Beautiful!

I saw her picture today and she is so pretty! The case worker will be submitting a plan to the county so I should hear back in a couple of weeks. We'll see. But I am in love!!

waiting

waiting, waiting, waiting

Yard Sale success!!

I don't know how it happens. We had a bunch of clothes and most of the stuff we only sold for $0.25 so I have no idea how we got as much as we did. But I am so happy. We still have a VERY long way to go for an international adoption, but we are a step closer.

A HUGE THANK YOU too...

Andrea, Aunt T, Uncle T, My dad, M (obviously), Aunt Lolly, and Uncle M, Laura, my MIL mom and Julie!
Thank you to everyone that donated! Without that we wouldn't have it.
Thank you to my friends that stopped to support us. I don't care if you didn't buy anything. I'm just glad to see the support.

Next up is our concert / tshirt sale! JULY 17th!!

Potential match!!!!

So today I get a call from our home study agent and she said they might have a match for us. Due to privacy issues I can't tell you her name. But she sounds perfect. She is 2. The agency is trying to get custody. I am so excited!!! We won't know any details until Monday and the biggest concern is that we don't have our license yet. That scares me. I hope it all happens fast enough. I hope our homestudy is submitted this week (even though I was told that won't happen). I want her asap!

And the fifteen minutes I was on the phone E and bea spilled a cup of water. Took out all of the DVDs from their cases. The doors were ripped off the cabinet. A picture was taken off the frame. One dog ate a shovel. The pots and pans were taken out and who knows what else. Haha

We wait!!

I am so excited! We are finished with our home studies! Can you believe it?! I know it's going to be a lot more trying. Waiting is not my strong suit. We should start getting calls for referals within 2 months. Please pray for us. Pray for patience. Please pray that we get a permanent placement. I am SO excited you have no idea. And good news (for us) a lot of the families our agency is working with only want white children. So that opens a big window for us. AHHHhh!

what a weekend

M had the week off so I filled it with projects. He started with cleaning the basement. But I interupted and decided that we needed our larger play patio for E before her birthday party on Saturday. So he dug and layed cement. My poor husband. Happy fathers day! Just a disclaimer, if you ever want a larger patio put in pavers. We had chemical burns all over the place. I am so happy and thankful for the best husband in the world.

E's party was on Saturday and it was a blast.

I can't believe my baby is 1.



All of her friends came and it was a howling good time. (literally. The dogs were in the basement howling).

But a funny thing has happened since she turned one. She is a lot more cuddley. I am soaking every cuddle fest in.

Lastly, our yard sale is THIS Saturday!!! I hope to see everyone there.

Happy Birthday Punkin

My baby is no longer. I have a toddler. :( How did it happen so fast?


E,

I love you. You are our everything. One year ago you gave me a whole new world, everything I wanted. I promise to NEVER get frustrated with you. Even when you try to eat bananas with the peel still on.

I think it's funny.

I promise to Always listen.

Even when you scream in delight. I scream along or just laugh.

I promise to be the best mom I can possibly be.

I don't take my life for granted. I appreciate you and your poppa. I know it could have very easy been a different story. But God spared my life for a reason and I know that reason is to get you brothers and sisters. You make me so happy. I love getting to spend every day with you. I love that I got to see all of your firsts (minus drinking out of a straw- but poppa can have that one). Man, you are the best! I love when strangers tell me how beautiful you are, I always agree. I love you!

Delayed

Our last home study didn't happen today :( Our case worker had a family emergency. I don't think she will be back before the weeks end, so she will have to come in an evening and that will be more difficult to schedule.
M has been hard at work. Cleaning the basement and digging out our backyard. I want to extend our patio so E has a play area in the back that won't be covered in dog poo. We have been playing and swimming in the driveway but I would prefer a locked in area.

Our Yard Sale is coming up!! There is a TON of stuff. Our last one was huge and I think this will be just as big if not more so. I hope you can make it. It's in the same location. Then on July 17th don't forget our concert!!

Shirts

I will be placing my order for the shirts soon. If you are interested in ordering please let me know. Just leave a comment below and I will email you back.

Nearing the beginning?!

Today I went to the zoo with an amazing and supportive friend and let us not forget my beautiful babe.

(I would like to put a disclaimer- when we get our foster child I am not allowed to post pictures. Sad, I know. I don't want to lose my license over something that stupid. So it won't mean that I am showing favoritism.)








All of these amazing pictures were taken by Leslie. Thank you Leslie!! There are a bunch of amazing ones more than what's posted here.

After the zoo it was straight to class. It was kind of sad. It was nice to have one on one time with M. It's so close to the end and so close to the beginning. I can't wait. What will our journey look like? Your guess is as good as mine.

Craigslist

I found the crib I wanted on Craigslist. I don't know if it's the model I wanted, but I really wanted a jenny Lind convertible (to toddler) crib. The best thing was the price!


E was so excited. She thought it was a new toy.


We have the bedding for a toddler


And neutral crib bedding


I am so excited. We finish our classes this Thursday, and we are nearly done with our homestudy! Can you believe that!??! And then the real waiting begins.

Soon she will be getting into mischief with a sibling.

Fingerprints

We went down to the courthouse and got our fingerprints done. We left the house at 6:30 AM!! We drove separate and parked at the meters. We only had 15 minutes each on the meters, so the plan was to get change when we were in there. We go in and a man in uniform told me I was pretty. Ohh why thank you!! Too bad his uniform was orange. hahah The price was more than we thought it would be, due to an outdated form we had. We got change inside and M ran back out to the meters only to find that they don't start charging until 9:00. Finally we got our prints. I was told that it could take up to 8 weeks! I knew this from all of the blogs I read, but for some reason I thought fostering wouldn't take that long. Who knows what I was thinking. Anyway, it was a shock. Please pray that it won't take that long. Thank goodness I didn't listen to M and go down when he is off in two weeks. :)

1 more to go!!

1 more class, one more class!! Wahoo! Today was class 1 (oddly enough) and I of course cried. I totally was not expecting it. They threw in a video, that's what through me over. When M and I got home we talked about who would continue classes and who wouldn't and or shouldn't. There were a few people who were there because they felt it was their requirement because they are a Christian and their obligation. I don't think this is the best mentality. I am a Christian, don't get me wrong. It's just a lot of families go into adoption/ foster care to "save" a child, which often results in frustrations, disappointment, and multiple placements. (NOT ALWAYS, I think in general). There was a couple who didn't seem mentally stable (the truth). And the husband kept falling asleep. There were a couple of other families where the men were not into it. Not at all and they said so. I wish I could come back at the end of their classes to see who made it through.
Tomorrow we plan on waking up early and getting our fingerprints done. I am not a morning person and getting up at 6:30 is not going to look good on me. I am so excited. The end is near! i can smell it. hahah

Homestudy again

Today was an impromptu homestudy. Our worker called during my nap, so I didn't answer. When I called back she asked if she could come over tonight or Thursday. I of course said tonight but warned that our house would not be clean. She assured me that she didn't care. So, that's what happened. She came over and we had our joint interview! Can you believe it?! Only one more to go. (and two more classes) Then let the waiting game begin. Can you believe it!??! Finally, I see an end in sight (I know a little premature). We'll see, we'll see.