Adoption Information

I have had several questions on how the adoption is going to work. So I thought I would write a blog post about the process.


We are working with Gladney Center for Adoptions. We have heard so many wonderful things about them and already have wonderful things to say about them. They will guide us through the process. We will basically do what they say when they say to do it. :) That takes the guess work out of it for us.


We have been given an estimate of 18 months from start to finish until actually have our baby girl. We are already almost a month into that time frame.


The initial paperwork phase takes about 3-6 months to complete. We are hoping to shorten this to 3-4 months, but most of the waiting can't be helped. There are certain forms that can't be completed until others are done. The part that takes the longest is the Department of Homeland Security forms and subsequent fingerprinting. That alone can take more than 3 months. And it can't be turned in until the homestudy is complete. And that can't be done until the application is complete. We just received the application last week and are working hard to complete it asap. It can't be turned in until we all have our doctor visits and the doctor fills out the forms that we are in good health. All of those appointments have been scheduled for this week. It has to run like a well oiled machine in order to shave time off of the 3-6 month guesstimate. We're trying our best!


After the Gladney Approval and the CIS(Immigration Services) approval, our foreign dossier can be sent to Ethiopia. We are already working on the dossier. It will contain many of the same items our application does, so some of it is duplicated. Every document has to be notarized and authenticated at both the State and National levels. We have hired a company to do the dossier for us. We will have to complete many documents, but they will be telling us what to do and will be compiling it all for us in order to eliminate chance of error.


When the dossier arrives in Ethiopia we will officially be on the waiting list. The estimated time to receive a referral is 8-10 months. A referral is when we are actually matched up with a child. We aren't exactly sure how old the child will be when we are matched up, but we have requested the youngest age which is 4-12 months. Most that I've heard about are about 4-6 months old at that time, I think. After we accept the referral, it is an estimated 3-4 months until we travel to Ethiopia.


On the first trip to Ethiopia, we will have our court date where we will (hopefully) pass and be officially declared her parents. We will have visitation rights with her each day that we are there, but we won't be able to take her from the care center where she will be living. This first trip will last 7-10 days.


The second trip will be just 3-6 weeks after we arrive home from our first trip. On the second trip, we will be able to go and get our baby girl! She will stay with us for the remainder of our trip and will fly home to the U.S. with us. She will officially become a US Citizen when we touch American soil. Each case is different, but we are thinking she will be close to but under 1 year old when we bring her home.


We appreciate your prayers as we go through this process. We are just ready to go hop on a plane and go get our sweet baby girl already! The waiting will be the hardest part. Especially the waiting between the two trips. After we've met her and then have to leave her all the way in Africa.... I'm sure I'll be a total mess the day we have to leave her. I'm not allowing myself to think too much about it right now.


We know that God has our child picked out already and He will take care of all the details. We trust that it will all happen in His perfect timing. If it takes 18 months, so be it. We'd like for it to be sooner, but He is in charge. We know it can happen even sooner than the expected time too. All things are possible with God and nothing is too hard for Him! Of course we are optimistic and believing for a miracle, but we will praise God no matter what happens.

Sissy's First Hair Cut

This actually took place back in January, but I totally forgot to post them!

I took these pictures with my phone.

Gracie's hair was starting to get some split ends and starting to grow unevenly. The middle back grows so much faster than the sides that are more towards the front. So, we had a few inches trimmed off of middle back to even it up a little bit.

She did so good in the chair. She sat still the entire time and enjoyed looking at herself in the mirror.

She looks scared in this picture! I told her to look at me and smile, but she didn't want to take her eyes off of watching what was going on in the mirror.

Pretty girl!

Backyard Bunnies

One evening, Jason and the kids were playing ball in the back yard and they found this little guy.

Then they found these! They had made their nest in our yard!

Jason used Rhett's bike helmet to provide a little shelter for them.

The kids used an umbrella over the helmet to give them some more protection. They stayed for a few days after we took these pictures and then one day we went to check on them and they were gone. I hope they found a happy home!

More Soccer

Our days have been filled with soccer, soccer and more soccer! Good thing I always wanted to be a soccer mom, huh?! The boys both play games on Saturdays and Braden has also been playing most Sundays as well.

Rhett's First Upward Soccer Game

Corner Kick. Great form!
Braden

The boys' #1 Fan!

Goal Kick
Braden's Team after the tournament

Go Comets!

Rhett is 7!

Our baby boy turned 7! We had a great time celebrating his birthday with friends and family at our house. We rented an inflatable jump house and the kids had a great time. After the party, Rhett said, "That was the best day of my life." I had to hold back tears when he said it. There's just something about knowing your children are so happy that makes a mamma fulfilled.

The birthday boy requested cupcakes with "48" on them. That's for Jimmie Johnson, his favorite NASCAR driver. He also specifically requested some plain cupcakes with no icing. Because "he hates icing". Ask and ye shall receive, dear one!

3 Little Monkeys

As you can see, he was pretty happy about the money he received!

