Now, the Waiting

As of last week, we've finished all the paperwork, and we've sent our book in to New Horizons, now is the time to wait and prepare for our new baby to arrive.

We've moved Alex and Nicky into the same bedroom, and we are beginning to prepare the nursery for a girl. If everything goes well, we hope to have a child placed by the end of the year.

Home Study #3

We met on Tuesday with Karine for our last home study. We didn't quite get through all the questions and answers, but we're close enough to do the last part over the phone. At this point we have a few paperwork items to take care of, we need to finish our family book, and then we just wait for the okay from New Horizons.

We asked them not to circulate our family book until July, because we think Nicky should get a few more months to mature, and we could also use a few more months to save some money. But as we head into these final months of preparation, we want to say thanks to our families for your thoughts and prayers. We have been praying nightly for our baby to be and her mother.

Suzy's Corner Office

I think most of you know that as of last November I was promoted to Manager, Group Marketing. As part of the promotion, I was supposed to move into a "double sized cube" (which is pretty exciting when you work for a large corporation and they monitor how many shelves and file cabinets you have in your cube). This move was delayed and delayed due to a number of factors, and finally last Friday I made the move into the corner double sized cube! No door, but 3 windows and still pretty exciting.

I'm attaching a photo, but it's still kind of messy, so I don't want to hear any guff! Can you imagine Suazay sitting here "managing"? Ha ha!

Home Study #2

Monday night, Jenny and I met again with Karine. We spent more time going through the questions and inquiries about our family, our history, and our ideas on raising kids.

We've got one more scheduled meeting on April 15, then we should be done with the home study. At that point, there are a few last details to take care of, and then we should be ready for a referral. We wouldn't accept any referrals until mid-summer at the earliest, but from then on, a child could be placed at any time.

Weekend at the Dells

In anticipation of the costs of our upcoming adoption, we decided that we could not afford a spring trip to either Florida or New Mexico this year. But after Jenny did a little research on train travel, we decided that a short weekend trip to Wisconsin Dells would be a good mini-trip for the family.

Jenny, Alex, and Nicky left Friday morning from the AmTrack station in St. Paul. I went to work and drove down Friday night. Alex really enjoyed the train, but Nicky was his typical busy self, so mama spent a large part of the trip chasing him around the coach.

I'd been to the Dells only in the summer before, when it is very busy. At this time of year, it is mostly quiet because all the outdoor attractions are closed until the weather warms up. But the Atlantis, where we stayed, had a nice kids pool for Alex and Nicky to play at. They had a lot of fun—Alex especially likes to play in the water.

We drove back Sunday afternoon. A short trip, but plenty long enough for everyone to have a lot of fun!

Chicago Trip & Dance Competition

Two familiar faces showing off their awards

and may I say that bun on the left looks SHARP!

On the weekend of February 29 - March 2 Lucy, Jackie, Allie and I went down to Chicago for the annual Championship competition. I had a few free rental car days accumulated from all of my business travel, so rather than driving Paul & Lucy's minivan or my Hyundai, I rented a minivan for the trip. The minivan was very roomy and looked a bit more "cool" than some older model vans...which caused Jackie to shout out "Suzy pulled up in a Hummer!" when I drove up. I think we all agreed that the best feature was the fact that there was a DVD player for those in the back seat.


The competition results were spectacular! Out of 19 competitors (including some top US and Canadian dancers), Jackie placed 6th in the sword dance!!! Yeah Jackie! Out of 14, Allie got a 2nd a 6th and a 4th!!! Yeah Allie-Hat! For those of you who are out of the know - as a Championship competition means there are three judges, your overall result is based on the average of the points each judge assigned to their top 6 dancers (for instance, one judge could place you 1st, but if the other two don't place you in their top 6, you might receive just a 5th place overall). We were thrilled to see that one of the three judges had placed Allie 1st in the Fling. The girl who received the 1st place medal in the Fling danced at the World Championships at Cowal last August and placed 2nd overall in the world for all 16 & 17 year olds. That means one judge placed Allie ahead of the girl who had the 2nd best fling in the world last August...could this mean that in the opinion of judge McCulloch, Allie has the #1 Fling in the world? Something to ponder.

Last year at this time the same foursome travelled to San Francisco to attend a competition together, and this year Chicago. Next year Honolulu?

