Got ya Day Aniversary - June 7, 2011

June has been an exciting month. Aunt Karen, Papa, and Mimi came to stay with us, Hope played with friends and got dirty eight nights in a row at the ballpark watching her brother West, we celebrated Hope's one year anniversary of "Got ya Day," and we celebrated her forth birthday. Got ya Day was the day we picked up Hope in India. We met her for the first time, in person, on June 7, 2010, the day after the anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Thankfully, Hope didn't cry on June 7, 2011. She also attended her first Blazek reunion and saw cousins she had never met before. She saw her Aunt Jo, Uncle Bob, Nanny, and Grandpa and definately enjoyed playing ball with her Uncle Bob and Brother West at the reunion. We're very proud of Hope's successful completion of Phase I of her Red-neck training at Grandpa and Nanny's farm. During this training, she fed the donkeys, fed the cows, and went to Normangee, Texas. Hope helped to fill Grandpa's feed hopper, rode the four wheeler, and whittled on a stick with Grandpa's pocket knife. She played on, under and around some round hay bales and fired two .22 rifles and two .22 pistols. She enjoys playing outside and isn't afraid of anything. She and West have also enjoyed swimming at Nana and Hardy's pool and holding her breath underwater. Hope celebrated her 4th birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese with her family. She received a kitchen set with food, plates, and utensils, and immediately started cooking when she returned home. The kitchen set even has a high chair for one of Hope's baby dolls, named "Dad." Hope tried her baby doll, "Hannah," but Hannah was too big for the chair. I've never had a girl or any baby doll named after me.

Hope is an "official" Blazek

We had our court hearing two weeks ago in San Antonio. Hope looked beautiful in her Indian dress we bought for her while in India. Unfortunately this was the one day she did not want her picture taken. So, you won't see many pics of her in it. She became timid when we arrived at the courthouse and wasn't real sure what we were up to. She knew the day was about her and that made her uncomfortable. Who knows what was going on in that little mind of hers? She remembers alot and old memories are still hard for her sometimes.

The hearing only lasted about 5 or 10 minutes and the judge then declared her ours! We then decided to walk to the market center and celebrate with chips and salsa. Little Hope was so tired she fell asleep and slept all during the "celebration" time. To top off the day, West got a luchador mask to remember the special occasion. For those of you unfamiliar with this, I'm posting a picture so you can see. If you're a Nacho Libre fan you'll understand.

We did have a wonderful time while in San Antonio. We visited the riverwalk, Alamo, and the kids went swimming at the hotel. All of the grandparents were there too to celebrate and be with us on Monday. That was special and it was a time all of us will never forget.

It's hard to believe we've had Hope now for 9 months. This time has gone by so quickly. Sometimes I feel as if we just brought her home. She continues to do so well and amazes us with her language, skills, knowledge, and personality. Thank you for all of your prayers and encouragment. We hope our experience with her will encourage each of you to do something "crazy" God asks of you. His ways are always perfect and so good for each of us. It has been such a blessing to be a part of it.

We love you!

Court Date is Set

Our court day is set for Monday, March 21!! We can't wait for Hope to officially be a Blazek.
Here are some new pics we hope make you smile. Carriage ride with Daddy at Father/Daughter Dance

Big bro giving hugs before the dance

Roasting marshmallows and making smores at home

Christmas Pics

Christmas Eve night

Town center Marriott

Hope's first gingerbread house - She loved the icing

Strolling baby Hannah

Hope's first ornament - Curious George, one of her favorites

She keeps our floors so clean

Baby Hannah

"Texting" on her cousin's phone at the Baylor bowl game

Holt International Adoption Agency

Just fyi for any of you who may be interested in adoption or orphan care. We highly recommend Holt International, the agency we used. There website is holtinternational.com. On their website you can read about children who have been adopted, their sponsorship programs for children in need, and which countries they currently work with. You can also read more about the orphanage Hope came from at the website, www.vctblr.org.

Where has the time gone?

