Tired!

Chris and I just got back from picking up two loads of donations for our garage sale. We've settled on July 26 so we can get past student ministry camp and have time to sort everything. Thanks to everyone who has given us stuff! Because we've only been married for three years, we personally haven't accumulated enough to hold a garage sale of our own. That doesn't stop me from "shopping" our own house, though, to see what I can sell!

Since my last post we've sent in lots of paperwork and completed part of the home study. We should finish our home study this week.

The rest of our paperwork is going well. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Thanks for continuing to read even though we don't have much to share right now!

Paper Progress

Amy H. told me last week how much difference a week can make, and boy is she right! Last week we didn't have any paperwork ready to send off, and this week we're mostly done and have scheduled our home study. Now is the dreaded process of authenticating documents for our foreign dossier. Yeah, I have no idea what that means either. Basically, I think it means following the paper trails for the foreign government to be sure the documents are indeed authentic. There's a former employee from our adoption agency who now helps people with this process for a small fee (relative to the rest of our expenses), and I'm trying to decide whether or not to hire her. My first instinct was that this fee is so small in the grand scheme of things, and it's worth it to be sure everything is done quickly and correctly. Again, a month ago I didn't know about any of this!

Well, I need to work on gathering more family photos so we can show our agency and Ethiopia what kind of life a child in our family would have. Note to self: How on earth do I "label" a picture of all of our students?

It's a Boy!

Leslie surprised me with this adorable babydoll to congratulate us on our adoption. Isn't he too cute?

Chris and I have decided to officially change our preference from no preference to a boy. We've always talked about the baby like it's going to be a boy, and even though we would love any child, we're just stuck on a boy. Now, it's just official.

I've been working nonstop on our paperwork for Gladney (our adoption agency), our home study, and our foreign dossier. I have two sets ready to send, but I'm nervous about the money part! We're in the last group to receive our tax rebate, but thankfully we should receive it on the 16th. A big thanks to Amy H., who has been a huge help with questions and big-picture encouragement.

We're working on some fundraisers, including a garage sale (probably on June 7), a Nintendo Wii raffle, and Girls/Guys Night Out (click the "How You Can Help" page for more info). If you have any great fundraising ideas, please let me know!

We love you all! Thanks for all of your support and encouraging words! In case you missed Chris's blog about our frequently asked questions, you can check it out here.