Paperwork & Waiting to WAIT

Today we are sending the last few pieces of paperwork to Gladney (minus 1 little piece of paper unless we have a miracle in the mailbox today!)

AND we are sending off our dossier paperwork to Kate (minus 1 piece of paper unless we have a second miracle in the mailbox today!)

We are leaving for a week long (much needed and much anticipated) vacation. (more on that later...) So- even though we are missing these two small little pieces... we thought it best to get everything else on it's way before we go...

This stage in the process...the... "Waiting to WAIT" is not much fun. AND The PAPER CHASE has not been all that much fun either to be honest.

We are looking SO forward to being Gladney approved and placed on the WAIT list....(this is our current short-term goal in the adoption process)

Once we hit the wait list....

The average WAIT for a 13month old and up (we are asking for 13mo-3year old) is approximately 4 months! (not too bad...)

Writers Block! {HELP!}

So we've been working on our dossier. We are so close! Just need to write this darn Adoptive Parent Statement....Oh Boy!

Does anyone have any tips? We are suffering from serious writer's block here!

Over an hour watching the cursor blink.....type. delete. type. delete....

UGH...!!!!

Happy Birthday Kyle!

Kyle in Austin-Spring 2009

FBI CLEARANCE!

We are happy to report that the FBI moved at super warp speed fast on our request for FBI clearance! We are clear...with no arrests! Happy Day!

(Gotta love the Department of Justice Logo!) We see Justice everywhere!

Home Study Complete

We had our home study today! Not only was it painless..it was actually....enjoyable! Our social worker was super nice....

We learned a lot about Ethiopia and the process...about the children....there wasn't enough time to ask all the questions that we have.

It won't be long and our homestudy will be on it's way to CIS, Gladney and then to ETHIOPIA!

Now we're cooking with gas! :)

Home Study! {Tomorrow}

Yep!!! It's true....we've made it to our home study! (it's tomorrow!)

We are super excited to be passing through this major milestone in the adoption process and should be well on our way to wait list very, very soon!

We can't wait to be finished with paper chasing and start decorating! We have tons of cute ideas for Justice's room (including a sky painted ceiling and joyous yellow walls....)

We are starting to research the best strollers, car seats, highchairs, books, toys, etc....It's easy to forget how much gear little one's require and oh what cute, cute, cute gear there is out there!!! SO MUCH FUN!

Anyway....just though we'd give y'all an update on our progress. Please remember us in your thoughts and prayers. (pray that our home study will go well, and that the paperwork will be processed quickly!!!)

T-Shirts For Justice

make custom gifts at Zazzle

Check back for more really cool designs coming soon!

JUSTICE JARS! {Pray, Give, Help}

These are JUSTICE JARS!

We have been busy making these cute little jars using recycled jars of all shapes & sizes, decorative papers, stickers, threads, buttons, bling, glue, paint, and a whole bunch of love!

Over the next few days & weeks we will be delivering JUSTICE JARS to friends and family.

It is our hope that JUSTICE JARS will serve a three-fold purpose:

1. As a tangible reminder in your home to prompt you to pray for our adoption process, our daughter Justice and for the millions of orphans world-wide.

2. To collect donations to help with the travel costs to Ethiopia.

3. To raise money for humanitarian aid items that we will hand deliver to orphanages that we will be visiting while we are in Ethiopia.