We survived...

Yesterday was our first homestudy visit and it went REALLY well. Our caseworker, Laura is so nice. She asked a few questions but said she got most of the information that she needed from our mound of paperwork that we've already turned in. I found out that she's done homestudys for alot of people we know including our pastor. That made me feel so much better. We have to do two more home visits before our completed homestudy is ready to be sent to Gladney. Those are both scheduled for next week. We're also waiting on an FBI clearance. I guess this is something different than the one we got last week for our dossier. Hopefully that comes soon.

We've also decided to change the requested age for our baby. We originally said up to 18 months but have decided to change that to up to 12 months. We've got some concerns about language barrier issues. Heck, we're having a hard enough getting CT to talk I don't know if I can handle two non verbal children. :) The most important reason is I'd really like to try to breastfeed the baby and the younger she is the easier it will be to get her to latch on.

Thanks for all your prayers and words of encouragement. You guys are the best!

homestudy tomorrow

Our social worker called this morning and asked if she could come for our first home visit in the MORNING. EEK!! I'm a nervous wreck. My house is a wreck from all the Christmas chaos. I just got all the wrapping paper and boxes picked up today. Now I will be cleaning like a mad woman all day. I'm so nervous one of us are going to say something stupid. UGH! Pray it goes well and that I don't puke. :)

new pics of my kids

Today I took the kids over to my friend Darla's house so she could take some pictures of the kids. CT was less than thrilled and most of the pictures ended up looking like this.

We did get a couple of cute shots. CT never smiled but at least he wasn't SCREAMING.

Adoption update....I got a call from the social worker doing our homestudy. She said she would be doing the first visit next week. YAY!! We're getting close.

an update

hi guys! It's been a few weeks since I'm updated. With all the Christmas parties and shopping and stuff I haven't had much time. I'm sorry & I won't let that much time pass between updates again. :)

We should be hearing from our homestudy agency this week to schedule a home visit. I'm sure with Christmas & New Years coming up, it will be the 1st of the year before they can schedule anything.

We also got our FBI clearance back for our dossier....I think. :) Question for the BTDT families...do they just send some letter that you have no idea what they are talking about along with your fingerprint card with a "all clear" stamp on the back? That's what we got back so I'm guessing that's what it's suppose to look like.

We're about half way done gathering all the paperwork for our dossier. I'd like to have that puppy turned in by the beggining of Feb. but we'll see. :)

That's about it going on with our adoption. I have a pretty cool story to tell you guys about something that happened at work last week. I'll try to post that tomorrow.

I'm speechless!

God is so good. I'm continually blown away by His faithfulness. Just last weeks I posted about being short $700 for our post placement fees. In the past 2 weeks we've received a $180 worth of tshirt orders and $20 donation from a blog buddy (Thank you so much) That left us $500 short. Today Sean went into work and sitting on his desk was an envelope with "Ethiopia Adoption Project ~ God Bless You!!" written on it. Guess what was inside? $500!!! How Awesome is that!! I'm still in shock right now. I have no idea who gave us this money but Thank you so much! Thank you for not only investing in us but investing into "M's" future.

Isn't God so amazing!!!

Thanks & help again

First, I want to say thank you to everyone who left me a comment or emailed me after my "money woes" post. As scary and unpredictable as this whole process is the one constant is that God IS Faithful. I know that....that may be all I know right now but that I know!! Thank you guys for being such an amazing support during the down times. I love how the body of Christ comes together to lift each others arms in time of stress and grief. We ARE family!

Next, I need help again from all you BTDT (been there done that) adoptive parents. I'm working on sending in for my FBI clearance letter. I've wrote the letter to FBI and DH and I both have our fingerprints. On the fingerprint cards, do I fill it out completely like I did for our first set of prints or do I just add name, dob, place of birth like the Ethiopia manual suggests? Also, I set up a Fed Ex account but how the heck do I prepare a prepaid overnight envelope? Do I need to just go to the Fed Ex place and have them help me? So, in the packet to the FBI I'm putting in: the letter (signed by DH and myself) the fingerprint cards, the $36 money order to the Treasury of the United States, and a prepaid envelope for them to mail it back to me. I know this stuff sounds simple but I just don't want to mess this up. Just reasure me that I'm doing this right and I'll stick it in the mail today.

just sharin'......

