Rainy days are fun days!

Today was a lovely autumn rainy day. It was raining when I got up and rained most of the day. A cool front moved through this afternoon dropping the temps into the 60's. Oh it felt just lovely. I'm not the only one that loves rainy days Caleb couldn't wait to go splash in the puddles. He came prepared wearing his green frog rain boots. He had plenty of opportunities during the day as we had loads of errands to do today getting lots of the paperwork done for the adoption. It was a good day with lots of things accomplished. I also managed to get a haircut this afternoon!

Pictures are of Caleb playing in front of our house. As he didn't have a raincoat he borrowed a jacket of Alan's, and one of my caps. Oh the innocence of childhood! to have so much fun just splashing in the water. The picture of him on the sofa is a picture of him in the outfit Joe and Kathleen (Alan's parents) sent him for his birthday. He is so cute in it. Thank you.

Will post new updates next week.

Yippee!! More Paperwork!

We received our packet of Dossier materials in the post on Saturday. Lots more papers to fill out, references to gather, and everything has to be notarized. Be really easy if I could notarize them myself, but that isn't ethical. Luckily my boss Bruce is a notary so it will really simplify things. This will be the last big batch of forms we have to complete. This then is when it will really turn into a waiting game. I must admit that the excitement is building. Last night we had Father Robert over for dinner, he is the priest at our church. We were hoping he would be able to provide insight into transitioning the children into life here in the USA and the Catholic church. Father Robert is from Nigeria and was introduced to Catholicism by Irish missionaries. We had a really lovely evening with him, he will be invaluable to us over the next year with his advice, support and knowledge. Alan and I fixed a nice Irish meal - stuffed steak, 2 kinds of potato, rutabaga and cabbage. We did go Texan with a peach cobbler for dessert.
So this looks to be a busy week, at least i won't just be sitting and waiting!

WAITING......

It's as I stated in an earlier post we wait...... Gathering information, returning it for the home study. So much of what we need is in the hands of other people and we have to be patient. We've only a few more things to turn in though and then we will have our home visit by the social worker. Once the home study report is complete and turned in we will be able to start getting matched with our soon-to-be family. We should be starting our paperwork for our Dossier soon. Expecting it in the mail later this week or early next week. It will be more paperwork and info gathering to assemble a packet that goes to Ethiopia to get their approval to adopt. We also have submitted our application to Homeland security to get the VISA application started. They also have to have a copy of the home study to approve and really won't do much until they receive it. We will also have to travel to San Antonio to their office to be fingerprinted. This process can take several months to complete.
WAIT.. wait... wait.....

Attack of the Dinosaurs!!

His cake had a motion activated dinosaur that popped out and would bite and growl.

His big remote controlled dinosaur, the adults enjoyed it as much as the kids!


Caleb being a dinosaur!

Caleb's 3rd birthday was all about dinosaurs, he's a real little boy now! Here's a few pictures I took at his party.

Homestudy Requested,

We have now moved on to the next step, the DREADED HOMESTUDY. Again there will be loads of paperwork to gather, including police reports, medicals, dogs health statements, house is safe and passes a fire safety test. They look at all our finances and then get references from friends and employers. I think they will know more about us than we know ourselves. It all sounds so overwhelming. I know if we take it one thing at a time we will fly through it. None of the forms so far have been difficult. We just need to stay on top of it.

CALEB"S BIRTHDAY IS MONDAY!!!! OMG he'll be 3!!!!. I'll try to get lots of pictures and will post them Monday.

Adoption Application Accepted!

Just received our official AAI adoption packet accepting us into their Ethiopian adoption program. More paperwork to fill out and money to be paid. I can't describe how happy Alan and I both are that this is becoming a reality for us. Tomorrow will be a busy day as I will need to get the ball rolling on ordering the Home Study, I'll fill out the forms I have, plus download some VISA forms from Homeland security.
I hope also to phone the agency (I need to pay them their fee) and see about getting some details and a video about some of the children on the waiting list. If we choose a sibling pair that is waiting this will move along alot quicker. We also feel that is where we have been led. These children have been waiting - some as long as 4 years to be adopted. We have a home and our hearts are here waiting for them. This house really needs the sound of kids in it.
Please continue to pray for us, this journey is only starting.

The Ball is Rolling

Step one- mail in application to AAI (Adoption Advocates Intl.) CHECK! Now we sit back and wait a few weeks for their response. Waiting - now that's a word we will become quite familiar with in the coming months. I'm sure many of our future posts will be addressing the fact that we are waiting. So while we wait life continues to roll on.

We had a quiet holiday weekend. Caleb came over on Sat. afternoon and took a 3 hour nap on the sofa. I painted the bathroom on Monday, same color just needed to freshen it up. I did put new handles on the wall cabinet. I finally got rid of those dreadful 70's antique gold ornate handles. I replaced them with nice sleek polished chrome, a big improvement. I returned to the Doctor on Friday, bad news on the cyst - they couldn't drain it with a needle so if I wish to get rid of it I will have to have surgery. I think I will live it unless it gets larger or painful. They also took several vials of blood to run some test. Don't know which test and what for. Guess I'll know when I get results.

Well here are some pictures as promised. Darby, new roof on house, Caleb taking his 3 hour nap (I rarely sleep that long at night), and finally a picture of Alan and I together. We had to have a snapshot of the 2 of us to submit with the adoption application so here it is - so do we look like trustworthy loving parents? I really hope so. You'll also notice Bonnie and Schindler just had to get into the photo, no way were they going to be excluded.