Uncle Jeff got him a whole set of catcher gear. He has been asking for this for years. He was so excited!
Singing Happy Birthday! The cake was an ice cream cake from Shake's. It was so yummy!
Blowing out the candles with a little help from Tre man!

The party was on Friday night. His actual birthday was the following Monday. When he came down the stairs for breakfast before school on his birthday, this was the breakfast I had prepared for him.
Braden, Gracie, and I all sang Happy Birthday to him. He thought it was pretty cool.

I'm glad you had such a happy birthday Rhettster! I love you SO much. You make me laugh everyday and I don't know what I'd ever do without you. You have such a strong will and even though that gets you into trouble sometimes, I pray that you never lose that. I know it will make you that much more successful in all you set out to achieve in your future. I pray everyday that I would be the mom that you need and deserve. You will always be my baby boy!

Love,

Mamma

Watch this video!

Our family made this video to share some exciting news with you

Dance Practice

This is a little video of the first run through of Gracie's class' part in the opening number for the recital. They just started learning it this day. Considering that, I thought Sissy did pretty good. The 2nd time they did it she did a little better and she remembered to throw her rose at the right time at the end too. :)

Work Day Sunday

After the day of soccer in Fort Smith, me, Jason and the boys headed to MeMe and PaPa's house. I had brought Gracie to Mom and Dad's on Friday night to take her turn spending the night. It worked out perfectly because we were able to sit and enjoy all of Braden's games on Saturday without her fussing about it being "boring" and telling us that she was ready to go home every 3 minutes. :)

When we got there, we got all of our paraphanalia settled in and then Jason and I left the kids with Mom and Dad and we went out to dinner just the two of us. It was so nice! We hadn't even had a dinner date alone since the beginning of December, so it was much needed. Of course, we talked about work and the kids the ENTIRE time as usual, but it is still nice to get out alone.

Sunday was a work day. Mom and Dad's yard has been all ROCK, but now they're gonna have grass! Jason spent the day helping them spread the top soil all over the yard. It was hard work, but the day was beautiful. Rhett enjoyed helping. Braden helped a little bit too. I raked for about 15 minutes. Other than that, I laid around the house all day! I had been sick with my allergies and it felt so nice to be lazy.

The 3 boys hanging out with PaPa before the work began. Can you see Braden's head at the bottom? The 3rd boy is my furry brother.

PaPa, Rhett and Daddy (in the red shirt)

Tre came to play for a little while!

Little boy following the big boy.

Mom and Dad: Hope your grass starts growing soon! :)

Soccer Saturday

Last Saturday we spent the day in Fort Smith for Braden's soccer jamboree. The weather was absolutely PERFECT! His team won 2 and tied 1. They played so great and it was very fun to watch. It seems like Braden is improving every single game. All his hard work is paying off! And he LOVES it. After the last game, we were getting in the truck and as worn out, hot and sweaty as he was, he said he wished it wasn't over and he wanted to play some more. Then he said, "That was the best day of my life!" I hope he keeps up this attitude. He has some serious soccer potential.

Hustle Back!

Shoot!Assist!




Goal Keeper

Rhett 1st grade program

Rhett's school's 1st grade class did their program last week. It was so cute!! The whole group did great and we were so proud of Rhett. He sang every word to every song. Good Job Rhettster!He got to ride a stick horse across the stage and wave as a group sang, "Happy Trails". He did great!
Here he is being silly with his BFF after the show.

Video clip of him riding his horsey and waving. He's the 8th one to cross the stage:)

Easter Weekend Camping

(Warning: Lots of pictures ahead!)

We went on our first camping trip of the year on Easter weekend. We went to Roaring River. We met Jason's parents as well as Aunt Cathy, Uncle Guy and their children and grandchildren, and Uncle Roger. Uncle Elliot joined us for one afternoon and Uncle Jeff spent the last day with us as well. We had wonderful weather all weekend- except for the rain on Friday as we were trying to get packed up. It had slowed down to a mist/drizzle after we got there. The only downer was that Gracie was sick the whole weekend. (When I took her to the doctor the following Monday we found out it was strep throat.)

Jason and the boys enjoyed lots of fishing and Gracie and I sat around in the camper most of the weekend. It was a relaxing change of pace though, which is always nice.

Day 1 Catch

Rhett got the catch of the day!!!

Daddy on his new bike and Gracie in her new bike wagon.
I love this thing. It also doubles as a jogging stroller, which is so handy!
Dyeing Easter eggs with Tyrus and Anya

Gracie and I were in the camper while the egg coloring was going on.

After the big kids were done, we brought over the dye cups and she got to dye a dozen all by herself.

Day 2 Fishing
Uncle Roger, Rhett and Grandma

Braden

Little Fishermen

Day 2's catch

The Easter Bunny came!

I snuck this one in of my hubby in his bunny ears. :)

Getting ready to find the eggs
Uncle Jeff helping Gracie reach one that was stuck on a nail up high.

Surveying the loot

What a great weekend! Hope we get to go out in the camper many more times this year.