UPDATE...

It has been awhile since I have posted anything. The holidays were great and very busy!!

Our wait for Isaac has been fairly easy so far. I think Christmas and all the things we had going on really helped.

Today, I found out that we are "on-deck". That is our adoption agency lingo for we are getting close for our referral call and to see sweet Isaac's face for the first time. Still don't know when that will be. Only the Lord does!

Please pray that I don't have a heart attack every time the phone rings!! I think I will be jumpy for a while!!!

Later!

IT IS OFFICIAL!!!

We are officially DTE!!! (Dossier to Ethiopia) Which means we are on the official waiting list and now we can start crossing off the days till we get our referral and meet our son!!! We are on cloud nine!!!

On the WAY!

We sent in all our paperwork for the adoption in today...YEAH!! It has me feeling a million different things. Mostly I am at peace. God has been so good throughout the whole paper chase process. I have to say we had it pretty easy compared to some other families. So what happens next?

1.Paperwork will arrive at our agency tomorrow.
2. Two staff members have to go through everything.
3. Papers sent to Washington DC for authentication.
4. Send to Ethiopia!!!!! When this happens this will be our official day that we start waiting. Right now the wait is 5-7 months for a male referral!!!

We will do our best to keep you updated. There will really not be a lot until the referral comes. Then there will be lots of details.

On the home front, we are doing OK. The kids seem to passing around sickness back and forth. We are busy right now getting ready for our big Christmas show at church. It is going to be AWESOME!!

I will do my best to post some more pictures soon.

Later.

Getting Closer...But still a long way to go!

We are one step closer to our son! I have never been so happy for a check that is written to our government to clear but it did! What does that mean? Not really for certain, other than I can only assume they are processing our application. Basically, we have to get an approval to bring our son home. Once we get this, we will have everything we need in our dossier and can mail it to our agency. Once they are done with it...we will be DTE!!(Dossier to Ethiopia)or officially on the waiting list.

As we near this huge step and milestone in our adoption journey, I have realized that God has also reminded me that it also means a mom somewhere out there is about to make the hardest decision of her life. I don't know what circumstances in her life will be that lead her to that decision but I know it will be hard. I pray that she will be filled with God's peace and understanding and I know that she will always be a hero to me.

Till Later...

A WhirlWind

Bears about 7 feet away (Mama and 3 cubs)

Lauren's First day of School

A Beautiful View of the Smokies

Family Picture in a Cave

Alex's First Day of School

Wow! What a crazy ride it has been since I last posted. We enjoyed the rest of summer with a trip to my parents and a trip to the Smokies before school started. I think I say this all the time but where does the time go? I really can barely keep up with it all.

Lauren started 2nd grade! She was very excited. She is such an old pro and has been giving Alex pointers!

Alex started Kindergarten. He is going in the afternoon. I informed him that he gets to go after lunch so all morning I hear "Is it lunch time yet?" He is really loving it. He has the same teacher as Lauren and we love her so we are really thankful for that.

Claire and I get to spend every afternoon together!! I have been enjoying my time with just her!! She is so sweet by herself.

Jason and I celebrated our 11th anniversary! HArd to believe!

Adoption Front: Tomorrow is our last Home Study visit!!!! YEAH! Then once we get the completed study from our social worker, we can apply for to Homeland Security. They have to approve us as parents basically and say we can bring a child into the country. That is our last major step!! We have of the other paperwork gathered. We will have to go downtown and get a few papers certified but in the big picture that is just a minor detail. So we hope to be DTE (adoption slang for Dossier to Ethiopia) by Oct/Nov!! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It does not seem real to me! God is so Good!

Later.

Updates....

I just wanted to fill everyone in on how our summer has been going. Well, it has been flying! We have had a great time swimming, park dates, riding bikes and fireworks. I need to try to be better at posting pictures.

Lauren went to church camp and was gone overnight for 3 days! She did great and had a blast!! We did ok too because our children's pastor at church was her counselor!!!!

Alex is getting ready for Kindergarten and is a fish in the water. Next week he goes to Football Camp and he is very excited.

Claire is potty-trained!!! Do you hear the choir singing? I do!! She just decided to do it! So I am on a hiatus from changing diapers until brother comes home...

Which leads me to adoption news. We are still working on getting papers gathered and everything has to be notarized. We just started our homestudy. I had to answer 55 questions about myself...NOT FUN!! I think it was one of the hardest papers I have wrote and I had to do a lot of papers in college. Anyway, things are moving along good and we have not had any hiccups so far. Tomorrow we have are doctors appts and that will be the last major letter we need beside the homestudy!!! I am prayerful that our Dossier to Ethiopia (DTE) will be sometime in the late fall. Then we wait!!!! God has been opening doors and faithfully watching over us every step of the way! Thank you Jesus!!

Till later...

Summertime Fun

Kids playing one of our favorite games.

Lauren at her dance recital.