Consistent Checking=Exhausting

Three weeks ago we had our home study evaluation completed. Since then I have checked this thing approximately 200 times a day.

As soon as I received an email I would open it with excitement to see if Deborah had sent our draft of the home study. Can I just tell you how exhausting it can get?!?!

Well last Wednesday we were sitting in the Mr. Gatti's parking lot meeting some friends for dinner and I received...Dun Dun Dun...

The e-mail!!! I stayed up super late that night reading through it and making small, very minor corrections! I sent it back to Deborah the following day for her to finalize it.

Saturday the mail came and I just leisurely went out to check it not expecting this...

Our final copy of the home study arrived and Deborah was so sweet to give me post-it note directions! I immediately called April, our case worker, and wanted to know exactly what to do. Thankfully I filled out the I600A like months ago so I just stuck it the envelope with a very big check (a check that covers fees just for them to simply review our paperwork and tell us if we're approved to bring in an immigrant)! So that envelope went in the mail today. Believe me, I would have done it Saturday but our very small town post office is closed then!

Now we will just await the letter in the mail from the Department of Homeland Security telling us when to be in Lubbock for our fingerprints! Then on to the dossier.

A HUGE prayer request for my prayer warriors. The very first pilot family for the Congo program for our adoption agency flew out over the weekend to Congo to attend their court date. The hearing is tomorrow (Tuesday, November 1). Our agency director and attorneys went with them. This is the first time any of them have been in Congo. Please pray that the court hearing goes smoothly and all transitions are made with such ease. Pray for safety since that is all of our biggest concerns! What's really exciting is this family went on the referral list in August and had their court date just 3 months later!! Oh how I'm praying we can get our little one that fast!

I just did a google synonym search for exhausted to see if there's a greater word, stronger meaning, more emphasis because that's the word I needed to describe how I'm going to feel the next 4-5 months of consistently checking my phone to see if we have received a picture of our little plus 1 but the only other words were pooped and dog-tired so I guess those will have to do!

Google Image Source

Burrr...

I have 3 other posts that are about ready to post but this beats them all (well sort of)...

I woke this morning to this

 OK so it didn't snow much..and actually I think that's really just frost, but it did get me very excited. And since it was 30 degrees outside I began craving a warm cup of

 COFFEE!!! Don't you love the "I love mommy" mug Big K made me :-)

I about panicked because as you can see, there is only ONE decaf cup left. Since I'm breastfeeding I don't really want to be up all night with little K so decaf it is! Since I'm not getting out in this cold weather..I'll except any drop offs of decaf keurig K cups..just knock and run ;-)

I'm so super excited about the colder weather, even though Saturday is suppose to be back up to 72 but still...

Update

We received an update yesterday evening from our agency director. I just want to first praise our Heavenly Father for the awareness that Congo is receiving in international adoption. Not long ago, the U.S. Embassy were reviewing 10-15 cases PER YEAR. As of now, they are reviewing 10 cases PER WEEK. This means 40 orphans a month, 480 a year are being united with their forever family. Praise Jesus!!! Since it does take approximately 3 weeks for the embassy to investigate each orphan (check all of the child's documents for their legitimacy as well as status of the child and where they come from to prevent child trafficking), they increased our wait time from 6-9 months to 9-12 months. We are still believing our plus 1 will be in our arms come June or July of this year!!

Our home study should be ready for us to review today or tomorrow. After we make sure all information and facts are correct, we will send it off with our immigration paperwork. From there we wait for them to send our fingerprint appointment date and time!

