Nothin'

Nothin' new, just a really cute boy to have lots of fun with while we're waiting!

Thank you Lord for this perfect blessing in our lives!

The boys' elementary school had a roller skating day on MLK day. It's always hilarious. Ben spent a lot of time on the ground, like in the picture above. In case you don't know... the other boy is Jack. I've been watching Jack for SIX YEARS! He's definitely part of the family! This was his first time roller skating and he needed a little assistance. ;o)

Ben and his best buds: Jake, Ben, Jacob, Spencer and Alex
Boys will be boys, and I LOVE IT!

Ultrasound

I was reading on someone's blog about how waiting is like being pregnant. There's even a term in adoptionland called paper pregnant. This woman considered herself to be about 9 months pregnant because they were waiting to hear if they had passed court in Ethiopia, when her children would be officially part of their family.

So, that got me thinking. I guess we are at the ultrasound stage. We know that we are at the top of the wait list!!! So that means we could get our referral any day now. This stage feels a lot like the excitement of waiting for your ultrasound. That first glimpse of your baby, finding out who that little one is that has already stolen your heart. Getting those first precious pictures but you're still months from holding your baby in your arms. Yep, that's where we're at right now... excited and hopeful to see pictures of our baby girl soon. We can't wait to learn all about you sweet baby Faith!!!

Just because...

I couldn't resist the cuteness!

Happy

I am so happy today! We had a snow day today, so I am HOME with my boy. Then I got an email from our adoption agency saying that they have received our authenticated dossier! I have been a nervous wreck since I sent it out last week. It took us about 2 months to complete it, so many important documents, each one has to be notariazed, then county sealed, state sealed, and then off to DC to get authenticated. It was awful just mailing it off, but it's finished and in the hands of our agency, and the next step is ETHIOPIA!!!. Whew! Also...

Today in Ethiopia they are celebrating Christmas, so...

Melkam Gena!!!

Can you help?

You you help bring this sweet baby girl home? My Bloggy Buddy Christie and her family are in the home stretch of the 4+ year wait to bring home their adorable baby girl, Keira Joy. Please go visit their blog BRINGING KEIRA HOME and help if you can. They are selling some really cute t-shirts too!

The Name

We have been asked several times if we have a name picked out yet. The answer... kinda. :o) We do have the middle name decided on, Faith. When we finally made the decision to adopt from Ethiopia it was a Wednesday. That weekend in Sunday School Ben's memory work for the week was this passage:

Hebrew 11:1
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Being the Sunday School teacher, I was reading this to the boys, and of course started to cry. I new right away that Faith would be part of our baby's name. I showed the passage to Scott and he agreed. It has been a long journey to our baby, but we've had FAITH the entire time that God would bless us with another child.

As for the first name... Well, we do have one picked out, at least one that we think we will name her. A name that we love. But, my Dad keeps reminding me that I was supposed to be named Roberta. Yep, Roberta y'all! Thankfully when they saw my little face they knew I wasn't a Roberta, whew! I didn't have a name for a few days, and then my Dad finally picked Emma. So, we will wait until we see our sweet baby Faith's little face to decide on her name for sure. Can't wait until that day!

Merry Christmas!

Adopting our baby from Ethiopia in 2010.

Merry Christmas! Love, Scott, Emy and Ben.

2009 Jib Jabbers

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

You'll have to pause the music at the bottom before you play this.

The Process...

Sorry I left you hangin' about our adoption announcement, but it's been a little crazy around here lately! Why? We've been working our tails off to get our dossier (paperwork) finished!

and...


OUR DOSSIER IS FINISHED!


We were hopeful that it would be by Christmas, but didn't really think it would happen. We thought we had to wait for our USCIS clearance to be included in our dossier, and we won't get that back for a couple of months still, but thankfully we were WRONG! So, this has been our timeline so far...

September 23- FINALLY make the decision to adopt from Ethiopia
October 2- Received background checks in the mail
October 17- First home study visit, CCI picnic in Lexington
November 16- Mailed USCIS application to Texas
November 19- Scott's physical
November 20- Emy's physical
November 21- Final home study visit
December 15- Received completed, notarized home study in the mail
December 16- Took dossier to Frankfort to get the State Seal
December 17- Received email stating that we are OFFICIALLY ON THE WAIT LIST!
December 24- Fingerprinting appointment

Now what... we have to send our dossier to DC to get it authenticated and bound, from there it goes to our agency, Celebrate Children International in FL, and then it's off to Ethiopia to get translated! I can't wait to send it off! Hopefully tomorrow! I am so nervous having all of these official documents in my hands. This "paper chase" part of the process has been hard, but we know the next step, WAITING, is going to be the hardest. Come on phone... RING!!!

Here is a picture of us walking our dossier into the State Capital!

Vegas Baby

Scott and I went to Vegas to celebrate our 10 year Anniversary.

Why did I pose like that? ;o) Walking around on the strip. It was cold in Vegas, Figures!

Playing the slots, not really our thing, but we still had fun!

We had such a fun trip, but we were so ready to get home to our Boy!