I was listening to podcasts this morning and came across this one and wanted to share with my adoption blog buddies. This is pretty awesome. It's the Dennis Rainey speaking about God's heart for adoption. He also adresses alot of the myths within adoption.

Listen here

money woes

This post is hard for me to write because I don't like being this transparent but the purpose of this blog is to share with my friends and family the good AND the bad of this adoption journey.

Today I got a bill in the mail for the homestudy. Not just any bill but one that we can't move forward to the next step without paying. So far, every single expense that has come up God has provided at just the right time and just the right amount. I have no doubt that He will take care this as well. I've been paying for things as they come up and putting money back knowing that I'd have to pay $1,850 soon for the homestudy. Well, what I didn't prepare for was that I have to pay for all the post visits up front. I'm sure somewhere along the way I was told but I just haven't been planning for that. That's an extra $705. This could set us back another month or two.

Could I just pay for this with a credit card or take out a loan...sure. But I told God when we started this if HE would provide all the money we have to pay Gladney and the homestudy agency that we would take out loans (and apply for grants) for the rest. He has held up His end of the deal so far and I'm not going to start doubting Him now.

On a positive note, we've turned in EVERYTHING to Villa Hope for our homestudy but the money so as soon as we come up with it all we can schedule our home visit. WOO HOO!!

If you would please begin to believe with us that God is going to provide for us every step of the way.

PS. We got the insurance issue fixed! Praise God!

Insurance companies....GRRRRRR!!!

So, for the past 6 weeks I've been fighting with my insurance company (Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware) for a letter stating what my adoption benefits are. Doesn't sound like it should be that difficult to get, right? WRONG! I've called daily for the past 6 weeks. They've sent me 2 letters over the past 6 weeks and they've both been wrong. Either not what I need at all or not completely what I need. I've talked to just about everyone in the company at one time or another. You'd think that they would just give a contact...someone who knows my story and what I need so I don't have to start over every time I call but nooooo. That would make things way to easy. I've tried aproaching this from every angle. I've tried to be sweet and Christ like, i've tried to play the poor pitiful me I'm adopting a baby and need your help card and I've just been plain out nasty. None of it got me anywhere. I even went as far as to tell the lady that I hoped the cries of my daughter in an orphange longing for her mother kept her up at night. Dramatic much? :) She was completely unfazed. Yesterday I got the letter in the mail but once again it wasn't complete. I specifically told them it needed to be notarized and of course it wasn't. I called back today to tell them that I needed it notarized and she very RUDELY told me that she couldn't and wouldn't norarize it. She told me that from this point on I would need to take it up with my human resources dept. at my work. I was livid but thought I'd go talk to the ladies in HR. As soon as I started trying to explain what I needed I lost it. Yep, I was a crying, babbling mess. I don't no what happened because I'm usually good at keeping it all together. The HR lady was a little freaked out because she's never seen me fall apart like that in the 14 years that I've worked there. Thank God she was a Christian and gave me a little Jesus pep rally. :) It didn't solve the problem but crying sure made me feel better. So, we're back to square one with the insurance company. ugh!!!

pray for Jocelyn

My blogger buddie Jocelyn got some completely devestating news yesterday. Her daughters parents decided not to give her up for adoption. Jocelyn's court date was coming up on the 15th. This is just absolutely heart breaking. I can't even begin to imagine how she's feeling right now. I haven't been able to think about anything else but her and sweet Peyton since I read her post. Pray that God would wrap her in His unfailing love today.