On another note.. I love the Christmas season but hate the advertisements for all of the TOYS! Big K has been bombarded with toy commercials during Dora and catalogs in the mail. I am sick of hearing, "Mommy I want that for Christmas," "That's awesome, I want that." Each time, I am constantly teaching him the "reason for the season". By Christmas he is going to know why we celebrate it and Who we celebrate! Well a few days ago Trev received a sweet gift for Boss's Day. Since he is a little tall and needs only size tall shirts, he can't shop at most stores. So we had to take back one of the presents to our small town Wal-Mart (meaning..Alco..mind you...this was like Wal-Mart to Trevor growing up. It was a BIG deal to go to Alco in Dalhart :-)). We looked through the store while Big K was just "looking" at the toys. We really didn't seem to need anything. Then my amazing husband had an incredible idea. Since Big K was in the "toy shopping" mood, he let him pick out 2 big toys to give away. We got down on his level and explained what we were doing. Without hesitation he ran over and searched for 10 minutes for 2 of the best toys. Since it was 8:00 at night and really didn't know of a little boy's home to take them to, we drove him to the Good Samaritan and let him get out and put the toys in the donation bin. He was so giddy getting out of the car to give them away and since then, every day, he asks about the little boy. Yesterday he even asked if he could go to his house and give him a hug? When I thought my child was a greedy, selfish, toy connoisseur (I know, he's only 3 :-)), he truly showed how big his heart was. I just love him!! I do want to encourage you.. take time to show your kids the importance of others as well what it truly means to give. Operation Shoebox has kicked off this year (Those in Dalhart, People's Church is a relay center so you can drop off your shoeboxes by November 16 and they will be delivered to the shipping facility) . What a great opportunity to give overseas. Toys for Tots bins are going up. Or just simply bless your neighbor and their kids! Just take the time to show the love of Jesus by simply giving!

My Boys

As I was going through the pictures we recently had taken, I came across this one and stopped and just smiled. God has blessed me with two of the greatest, most important boys in my life. I sit here and think about it and it just brings tears to my eyes. I am so undeserving but still He gave because He loved me.

I was going to say Trevor is my rock. But ultimately, Jesus is my rock. The One in whom I trust. So Trev is my pebble! He is so solid in his beliefs for his Lord and Savior. He is so solid and pure in his love for his family. He is solid and dedicated to the profession God has called him to. I love the fact that when I have drama (I'm a girl..what can I say..) he brings me back to reality and what the Word says about it. He works so hard to provide for our family and works harder so I can stay home to raise to our kids. Recently Trev sold off his dirt bike, golf cart and gave up the golf membership. These are things he loves. But he made those sacrifices so that we could add the plus 1 to our family. He did it so that he could spend what extra time he does have with his family. He did it because he is an amazing, selfless man. Babe I love you!

Big K rocks my world. Everyone he meets first points out his BIG, beautiful, blue eyes. They light up the room when he walks in.  The next thing they notice is his personality. He is so full of joy, and life and love. He is constantly making sure everyone is taken care of, especially his little sister. What I love most about him is how pure his heart is. When we showed him a picture of a little African orphan and told him that a little boy like him is going to come into our family, his reaction was so pure. Daily he asks when he's getting a brother and prays for him constantly. He didn't see color. Nor was he selfish. All he had was such pure love. When he's gone to school, life around our house is boring and dull. We miss him terribly! Thank you Jesus for blessing me with a little warrior that is going to do amazing things to advance Your kingdom...

Our little guy. I don't know what his eyes look like or what his face looks like or what kind of personality he has. What I do know is my heart is already overflowing with love for him. I long to see him and hold him. I constantly imagine him outside playing golf and football and baseball with my other 2 boys! I can't wait for the day sister has to deal with her 2 overprotective brothers! Kohen, the only thing missing from this picture is YOU. We are coming baby...

Shots...Take 2

On Thursday we journeyed together as a family to the Big City for the day. Praise Jesus it had rained the night before so we were able to make a VERY quick trip to get our second round of shots. We didn't realize what we had in store!!!

 We still had smiles even after waiting patiently in the waiting room for an hour!

 Do you realize how many shots are right there?!?! There is a total of 12...

No one should ever have to endure 6 shots at one time. Legally that's the most they could give us. The first 2 were o.k. Then the third went in the back of the arm. Then she moved to the right arm and it just hurt. We are still sore from all of the shots.

We received: Hep A and Hep B round 1, Meningitis, Polio, Measles-Mumps-Rubella, Tetanus, and the flu shot! We go back in 1 month to get our second round of the Hep B and then 6 months to get the Hep A and Heb B again. Luckily I think we are vaccinated from every possible disease known to man so hopefully we will never receive another shot for as long as we live ;-)

Trevor had to redeem himself from his last wimpy picture! Here is relaxed and all smiles! **Note
 this was the very first shot..I will not show pictures of him getting his last shot ;-)**

As always, it was nice to get out of town but always nicer to come back to the simplicity of our little town!

We are now just waiting on the completion of our home study which should be done this week. We will then send it with our immigration paperwork and wait on our fingerprint appointment! We're getting closer!!!

WOW...

