Boating Fun

THANKS Cara and Justin for having us out on your boat!!! We had a GREAT time=)

Let the wait begin!!!

Yahoo!!! We got an email from Leah our social worker that our dossier is done being authenticated and is back at HQ!!! It actually missed today's shipment to Ethiopia so it will go next Friday=( But we are SO VERY VERY excited that the paper chase is behind us and now we start the wait for our referral!!! The earliest that we have seen other families get a referral was 5 months so that's what we are hoping for. Realistically it can be anywhere from 6 months to 1 year and we know that. We are trusting in God's timing to bring our precious little girl into our family. We would very much appreciate you all if you would pray for our little girl.
On much more uninteresting news we got a puppy this last week. There is a little of a story behind why we got her. See two weeks ago the kids and I were doing school so I decided to go sit on the porch for a few minutes while they worked. That's when I heard one of our chickens start swaking out in the woods. This was not a normal laying an egg noise. It was more like this is the end of the world noise. So I hopped up to see what had spooked it. Usually it's just a rat snake or ant hill they layed on. This time however I saw the chicken running out of the woods and into the barn. At that point I saw a coyote come walking out of the wood like, "Man I didn't get it !!". Talk about shocked!! The coyotes usually kept their distance from the farm because of our dogs. However we lost Sago about 6 months ago and Samson our other dog has turned into a true country dog. Lazy as all get out! So I immediately called Stephen and we decided right then we needed another German shepherd to keep the coyotes away from the chickens. We just happened to find 6 week old baby German shepherds on craigslist. The boys LOVE playing with her. We named her Delilah=) Stephen jokingly said we should name her Delilah to go along with her partner Samson, and well it stuck.

No news yet=(

We haven't had any news yet=( That means our dossier is still in DC being authenticated. Hoping to hear news this week or next!!!

More Work

Got a call from our social worker that we were not totally done with our paperwork. Bethany Christian got a new director for their Ethiopia program and we had already filled out the power of attorney forms with the former directors name on it. So we needed to get two new power of attorney forms. Sounds simple right?=) We got the papers printed out signed, notarized, county sealed and overnighted it to State to get the Great Seal affixed to it. So for just two new little forms it cost $60!!!! Crazy!! But we should have it back in a few days then it will be off to Grand Rapids to meet-up with the dossier. It's kind of maddening to finish your paperwork then have it put on hold. I just want to hear those sweet words that it's on it's way to Ethiopia!!
Stephen and I have spent the last few nights going through a baby names book trying to pick out names for our little pumpkin. We always like to have their name picked out so we can start referring to them by their name and feel like we are already bonding with them. Generally in our family I choose the boy names and stephen has chosen the girl names. So he has come up with a few good ones and the kids and I have had fun the last few days calling her by that name and seeing which one we like and which one 'fits'. But as soon as we choose one we'll let ya'll know=P
We have been BUSY BUSY BUSY on the farm. Between the garden, the chickens, mowing our SERIOUSLY large yard, trying to finish the fort and the zip line, landscaping. Feels like we are getting no where on our to do list! But we are enjoying this early summer weather and it's lightening bug time which the kids are having a lot of fun with. The other day we found a big black snake hanging around the chicken coop. The same day we found one on the other side of the yard near the fort, which steve chased up into a tree.

Boys thought it was GREAT=)

We're back from Florida and DONE with our Dossier!!!

To our surprise we got our I-171H very quickly after sending off for it. Stephen then sent it off to get State Sealed and that too came back VERY quickly (was there for less than 1 whole business day!). Before you turn in your dossier you have to make 4 more copies of it. Which doesn't sound like a big deal except that the dossier has grown to some 130 pages, all stapled and folded together.

That's the tricky part. You can't take the staples out so your trying to fold things this way and that to get a good photocopy. So I spent about 2 hours at Office Depot (which was having a sale on B&W copies!) and made all of my copies. I then spent the evening trying to put them all together and staple them and fold them so they fit in the envelopes. Well this morning the kids and I took 3 copies and the original to Leah (our social worker), filled out our family preference letter and paid the first 1/2 of the country fee. So now our part is DONE!!!!

Leah will now sent it off to get it reviewed by Bethany Christian Services in Grand Rapids and then to be Authenticated and then sent it on it's way to Ethiopia!! I can't believe we are done and ready to start waiting for the call=) It kind of feels weird not having any paperwork to be doing. But my mind is swimming with things that need to be done before we get a referral.

We are not exactly 100% sure what the wait times are now that Bethany Christian Services partnered with a new orphanage but it looks like maybe 5-8 months. We all are SO excited to start our wait and can't wait to meet the little pumpkin that the Lord destined to be part of our family!!!
On a side note... if you were wondering why all the wedding pictures...we had a great time in Florida for my sister-in-law Joy's wedding. Everything went really good and we were blessed to be a part of it=)

It's HERE!!!!!!!

Stephen called me tonight and let me know that our I-171H came in the mail!!!!!!!
It only took about 2 weeks or so since our fingerprinting apt which is fairly quick=)
The kids and I are still in Florida but I got everything ready for stephen so all he has to do now is to ship it to the state for sealing. I couldn't be more excited!! Yea!!!!!!

Fingerprinting done!!!

7 hours of driving and a 20 minutes appointment...but our fingerprints are done!!! But to be honest we actually had a good time. It was nice to get to spend the day with my hubby when he would normally be at work.

While we were at the USCIS office we actually met another couple who was adopting too. So we got to talk with them for a while and found out that they are still going to be able to adopt from Haiti.
We also got to go visit our good friends who just had their 1st baby.
After 7 hours of driving we were both pooped so last night we watched a documentary that we had rented called 'China's lost girls'. Well if I was hoping for something to relax me this was NOT it. Broke my heart to see all these sweet babies with no mommy or daddy to love them, raise them, teach them and train them=( So if I was at all slacking on getting our paperwork done I have renewed vigor today!!! Meeting with our notary tomorrow=)