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. Life is pretty different these days with a three year old and eleven year old. I am getting used to the preschool life along with letting some things go I don't have time to do right now. Our house definately doesn't look like it used to.
We continue to be amazed with how easy Hope adjusts to the Blazek household. She goes with the flow and is always ready to do whatever we do. She has become a regular baseball fan for her brother and is now enjoying watching him play basketball as well. While there, as long as she has a ring pop and some toys, she is happy as can be. She told me she is ready to play ball too. We are glad she likes to try new things and wants to do everything her big brother does. Sometimes I don't know however if I like my little girl playing with guns and wrestling, but I'm just so glad she and her brother have so much fun together.
This year Christmas was a blast. Hope really didn't know what to expect but listened and followed along with everything West told her. She got so excited decorating the tree, decorating and eating a gingerbread house, and opening one surprise after another from all of her family. Today she enjoys playing with her new baby doll, Hannah. She changes her, feeds her, reads to her, and gives her kisses. She also received a vacumn from her Nanny and GP and loves to help me clean. Just this week we were running the vacumns at the same time and she told me, "Mom this is so fun." Her personality and sense of humor are such a joy to be around. I am enjoying seeing myself as a little girl in her and through her interests.
We also last month had our final post placement visit with our social worker and finished our last round of paperwork. India requires a photo album after six months so I worked on that before Christmas. We were sad it was our last visit with our social worker as we developed a sweet relationship with her, but look forward to keeping up through email and pictures. God has blessed us so much with new relationships and friends we would have never met through this process.
We are now waiting for approval from Holt International, our adoption agency, to give us the paper work needed to go to court and officially adopt Hope into our family. It's been six months and we must wait this long before it is official. We'll let you all know of that special day coming up.
Thanks again for all of your prayers. We feel so blessed beyond words.

Enjoying Hope's first times with us

First time riding a carrousel with big brother West at Kemah

First time to a football game

First trip to the country to visit Grandpa and Nanny and ride the tractor

First time on the four wheeler

First major league baseball game

First time eating ice cream (She likes any kind if it's pink)

First annual summer vacation with cousins

First time in the playhouse with Emily at Papa and Mimi's

First road trip to Papa and Mimi's with Patches

First time to the Houston Zoo
The monkeys and elephants were her favorites.

Hope's 3rd birthday

On the day of Hope's third birthday we celebrated outside with dinner and a blow up pool for her to enjoy. Unfortunatley she was very tired, as you can tell in this picture, and so she didn't care too much about playing or celebrating. Our good friend, Krissy, brought over a cookie cake that perked her up a little and so she enjoyed a big piece of it.
Because we waited too late that night, we decided to celebrate again the next day with her original cake decorated by Dad.

Enjoying "tea" from the set Nanny and Grandpa gave

Having fun with West

First week at home with Hope

Posing for a picture

Having snacks together

Hanging out in the bathroom either washing hands or brushing teeth (two favorite things to do)

Strolling her dolls around the house with her purple purse

First night out to eat with family for Father's Day

We have all had a wonderful first week home with Hope Anjali. Her personality has come out more and more each day as she becomes comfortable, well fed, and well rested. We've discovered she really likes "girly" things (jewelry, dolls, clothes, shoes, tea parties, dressing up, etc.), taking baths now, eating cake, feeding the dogs biscuits, singing, and coloring. We are all enjoying watching her try new things for the first time too. West has been a great big brother and has shown us lots of patience with a little girl. The only thing he doesn't like is bed time b/c she doesn't like it either and that's when the tears come. She sleeps well though and always wakes up happy in the morning. Her personality is really funny when she warms up to people. We can tell she was well taken care of by her foster family. She also understands English very well and will say anything we ask her to, if she is in the mood. She has a soft voice with an Indian accent that is way too cute. ( I wonder how long that will last with our accents.) Ha!

Thanks again for all of your emails, phone calls, and notes. The transition is going well so far. We are all enjoying adjusting to a family of four. We celebrated her birthday yesterday and thanked God for allowing us to have her home by the age of 3. I'll post pics from the celebration later for yall to see.

Back home in Sugar Land

Hey everybody,

We made it home! The flight wasn't too bad and Hope did great. She slept half the way on one plane and slept part of the time on another. We had fun watching her play with stickers, books, and colors when she wasn't sleeping. When we arrived, West, all of the grandparents, and Uncle Corey and Aunt Stacy were there to meet and greet us. We were so excited to see everyone and introduce Hope Anjali. We had to wake her once we arrived and she wasn't too comfortable once she first saw everyone. ( Of course it was 2:00 in the morning India time.) She quickly though took a liking to West and wanted to be by him the rest of the day and night. They even slept together on a palette in our room.

We can tell she really feels comfortable with West and her personality is coming out with him. She has spoken several words in English with him, but has not yet with us. West has been a great big brother with her and said yesterday that "picking her up is one of the best days of my life; the other was getting my dog, Patches." We are all so thankful to be back together now as a family of four.

Again we thank all of you for your prayers and words of encouragement. God heard and answered everyone of them. We can't wait for Hope to meet all of you.

We love yall,

Scott and Kathy