Fingerprints & Paint

Fingerprints & paint...that's the news in our life right now. We received a notification letter that we have our fingerprint appointment scheduled on Tuesday, Nov. 4th in Cleveland. Finally. It seems like it took forever to get that appointment letter. Before we leave for Cleveland that day, Kory and I will visit a potential preschool for Jay-R (after we vote, of course!). We are looking into our options. With it being the middle of the school year, that makes it a little tricky. We want him to have some preschool and some socialization with children he will attend kindergarten with in the fall.

And paint...we've been doing a lot of it. We got the paint for Ashleigh's room at a certain store in town. When Kory went back to get more paint, the results were awful! The colors did not match at all-it was like 6 shades off! They did give me my money back and we went across town to Ace. They matched it perfect. We only had to repaint 2 walls instead of the whole room. We love Ace! (The picture is Ash painting her room. I'll post pics of his room as soon as I clean it!) My father in law painted my kitchen and back hallway for us Saturday. It's a deep, autumn red color and I love it! I'll have to post pictures later.

We'll keep you posted as we find out more!

Legals have arrived!

Today, I got the mail from our mailbox. Bummer, no letter from the USCIS yet with a refingerprinting date. We have to have our fingerprints done again before we can travel. I reached to open the door, looked down, and was like, what's that under the doormat? As soon as I saw the UPS envelope, I knew what it was. Jay-R's legal paperwork! Yeah! Now, we need to send everything into the gov. so we can get our I600 approval and his visa. More waiting, but one step closer!!!

We painted Jay-R's room last weekend. And right now we are in the process of painting Ashleigh's room. I will send before and after pics as soon as they are done.

What's the Hold up?

Everyone keeps asking me what the hold up is and why we can't leave now to go get Jay-R. We are waiting for his legal paperwork. We need that before we can get the visa squared away and then we will have a travel date. We are hoping he can spend Christmas with us!

While we wait, we are keeping busy with soccer games, getting his room ready, finishing the painting on our house, and the routine things of life. Our house finally got finished from the hail storm last year. Both our roof and siding were damaged so we resided our home and reroofed it. We love the new colors-cactus (a greenish gray & cranberry)! It used to be this faded yellow that we hated with green door, awning, shutters. We've been doing the green thing since we were married so we're kind of sick of green. But, we've created a lot of work for ourselves with all the painting to do due to the color change. Oh, well!

So much to do!

Well, it's been 4 days since we found out about Jay-R. We've been on the phone spreading our exciting news, milling over paperwork we must fill out (those gov. forms are so confusing!), and making lists of the many things that need done. I have a list for home and a list for work. Since I am the Activity Director, I have a lot of things I need to get done ahead of time before my leave. I plan to take up to 3 months off work. Can't wait to hug that cute little boy! We received the color pictures yesterday. He is so cute!!!!! Last night, we looked at boy comforter sets. Can't wait to start decorating. If anyone has any ideas for a boy's bedroom, share. Til, then, we keep waiting!

We have a son!!!!

We received a referral today for a son!!!! He's four and his name is Jay-R. We'll post more as we find out more. We can't post his picture but we'll be more than happy to show it to you when we see you. We should be getting his picture tomorrow!!! Thanks for your prayers and keep praying...we have a few months before we can go get him!!!

One More Forever Family...

Not us...yet, but we are excited for the couple we met online who are also are adopting from the Philippines. They are close to our age and were accepted in Sept. 2007 as well. We have been following their story on their blog. They received a referral for a 15 month old boy on Monday. We are so excited for them. Yes, it brings about a little voice within that says, "What about us? We want a referral, too." But, seriously, I know God is blessing our adoption and theirs as well and this is all in His hands. Maybe our child isn't ready for us yet. I can be excited for them and know our day of excitement is coming. Besides, we can learn a thing or two or three or more from them about the whole travel experience. Check out their story...

http://ribaradoption.blogspot.com/

And keep checking back for our moment! Thanks for your continued prayer support.

Paradise....aka Hilton Head Island

Here are some pictures from our recent vacation to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. My sister and her family joined us for the trip. If you have never been there before, we recommend it. The weather is wonderful, the beaches beautiful, the island is pretty. It was wonderful!


Fourth of July Beauties, Ashleigh & Elena


Family Picture by the Palm trees


My Sister's Family...
Tonia, Ted, & Elena
by the palm Trees