1 Thessalonians 5:11 in the Message bible says "So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you'll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind. I know you're already doing this; just keep on doing it."

Yesterday I actually felt like all of you were together with us in the adoption process. I didn't feel left out. I had SO many phone calls, texts, emails encouraging us about our homestudy. Thank you. You have no idea how much they all meant to us. We definitely felt your prayers.

The interview went so well. She asked us questions like:

• About our siblings and parents and grandparents
• What we did growing up for fun
• What family meant to us
• What we do for a living
• What we do as a family
• A typical day
• About our kids
• Our discipline procedure
• What kind of child we are wanting and why
• How were going to incorporate him in to our family
• What are family thinks of our decision to adopt
• What are family thinks of being multi-racial

2.5 hours later we walked through the house, got little K up from bed, opened a few doors and went out back to play. She wanted to see how we interacted as a family. Big K did not want to go to sleep because he was too excited to meet and play with Ms. Deborah so I "bribed" him with a blizzard (you've gotta do what you've gotta do ;-)). After he woke and we were playing outside, he of course needed to go poo. Those of you who really know us, know we have a hard time with pooping in the toilet. He tried to hold in as long as he can. Especially when there's fun things going on. So we made him go in and try. As Deborah was gathering her things Trevor is in the bathroom with Big K as he's screaming because it's hurting coming out and I'm telling Deborah by as little K is screaming because she's hungry! What a joyful note to leave her on. Oh well, we looked like we had it "all together" for awhile :-)

Next step: Write up the home study which takes about 1-2 weeks. She will send it to us to review and notarize. We will then send it to the Immigration office with our paperwork and wait on our letter to say when we head to Lubbock for fingerprinting. This should be about the beginning of Novemeber!

I now feel like we're on the downhill side of things. After immigration paperwork we submit our dossier and then wait for about 4-8 months to receive a picture of our beautiful child!!!

Praise Jesus for a peaceful day yesterday. And thank Him that the rest of the process will continue to go very smoothly!

And again, thank you.

T Minus 1 Day

In exactly 1 day we will be having our home study completed by Deborah.

I have no idea why I am so nervous about this but I am! I think it's because if we happened to not pass the home study then we can't adopt. I guess it is a major deal :-) Supposedly she's just going to ask questions about our upbringing, relationships with our siblings and parents, see us interact with our kids and make sure our house is "child approved"! This is why we have spent the last 2 weeks working and majorly cleaning the house. I would suggest if you want something done by your hubby, just tell him you're having a home study done!

He's even vacuuming the fake flower pot. This was after he vacuumed every cob web out of all the corners in the house!

I on the other hand cleaned out closets and organized them because yes she does look so no hiding the skeletons in there!

Kid's bathroom BEFORE

BEFORE... For some reason seeing toilet paper grosses me out. I even try to hide it (as if you can) when going through Wal-Mart. It's like I don't want people to think I, well you know..

 AFTER (Darn you can still the paper...)

That's the medicine on top. Completely out of the reach of the kiddos. That's also my vegetable shakes I ordered a year ago. It lasted about a week. Too much work to get out the blender every morning! That's what reading blogs will do to you. You buy useless stuff :-)

Front closet. Look mom are you proud...I finally cleaned it out?!?!?! And yes this was the after picture. Can you imagine what the before picture looked like? It was one of those closets you were stuffing the thing in, trying to keep it in with your right hand and pushing it close with your bottom. Mom cleaned it out at Christmas this past year but unfortunately got a tad bit unorganized  filthy lived in within a few weeks!

We got the fireplace rock up and installed the new fireplace. We searched everywhere in our little town for a fire screen but had to settle on the "botanical" Wal-Mart special. Hopefully after the home study we can take it back ;-)

**Do you think the wires hanging out of the middle will be a safety hazard?!?!**

Fire extinguisher ready to go in the kitchen. As if I'm going to pull it out in case of fire. Yeah right...I'll be grabbing the kids and running out of the house screaming!

Outlet covers in!



After 2 weeks of exhausting work I think we are all ready to see if we're fit to have a child (well after we take the sheet rock off the porch, put up the 100 ft of water hose laying in the yard, pick up the power tools off the floor, and fix Big K's ceiling fan light since he's been without light for a week..but those are just minor things ;-)). Sorry Big K and Little K if we don't get approved. Your life is doomed!