Our last weekend of summer

Today we went to the neighborhood pool for the last time this season. I finally remembered to bring my camera. Cole got brave enough to swim in the deep end (10') and jump off the diving board! Levi is happy just floating around with his floaties. That's more my style of swimming!

Dossier's safe arrival in VA

Here is an e-mail that we received this afternoon from our Family Coordinator at America World.

I wanted to let you know that I did receive your dossier. So you can breath a sigh of relief that it is safe and sound here at America World. I will be reviewing it next Tuesday and taking it to be authenticated and approved at the U.S. Dept. of State and the Ethiopian Embassy during the week. If all goes as planed it will be mailed out to Ethiopia next Friday. If I run across any issues or see any adjustments that need to be made you will hear from me Tuesday afternoon, otherwise expect to receive a confirmation email on Friday September 5th with a tracking number. Thanks for all of your hard work!

It's in the mail

This afternoon I put our COMPLETED DOSSIER in the mail. They should receive it at our agency, America World, by Friday then it goes to Washington D.C. via courier for Authentication, then it will be translated and sent to Ethiopia. We've done our end of the work and now it is time to wait. When I left the UPS Store I had the very same feeling that I have waiting for the restult of a pregnancy tests. I guess this really is a paper pregnancy!

Certification Completed!

Yahoo!! The UPS man delivered our Certified Dossier documents this evening! I really didn't know how long it would take for them to go to OKC, get processed and then back, but that was quick! I just finished making our photo sheets to send along with the Dossier. I used SnapFish and chose the option to pick-up my order instead of having it delivered. I sent in the order at 6:00 p.m. and 30 minutes later, got an e-mail that my order is ready for pick-up at the Wal-greens down the street. Now that's service!

I had to borrow my parents' camera to take some pictures of the house (for the Dossier) so I finally took some pictures of all the girly clothing items I've been making.

This top is made from scraps I had left over from making purses. I love how it turned out. I think it will look so pretty with her brown skin.

This is just a little play dress I made from fabric I found on clearance.

This little smock is reversible the other side is soft yellow with a striped pocket in the middle. It is made to fit a baby so depending on how big she is, it might have to be a gift to someone else. Either way, it was fun to make!

I knit this one night while watching T.V. I had some yarn left over from a previous project and decided to try to make my own pattern. I just started knitting and this is what I came up with. It's pretty small but if it doesn't fit her, I have a big teddy bear that it fits perfectly.

School Days

Here are some pictures of our boys on their first day of school.

Cole's Teacher is Mrs. Munozcano and we are so excited. We prayed that God would put him in a class with a great teacher and our prayers were answered. Mrs. Munozcano was our first choice!

Levi only has 4 children in his class so he'll be getting all kinds of one on one time with his teacher. We are also very excited about Mrs. Kathy. Levi will most definately be ready for Kindergarten next year.

Secretary of State...here we come

We sent our dossier to the Secretary of State for Certification yesterday. I tried to sent it on Monday via FedEx but they didn't know how to include a prepaid return envelope. UPS did it without any trouble what so ever. I'm a new faithful customer of UPS. Hopefully the certification process will go quickly!

Our I-171H is here!!

Our approval from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office arrived in the mail yesterday (form I-171H). Happy Birthday to me!! Basically that means that we are approved to bring an orphaned child into the country. This is a huge step towards getting our little girl.


I am anxious to start working on her room but am making myself hold off. There is no reason for our little guy to have to share a room with his big brother yet. (Unless he'd like to stay in a little girl room...doubt it!)



I've been busy sewing today. I got gift cards to JoAnn Fabrics for my birthday and am anxious to pick out some fabric for myself. Actually, I'll probably buy fabric to sew little girl clothes. I just can't help myself. I'll post some pictures of what I've already made as soon as we get a camera that works. Ours died a few weeks ago. For now, I will just post a picture of one of the bags I'm selling on etsy.

Check it out at http://www.curlybee.etsy.com/!

Hurry up and wait...

Our family is very anxious to meet our little girl. Our two little boys have been talking about her for almost a year now and they don't really understand "what is taking so long for us to find our little sister". One evening at bed time our 4 year old told me "Mommy, I think she's lost." It broke my heart. But at the same time, I am comforted to know that it isn't just my husband and me that want another child, her big brothers want her too.

We are so very close to having all of our paperwork gathered for our Dossier. We are currently waiting for our I-717 form. I'm a little nervous that we'll have to go back to OKC for fingerprinting because they had a hard time getting good prints on a couple of my fingers. Hopefully the FBI will have enough info to clear me.

In the mean time, I have been sewing up a storm. I just can't resist all of the cute little patterns and girly fabric. It calls to me as I stroll the aisles of JoAnn Fabrics. Hopefully, she will be able to wear the dresses I've made. I'm trying to make them a little on the big side so that she can grow into them if need be.