Happy Mother's Day!

Hello family, friends, fellow-adoptive parents, and the creepers who just happened on my blog…I know I promised to keep everyone apprised of our progress, and so far I’ve done a rotten job.  I will try harder.

Today is Mother's Day and I celebrated with joy and sadness in my heart.  I consider my job of being a mom a pretty big deal and I want all of my kids to know how much I love and cherish them.  I'm also sad today...sad for Madison's birth mom in Vietnam and Mackenzie's birth mom in China.  I'm sure their hearts ache today and I ache for them too.  I love them for letting me care for these beautiful girls - so, Happy Mother's Day...wherever you are.

Yesterday I went to the Art Festival with Heather, Aunt Donna and Maddie, and BOY was it disappointing!  We couldn't find anything that we just had to have.  We did have a nice afternoon strolling in the blistering heat though.  Today I spent the day in the pool laughing with the kids and waiting for Daddy to get home from work.  I really missed Sam today - but she sent me the most wonderful gifts.  A beautiful sculpture and a Texas Tech baby sticker to add to my truck!  Check it out...

 

Now on to adoption news....

I got all excited last weekend when I bought my first box of diapers at Costco.  Then I saw the price!  Holy guacamole!  I went with a size 3, because I really have no clue what size Kenzie is right now.  The last medical report said 15 pounds at her 6 month check-up, but these have been known to be wrong and she will be more than a year old when we get her.

 

It reminds me of Maddie and her chubby cheeks!  We all thought she was going to be a chunk and then BAM!  Here is your 11-pound 9-month-old!  Heck, I pushed out two big boys who weighed almost that at birth!  Love you boys!

I’ve been emailing back and forth with our social workers and adoption agency and the good news is our home study is done and just getting a final blessing from the adoption agency now.  I’ve also had all of our paperwork reviewed by our awesome agency rep – Nicole.  She is adorable and keeps me on track.  So, right now I have all of our paperwork DONE and just sitting in envelopes on my desk waiting for whatever piece is still needed. 

Envelope #1 is missing our home study and then it gets sent to USCIS (our government).  Envelope #2 is also missing the home study and then it is sent to the Nevada Secretary of State to have all the notary stamps endorsed.

When Envelope #1 returns (in the form of an I-797) it goes into Envelope #3.  When Envelope #2 comes back with a bunch of stapled papers, it also goes into Envelope #3.  There are two other envelopes floating in the mail system to New York and North Dakota and they should be back to me in a few weeks and then they too will join papers in Envelope #3.

Envelope #3 is the most important envelope…it is our Dossier…this is what goes to China and is the last of the paperwork!  Before it heads to China it will make a pit stop in Washington to be hand carried around to the Department of State and China Embassy by a sweet couple who call themselves “The Assistant Stork.”  These folks ROCK!  Instead of having to Fed Ex to DOS and then wait for it to come back and then FedEx to the embassy and wait for it to come back, they walk it around for us and then send it to our agency. 

Then comes THE WAIT.  We wait for China to log us in and then finally give us permission to fly over and hold our precious baby!   

So, that’s where we are now.  Maddie’s birthday is next week and Sam is coming home for a visit in a couple of weeks.  The boys are finishing up school and John is getting in a little golf.  I’m still contemplating the nursery décor and trying to stay sane.  I think I may hold a vote for the nursery?

Big hugs and kisses to everyone!