J Cooper Photography

The paperwork stacks are getting BIGGER!  Our home study is in final review (it was sent back for some wording changes) and should be re-submitted this week.  Our sweet social worker was emailing me last night at 11:00 working on it!  Our dossier is VERY near completion and will be turned in as soon as our home study is approved.  It looks like we just might meet our Thanksgiving deadline that we gave ourselves which makes me SO HAPPY!

Along with the home study and dossier, we had our “Eyes Wide Open” workbook to complete.  We should have had this finished up before completing our home study but somehow we managed to complete things in backwards order.  So the workbook just came a week ago and we have been working through it as fast as we can so that it doesn’t hold up our home study approval.  One of the final activities was to cook an Ethiopian meal and go to an Ethiopian restaurant.  This weekend we packed back up the family and headed down to The Blue Nile in River Market to try out some authentic Ethiopian cuisine.

And no…we haven’t adopted another little girl   Some sweet friends came downtown with us to enjoy the food and that is their cutie-pie daughter.  It was a GORGEOUS fall day here in Kansas City yesterday so we opted to dine outside….which meant we gave up a bit of the authenticity of the meal (sitting on the floor to dine)…but the weather was too nice to pass up!  We ordered beef and veggie Sambusa for appetizers which are like a fried dumpling stuffed full.  They were delicious…Sam devoured an entire one all by himself.  Now I know how to get him to eat more veggies…he’ll eat anything that has been fried long enough

The appetizers came as a communal dish but our meals were served individually (again…probably not entirely authentic).  The native bread is called Injera and is made from Teff flour.  It tastes a lot like sour dough.  I loved the taste of it but had issues with the texture…kind of spongy for me.  You use the bread to scoop up the different dishes which is a bit problamatic if you don’t care for the bread and don’t have utensils to use.  I’m sure over time I’ll get used to the texture and enjoy it more.  We ordered the Doro Tibbss, Tibbs Watt, Yebeg Watt, Atikett, Fosolia, and Dinich Watt…in case you are  a food buff and enjoy reading the descriptions

Our workbook will be mailed tomorrow!  Hopefully our home study will be re-submitted in the next few days followed by our dossier….and then we should have a NUMBER!  Can’t wait to just WAIT (remind me I said that in a few months will ya?)

I’m terribly behind on blogging sneak peaks for all of these fabulous Kansas City families!  So if you are waiting for a sneak peak…most likely you have already seen your gallery first.  But I do promise to keep sharing…even if it takes me right into December snow

So next up…this little beauty.  I’ve been photographing her since birth (seems like we go way back) and we are good buds. She has the most expressive eyes and the sweetest face   She reminds me of a little Spanish Senorita in this image.  Although Daddy is French so I don’t think she has a whole lot of Spanish blood   But the red tutu is definitely fitting for Christmas!

Another aerial shot cause I just can’t help myself!

I don’t know where all her brown locks went…do you remember her as a NEWBORN?  Or what about at SIX MONTHS?  Now she has a head full of blonde wisps and all sorts of new tricks…like holding on with ONE finger!

But Daddy can still make her LAUGH HARD!  I love seeing the bond between parents and child…and this little gal is so fortunate to have parents who love her dearly!

She came to the session with all sorts of wardrobe options (and let us dress her up without putting up a fuss!)  And she liked the nature…we were forever pulling things out of her mouth.  Extra fiber right?

She is on the cusp of overtaking the world.  Watch out Kansas City…Miss S is ON THE MOVE!

At the very end we put on her pumpkin costume.  Why is it that babies always hate hats?  I thought this shot was so sweet…if she could talk she’d be saying “get this thing off me already!”

Loved spending the afternoon with one of my FAVORITE families!  Thanks for sharing your baby girl with me!

Having one of those train off the tracks…”why me?” kind of days.  And it seems like there have been a lot of them lately.  But that’s a good thing I think.  Because all good things are worth fighting for.

I’ve been working tirelessly this fall taking as many sessions as possible to boost our adoption fund.  I’ve SO enjoyed the work…I seriously have had such fun with so many sweet families in Kansas City.  But when my camera broke I was more than a bit upset that a lot of that hard earned money got shifted from our adoption account to our checking account to pay for a replacement camera body.  So I started thinking creatively to raise back the money I had lost.  Last night I came up with a *brilliant plan* for a fundraising event (at least it seemed brilliant at the time…the verdict is still out).  I set about the house with great gusto with my camera, toying around with some of my ideas….when suddenly CRASH.  My speedlight slipped from my hands and landed…then bounced 3 or 4 or 100 times across our very hard hardwood floors.  And now it’s toast.  As in…won’t fire up, rattles when you shake it, might as well throw it away…toast.

I’d really like to scream “WHY ME???”  But God promises trials.  And I know in my heart that I would scale ANY mountain to get to my child.  And so I’m going to climb back on that train (cough up the money for a new speedlight) and pull back out from the station.  Cause this train is headed for Ethiopia.  And my child is waiting.

And just for kicks…a little teaser on the fundraiser to come in a few weeks!

I think this will be LOTS of fun (for all of us!) so PLEASE check back to see all of the details VERY SOON!!

And for heaven’s sake…hold on to your camera folks.

1.  The receptionist at our local adoption agency is a notary.  Splendid tidbit of information to find out AFTER our home study is already in final revision and I have driven 100s of miles through Kansas City having paperwork notarized.  Did I mention our local agency is 3 blocks from our house.  No?