Heavenly Father, I come to you right now broken for my friend Jocelyn. I pray that You, God would be her soft place to fall today. I cant even imagine how much her heart is aching right now God but YOU know. I pray that you would be her comfort and her deliverer. That would clothe her in peace right now....the peace that only YOU can give Father. God, I lift sweet Payton up to you and I pray that you would protect her all the days of her life. God, I pray that she will know how much she is loved not only by Jocelyn but by YOU. God, even when things seem so completely messed up, we trust You! WE TRUST YOU!! In Jesus Name, Amen.

coffee anyone?

Today while reading another blog I found this coffee company Saint's Coffee. This company invest 1/3 of net profits from every sale into leading orphan care organizations. With every pound of coffee that you buy you will be feeding an orphan for a month. They even have an Ethiopian Sidamo blend available. I just ordered some for myself.


Also, I was looking at Amy's blog today and she posted about this AMAZING necklace. I just ordered mine. All the proceeds from the sale of these necklaces go towards the Dunn's Ethiopian adoption.

update

Well, today we mailed off all the paperwork that had to be turned in for our homestudy. YAY!! Now we're just waiting on them to call to schedule or home visit. I'm also going to get started on our dossier. I'm still trying to decide if I want to attempt our dossier myself or if I want to use Kate with KBS Dossier to help. I'm a little overwhelmed at the thought of all the paperwork but do I really want to spend the extra money? I'd love to hear from some of you that have done this already? Did you do your dossier yourself or did you use a company to help you?

CT can count to "yellow"

I have nothing new on the adoption front to report so I thought I'd share a video of my amazingly cute kid counting to 10, I mean yellow. ;)

We're almost done with all the homestudy paperwork. I only need one or 2 more things that have to be turned in. The main thing that is holding us up on the homestudy is money. UGH! We have to pay for all of the homestudy up front. We're trusting God that He is going to provide ALL that we need. He IS Jehovah Jireh our provider!! Also, the tshirt order was turned in last week. They will probably be here in about 3 weeks. I'll keep you posted on when they come in. :) Also, I order the ETHIOPIA ADOPTION PROJECT tshirts last week. They will probably be here in about 3 weeks. I can't wait to see them.

Awesome message

A couple of weeks ago my Pastor preached such an amazing and timely word. I thought I'd share it with you guys. I felt like it spoke to me about where I am in my life right now with our adoption. He spoke alot about obedience and God's promises. Take a listen...

The Message

just click on listen now. If you don't have time right now you can download it to your MP3 and listen later.

wow...what a day!

Today DH and I had to go for physicals for our home study. I guess our doctors office don't do alot of adoption paperwork seeing as how most of their patients are in the 75 and older crowd. ;) Another sure sign that they don't do that often is the way they were all running around like mad. What I was expecting to take about an hour ended up taking 3!! I went to the doctor straight after work and DH met me there with CT. Since I was only expecting it to take me about an hour I didn't make arrangements for "A" after school. I thought I'd be home by the time she got off the bus....not so much.

Even though the doctor took longer than I thought I still thought I had time to run by the police dept. for fingerprints. Where were all my BTDT (been there done that) friends?! No one told me I would be subjected to hardened criminals!! So here I go beep booping into the police station with CT with me. There is a police officer there dragging in a woman with handcuffs who's obviously been drinking. I go get a number and wait. As I'm waiting they bring in 3 more people who are being released from jail who've been in there for a few days. They're all disheveled and scary. These people are sitting all around me and CT. CT is NOT wanting to sit down in his seat. He's running around everywhere. At one point he trips over this drunk guys foot but the drunk guy never even noticed because he's passed out. At one point CT licked a chair. I wanted to puke! If I had germX I would have bathed us both in it right there. Finally, my number is called. I go back and the police lady say's "who's going to watch the kid?" WHAT? Yeah, he can't go back to the fingerprinting place with me. HELLO? Why didn't someone tell me during the hour I've been waiting. I had to call DH to come from work to come watch him. At this point it's time for "A" to be home. I had to call the school and have them bring her back to the school so I could pick her up there. She was none to pleased with me.