Home Study #1

Last night Jenny and I met with Karine, our assigned social worker, for the first of three home study meetings. She drove to our house at 6:45. She showed us some sample books that couples who are adopting domestically have to assemble. Jenny and I have discussed some things we will try to do with our books that will show our family in an interesting and unique way.

After looking at the books, filling out some paperwork, and talking gernally about adoption, Karine asked us specific questions about our families and how we were raised. I thought she would spend more time looking around the house, but she took just a quick tour.

Our second home study is in two weeks, and the third is April 15. At that point, Jenny and I will try to have our family books completed, then we should be basically ready. Our timeline is that we would prefer not to adopt before July, but we hope to have a child placed before the end of the year. Although no family is guaranteed a placement, most families who are open to a child of any race would be able to adopt six to nine months after finishing the home study.

Burns Night 2012

I recently read a comment in Touchstone magazine deploring the way we so quickly change historical poetry and song lyrics to fit with today's political correctness. The hymn in question was "Amazing Grace" and the lyric that traditionally goes: "That saved a wretch like me" had been changed to "That saved a soul like me". The change of wretch to soul not only needlessly sanitizes the hymn, but it changes the theology in a subtle way as well. I have noted this displeasing trend at my workplace as well, and I wonder when people will have had enough and just say stop wrecking the poetry of these wonderful old hymns.

Robert Burns's poetry has always struck me very rough and ready. It seems to me that he is not politically correct at all. When all the Scots, Scot descendants, and Scot poseurs gather for Burns Night in a few years, I wonder if the poetry of Burns will have survived intact, or if we will hear something like the following.

Friends Wha Hae
Friends, wha hae wi' Wallace talked,
Friends, wham Bruce has aften walked,
Welcome tae your comfy bed,
Or tae a cup of tea!

'Now's the day, and now's the hour:
See the front o' friendship tower,
See approach good Edward also-
Club biscuits and reverie!

'Wha will bring a pretty cup?
Wha with tea will fill it up?
Wallace, Bruce, and Edward sup.
Such friendship amongst the three!

'Wha, for friendship's companion and law,
Happiness's pen will strongly draw,
Free people stand, or Free people sit down,
Let him talk wi' me!

'By Friendship's esteem and acclaim!
By your child in happiness remain!
We will drain our mug again,
But they shall be free!

'Lay the empty cuppa low!
We chatted happily, don't you know!
Friendship is in everyone! -
Let us do our best!'

Our Trip to Blue Earth

New Horizons adoption agency is licensed in South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota, therefore, Jenny, Alex, Nicky, and I found ourselves on the road to Blue Earth, in southern Minnesota for an all-day seminar on Friday night. Without Joe, Sheila, Herb, and Florence in town, we planned to stop in Northfield to pick up Emily, who would watch the boys while Jenny and I were in the meeting. Unfortunately, the drive to Northfield was very long because of slow traffic. The wind was blowing snow over the wet roads and making them a little icy. We finally did pick up Emily, but didn't arrive at our hotel until 10:00. On the positive side, we were welcomed by the Jolly Green Giant.
Saturday was busy, and we heard from several couples who had adopted recently through New Horizons. Jenny and I would like to adopt domestically, but we are still holding out hope that Guatemala opens up soon, because that would also be an option. Emily did great with the boys--they went swimming, played in the McDonald's playland, and even did some shopping at WalMart.

Our home study begins this month, and if everything goes as planned, we should be "paper-ready" by the end of spring. At that point, we just wait for a referral.

Timeline

Our family history book by John Schmitz traces the family tree backward from Nicolaus Schmitz (who immigrated in 1867). Everyone of the people who came before Nicolaus on the chart, was born and died in Kell, Germany. I think it is unlikely that we can find out any more information about these ancestors than John Schmitz has been able to turn up. I also think we can assume that for several hundred years before our oldest ancestors, the information would be the same: born, lived, and died in Kell. Still, our family tree does go back as far as the mid-17th century, which is amazing to think about. I decided to create a little timeline that shows the years and some events against the lifespan of our ancestors. (double-click to see image full size)


The lines underneath the names approximate the life of the people named. A bar at either end means that their birthdate or date of death was recorded. An arrow means that it is unknown. It seems that from looking at this information we can see that if you lived to adulthood, you had a decent chance of living to old age. I think infant mortality had a lot to do with the low lifespan that pre-modern people were accorded.

