Friday, November 28, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!





We had a wonderful, restful and very stress-free holiday. My Dad came over for the day, and it was so nice to be able to visit with him. My sisters had things to do with their families (in-laws and such), so it was just us this year.

We really do have this holiday meal preparation thing down to a science. The night before I make the desserts (sweet potato pie and pumpkin pudding), mix the green bean casserole, and chop all of the veggies for the food I make the next day. In the morning I make the dressing (in the crockpot) and the scalloped corn. Matt makes the mashed potatoes (which also get plopped into a crockpot to keep warm-I LOVE my crockpots), and he is in charge of deep-frying the turkey in the afternoon. That's it! While the turkey is frying, I throw the green beans, corn and rolls into the oven to heat, and we are set. Okay, so I take the easy way out with the gravy and cranberry sauce ( it's from a jar) but not many people around here use it anyway. After all of the holiday meals we have prepared, I have come to the conclusion that I will always make WAY too much food!

I looooove the holidays around here. As you all know, life can be so very busy and hectic at times, and it is far too easy to get caught up in it and lose sight of what is really important. It is so nice to be able to enjoy a day without rushing around-just being able to take the time to enjoy each other's company helps me realize how lucky we are to have each other, and to be thankful for all we have.

Our wedding anniversary (and yes, my birthday) are this weekend, plus our dossier was sent to Ethiopia this month, so we are celebrating by going to an Ethiopian restaurant for dinner. It has gotten really good reviews, so I am very excited. I love to try new foods, but some of my family members are not so adventurous! We may have to stop for take out for them on the way home! I'll post after we go to report!

Happy Holidays!!


GOTCHA! My family is so camera shy!

"Wow, there is waaaay too much food here!"

CHEESE!

Saturday, November 15, 2008

A Time for CELEBRATION!!!

This is a very exciting day in our house! After what seems like an eternity (although in reality it has only been a few months total), we received a very special e-mail from our Adoption Placing Agency today-our dossier (the official mound of documents and application) was sent to Ethiopia on Thursday!

Yep,on 11/13/08, all of the hours, days, weeks of work (applications, education, visits with the Homestudy Social Worker, personal and employer references, numerous e-mails, local criminal background checks, physical exams and lab work, etc, etc), all of the hard work was condensed into a package that was sent to Ethiopia. We are DTE (Dossier to Ethiopia)!!!

Now the "Official" wait begins. We still need to clear what used to be known as "Immigration" (now known as USCIS). This is THE background check that will (hopefully) yield the coveted I171-H (the authorization to adopt a child internationally). We have our fingerprint appointment next week. The process is actually two-fold. First, your fingerprints have to "pass" a QA check, meaning they are good enough to be analyzed. Then, if the quality is sufficient to allow an analysis, they are checked against a HUGE database (kind of like you would see on CSI) to determine that you have NO criminal history.

Whew!

Is anyone else exhausted?? I know I am!!! In fact, I feel a lot like Alina Jayne looks in this picture!


I am lucky (in more ways than I can even begin to count), I have "met" a lot of really great people from our Adoption Placing Agency who are in the same place as we are right now in this process. It will be great to share such an awesome journey with them! We met some wonderful people when we adopted Alina Jayne; people we will have a life-long bond with. I can see more life-long bonds forming on this journey too.

Check back often-we'll keep you posted!