a perfect 10!

Well, maybe not perfect, but pretty darn great! On Friday Joe and I will be celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary. It is hard to believe a decade has passed since we said "I do."

To celebrate Joe and I spent this past weekend (by ourselves, thank you in-laws!) in lovely Fort Worth. We had a great time going to the art fair, dinner at Joe T. Garcia's, and watching a friend perform in a play.

But far and away my favorite part of the weekend was receiving two great gifts from Joe.  The first was a digital photo album from the last 10 years. Boy, we have had some pretty amazing times.  And the second was word art of our vows.  Joe recruited my talented friend Erin from Perfect Sentiment to create the art in my favorite colors.  I just love it!  It is a great reminder of what we promised to each other 10 years ago and now it can be a daily reminder to live those vows every day.

Three wild boys, two lazy cats, and one loud dog later life is always entertaining. We have everything we need, almost. Here is hoping to an even more entertaining house next year with dreams that little Mae will join us soon!

and just like that, approved!

Wow, I can't believe it but we have our I-800 approval! We went in for our fingerprinting on Thursday April 17th and by Monday we had the approval in our hot little hands.

Ok, so what does that mean? Well, it means that all of our documents for China can start to get translated and authenticated, a process that takes about 3-4 weeks. Then we get to send all of our paperwork (called our dossier) to China and get logged in to the system.

We can not get a referral until we are "logged in" and given a LID (log-in date). We should get this date about 2 weeks after our paperwork is sent to China.

So, big picture is that we are about 1-2 months away from LID and from being able to get a referral for Mae! Yahoo!!

I-800 application, check!

We just sent our I-800 application to our agency!  Yippie!  Just in case you have no idea what that is, it is the paperwork you send to the US government to determine if you can qualify to adopt a child from another country. After our agency gets our finalized home study they will send it on to The Department of Homeland Security.  We are still a ways from our paperwork going to China, but this is a big step and I am grateful to be here!

coming to an end

We are finally nearing the end of our home study.  Our checklist of documents to gather, visits to make, paperwork to be filled out, education to complete is dwindling.  I think we should have it all wrapped up by next week.  What a relief!  I am still a little fuzzy about what our next steps are, but I am sure it will all make sense soon enough.

I almost hate to say this out loud because I do not want to jinx us, but so far it has not been too bad.  Sure, there is a ton of paperwork to complete, but it is manageable.  It probably helps that we have not been going at supersonic speed like some families do.  Still, as of now I am pleasantly surprised at how it has gone.  Now, let's hope I never come back to this post and say, "Beth, why did you ever open your big fat mouth?"

ready, set, go!

It is actually happening!   We sent our application to Lifeline on Monday and yesterday we were told that it has been accepted.  Yippie!  Now for the mountain of paperwork.  One document we were sent to look over was only 100 pages long!  I have to say, after thinking about this day for over 18 months I can't wait to get started!

you've gotta watch this...

I came across this video on Rumor Queen today and I had to share.  It is a moving story about an amazing woman helping China's orphans.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QijM72iwSs

the lazy days are coming to an end

Well, summer is winding down.  We had two great vacations to California and Florida.  We plan to spend our last two weeks at the pool and at the house.

Our adoption plans are coming along, albeit slowly.  We spoke with several agencies over the summer and we have narrowed it down to three.  We are planning on meeting with a doctor this fall to discuss possible needs we are open to and to get a professional opinion.  It looks like it might be late fall or early winter before we technically begin the process.  In the meantime, I am trying to enjoy the last few bits of summer and working on my little shop.