At least those are 2 major things we can mark off our homestudy checklist. We have to go back to the doctor on Wednesday to finish up paperwork and get results on the rest of our bloodwork. The kids have to have physicals too. I hope to have all the homestudy paperwork sent in on Wednesday after the doctor. Then we just wait to schedule our home visit. YAY! It's going pretty fast!

Also, Lindsey and Cortney got their referral today for baby Ian. Big congrats to them. He's absolutely beautiful!

tshirt update

I'm putting in my first order for T-shirts today so if you'd like to get one let me know ASAP and I'll add it to the order. Thanks so much for all of you guys that have helped support us by ordering T-shirts. This gets us one step closer to bringing home our baby girl!!

adoption update

I got this email from Anne yesterday.

Hi,

Your paperwork has been received and your payment applied to your account. Your family photos are great! The only items that are lacking from your file are:

Reference Letters – 4 are needed
Doctor’s Reports – for all 4 of you
Criminal and Child Abuse Clearances – your home study agency should have these
Post Placement Agreement – this is to be filled out by your home study agency
Home Study

YAY!! We don't have too much more to go and then we start working on our Dossier! :)

Tshirts for Sale!

DH and I are so excited to be working with Mission Threads to help raise money to bring home our baby girl, "M". They created a really cool shirt and we will be selling them. Please go to our new blog to check out the shirt and to purchase one. We're really excited about this project.

oh, and YES we've decided on a name...lets call her "M" :)

http://ethiopiaadoptionproject.blogspot.com/

pumpkin painting

We went to Providence today with my parents. They were having a little craft sale and car show. The kids picked out pumpkins. Someone put soap in the fountain and CT thought it was so cool.

Guess what's going in the mail today?

Yep!! The big fat application to Gladney. I've got all of part 1 & 2 complete. I have appointments made for DH & myself & the kiddos to get physicals but they couldn't get us in until the end of the month. That's all that's holding us up on having the application COMPLETE! All you old pro's...does this sound like everything?

application....check
statement of risks....check
Gladney agreement....check
Money order for half the program fee....check (going to the bank after work)
Homestudy review fee....check
CIS "release" form....check
family photos....check
house photos....check
child preference form....check
birth certificates for everyone....check
marriage certificate....check
employer letters....check
Letter from insurer....check
reference letters sent out....check

Okay so only things (I think) left to do are get physicals and get pet vaccinations. Guess that means we have to get the dogs shots. :) We're total slackers on that. No flaming from all you pet lovers. :)

I hope we didn't leave anything out. I feel a huge weight lifted just getting this jewel sent out.

What's next you ask...homestudy. YAY!

baby bedding...what do you think?

I'm about to get started on making the baby's bedding. What do you think of this fabric combination?

Garage Sale

Today we had an Adoption Fundraiser garage sale. Alot of friends and family donated stuff for us to put in the sale. We had SO MUCH stuff! My sister and BIL came over this morning VERY early to help us get everything set up and stayed and helped us with everything. We did VERY GOOD!! We raised about $1,000. :) We still have alot of stuff left so we're going to set up again in the morning for round 2. :) Thank you to all of you who donated stuff. DH and I are so grateful to have friends like you. We love you guys!



A's 2 good friends Isaac and Jake came over on Friday and brought a cute jar that they made for "A" to collect donations. They even put $15 of their own money in it to get her started. They made cookies and kooliad and brought it over for her to set up her own little stand to make some money for her flight. Aren't they just the sweetest boys ever. She collected $83 toward her flight to Ethiopia to pick up her baby sister. Please ignore the crazy look on her face...the sun was in her eyes.



CT was more interested in playing with all of the toys we were tying to sell.

