Wondering, Not Wandering

Kick back, grab your morning coffee, and let's read...this is part of a devotion I was reading this morning and I loved it so much, I wanted to share it. Excuse the sappy, emotional post, but even if you aren't dealing with these specific issues, this is a good reminder that our awesome God is in total control...whether we like to admit it or not!

"The Bible says that God knows the exact number of days in our lives and that He plans each day for us before we are born. He knows us intimately, long before our mothers were born or felt the first twinge of pregnancy. We see the linear progression of our lives. God sees the eternal past and future and knows how all of the events we face will fit together to accomplish His will.

Only God knows why your waiting to conceive [or adopt] is a necessary, critical part of His plan.

Because we can't see our situation through God's eternal perspective, we feel tempted to slide toward generalities. We simply want a child. We don't know what might lie in the balance of when we conceive [or adopt] and which child we are given, so we think we could get any child at any time in order to be fulfilled.

But right at this moment God is orchestrating so much more than your life. His care and control over the events of the world do not diminish in the slightest His care for you. Rather, He is moving the world together for the perfect time for each child to be born.

The Bible insists there is an ordained day for every baby to be born, and so it follows that there is an ordained day for every baby to be conceived. If you are waiting to become pregnant [or adopt], you have the assurance of knowing that God is not putting you off or ignoring your request or wasting time. If God has chosen to grant you children, He is even now moving you toward an exact day and time for you, or a birth mother, to conceive, and an exact day for this sweet baby to be born. It is hard to understand why we must wait for the appointed day when we feel we would be happy with any baby we could conceive [or adopt] between now and then. And it can confuse us to know whether or how we should pursue medical treatment, since God already has pre-ordained everything.

But we know only part of His plan for our lives; He reveals to us daily how we are to live in each moment. We are asked to entrust the whole of our lives--including this struggle--to Him. Because we know He plans each birth and life so carefully, we can take comfort in the knowledge that He is a God of specifics. We may be wondering about the road we're on, but we're not wandering on an aimless path. It may seem that time waiting is time wasted, but in truth, each day that passes brings us closer to the specific day that God may have appointed for our child to be born."

Some of you know our story; many of you, I'm sure, don't. In my effort to hopefully use this blog to encourage another, I'll divulge a little. At this point in our lives, we have not been able to have children biologically. But to clarify, adoption is not "second best" for us, rather "God's best" as we seek to start our family. God may choose to bless us with biological children in the future. He may continue to bless us with children through adoption. But for now, we wonder...is our child already conceived? Are they already born?!? Where are they? What are they doing? Are they safe? Do they feel loved?

And although I don't always claim it, I know that God doesn't have us just wandering on an aimless path! The wait is hard. It's frustrating. It doesn't always bring out the best in me. But...

"All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:16

Hurricane Ike hits Elk Creek!

No, I'm not comparing us to those hit much, much harder in Texas, but Sunday we had our share of hurricane force winds...category 1 winds to be exact! And how far off the coast are we?!?

It was partly cloudy, the sun would peek through every little bit, not a rain drop in sight and wind gusts up to 80 miles an hour!! Sunday when we got out of church, it already looked like a disaster area...trees down everywhere! Fortunately, we only lost a few shingles and quite a few branches from trees in the front yard and only lost power for a few seconds. But...Metro Louisville is apparently a disaster! This is day 2 for me of no work because our building has no power and no sign of it returning anytime soon! Jefferson County schools have already told parents to plan on schools being cancelled for the WEEK and LG&E is saying it may take up to 2 weeks to get all power restored...all from wind!!

This is really weird...the weather is great and here I am, hanging out at home in the middle of the day! I'm enjoying my "free" time off, although it was quite unexpected!! :) (And yes, poor Kenny has had to work!! Believe me, he is definitely giving me a hard time about not having to work!)

Take a right...no...wait...a left!!

