I bought one...will you?

I know there are thankfully many ways to donate money right now to continue to help those suffering in Haiti. I wanted to make you aware of another one. Click here to buy a t-shirt. Go here and find out more about H.E.L.P...Help End Local Poverty.

We're almost there!

On Friday Josh and I went down to an application service center to have our fingerprints taken for our I-600A application. They will be sent off to be checked by the federal government and then they will send us our form (I-171) that says we have been approved to bring on orphan into the US. This all has to be sent to the embassy in Ethiopia where we will have an appointment eventually with our child where we will get our visa to bring our child home. This assumes all goes smoothly and this is all still a ways off.

Back to where we are now...we are waiting on our last piece of paper (the I-171) and then we'll have our dossier complete. We will overnight our dossier to our agency who will review it and then send it off to be authenticated (translated I believe) and then the whole thing will go to Ethiopia! We will THEN be in line for our child. Right now our application letter states that we would like a girl (which we have written before) and the wait time for a girl is 9-11 months. That seems like a long time to wait but that is how long a pregnancy takes I have to keep reminding myself. I'm definitely learning patience here. I know that time needs to be treasured. It's time spent preparing, praying, getting our finances in order, and enjoying being a family of 4 for this season. I know that soon enough we'll have a little one who will have great needs so I'm hoping to focus on the two little ones who are growing up so fast now. I'm also trying to remember that I cannot go faster or slower than God will allow this process to go. While we are anxious to bring our daughter home we are praying for peace during the waiting. So here's to the last little bit of waiting on our final paper chase stage and to the next phase of waiting for a referral for our daughter!

Well Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah!

Thrilled to report that we just received an e-mail from our local Houston USCIS office saying that they have indeed received our home study and have reviewed it and our finger print letter will be in the mail next week!!! SUCH A RELIEF!!! SO EXCITING!!! Now if we get this excited over this news just imagine our jubilation when we actually receive a real life referral!!! To be honest that seems so far away I don't know that I can even imagine it actually happening! Oh the joy when we get that letter in the mail with an actual finger print date AND then the joy when we actually receive our I-171 form AND then the joy when we send off ALL the papers we've collected and worked on and have a DTE (dossier to Ethiopia) date! Joy, joy, joy! These are much better things to post about! Now I know they'll be more waiting and probably more frustrations but we're spending the weekend joyful and relieved.

On a different note...Josh is running the Houston marathon this Sunday. So proud of him and we'll be cheering him on that morning! He'll also be running the Austin half marathon with me on Valentine's Day...speaking of which I will be running 11 miles on Saturday in preparation. Who would've thought I'd be running 11 miles EVER in my life?? Ahhhh...with all of this good news my run should be quite JOYFUL! Enjoy your weekends! I know we will!

Nothing new

That title is a bit misleading...in a house with a 3 year old and a 22 month old there is ALWAYS something new! However, on the adoption front we have heard NOTHING new. I've e-mailed again and haven't heard anything and I keep thinking that our fingerprint appointment letter will be in the mail any day but each day I check and each day there is nothing there. I think of topics daily to blog about but am never sitting at the computer at the time they occur to me so no blogging has taken place. So I thought I'd post something...anything to keep the blog up to date. I know God knows where our paperwork is and who has it and every day is a day He has ordained for us to wait to lead us perfectly to the exact child He has planned to be part of our family. I'm just finding it a little humorous (in an irritatingly frustrating way) that we know other people are getting through this hurdle without delay and this is not the step we thought we'd be stuck on but such is the nature of international adoption. I'm learning to just live in the moment and to fully appreciate where we are right now.

SO...right now we are on the brink of Wyatt turning 2 and becoming quite independent. He's always heard telling me "WALK" when we go anywhere or "I do it". He's very laid back (as long as he gets some "I do it" time) and a ton of fun to hang out with. He'll ask for candy or donuts or whatever I shouldn't allow the kids to eat and I'll tell him no and he'll say "okay"...like "whatever...no big deal either way...I'm just goin' with the flow"...what child gives up that easily? He's always happy (unless Oliver has decided to hide his paci or steal his blankie or forcefully ask him to play in his room with him). The two of them together are a hoot...Oliver does NOT understand that Wyatt can't fully understand every request he makes so Oliver will ask Wyatt to do something like play with him in his room and then he'll tell Wyatt what the answer should be. Like this...Oliver: "Wyatt, do you want to play in my room with me?" Wyatt: stares Oliver: "Say yes" Wyatt: "yes" And off they go. They usually play pretty well together (unless above mentioned antics are taking place) and I'm thinking they'll be good friends. Oliver is also great at asking me everyday after I check the mail if the "letter about the baby" came today. I'm sure he's thinking...why are we always talking about this baby? What letter? Oh Oliver...hopefully one day soon you'll have another sibling to boss around and put words in their mouth for them and hide their pacis. In the meantime...we'll enjoy being right where we are...nothing new!