2.  If you live in Kansas City your local police station WILL NOT write you a clearance check letter regardless of how many times you tell them your international agency requires it (or how much Halloween candy you try to use as a bribe)

3.  Make sure your husband actually CALLS (even though you asked him to) the Ethiopian restaurant that is 30 miles from your house before you load 3 children into the car on  a school night and drive those 30 miles to a restaurant that is apparently CLOSED ON MONDAYS.

4.  Did you know you can hire (for an exorbitant fee) a traveling notary?  So when your Doctor’s office notarizes a form with their in-staff notary and your international agency sends it back to you because the notary stamp shows that their notary’s license will soon be expiring…you can fork over the BIG BUCKS to have someone you have never met, meet you at your doctor’s office and watch you sign your life away.

5.  If you work on your adoption education workbook non-stop for the entire drive from Kansas City to Nebraska (and back) you will make great progress on completing said notebook but you might require a straight jacket upon arrival at your destination (as well as a barf bucket).

6.  Ethiopian bread (injera) is made from Teff flour which can be *conveniently* purchased at a local market exactly 69 blocks from our house.

7.  As a stay at home mom you will have to have a Employment Verification letter written stating that you don’t actually have a job and then you will need to have that notarized just in case that would be something you might be lying about.

8.  A tells me that I shouldn’t get too excited about adopting a beautiful brown baby as it is possible that we might be one of the rare families that adopt a blonde haired light person from Ethiopia.  She doesn’t want me to be too disappointed if things don’t go as I expect.  “Anything is possible Mom…keep an open mind!” she said.

9.  If you order a certified copy of your birth certificate from Texas it will come printed on poster sized paper so that mailing it in a *normal* sized envelope along with your other dossier requirements will be entirely impossible.  More proof that things really are bigger in Texas I guess?

10.  It will all be worth it.

But we had a FABULOUS little mini getaway!  We were definitely needing a little Cooper family fun.  It was SO nice to enjoy the holiday with our family without email, editing, or adoption paperwork (yeah right…like I was going to waste 6 hours of car travel without our adoption notebook!)

I set my camera to AUTO and just snapped away capturing all of our fun.  It was so nice to not worry about the angle of the sun, the background, or my camera settings.  And although the photos aren’t technically amazing…the kids in them sure are

SO here we go….

J on her first day back to school after being out a week with H1N1 (we think).  She was SO EXCITED that she didn’t have to miss her Halloween parade.  Here she is rounding the corner!

Her whole class.  Four year olds are so funny.  Notice that really no one is looking at the camera!  Except J’s crush who is standing next to her…she says he is her boyfriend

Later that day we went up to the elementary school for A’s parade and class party.  Here’s our BIG baby with her best baby buddy

She is SO into babies right now…too funny!  Talk about a cheap costume…loved that!

Friday night we headed to Nebraska…it was a late night driving but so worth it to wake up Saturday and have the whole day ahead of us for family fun!  After lunch we headed to Roca Berry Farms!  My kids are OBSESSED with gourds.  It is so weird.  I have no idea what caused the obsession.  But gourds have become a big deal at the Cooper house with the girls.  It looks like Sam is saying “so what’s the big deal?”

J heading to the princess castle….she could barely contain herself!

LOVE this picture for so many reasons!  Sam LOVES slides.  He will go down ANY slide no matter how steep as long as A is at the bottom to catch him!

Crazy sunflare…I guess my auto setting doesn’t know how to handle that!  But her smile is SO sweet!

Not a big fan of the hay….

Cute squinty smiles in the bright October sun.  LOVE these crazy girls…and I love how much they love each other.  They spent the ENTIRE trip playing so nicely together.

All aboard!

The girls FAVORITE activity!  All the inflatables!

Little man chilling with his Baboo.  Notice my Dad is a photography buff too.  He got some great shots of the kids as well that I need to download and share!

The S man with his Mimi

A and her faces…poor little prison girl.  Someone will come unlock you soon…don’t worry!

Mimi with the girls

Daddy and little man trying out the trikes.  It amazes me how agile Sam is…he is in CONSTANT motion!

An attempted shot at all three kiddos.  And I call myself a photographer…geesh!  Why will other kids look at me and my own won’t?  I guess they’ve heard all my jokes.

Snuggled on the hayride through the swampy pumpkin patch and spooky (and windy!) forest

My little lion on Halloween night before the Trick or Treating expedition.  I had GRAND ideas about taking him out for a little photo shoot but he was WAY TOO EXCITED to stand still for me.  I think just the mention of candy put him into a SUGAR rush!

This one would have been so cute if he wasn’t a blur

Chubby little lion cheeks

Another attempt at dusk of all three.  Not enough light, not enough attention span…and too much excited to hit the streets make for a BAD photo experience

Ringing his first door bell ever!  Our little man was QUITE the trick or treat trooper!  He stayed out the entire time and filled his entire bucket full of candy (yeah for me!)  As soon as the door would open up he walked straight up to the people and babbled away.  They would put some candy in his bucket and then he would just stand there grinning at them until they added more.  Too funny!  I think he came back with twice as many goodies as the girls!

One last attempt at a photo of all three of my sweet babies.  We took this right before church on Sunday…they were all looking so cute!  And then my flash died!  So I tried to doctor this up in photoshop a bit but it is still blurry and a bit funky looking…I couldn’t really save it…but they are still all looking so sweet

Hope you all had a SPOOKY HALLOWEEN!

I’ll be back to the regularly scheduled session sneak peaks soon!