Baby "B" needs a name

So, obviously my belly won't look like this (unless you count all the weight I didn't lose after CT) but do you know how hard it is to find adoption baby names graphics. :)


Anyway, this baby girl of ours needs a name....any suggestions? We've got a few things in mind but I'd love to hear your ideas. I'm thinking we'll keep her birth name as a middle name.

So, let's hear 'em!

I don't believe in coincidences....

....only divine appointments. I got a message on my blog from Meredith She had "stumbled" (remember I don't believe in coincidences) across my blog. She and her husband are also adopting from Ethiopia. That's not completely unusual to hear from someone who's adopting from Ethiopia. We're also using the same agency. We're also at the exact same place in our process. I thought that was very cool. She went on to say that her and her hubby are moving to Alabama. Cool, I live in Alabama! There are very few people in Alabama who've adopted from Ethiopia. So, I looked on her blog and not only are they moving to Alabama, they're moving to HUNTSVILLE!! I live in Huntsville! Do you know what this means? Our little girls will know each other & will grow up together. It also means that we will very possibly travel together to pick up our baby girl. How awesome is that?! But do you know what the best part of it all is? They are Jesus lovin' people too. :)

cool tshirt

Tonight I was looking around at other Ethiopian adoption blogs and came across Caleb and Becca's Blog. They are a fellow Ethiopian adoption family. They are selling these cool shirts. You can order then from their page.

child like faith

Ever since we've been talking about adopting a baby from Ethiopia, "A", our 7 year old has told us she wanted to go. We've always just said no, you aren't going to be able to go. She was bummed about it but seemed to understand. Earlier this week we were all in the bathroom getting ready for our day and "A" heard me giving her daddy a "pep talk" about how God was going to provide everything we need for this adoption (remember, Sean is a realist and worries ALOT about money) She asked us WHY she wasn't going to be able to go with us to pick up her baby sister. I explained that it's going to cost us ALOT of money to adopt and the travel for daddy and I was going to be very expensive. She very matter of factly reminded me of what I had told her daddy moments before. God is going to provide everything we need and she was believing God to provide enough money for her to be able to go too. I was amazed at how much faith she had that God is sending the extra 3K for her to be able to go with us. Well, yesterday she came home from school and one of the first things she asked me when she got off the school bus was, "did God send my money to go to Ethiopia today?" :) I had to giggle. She absolutely believes that God is going to be dropping a check into the mailbox for her. And I KNOW that He will too.

Tagged

YAY! I've been Tagged by Amy She is a great friend and an amazing photographer.

So now I have to list 8 things about myself.

1. I do makeup on the side for weddings and proms. I actually just signed on to do makeup for Heather Bookout Studio

2. I use to design and sew childrens clothes for a boutique but I haven't been sewing much since I had CT.

3. I have a group of girls that I talk to online everyday. We're been a little group for years and we get together last year in Memphis and it was the first time we ever met in person. They are some of my closest friends. I love you mamas. :)

4. I LOVE shoes! All shoes but my favorites are BCBG!

5. We're adopting a baby girl from Ethiopia.

6. I LOVE sweet tea! I could drink it all day long. :)

7. I also love international coffees. No, not that stuff in a can but coffee from other countries. When our friends travel internationally they always bring us back coffee. Right now we're drink coffee from Hondurus.

8. I'm NOT a snuggler but I could "scrooch" (that's out word for snuggle) with my kids all day long.

Okay, so now I have to tag 3 people

Amy Jo
Tara
Chrystie

up to my elbows in paperwork

Today DH and I had a conference call with Judy from Gladney. She went over EVERYTHING with us. We talked about all the paper work that has to be filled out from here on out, all the things we need to tell Villa Hope that needs to be done for the Ethiopian program during our home study, all the fees that have to be paid and when what is due. It was overwhelming but VERY informative. DH also asked a few questions about how the babies come to the orphanages and what kind of care they recieve. He also asked about what kind of information will we have about her birth parents and their medical history. I think he just wants to make sure that she's healthy. He asked questions about how she would go about obtaining infomation if when she's older she decides she wants to find her birth parents. I've never even thought about that. That brings on a whole new set of questions and emotions. I'm glad he asked though because I need to think about these things. Judy also talked to us about when we travel and what that will be like. I almost wish we wouldn't have talked about that because now that's all I can think about. I don't want to think about FBI background checks & medical forms and I600A's...I just want to think about traveling to pick up our baby girl. Snap back to reality!! I'm in paperwork up to my nose....but for NOW I'm lovin' every minute of it. :)

