Baby steps and a LEAP

We sent our referral packet back in record time.  I think we received the packet on Friday the 20th and had it mailed by Monday the 23rd. I was so excited to see on our agency's website that under AO and OO names it says "adoption pending." Strange how that makes things so "official." Also we received new pictures on Friday so we are thrilled. Sorry I can't post pictures yet. We received even more good news on Friday. Our dossier was submitted for court, which means the next step is getting a court date and our coordinator is estimating that it could take as few as 7-10 days. We are praying we get a date before court closes for a holiday (February 6th-26th). So if all goes as planned we should be traveling in March!!!! CRAZY!! Another wonderful piece of information is that our friends, the Gilliss's dossier was also submitted for court on Friday as well so hopefully we may be traveling with them! They have been helping us through this adoption maze from the beginning and that would be so wonderful to have them with us. Last big news: we bought a car seat today.  Ridiculous you may think (first because we bought it already and secondly because this is big news for us). This is the first big purchase we have made for the kids and this is the car seat that my buddy Kelli says we need to get (her husband is a fireman and safety freak and did a bunch of research), plus it was on sale.  So we now have a car seat sitting in our living room.

Okay, now many of you are going to think I am crazy but just hear me out.  I am kinda having a bummer day today (even though we bought this awesome car seat).  I was given the opportunity to go to Haiti in July and had already accepted and was looking forward to the trip immensely. It was with an orthopedic group that was from all over the U.S.  I was really excited for this trip because it would be great to network with other groups.  Needless to say because the boys should be home before the trip I am no longer going.  My family obviously comes first but it was really hard to send that email today because I love spending my time in Haiti as well. I know, welcome to parenthood, first lesson: sacrifice. As Karl said, "I know you want to go right now and think you can do everything but you will not want to go when the boys get here." He is right, of course. I will still have the same opportunity to go in November if the boys are adjusting well.  I have no idea how much my life is going to change with these two beautiful boys but I can't wait.  I just want them to know they have two people who think about them constantly and look at their pictures constantly through the day and every night before bed.  Our world is already revolving around them.

Referral acception!!

We are so excited to share our exciting news with everyone!! Karl and I accepted the referral for two little boys from Ethiopia. "A" is 6.5 years old and is currently going to school and loves football (soccer). "O" is 3 and is sweeT as can be! We can't share any photos on our blog or Facebook until we pass through court. If all goes as planned we should be traveling to Ethiopia in March for court and hopefully be bringing the boys home in May!!! Karl and I have had a permasmile ever sine we saw their faces. Believe me, they are adorable!!

Our Dossier Travels Overseas

Well, we have been on the waiting list now for 4 weeks (not like we are counting or anything, ha!). Thankfully it is going much faster than I expected however we are still trying to find things to entertain us in the meantime. Karl had to intervene and tell me to step away from the "cliff" because I was convinced we needed to buy the Kelty child carrier which was on sale. His brilliant comment was, "Um don't you think we should maybe wait to see how old the children are before we make such a purchase, it will look pretty silly if you are carrying around a six year old in a backpack carrier." Touche Karlos. So needless to say we are without a carrier. I am wanting to "nest" and it is really hard just waiting. I think the next thing I will start to do is make a picture book of our family to send to the children once we accept the referral.

Anyway, we had good and bad news this week with the adoption. Good news is our dossier passed its examination in Washington, D.C. and now it is on its way to Ethiopia. It should arrive there sometime this week. The sad news is our adoption coordinator for IAN has decided to put more time into her new teaching job so she has put our case to a new coordinator. This new coordinator has had extensive experience in adoptions and we are not in the least worried about her capabilities but it is hard for us to have built a relationship with LeeAnn and now have to transfer the relationship to Aneeta. I am sure it will all proceed smoothly. We will miss LeeAnn, but look forward to our new journey with Aneeta.

Again thank you all for your support throughout our adoption process (and life in general)! Till next time. . .

WAITING LIST!!!

This is a moment that we have been waiting for! We have been setting small goals because it is hard to look so far forward and not get anxious about bringing our kids home and getting our paperwork in so we can be on the waiting list has been our first big goal. We now have our spot on the list so things can proceed. We felt like we were spinning our wheels with the paperwork until this point. So now we wait for a referrel. . .

Biometrics. . . check!

