Summer Olympics. Everyone was broken into teams and competed in events such as a three-legged race, water balloon toss, and relay race. It was a great time, and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun competing in the events. There were events for both adults and children.

The next day was hillbilly day. I wore my bib overalls just for the occasion. It was a great day and everyone enjoyed talking and catching up with each other. Lisa and I were so proud of Janet because she was able to walk up and down the steps of our cabin by herself. She did a great job! Everyone loved having Janet at the reunion this year.

Lisa spent a lot of the day cooking for big dinner that night. She made cornbread salad, overnight salad, oatmeal raisin cake, and a black walnut cake. She also made a homemade butter cream icing for both of the cakes. They were so good!

Speaking of food, everyone at the Hatfield reunion loved to eat. We had tons of food...smoked meats, barbeque, salads, green beans, breads, casseroles, and loads of other foods too numerous to list here. The tables were groaning with food...for a little while at least. Then...we were all groaning because we had eaten too much!

That night, the evening's entertainment was the Hatfield Family Hee Haw. Carey was the ringleader of the show, appearing as Minnie Pearl...complete with hat and tag! She had recruited several of us to be in the show, including me! I was....get ready for it...none other than Dolly Parton! It was a hoot! I wasn't too sure if I was going to get into that dress at first or not! It was a little tight...probably from all that delicious food from earlier in the day. They really stuffed me "up top" also, if you know what I mean. It was all in good fun though.

Other family members dressed up as various characters such as Ike and Tina Turner, Brittany Spears, Madonna, Elvis, Sonny and Cher, and Hank Williams Jr. It was a good show. We all laughed so hard. I think that it is wonderful to be able to let your hair down every once in a while. In my case, it was a long blonde wig! LOL!

Everyone sat around afterwards just talking and enjoying each other's company. I felt so good just to be a part of this family's reunion. As an only child, I didn't have a large family. Growing up, we didn't really get together a lot with other family members either. It felt really good to be a part of this great group of people. Who knew when I was marrying a wonderful woman like Lisa that I was getting a bonus as well?

The next day, we loaded up the van. It was a bittersweet time because we had had such a great time and now it was time to head back to the "real" world. After lots of hugs, handshakes, and slaps on the back, we started back home. I really had a great time at this year's Hatfield reunion. Lisa and Janet said that they did as well. Now....the countdown to next year begins.

Until next week...class dismissed.

Janet Wagoner...Strong and Determined!

Janet (third from left in pink shirt) with wonderful workers at
the Nim Henson Geriatric Center in Jackson, KY.

Once I heard the expression "Life is a bowl of cherries...and this is the pits!" Of course, everyone knows that life is not always going to be smooth sailing. Hopefully we have more better days than bad, but we have to be prepared to weather the storms of life when they come around. Nobody does this better than my mother-in-law.

My mother-in-law, Janet Wagoner, is one of the bravest and most determined people that I know. She has been through a lot in her life, but she doesn't let it keep her down. She keeps on fighting and keeps on growing as a person. She is an inspiration to me because she doesn't quit. In fact, I don't think that quitting is a word that she has in her vocabulary.

I met Janet about 20 years ago when my wife, Lisa, and I began dating. Lisa had invited me to dinner, and I thought that Janet was trying to be fancy because she had baked a turkey...and it wasn't even Thanksgiving! When I was growing up, we only got turkey at Christmas! I was very impressed. Of course, now I know that it is perfectly acceptable to eat turkey all year long if you wish! Ha! But at the time, Janet made a very favorable impression on me with her choice of food. I also remember her potato salad being the best ever!

Through the years, our family has had good times and bad. When Lisa's dad, Dillard, passed away, it was a very hard time for all of us. Janet was still living in Morehead, KY at the time, but she decided that it would be best to move to Breathitt County to be closer to Lisa and me. It was great having Janet live with us for a while. Of course, she didn't want to be living with a couple of rowdy school teachers (you know how wild we can be..LOL!) so she made another decision to move into an apartment in town.

She applied for and got a little apartment in Kings Ridge Apartments behind True Value. She loved living on her own again, and it was easy for Lisa and me to stop in and see her during the week after school. Through her years of living there, she made many friends. However, her health did start to deteriorate after a many years.

Janet had always had trouble walking on one of her feet. It would drag on the floor, and she would have trouble keeping her balance. But the worst thing was when she started to fall. She fell a few times in her apartment and couldn't get back up. Lisa and I would go and help her. Eventually, we all knew that she would no longer be able to live in her apartment. She needed full-time medical care. Luckily, there is a place for that right here in Jackson.

The Nim Henson Geriatric Center is a nursing home located on Jetts Drive in Jackson, KY. Janet has been living there for one and a half years now. During this time, it was discovered that she had "water on the brain" and had to have a surgery to help remove it. After the surgery, the doctors told her that her balance and strength would return with time and therapy.

A lot of people may not realize what a wonderful facility the Nim Henson Geriatric Center is for our community and people in need. Every time that Lisa and I are visiting Janet, we see people working hard....cleaning, caring for patients, decorating, etc. The home is very clean! I am very impressed with the cleaning crew. I always see someone cleaning!

Janet loves it there. It is her home, and she has made so many new friends. She told Lisa and me that she is as close to most of the workers now as she is to her own sisters and brothers!

At first, she was a little reluctant to take therapy. However, over time, the physical therapists at the nursing home were able to get her to build up her strength. When she first went into the home, she could barely lift her legs while she was lying down in bed. With lots of encouragement and work on the part of her physical therapists, Janet began to see results.

I am so proud to say that my mother-in-law was able to go from only being able to move around in a wheel-chair to being able to walk! At first, it was just a few steps on the balance bars. This built up to steps on a walker. Now, she is even able to take some steps with a cane!

Janet's goal was to walk around the track between the nursing home and SMS. With the help of the talented workers and therapists at the Nim Henson Geriatric Center, she achieved her goal. She was able to walk around the track. More importantly, she was able to build up enough strength so that she was able to go with Lisa and me to the Hatfield reunion for a few days this summer! We had a blast! She amazed everyone at the reunion with her newfound walking ability. She even got an award that said "I can walk up the steps and I don't need a wheelchair." She has it on the wall in her room.

All of this wouldn't have been possible if it hadn't been for the caring, talented folks at the Nim Henson Geriatric Center. They all deserve a pat on the back! They go above and beyond for all of their patients.

This also wouldn't have been possible if it hadn't been for the inner drive and determination of my great mother-in-law, Janet Wagoner. She could have just quit and not done anything when she moved into the nursing home. But she isn't like that. She is a winner. That fire and spirit that I admire has gotten her up and about...and it will keep her up and about! We love you Janet. Keep up the good work!

Just remember everyone...even when things seem their darkest and most dire....get back up and keep trying. Don't ever quit.

Until next week....class dismissed!