We talked alot of the fee's and when they are due. After we hung up with her DH and I just sat there staring at each other. I think the breakdown of all the expenses was a little overwhelming. We talked about what we're going to do to come up with this money. DH is a realist. He sees things very black and white. He wants to have a clear cut plan on where the money is coming from. I understand that but we have to trust God that He's going to provide everything we need. This adoption was a dream that God gave us and I know that He is going to provide "exceedingly above all which we ask or think" Ephesians 3:20.

prayers needed

My best friend, Joelle, is good friends with a lady named Deanna. Deanna was pregnant and had her baby this past week at 25 weeks. He's VERY early and very sick. Please keep Deanna & Hal & baby Grant in your prayers. You can follow little Grant's progress and see pictures of him here.

Grant's Site

High School Musical 2 Party

"A" had a High School Musical Premiere Party with alot of her friends. Here's some pictures from the party.

so what's next?

I talked to Judy from Gladney yesterday. She recieved our application and was calling to set up a phone interview. That's scheduled for next week. She said the phone interview will take an hour or so and it's just to go over paperwork for how to complete our 1-600A. Good thing we're going to talk to her about this because I don't even know what a I600A is! :)

I'm not sure where we go from here but i'm getting excited because it's REALLY happening!

Getting to know you

I got this off one of my friends, Amy Jo's blog.


Copy and paste it for yourself!



1. How many blogs are listed under your favorites list that you check EVERY day? 25 or so


2. How many times a day do you "go to the bathroom" and end up checking blogs? alot :)


3. Do your kids recognize the other kids from the blogs that follow?? Yes, my daughter thinks it's so cute that the Bottomly's have a baby named Silas and we have a nephew named Silas.


4. Do you keep track of how often people update their blogs and get upset when they don't keep to the schedule?? Yes, I love to track their progress


5. Favorite time of day to check blogs? at night

6. Who's blog is your favorite? probably Tara & Eric & the Bottomlys

7. How many of the blogs that you follow are people that you have never met in person? 10 or 15

8. How long have you been married? 10 years

9. Fav. food? southern food. :) Fried chicken, fried okra, fried green tomatoes...hmmm, notice a pattern here?!

10. Fav. TV show? Top Chef, anything on HGTV

11. Anything that you forbid your kids to watch on TV? yeah, lots! I'm a litle overprotective when it comes to the TV. I'd rather not deal with any fear issues from things they may see on TV. No That's So Raven, No dragontails, No Kimpossible, No Scooby Doo...I'm sure there are lots more.

12. How long was your adoption journey from beginning to end? I'm BRAND new to this. We've been praying about it for a while but just submitted our application last week.

13. How did you decide on the country you adopted from? I've had a "heart connection" with Africa since I was young. I've always been interested in the people and the culture.

14. What did you imagine your family to be like as a little girl? Just like it is. :)

15. Favorite Momma down time activity? get online or shop. :)

16. Do you have more online friends than "in person" friends? I have alot of both

17. Tell us the cartoon character that you are most like: well, if they made a plus sized Barbie I'd go with that. HA! :) I love hair and makeup and clothes. I'm a bit of a diva. ;)

18. What toothpaste do you use? Arm & Hammer

19. Stupiest adoption comment/question that you've recieved? : I've heard a few VERY RUDE comments about Ethiopians having swollen bellys and being fast runners. I don't think people understand how offensive that is.

