SEPTEMBER 11th...come see me!

Wanted to let everyone know that we are having a fundraiser/garage sale to raise money for our adoption.

We are adopting 2 kids from Ethiopia...hopefully boy/girl twins!

When: SEPTEMBER 11th, 8-11 am.

Where: Our House (comment and I can em you address)

How you can help...

1. Donate stuff for us to sell

2. Bake stuff or make something for us to sell

3. Come buy something!!! (sticker price or donation)

(there will be lots of stuff...new and old. I will be making hairbows and baked goods...people making other things too!)

Hope to see you on Sep. 11th!!!

"God sets the lonely in Families."

Ps. 68:6

Blessings,

Gigi took Reese to "Fancy Nails" today to get her nails done. They just opened a little girl room!!! Reese was a little nervous she said. The sucker helped warm her up.

Thanks Gigi!

We were able to go to lunch with Coach Bowden on Sunday. Nick was in Heaven. Seriously.

My sweet friend Holly Thomas had her little girl on Monday.

6.14

Precious!!!

So happy for you Holly!!!

Medical Exam/1st Day of K3!!!/Baking and Sewing...

Waiting for Mommy to get my blood drawn for lots of tests for the adoption ppw. Don't we look like we have everything under control??? ha. don't answer that.

Reese started K3 @ Shiloh this week. She loved it. Her teacher is so very sweet. I think it is going to be great for Reese. She goes on Monday and Tuesdays only...for about 6 hours. She is eager to learn....I think it will be a blessing.

(I LOVE the little uniform look)

Dropping her off for her 1st day!

Her and Ms. Brunton

After a hard day's work in K3.

Had Chuck and Amy Butler over. Their kids are almost the same exact ages of our kids and they are in the process of adopting a sibling group right now as well. They are doing domestic and we are doing international. Maybe will go from 2 to 4 at the same time???ha

Beck and Wrigley

Reese and Macon drinking out of tea cups for dinner...ha! Thanks Mimi, life is short...we needed to pull them out and use them~

Reese in her Shiloh shirt.

Last week a sweet girl named Meredith Franzke came over to hang out. She is our babysitter sometimes...but this day she came to just hang. She brought some really yummy homemade cookie dough and we baked and ate! (and saved some for Nick and Reese) We also sewed some baby blankets...they turned out really cute so far! Need to finish them. Thanks Meredith! Had fun with you.

Homestudy Completed!

We had our homestudy this afternoon. It lasted from about 3:30-8:30. Our caseworker Andrea is super sweet and has such a calming personality. She is perfect for what she does. Bascially she just asked lots of questions, individually and together...about everything. She brought up several topics and situations that I had not thought about...which is great b/c now I can better prepare. She also looked around the house/backyard area. It was fun and I am glad we have it behind us so we are 1 step closer now. Thank you Andrea! We shall meet again! (She will follow up with us for a 3 month, 6 month and 1 year post placement visit after we have the children). Jeana took Reese and Beck for a few hours which was super helpful.

Thank you GiGi!

Happy Tuesday... tomorrow everyone...Reese starts K3 @ Shiloh 1 week from today.

She is officially a Shiloh Saint now!

I think she is going to love it. She will go on Monday and Tuesdays from 8:30-2:30.

I think she is ready to learn, learn, learn.

Swim Week Over but We Made a new Friend...

Swim Lessons are over...but we had such a fun week! This is her teacher Mrs. Virginia. She owns Swim Ranch and is so precious. She is such a great teacher for the little ones.

Appreciate her.

We made new friends this year. It's always nice to have another mom to talk to as your pacing the pool telling your child to "kick, kick, kick"..."hum, hum, hum". ha. This is Trenton. His mommy's blog is here. So great to meet you sweet Lisa! We shall get together soon!

For some reason, my pictures are messing up today. Oh well...

Swim Lessons and Homestudy!!!

Precious...ha. Reese is doing SwimRanch again this year. She is doing great!

We were sad to see Mimi leave us this morning. She had been here almost 2 weeks...so I guess have to let her go home to my Dad. Thanks Dad for letting us borrow her!!!

We love you Mimi!

Beck is getting so big!

He is now sleeping through the night without waking up...YAY!

He is also spitting up a little less....YAY!!

And...he is actually swallowing food and somewhat enjoying it...YAY!!!

Please notice her little pose she has going on. Hilarious...her little hand flipped up. Nice.

Sweet girl.

In other news...we have our homestudy this Monday!!! yay. That means we are just that much closer to our little ones. I got these updates in an email the other day from our agency regarding current wait times:

a. Current Average wait time for referral for child age 0-12 months: 8 months (longest waiting families still waiting for referrals have been waiting 9.5 months currently).

b. Current Average wait time for referral for child age 13 months and older: 7 months (longest waiting families still waiting for referrals have been waiting 9 months currently)

c. Current Average wait time for court date: 2-3 months from time of acceptance of referral to finding out court date. Currently approximately 4 weeks from that point to court date. Last court season, court dates were scheduled on average anywhere between 2-5 months from time of acceptance of referral.

c. Current Average time frame for travel for placement/U.S. Embassy appointment: 3-6 weeks from time adoption is approved and finalized by the federal court in Ethiopia.

SO, to sum all of that up...It looks like we are looking at getting them 13/14 months after we get our ppw finished and sent to Ethiopia. Hopefully we will have that done in another month or so. So...that puts us at about 16 more months from now...meaning NOV or DEC of next year. That is all just guessing though...could be shorter...could be longer. Beck will turn 2 next Nov. That would be perfect!!! We shall see.