The most common last names in our German family tree seems to be Meurer, Siebert/z, and Schmitz. The most common boys names are Peter, Johann, and Anton. The most common girls names are Anna, Maria, and Margaretha.

Helensburgh, Scotland

Since I posted a photograph of Kell, I thought I should add a photograph of Helensburgh, too. We've all been there, so we all know the town well, but I think it is interesting that the satellite easily picks up the sugar ship in the middle of the Clyde (look at the bottom of this picture).

By the way, note that you can double-click on images to see them larger in a separate window.

Kell, Germany

One of the extremely cool things about the Internet is being able to do things like find the town where our ancestors came from and see a satellite image (picture) of it. If you are looking for Kell on the map, first find the city of Koblenz in western Germany, then find the nearby town of Andernach, and then look for a small village west of Andernach. That's the birthplace of Johann Schmitz (great-grandfather), Nicolaus Schmitz, Anton, Michael, and probably generations upon generations before.

Mathilda's family

For some reason I have this picture saved on my computer at work, so I thought I'd post it. Grandma Schmitz (Mathilda Hemmesch) is the youngest girl in the family. I believe Aunt Margaret is the smallest standing girl, but Herb can correct me if that is not the case.

Tilly (as she was known) was born in 1895—before the first car or airplane. This photograph must have been taken around the year 1900.

The Herb #1 Son's Family Entry

Hi Fellow Bloggers, we are excited to be part of Clan Schmitz!

Photo from Gran's 90th Birthday

Mom and I were over in Scotland to celebrate Gran's 90th Birthday on November 9, 2007. The photo above is Gran at her party ready to blow out the candles with some help from Lewis and Emily! She got a bit teary eyed when the cake was brought out and "Happy Birthday" was sung.

I can only hope I'll look half as good at 90!

Suzy's Adventure in the Big Apple

Last week I had the opportunity to travel to Manhattan for work. I've been a few times before, and I never cease to be amazed by the blocks and blocks of skyscrapers. It makes downtown Minneapolis look like a small town by comparison!

I had an hour to find some cookies or sweets to bring to my meeting. You wouldn't think that it would be so difficult to find a good bakery in NYC, but I walked and walked until I finally found something. Back on the street with a box of treats under my arm, I had 15 minutes to walk the 8 blocks to the meeting. That's the when the breeze kicked up to gale-force winds and the drizzle turned into a driving rain. Juggling the bakery box, my laptop case, and my purse I managed to get my umbrella out of my bag, but still showed up at the meeting looking like a wet dog!

Anton Schmitz

In our oral family history, it is said that Anton Schmitz (my great-great-great grandfather) was part of Napoleon's Grand Army when it marched on Moscow. If this is true, it is amazing that any of us are here today. Last August, I attended a seminar by a statics guru named Edward Tufte. As part of his presentation, he showed the graphic below.



Basically, it is showing the large size of the army that marched to Moscow and the very few people in the army who made it back. The tan line shows the march to Moscow, the black line shows the retreat. Out of an army of 440,000 soldiers who crossed the Nieman, only 10,000 made it back across the Niemen. Dad said that the story goes that the German regiment that Anton was part of kept their discipline and stayed in formation and that is why they made it back when so many others perished.

Colors of the site

Because Blogger.com allows some ability to customize the web site, I thought I'd try to give it colors of the Johnston tartan (ancient)—which is kind of pale blue and pale green checks with thin yellow and black stripes. (Reference the tie I wear whenever I am at an event that requires a tie.)

If anyone has trouble reading the text over the color background, let me know and I can change it.

At this point, everyone in the family has been invited and Emily has joined as an author. Yea, Emily! I am the only "administrator" at this point, but if anyone else wants administrator privledges let me know and I can set it up. Otherwise, you will have "author" priveledges, which I think is basically the ability to post.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Kickoff!

Today is the beginning of the new Schmitz blog. After considering names like Herb's House or FloJo's Folks, I thought Clan Schmitz kind of tied together the two halves of our heritage in a concise way.

I hope everyone will find an opportunity to post here once in awhile. When thinking about this site, I imagine that there would be some family updates, some news of events, some family history, and other interesting tidbits. I'm new to blogging, but I am hoping to learn very quickly how to upload images and make this into a worthwhile place for our family to visit.

Looking forward to reading any future posts!