So today was a good day! We left for Fargo yesterday and got to spend time with my cousin Tanie and her husband Brad. It was so much fun! Had a wonderful dinner at Doolittle's and then relaxed around a bonfire until almost midnight. Then we were up early to be at the federal building in Fargo to have our biometrics done. So to clarify things, remember last post when I was whining about waiting for our appointment? Well I had been calling (practically stalking) our case manager for the United States Immigration Services (USCIS) because I was worried they hadn't received our homestudy I sent ages (like middle of JUNE) ago. Well she finally called me back to say she had just scheduled our biometrics appointment and we had to be in Fargo on August 15th at 8:00 am for me and 9:00 am for Karl. I was so excited to get that phone call! That was more emotional for me than turning in our dossier (which by the way got the seal of approval from our agency!)!  So we went to Fargo and we were waiting outside the office this morning even before they were open. I went first and they just let Karl go right away since another lady showed up. Since they were able to process us together the entire process took 12 minutes. OK, I am going to sound kinda grumpy here, but I am not because I am so happy were are done with biometrics, but really we had to drive to Fargo to be fingerprinted (again!) for something that took 12 minutes. Plus we have been waiting since mid June to get an appointment for something that literally took 12 minutes. Phew, I am done and over it (sorry about the complaining!). Also the women who work at the USCIS in Fargo were so pleasant that it was a blissful 12 minutes. So the next step is we wait for the approval letter from USCIS (it comes from our caseworker in Texas) and as soon as we get it, we copy it (people going through the adoption process should laugh at that), and then we mail it because as soon as it reaches IAN in Colorado we are on the waiting list!!!!!!! That is a big deal!!!! Until then . . .

Progress

Well progress has been made in the adoption journey finally. My friend Kelli became a notary in mid-July and thanks to her hard work we whipped through all the stuff to be notarized in two days! I was also able to get the other necessary items certified and sent the dossier today! BUT unfortunately I still haven't been received the appointment for biometrics (we need to have fingerprints taken AGAIN but in Fargo this time). It has been over a month since we sent our completed form to USCIS and now we are just waiting. Our agency recommended we send our dossier although currently incomplete to get everything checked over so when we eventually get our letter from USCIS we can be put on the waiting list right away. So I have been calling USCIS and leaving messages just to check and be sure all of the documentation they need is in place so that we can get our appointment. Kinda frustrated by this step right now but we will get through it and there is a reason why this is happening. Our babies are just not ready for us quite yet :)

Thanks again to everyone for their help with the flood. The berm is STILL holding (UNBELIEVABLE!!) thanks to such a wonderful group of people helping. 

And the water rises. . .

Well it's a good thing we all know how to swim. As many of you know the Missouri River is raging a war against us, and unfortunately it is winning. Our house is safely out of harms way, but my parent's house is going to need some prayers. Thanks to the most wonderful friends and family their house still has a fighting chance. A week before last Thursday it was reported how bad things were going to get and my Dad had been trying so hard to save Misty Waters for the season and then realized that his own house was in jeopardy. That night we started building a berm and sand bagging. Previous to that time we had been helping a friend's parents to sand bag their house. I was also able to help a co-worker move his things out of his house. I am so glad I did those favors because we had to call in all those favors plus when working on my parents house. We had to rebuild their berm on Thursday just in time because this morning Karl and my Dad went out to my parent's house and water is in their yard and 8 inches up their berm in the backyard. It really is a sad sight. The good to come out of it is all the acts of kindness from friends and family. Shout outs to: Todd Ternes (love him like a brother), Lori, Randy, Jace, Seth, Randi Jo, Mitch, and Tanner Lura (who all drove two hours one way to help us), Brock Frederickson (who is married to my cousin Kassie), Mark VanRay (both him and Brock are barely related to us and they drove hours to help), Karen and Lenny (again drove miles!), Kelli, Chris, and Ella Gabel, Carol and Greg O'Shea, Sharon and Dwayne Ternes, Katie and Casey Rogstad (Casey had barely landed back from being gone for a week and didn't even go home before coming to help!), Jeff and Bri MacQueen, and many many more, some even strangers. Also those who didn't help us directly but my cousins who organized a wrestling group to come up to Bismarck for the day to fill sand bags, I am so proud of you and so thankful. Words are just never enough but I hope you all know we could not have done this physically or emotionally without your help and support. I just hope you all know that we would return the favor in an instant and will always be here for you.

On to happier subjects our homestudy is done, I know I said it was done last time, but last time our portion was complete and now the WHOLE thing is complete. It was very interesting to read what another person who barely knows you perceives your family. Thank you to our references who said such kind things about Karl and myself. We will pay you later :)

If you have time, please say a quick prayer for all of those affected by flooding in the state this year.