Today I ventured to the state capitol of Kentucky to visit the Secretary of State's office and get our dossier authenticated. Fortunately, I was accompanied by good friend Nicole (Thanks for giving up your Thursday!), because finding the Secretary of State's office isn't quite as easy as it sounds!! Who would have known this office would actually be in the State Capitol building?!? After following some faulty MapQuest directions and giving ourselves an impromptu tour of Frankfort, we marched ourselves up the million stairs of the Capitol building and straight into the front doors. Once inside, we signed in, were given small green circle stickers (very official!), walked through a metal detector (minus our purses...because if I was packing heat, I wouldn't have put it in my purse!), and sent on our way with vague directions down the hall. We walked straight past the governor and lieutenant governor's open office doors and actually past the lieutenant governor, Dan Mongiardo, himself, enjoying a cup of coffee in the hallway! Only in Kentucky would security be so lax that we could have probably sat down in the governor's office with no questions asked!!

So, forms were authenticated with no problem and we headed on our way, making sure to retain our "official" green stickers so we would be allowed to exit! We grabbed lunch and hit up the Chocolate Cafe' on our way home, where I was persuaded by the chocolate shop man to indulge in my very first ever Kentucky bourbon ball. Don't worry...since I was driving, I only had one!

"Dozer's" next stop: A trip to our adoption agency to be checked before heading to Washington, DC for federal authentication!! (Don't forget to vote!!)

Productive Insomniac Thinking

I've turned into a slight insomniac over the last several weeks...hmmm, guess you could say I have other things on my mind. So, last night as I tried to will myself to sleep, I decided to add a poll to the blog! At last, interactive blogging!!

As you all know, we are waiting on approval from USCIS to be able to be at the point of receiving a referral. Our homestudy was sent in on September 2, starting the countdown, which could take the average 30-50 days...or longer...or sooner...that's for you to decide!!! Check out the poll to the right and cast your vote as to when you think our approval will grace our mailbox! The winner will receive $1000 Monopoly dollars, good towards....well, nothing! :)

Happy voting!! ...Not quite as important as our upcoming presidential election, but I'm thinking it's pretty close!

Let's talk...

Last night we went to Ashland Avenue Baptist Church in Lexington, KY (rather spur of the moment) with friends (and pastor) Nick & Kyndra, to the Mars Hill Conversations...Their discussion last night was on adoption and they had invited two great men from Southern Seminary who have personal experience with adoption, Dr. Russell Moore and Dr. Randy Stinson, to speak.

Besides sitting there in tears much of the discussion as I listened to some of their personal stories (and wanting to leave immediately to go to Ethiopia!), I was reminded that adoption and caring for orphans is as much a command from God as tithing or loving my neighbor. Some people will pray for those adopting, some will encourage those who are adopting, some will support financially, some will actually adopt...but we as Christians have ALL been called to have a hand in adoption as we care for orphans. And while my thinking is probably skewed (I'm only human, what can I say?), I somehow feel differently about this command. I feel honored to be able to adopt. I feel like God has chosen us to adopt. I feel selfish in my desire to adopt! We have been given an incredible opportunity and have already been blessed beyond measure and it's only been 3 short months. I can't help but think how this child is going to flip our world upside down, but in the best way possible! ...I'm glad we went!

“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” James 1:27

The countdown is on!

Amidst my certain uncertainty that the folks at Spencer County hadn't a clue what adoption was, I approached the local courthouse on Main Street this morning not knowing exactly what response I would get. After a frustrating phone call last week where I attempted to find out where I needed to go to get our dossier authenticated at the county level, I just knew this would be a disaster in the making...

I was pleasantly surprised. I must apologize to the County Clerk's office for underestimating their abilities. Once we determined where I needed to be, I was able to get our documents authenticated with little explanation of what I actually needed. Although they told me they didn't think they had authenticated any paper work before for an Ethiopia adoption...I'm proud that we can bring a little diversity to our tiny county! First, a new McDonald's, then, a baby from Ethiopia...how much more change can Spencer County handle? :) This was our dossier's first stop...next stop: Frankfort, KY, the state capitol, to visit with the Secretary of State.

In other, most exciting news, our completed and approved homestudy was sent to USCIS on Tuesday, beginning the estimated 30-50 day approval process for our I-600a (remember when we got our super cool digital fingerprints...). The countdown has begun! So, hopefully...prayerfully, we will received our I-171 (a "golden ticket" of sorts) sometime in October, if not sooner, which means we would be ready to receive a referral!! That is super exciting to me!!!! And to give you guys a little bit of an idea of what a referral may look like for us...we have been approved for 1 or 2 children, under the age of 24 months, either sex. I know what you are thinking...Twins? Maybe. Siblings? It's a possibility. We could go from a family of 2 to a family of 4 overnight, Lord willing. But who knows what (or who!) God has in store for us...

