Soccer Fun

Kiley's been participating in a soccer training program.  The program is 100% parent participation, but there is a coach as well.  Kiley has been learning to kick, dribble, trap and throw the soccer ball.  Where we live, you have to be at least 5 years old to play soccer on a team, so this program is the best we can do for now.  Kiley has a blast.  She's learned a lot and does pretty well.

8 Years

It's our 8 year anniversary today!  I have an incredibly thoughtful husband.  He has been working with my aunt Rita to create a necklace for me for an anniversary gift.  

Shawn came up with the concept and Rita helped him bring it to life in the necklace.  Basically the design is 2 hearts shaped like an infinity symbol.  It's vertical so that it looks like the #8 (for the years we've been together).

It was such a surprise, I didn't think he'd be getting me anything this year because of the whole Afghanistan deal, but he's such a great husband.  LOVE HIM.

06-12-04

Gymnastics

 Kiley's still going strong with gymnastics.  She loves going every week.  She currently goes to Crystal Coast Gymnastics in Morehead City, NC.  Her coach is Coach Danae.  Her coach told me that after the summer she would like to move Kiley to a more advanced class! 

Kiley is in the pink leotard below.

Trip to Utah

Kiley and I went to Utah for a week.  We went for the main purpose of having a baby shower for my sister Teri, but also to visit all of our family.

We split our time and stayed with Shawn's family 1/2 the time and my family at the cabin the other half.

Here's a few pictures of the weekend.

 Kiley and Leila hanging in the Sundquist's backyard.

Kiley getting a much needed haircut

Group photo at Teri's baby shower

Kiley and I after a ride on the 4-wheeler at the Ford cabin in Heber, Ut

Mother's Day

This mother's day was a little different for me because Shawn was gone.  I was prepared to be sad because I knew I wouldn't be spoiled, but I was wrong.

Kiley woke me up in the morning with presents!  At school she made me a flower and a card with her picture in it.  And she also colored some pictures for me during the week.  She was so cute because all week leading up to mother's day she kept telling me that she had a present for me, but that I couldn't get it until Mother's day.  She actually hid the presents from me (she knows me well enough to know I would go looking)!

She was such a good girl all day and even asked me if there was anything she could do for me.  She asked if she could get me a drink!

Even without Shawn, I still had a great mother's day.  I have such a great daughter.

Adoption Update #4

So it looks like we're going to have to hold off on the adoption until Shawn gets home.

The agency agreed to move forward with the adoption as long as Shawn could Skype with us for the home interviews and if there was some way Shawn could get fingerprints done while he's gone.

Unfortunately, Shawn cannot Skype while he's gone because his base does not have wifi.  And the base is small and does not have the capability to do finger printing.

So, we will wait until Shawn returns.

We will not have to re-do the 1st interview, we can just pick up right where we left off.  And we will still have the same contact person, Cameron Bradley.

I'm a little upset because I would really have liked to get the process moving along while Shawn was gone, but it just doesn't look like it's going to happen.

There will probably not be another adoption update on the blog until closer to the end of the year.  But we'll keep a good attitude and hope that once Shawn gets home the process will move quickly and that we will have a child placed with us in 2013!

Farewell

Shawn left for a 6 month deployment in Afghanistan yesterday.

At 6:00pm yesterday, Kiley and I took Shawn to his unit's office building where all the marines and families met to say goodbye. Turns out, there were only a total of 5 marines leaving at the same time as Shawn. All 5 guys were traveling with the cargo and therefore left at a different time then most of the other marines with this unit.

The unit gave all the kids teddy bears to squeeze when they miss their daddies. Kiley loves her bear and the 1st thing she said when she woke up this morning was that she made sure to hug her bear last night because she missed dad already.

Shawn was supposed to leave at midnight and head to Spain and then to Afghanistan, but after the flight plans changed about 4 times, he finally left N. Carolina and went straight to Germany. He should only be in Germany a day or two and then he'll head right in to Afghanistan.

Shawn took a few pictures last night while he was waiting around for his flight (which didn't end up leaving until 2am) Shawn put some of the pictures up on Facebook already, but there's a few more here.

His flight accommodations were nothing short of uncomfortable! At least they were able to move around during the flight, but as far as seats go, what you see is what you get. He said he would probably end up sleeping in one of the hummers or on top of luggage during the flight.

I was so proud of Kiley last night. She cried for just a minute on the drive home from dropping Shawn off. She said she was sad, but that she would be OK. She's a pretty brave little girl.

PS: Shawn texted me this morning and let me know that he made it safely to Germany and that they were planning to stay at some sort of hotel this evening. He hopes to be able to get off base and get some real food tonight. I'm not sure how he's texting me because his phone service was cancelled while he's deployed, but maybe he's figured out how to text from his ipad. Who knows.

If anyone would like to send him mail, he is at Camp Edin Burgh. Address the letter like this:

SSgt R.S. Sundquist

VMU 2 DET D Scan Eagle

Unit 78103

FPO AE 09510-8103

Just a regular 44 cent stamp on any letters.

I've been told mail takes about 10 days to arrive, packages take a bit longer. If you plan to send a package, let me know because there are some restrictions on what you can send. And you need to make sure to follow a few guidelines that they have already talked to me about.

Shawn can also get emails, so that's always a good way to contact him.

The seat he sat in on his flight to Germany.

Shawn in his seat...oh yeah, they weren't supposed to have been issued their guns until they got into Afghanistan, but they found out they were going to have to carry their guns the whole flight. Bummer. Shawn carries the gun you see in the picture and a small pistol on his hip.

You can kind of see more of what's being transported. The plane is filled with vehicles and luggage.

Here's the plane that they took. That's how to enter and exit the plane.