20. Fav. non-adoption website? myspace

It's official

We have decided to adopt a baby from Ethiopia. We've been praying about it and talking about it forever. We decided a few weeks ago to go ahead and get started. We're so excited. This has been my hearts desire since I was a little kid. I've always known I wanted to adopt. I have also always had this amazing heart connection to Africa. When we started getting serious about adoption I KNEW that I wanted a baby from Africa.

Adoption is something I've been talking about with DH for about 5 years. He was never very interested. I remember a conversation we had a pizza hut one day about 5 years ago where I told him that adoption was something I wanted to do so badly. He just didn't get it. We were NOT on the same page. I remember leaving there crying and not understanding why God would give me such a passion for adoption and not do the same thing in DH. For the past 5 years I've prayed that if this was something that God truly wanted for our family then he would have to do a heart change in DH. I would mention it every once in a while but didn't want to push it. The last thing I want is for him to take on something so huge and it not be what he really wanted or felt was best for our family. All that would do is cause him to end up resenting me and the baby for that. I knew if this was God then He would work in DH. After 5 years of praying He has!! God is faithful. Over the past few months Sean and been asking more and more questions and really opening his heart to adoption. God has begin to birth the true understanding of the spirit of adoption in DH. I can't explain what this does in my spirit. I never doubted God's ability to change DH's heart but I did doubt whether I had really heard from God. What if it was ME that wasn't hearing God?! I know now that this was His plans for us all along. The timing just wasn't right until now. Before we even got pregnant with CT I wanted to adopt. After my 1st birth experience with "A" I wasn't sure I had the strength physically and emotionally to go through that again. I talked to DH about it then and he wasn't "there" yet. Part of me knew then that the timing wasn't right to adopt. Now I can't imagine my life without CT. He is such an amazing piece of our family puzzle. The final piece is this baby in Ethiopia. This will make us complete. It's amazing how much love you can have for a child that probably doesn't even exist yet. I can only compare it to the love you have with the baby that you carry it in your womb. When you first find out you're pregnant you are in love. In love with this little life that is no bigger than a pea. It's an intense love. That is the love I feel for this baby that will someday be a part of our family.

We've talked to the kids about it. CT is to young to understand but "A" is over the moon excited. She wants to go with us to Africa to get the baby. I don't think we're going to take the kids. One reason is cost, it would cost us an extra 6K (at least) to take the kids and another reason is bonding. I think it's going to be very important that we have some time alone with the baby to bond with him/her. A's ready for us to go NOW to get the baby. Try explaining the waiting process of adoption to a 7 year old. :) This will be good for teaching her patience. It will be good for teaching ME patience as well. We think it will be at least a year before we get him/her. We've just filled out of 1st round of paperwork. There's plenty more where that came from. I've met some really sweet ladies on here that have either just walked through this process or are walking through it now. They have been very helpful in preparing me for how this works and what to be prepared for. So many things have just fallen into place that there is no denying that God is leading this adventure...we're just along for the ride. :)

Please keep us in your prayers as we begin this journey. Specifically pray that God would work the financial stuff out. I'm trying not to focus on that and just trust God that He birthed this desire in our hearts and He will align everything else.

CT's first day back

Today was CT's first day back to daycare after being out for the summer. I didn't go with DH to drop him off because I knew it was going to be bad...and it was. I HATE this! When we drop him off and he doesn't cry and scream for me I can handle it but days like today I just want to go scoop him up and take him home. DH said he screamed and clawed the teacher to get to him. DH said he waited around the corner and he screamed for at least 10 minutes. He ended up leaving and he was still screaming. Gosh, I HATE that! I knew it was going to be bad because yesterday when I dropped him off for the church nursery he threw himself on the floor and wailed. He banged him head on the floor over and over again until he had bruises and carpet burn on his forehead.