We wait. As patiently as my little heart will allow. (And yeah, the golden arches have made their apperance in our little town...it's been an exciting week!)

The FBI called...

Good news...Our FBI clearances came back today!! Even better news...neither of us have a previous arrest record!! Don't worry, there wasn't actually a concern! I haven't done anything illegal in at least 10 or 15 years..............joking, mom!

And a prayer request...without writing a book here, let me give you the Cliff's Notes on this...please keep our adoption agency, Carolina Hope, in your prayers over the next several weeks. They are currently working on partnering with another agency to receive Ethiopia referrals and have hit some bumps in the road. The process is taking a little longer than they initially thought it would and as a result, possibly delaying referrals. They want to be able to provide more referrals and younger referrals to their waiting families. We are not quite at the point of being able to receive a referral, but will be soon. Please pray for Carolina Hope, as well as partnering agencies, that they have guidance and will make the best decisions for their waiting families.

Oh, yeah...Roll Tide!! In honor of our big win over Clemson this weekend! (That's really more for Kenny than me...by Saturday night, I had had my fill of football!!)

Move over Cracker Barrel!

I have always loved breakfast foods…but I’m thinking now, that breakfast is officially my favorite meal of the day!!

Summit had their fundraising breakfast for the “Cook Adoption Fund” on Friday morning…and had more than spectacular results! After several anonymous donors made commitments to match the amount raised up to X amount of dollars and a sweet soul even sold tickets to a Cincinnati Reds baseball game and donated the profits and many, many full tummies later, the final amount came to a whopping total of over $1500!!!! And no, I didn’t add too many zeros to that number! W-O-W!! I have to remind you…these crazy folks donated ALL the food, gave of their OWN time, did ALL the work and then managed to raise an astronomical amount of money off of doughnuts and breakfast casseroles! I’m told there was even a waffle station…move over Cracker Barrel!! Summit Energy will give you a run for your money!



A couple of pictures of the masses enjoying the mounds of food…maybe I should have cancelled my 9:00 am appointment and joined the crowd!!

Words really cannot express how much we appreciate the generosity of the people of Summit. We know that God has placed each of you in our lives at this time for a reason and can’t help but thank Him for providing for our needs as we strive for our ultimate goal of bringing home our child from Ethiopia! I love how God confirms our decisions, making us know without a doubt that we are walking in His will! We will definitely make sure this little one knows how much his or her Summit family loves them!

Thanks, Summit Energy…You ROCK! A whole lot!!

I tried to talk Kenny into writing this, since he was actually there, but with no success! He said I do better…I guess we should give the people what they want! : )

Have you seen my socks?

A couple of weeks ago, I filled you guys in on what I do on a daily basis. Now, as far as Kenny goes.........

Do y'all remember how on the TV show Friends, that no one really actually knows what Chandler does? "He's a trans- trans- transponder!" Well, sad to say, but Kenny is my Chandler! If my life depended on it, I couldn't give you an accurate job description for Kenny. No, he's not a transponder. ("That's not even a word!") He is a Regulated Market Analyst at an awesome company called Summit Energy. He plays with numbers. He plays with energy. The end.


Now, back to Summit Energy being awesome. One of the things we have loved about Summit from the beginning is that they are a very family-friendly, family-oriented company. They like to hire seminary students, which says a little about their morals...or that they realize that most seminary students will also be great employees! Kenny has been there since March 2006 and loves the company and the people he works with.

One of our prayers from the beginning of this adoption process, was that if God called us to this, that He would also provide us with the finances as well. Several weeks ago, some guys from Kenny's company were planning their annual "Wet Dog Golf Scramble"...don't know where the "Wet Dog" came from...which is their annual charity golf tournament. They approached Kenny and asked if we...as in the "Cook Adoption Fund"...would be their charity for this year!! Despite being totally blindsided and shocked that they would even considered us worthy, we were honored and of course agreed! We would be silly not to!! As planning for the golf scramble, which will be October 4th, continued...several of the ladies of the office complained (that term is used extremely loosely) that they didn't play golf...how could they help? So, this Friday, August 29th, they will be cooking and selling breakfast to help raise money...and today, someone anonymously decided to match the money raised on Friday up to $250! Talk about blessing our socks off!! And there is still more to come...!!

