Adoption Update

I thought I would write an adoption update. Last week I mailed our dossier papers to the Assistant Stork. This is a mom and pop company in Washington D.C. that takes the dossier and hand delivers it to the Department of State and then to the Ethiopian Embassy. I mailed it on Tuesday and it was back at my agency by Friday morning. I was so happy that it went quickly. After holding onto the paperwork for so long, I got quite nervous when mailing it.

The next step is for the agency to mail it off to Ethiopia!! I'm officially on the waiting list. :) My portion of the paper chase is complete. The next step will be a phone call with a referral of my baby girl!

Happy Anniversary

Here they are!!! The two most incredible people in the world!!

It is through these two people that I met the Lord, learned how to love, saw how to serve others and learned that I was blessed to be a blessing to others.

Today is their 41st anniversary They are as much in love today as they were when I was born. Together they created a stable, loving, laughter-filled home.

Thank you mom and dad for being everything Christ created for you to be! Thank you for sharing yourself, your walk with Christ and your love for each other with me. Thank you for helping me create a family of my own!

I LOVE YOU!

Thursday night fun

Here's an example of an average night in our home.

Tub Time

Here's tonight's picture of Abby. We came home from dinner and headed to the bath. She'll play and play with the water, sometimes I think she's a water bug. She has so many toys, but her favorite is her little teapot. With a teapot you can pour and pour and pour!

Today was my first official day back at school. It's a hard adjustment for me. My heart is always with Abby. It's hard to get into a new routine and leave her with my mom. Sometimes I just wish I could be a stay at home mom and love on her all day long. But God calls us to fulfill different roles, so I guess I'll head back to school tomorrow morning. :)

All Sealed and Authenticated!

This morning Abby and I went to the Office of the Great Seal. We needed to authenticate all of our notarized paperwork. Here's the glorious picture. Don't they just look so official? This afternoon we're off to send them to the State Department and the Ethiopian Embassy. Then they'll be sent overseas. Things are slowly progressing! :)

Dancing Queen

Abby and I had a great Sunday afternoon. We headed to the beach with a friend and played in the sun. We filled our toes with sand, walked the shoreline, read books in the sun and watched kites in the wind. When we got home Abby went into the bath and then caught the dancing bug. I videotaped her and she got a kick out of watching herself. Enjoy! :)

This and that

Right now Abby is busy sitting by her new table and working with her crayons. She was tediously passing out the crayons to her dolls making sure that everyone has the same amount so it's fair. Here she is with her favorite doll Susie. She was so focused. It was cute to watch. I especially enjoyed the fact that every time she found a blue or orange crayon she yelled out, "HOPE COLLEGE COLORS!" All I can say is...train up a child in the way she should go....

This morning we went to a few garage sales. I found a wonderful oak rocking chair. It's gorgeous and will be perfect for the new little one. We also found a highchair that we'll keep at nana and papa's house. What a productive morning. :)

I ventured into work this afternoon while Abby played with Nana. I got quite a bit done. I'm not sure if I'll even have to go in on Monday morning. My meetings don't start until Tuesday so we may just enjoy one last day of summer.