This is so hard! Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

CT's a big boy now

I'm sad. My baby isn't a baby anymore. CT is going to be 2 in a couple of weeks & starting this week he started sleeping in a big boy bed. Today DH and I are taking down his crib and redecorating his room. I went to lowes this morning and picked out paint to match his big boy bedding. It's going to look so cute. I'll post pics when we're done.

The Elephant in the Living Room

This is to good not to pass on. Karen said this so much better than I could have.


http://thesinglestep.blogspot.com/2007/05/hiv-status-and-other-things.html

where did summer go?

Well, summer's over. "A" starts back to school tomorrow. She's not exactly thrilled because she had such a great summer and she's not ready for it to end. She spent the summer in the summer program at the church for staff kids and they've had a blast. They take trips to somewhere different everyday. Like the pool, the movies, bowling, skating. We've also taken a trip to the beach. both kids had a great time and really enjoyed the sun & sand. They never wanted to leave. We've also spent alot of time at my sisters house hanging out at the pool & spending time with my neices and nephew. It's been a great summer but it's over and time to start back to school. Time to start going to bed at 8pm again & having to get up even earlier than usual to get to school. She's less than thrilled. CT has another few days before he starts back but his time is coming soon.

Here's a few pics from our fun fun summer.

so I think he's coming around

DH has finally started opening up to the thought of adopting. Adoption has been something god placed in my heart when I was just a kid. I've talked to DH alot about my dream to adopt but everytime he never really acts interested. He's even said a few times that it's just to much money. I never wanted to push adoption on him in fear that he'll resent both me and the child. I decided just to pray that God would birth a heart for adoption in DH just like He did me when I was a kid. I printed off some information from an agency (Gladney) that I've read alot of great things about. Last weekend we were driving to my sisters house and I was looking over the info and DH started asking questions. Questions like how would we decide if we want a boy or girl? How old of a child would we get?

I really think God is starting to stir something inside DH. This is the start of something HUGE! I can feel it!

we're outta here

We're headed to the beack for a week. YAY!!

Break me God

I found this video today and it is HEART BREAKING but sometimes God WANTS to break us. Break us so that we can be the people of compassion that He has called us to be. Sometimes it takes brokeness in ourselves to get us out of the place of complacency and into a place of passion for the things that HE is passionate about. I hope this stirs passsion in you today. Break me oh God so that I might have YOUR compassion.

I want her now!!

DH and I are not on the same page as far as adoption goes. I'm ready NOW and he wants to wait. It's so heavy on my heart. It's all I think about. I'm obsessed with reading blogs on families who've adopted from Ethiopia, looking up info online on adoptions from Ethiopia, ect. I'm doing some major praying that God will change DH's heart on this. There is a baby girl in Ethiopia that needs me!!

Just like Daddy

DH's a diva and takes longer on his hair than me. Well, the other day I see him fixing his hair and CT was in there trying to "fix" his like daddy.

Special time with daddy

I was reading one of my friends blog about her daughters day with her daddy and it got me thinking of how important it is for daddys to spend special time with their daughters. Not only does it great bonding time but it also helps girls to set standards in their lives. She will see that daddy treats her like a princess and she won't settle for anything less than that. DH takes "A" on "dates" a couple of times a month. On those "date" nights she gets dressed up and so does he and he comes to the front door to pick her up and opens the car door for her. He spends time doing silly things going out for donuts & walking in the park and eating icecream. During that time he talks to her alot about how God has someone perfect just for her and about what she should expect from him. They also spend alot of time just being silly and having a good time together. These "dates" are so important to both of them. I wish my dad did things like that with me when I was a little girl. It may have changed the way I looked at relationships.

My little drummer boy

The C man is obsessed with the drums. Everything is a drum stick. He beats on everything. Believe it or not he's pretty good for a little kid. His dad has a drum set out in the garage and every chance he gets to go bang on them he's out there. I think we're going to get him his own set for his birthday. Crazy I know but the kid loves drums!