One of Kenny's co-workers came to him today offering to pay for/donate frequent flyer miles for one of our flights to Ethiopia!! First off, a round-trip flight from Louisville to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia could cost anywhere between $2,000 and $3,000! And secondly...WOW!! I was speechless...literally! And that doesn't happen often! :) Again, socks gone. Blessed right off! Talk about being floored... I...WE...are overwhelmed...but in a good way! We are totally unworthy of the generosity of all of Kenny's co-workers, but they just keep giving, very unselfishly! God is providing and supplying for our financial needs...and growing our faith all the while! Praise the Lord that we are surrounded by those that care!

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:33-34

Blessed! Blessed beyond measure? Totally! Blessed beyond words? Except for this lengthy post...Yes! My socks are gone. They have been blessed right off my silly little feet!!

I am "nongruntled"!

So, Baby Cook got his/her/their...so many unknowns!...first toy today! Nicole and I went to a huge consignment sale today (always gotta be scoping things out for the church nursery...and we scored big, by the way!) and Baby Cook got a brand new Leap Frog toy! ABC's for the fridge...hadn't even been opened yet! That was my first consignment sale, but I think I may be hooked! : )

Tuesday made my frustrating day on Monday all better...On Tuesday, we had to be fingerprinted (again!) for FBI clearance and when the officer discovered that we were adopting (why else would I just randomly want to be fingerprinted?) and that I worked for First Steps (she had a son in First Steps and loved our program!), she didn't charge us! It's the little things that make me happy! From there I headed off to the post office to mail our info to the FBI and I was pleasantly surprised to have the help of a super-duper postal worker. You gotta admit...postal workers have a reputation for being disgruntled! Don't mean to generalize, but it was a nice to have someone that talked me through all my mailing options and helped me choose what would work best...a "nongruntled" postal worker, if you will! Who knew the USPS could be so helpful?!?

I'm looking forward to the weekend and sleeping past 5:30 am (I require too much sleep to get up that early)! We are having Combined Worship on Sunday night, which always makes me happy! Our last Combined Worship was the turning point for us with our adoption decision, so I feel like this weekend is a milestone of sorts. We've been working on this for about 3 months and despite dealing with a few frustrating people, we have had no major setbacks and things have gone relatively smoothly.

Let's pray for another smooth 3 months!

Confessions

For the first time since we started this process, I feel overwhelmed. Emotionally, physically, mentally...I may actually drown in all the paperwork and rules and regulations! I've spent the better part of today on the phone with various government agencies or emailing with our adoption agency trying to tie up the details of our dossier. And I may be more confused now, than when I started this morning. I'm really being a tad bit dramatic...it's not that much paperwork...it's just all the stuff that you have to do to the paperwork! And I have this totally rational (or possible irrational) fear that I'm going to do something wrong, resulting in a major setback. What if something is dated wrong? What is they can't read my handwriting? (If you know me and my doctor-esque handwriting, this is a rational fear!) What if we just plain do stuff wrong?

Please do not take this as complaining...I'm venting (take a deep breath!) and being transparent...and documenting the process! :) At this point, there is nothing in the world I would rather be doing more...short of taking a trip to Ethiopia, and in that case I can leave first thing in the morning! But most importantly, I'm asking for your prayers...

**patience, guidance, wisdom...patience...patience...patience...
**FBI clearance to come back in timely manner...like next week would be great!!
**Safe trip to Frankfort (KY state capitol) to get dossier authenticated
**Did I mention patience? Oh, and don't forget to pray for patience!

And something that I often forget, as I get wrapped up in the actual process...nothing makes this seem more real, than when I just stop and take time to pray for our actual child (or children!). Pray for their birthfamily. Pray for the health of their birthmother. Pray for the decision they may have to be making right now to place their child in the hands of someone else. Pray for those that are taking care of our child right now.

On a positive note, I did get the majority of our dossier notarized tonight by super-duper notary Adina!! (In "Adoption Land", she is considered a super hero!) We are totally blessed to have a church member and friend right down the road to notarize all this paperwork.

Just looking for a light at the end of this tunnel...


Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ...Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4, 6-7

Funny Girls

These two don't belong to me, but while I'm waiting on my own, I'm gonna claim them!! (Hope that's okay...) I'm glad their parents let us borrow them on occasion! Grace and Emma came to hang out last week while mom and dad went to a Whitfield meeting. They decided that our laundry baskets made great baby beds and were perfect for hanging out and watching a little Disney Channel. And we are in trouble, cause if you could see how Emma has "Tenny" wrapped around her little finger, who knows what will happen when we have one who actually lives here!

This is what I do.

So, I'm not sure if you guys know what I do or not, but if you keep reading, you are about to find out. I am an Initial Service Coordinator for Kentucky's statewide Early Intervention Program, First Steps. Meaning that I serve as a case manager of sorts to help families with children birth to three who have developmental delays or diagnosis (such as autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, etc.) set up services for their children...speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, developmental intervention, etc. Our offices are housed at an agency called Seven Counties Services and we take referrals for the seven county region that surrounds Louisville. I make home visits to these families on a daily basis to help them determined what is needed to help out their little ones.

I tell you this because First Steps just celebrated their 20 year birthday and a local news station actually did a story about us!! Whoohoo! (We don't usually get a lot of attention, so I was excited for us!) Below is the link to the story on Fox 41's website. The lady they interviewed actually works with me now as a Service Coordinator, which I found odd that they didn't mention...

Click for story...First Steps celebrates 20-year milestone!!

On a more personal note, we see many families that have adopted internationally. Usually (I stress usually, because, of course, there are always exceptions to that), the delays we see in children that are adopted are merely environmental and once that child is placed in their forever home and receiving appropriate interaction from their family, they typically only end up in our program for a couple of months before they are back on track. My co-workers have made it their personal mission to make sure I get all of our adoption referrals that have come in recently. I have been able to see several families in the past couple of months that have adopted and am thrilled to be able to help them. I know it is scary to bring home a child that has delays or other issues you aren't comfortable with, but I love that First Steps is avaliable to help us out!!

Now you know what I spend lots of my time doing! Hope you feel smarter!

Those of the Alabama persuasion...

The many faces of nephew Tristan Ryan...


Mom, Dad, Katie, Kim & Ty came to visit this weekend. It was little Ty's first visit to Kentucky...and it better not be his last!! I personally think that he likes Kentucky better than Alabama and he even told me while we were talking that he would just rather stay here.


Two heads are definitely better than one...even if one is quite a bit larger than the other! This is my favorite...I'm sure that Ty is imparting wisdom from his short 4 months to Kenny..."If you will just cry, they will feed you. Honest! It works every time!"

Ty's First Road Trip

Guess who came to visit us?!? His first road trip to Kentucky!!





More pics to follow...

I'm adopted, too.

Props to UA friend and fellow blogger, Lauren, for forwarding the following article written by adoption advocate and Christian musical artist, Steven Curtis Chapman.

Our Tragedy and God's Love for Orphans

If you don't read the whole article, at least read this...

...But what I had not yet grasped was that adoption is a physical picture of what Jesus has done for me. I did nothing to deserve God's love; in fact, I was living as an orphan, without hope. Yet God chose to pursue a relationship with me, and through the death of his son Jesus, I WAS ADOPTED INTO GOD'S FAMILY.

...If only 7 percent of the 2 billion Christians in the world would care for a single orphan in distress, there would effectively be no more orphans. If everybody would be willing to simply do something to care for one of these precious treasures, I think we would be amazed by just how much we could change the world.

We can each do something, whether it is donating, adopting, fostering, mentoring, visiting orphans or supporting families that have taken in orphans. You can change the world for an orphan.

Reality

I don't have much of an update as far as the adoption goes. We are waiting on our homestudy to be finished and processed, getting the documents together for our dossier (remember...the "dozer") and getting all of that notarized in the next week or so.

I know that y'all have seen some of statistics from a previous post, but I found these on another website and I am just blown away by the reality of the people of Ethiopia. These statistics would be totally unacceptable in the United States, but are shockingly true in Ethiopia...

Life expectancy: 42 years old.
One out of every 20 children born alive die, in their first month of life.
One out of ten die before reaching their first birthday.
One out of six die before reaching their fifth birthday.
There are 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia.
The median age in Ethiopia is 18.
1.5 million people in Ethiopia are infected with AIDS.
Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any country in Africa.
Every 15 SECONDS, another child becomes an AIDS orphan in Africa.
Every DAY 5,760 more children become orphans.
Every YEAR 2,102,400 more children become orphans (in Africa alone).

