Visit with Mom and Dad

On Thursday, my parents came over for a quick visit. They had been vacationing in Vero Beach and celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary. The same day our coveted notarized Home Study came in the mail! Mom and I mailed the Home Study to Immigration and to our dossier assistant, Kate, (along with our CPA's 4th letter-poor guy!) on Friday and then we headed down to the outlets in Ellenton to celebrate! In the words of my dear friend Erica, "we went crazy!"

Mom could not resist these cute swim trunks with matching hats and T's for the boys from Gymboree. They are going to look precious.

As you can see, we scored some great deals and found some really cute outfits. I bought clothes for once they are forever home and clothes to leave at the orphange with them after our first trip.

Friday evening, we all went to Bern's Steakhouse for a fabulous dinner.

I always have food-envy when dining with Isaac...he almost always orders a better dish than me so I let him pick dessert. The Bananas Foster prepared tableside was awesome!

Notice that I am very happy with Isaac's choice.

We enjoyed our coffees and desserts in an old wine barrel in the dessert room.

On Saturday, we went down to Anna Maria to enjoy the beach. It was a beautiful day.

Isaac, Dad, and Mom chilling under the umbrella.

Adoption update: We expect to be "Gladney Approved" this week which means that all of the paperwork for the adoption agency is finished. Immigration will probably take around 3 weeks to approve us to bring international orphans into the USA. Once approved by Immigration, our dossier should be complete and ready to send to Ethiopia by way of Washington, D.C. And then finally, we will be on the waiting list where we will remain for the next 8-10 months approximately, maybe longer. That means I have plenty of time to do some more shopping!

Homestudy Complete!

After the worst morning I believe I have ever experienced at my job, I received the phone call I have been waiting on for a month...the Homestudy is complete and approved by Gladney! I never thought that I would tear up over our Homestudy being finished, but it was just such a welcome happy moment amidst a terrible day. Once all of those documents arrive at Gladney along with another outstanding document that we are taking care of tonight, we will be Gladney approved as well. I'm hoping to get our notarized Homestudy by Friday so that I can send it on to Immigration-the last piece to the puzzle before sending our dossier to Ethiopia. We are almost to the paper finish-line and almost officially paper-pregnant! This month has been full of highs and lows. In my previous post, I talked about a financial blessing that didn't turn out as I had been told...the math was not correct and a major let-down ensued the following week when we realized that the adoption is not completely covered. However, we continue to praise God for blessing us with the finances needed for the immediate future and beyond. Isaac's career has taken a turn for the better, and we know that He has great things in store for our family.

Full of Praise!

As many of you know, our adoption costs have increased since we started the whole process...partly because of our own doing by deciding to adopt two instead of one and more significantly due to the extra trip half-way around the world! Let's be real, adoption is expensive and many families including us have worried about the cost. We've been praying and trusting the God would provide the last amount needed to fully fund the adoption and he answered that prayer yesterday. My boss called me about another matter, but told me on the phone that my end-of-year bonus (which is May in my contract) is going to be a certain dollar amount...after taxes and all that, we believe it will be almost exactly the amount we've been praying for! I hung up the phone, said, "Praise you, Jesus!" and sat down on the couch and cried tears of joy for about 2 hours. This crazy adventure has truly increased our faith and the Lord has been so merciful to confirm over and over again that we are on the right track even when the paperwork and wait list seem insurmountable. Thanks for your prayers!!