The Lord has lead our hearts to Ethiopia, where some of His children live...and die...

Kid's Camp--WooHoo!

Sorry for a delay in posts...I've been reprimanded by several!

But I was busy last week hanging out with 115 3rd-6th graders at Kid's Camp--WooHoo! It's really not as bad as it sounds and was a welcome break from the daily grind of paperwork and home visits that normally consume my day. Equipped with a "sting ease bee pen" (we had lots of bee stings last year...) and my hat (to battle the rain), we spent 3 days at Cedarmore Camp in Bagdad, Kentucky. Muddy lake water, the blob, zip line, camp food, relay games (in the rain), scraped knees, bee stings, smores, worship time, small groups, pillow fights, stinky camp rooms, sleeping bags, bunk beds, sharing a bathroom with 6 other people...camp as camp is supposed to be!


Moments before our "controlled" pillow fight...they were super excited about this!


Several of our girls (including some from Spencer County)...I know this may surprise you, but their room was the cleanest camp room there, hence the #1 they are all holding up! I was really amazed...it didn't even smell bad!!

I have a lovely picture of a couple of us after the rain, but I'm gonna spare you the vision of grown women soaked to the bone...trust me, it's not pretty!

And I am seriously considering never, ever leaving Kenny alone overnight again. He is a big boy and can take care of hiself, but the last two time I have left for a couple of days, we have had major house issues. This time, the hot water heater went out. I CANNOT tolerate cold showers!! In April, I went to Birmingham for a couple of days and the basement flooded! So, I may get Kenny a babysitter (or a handyman!) next time I have to go out of town without him!! : )

Silent Killer: Popcorn

I feel it is my civic duty to warn others around me of the hidden dangers of popcorn. Yeah...I said popcorn! I am currently enduring a round of antibiotics as a result of infected tonsils. My tonsils are infected because about a week ago, I got a piece of popcorn stuck in one of my "large tonsil holes" (so says the doctor). I thought I had strep throat. The doctor thought I had strep throat. A negative strep test and further investigation revealed otherwise. So, I plead with you...please exercise extreme caution while enjoying a bowl of buttery popcorn! Chew completely and follow with a nice, cold beverage. I would hate for anyone else to endure the pain I have experienced!! (Yeah, I know, I'm about the only person in the world who could possibly get a popcorn infection! Call me crazy!)

Okay, so maybe not a killer, but pretty close...

UPDATE: I'm pretty certain I may actually have strep...in addition to the stuck popcorn!

An introduction to our bull"dozier"

We had the 2nd of our home study visits tonight, which went very well. We basically went over some educational materials and talked about how to began to prepare our dossier. What is a dossier, you ask? Let me educate you...Well, for starters, it is pronounced DOSS-ee-ay, and NOT at all like the tail end of "bulldozier", which is how I prefer to pronounce it, much to Kenny's dismay. The dossier is "a collection of specific documents that are sent to another country [Ethiopia, in our case] in order to process the adoption in court. In most cases these documents must be legalized, notarized, state certified or apostilled and authenticated by the appropriate Consulate or Embassy. The documents needed for a dossier vary country by country and many must be dated within a specific time frame."

So, just when we thought the paperwork was winding up, we will now take all this paperwork we have collected and have them "authenticated" at the county, state and national levels...which to my understanding, means a seal from the corresponding level will be put on each piece of paper to declare their authenticity. This is, of course, after each paper has been notarized. Then, it will be sent on to Ethiopia. We are getting dangerously close to the "waiting zone", so I'm definitely pumped to have something else to work on to help the time pass faster.

I'll update you on our status as I run around the state with our bull"dossier"...


EDITOR'S NOTE: I'm not sure my humor is totally appreciated in "blog" form, because it dawned on me as I read over this before posting, that you can't actually HEAR me saying "dossier", therefore thinking that my references to a bulldozier are actually fairly lame. I may be, in fact, fairly lame, but please humor me in my desperate attempts to create interesting and captivating titles for each of my posts in order to keep your attention... feel free to laugh with me; if you insist on laughing at me, please do it behind my back. :)