Ryan and Nathan Got Married

Yesterday our friends Ryan and Nathan got married. It was a beautiful wedding. Congrats!

Filed I 600A and Fingerprints

Today we went downtown to file our I600A form. I had an appointment at 1:00pm with infopass and all went well and quick. So after that we headed down to the basement for fingerprints. Here is fingerprint area.

Once we got down there the man informed us that our appointment upstairs did not give us an appointment down there (ugh!) so we would just have to wait and hope he can fit us it between the people who had appointments. He would not give us a time frame (a few minutes to 3 hours!!!) So we waited....
Here we are waiting..... all in all it was just about a 45min wait. YAY!

Homestudy!

Today, 5/26/2008, Brian and I had our first homestudy visit. Meredith, our case worker was great! She was really sweet! We were both nervous but didn't need to be. We met at Barnes & Nobles (we were late because we were sitting and waiting in Borders....opps!). She is coming to our house June 1st for the "HOME" study part. I saw BABY geese on the way....a sign??? I think so!!!! Picture of Barnes and Noble Sign.... I want everything documented lol!!!!

Whats New

So I thought I would update you all on our life. We meet with our social worker from Adoption Assistance tomorrow for the first time. I am so nervous, what do we wear? What do we say? Will she like us? So many thoughts going through my head right now. I am not really sure what goes on at our first meeting. Also, I got to get a hcg shot this month and it looks as if my medicine worked this month for the first time, however that doesn't by any means garuntee that we will get pregnant this time, but it gives a glimmer of hope! Also.... we are still waiting for the house we want to get listed (it should be really soon now). I can see us next summer in that house with some little ones... that would be great! We have been spending a lot of our free time with our neighborhood kids. We just love those kids! We have a few favorites and Brian loves playing cornhole with the boys as I play with Mercedes and little Mia. I will miss those little ones so much whenever we do move :(

So much paper work!!!!

Today I started the paper work for our adoption from Ethiopia. We meet with our home study social worker for the first time next Tuesday. Today I got a bunch accomplished... I ordered cedrtified birth certificates for us both, ordered our marriage license (because we lost ours), sent off our background checks to the police, went to the bank to get a letter, mailed child abuse and neglect check, filled out finance forms, got a copy of water bill, sent info to our CPA so he can write a letter, worked on getting our references together and a few other things. Now we need to get Brian's address changed on his drivers license to match what it really is. We also need to go to the doctor and get checked out to fill out a form. So much to do, but it is kind of fun.

Also, Wednesday I go to the doctor to see if my Clomid is fixing my ovaries and will maybe work this month so we can get pregnant. I am excited about that too.

No house news as of yet....we will see I guess.

Lacy Graduated!

Yesterday my sister-in-law, Lacy, graduated highschool from Academy of Individual of Excellence. We are so proud of you Lacy!!!!

Lacy and our neice Kelsy.
The whole family.

Getting that diploma!!!!!

Happy 22nd Birthday!

Today was my 22nd birthday. I woke up to cinamon rolls from my husband and then opened presents from him, which was the good hairspray I was out of and diamond hoop earrings. We then met my mom for lunch at Mark's Feed Store and went to the mall to pick up my cookie cake. We took Mercedes for a walk and hung out with the neighborhood kids for a few hours coloring and playing cornhole. I love those kids. Then we met my whole family and Brad for dinner at Shogun Japenese Steakhouse....yummy! Our guy wasn't very entertaining tonight though :( Oh well we had a good time! I got lots of great presents (money for our baby fund, laptop case, cute purse/bag, Ethiopian adoption book, and gift card) and had a great day! Thanks everyone!

Adoption Plans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some of you may know already, but Brian and I have decided that we would like to expand our family through adoption. God has laid this on our hearts for a little while now and we have prayed about it for some time now. We plan to adopt internationally from Ethiopia, God willing. I have fallen in love with Ethiopia through my research and following some people's blogs. We have to wait until Brian turns 25 in November before we can send out our actual "dossier" to Ethiopia. But we have been told we can get our homestudy and paperwork together before then. So now we are in the paperwork phase. We are still trying to get pregnant and will keep doing so but we feel that we can adopt and get pregnant to have a baby both! We love children and are excited to see who God will give us both through pregnancy and adoption.

Here is some information about Ethiopia I would love to share:

· Population: 85.2 million
· Capital: Addis Ababa
· Language: Amharic
· Religions: Christianity, Islam
· Life Expectancy: 52 years (men), 54 years (women)
· Monetary unit: 1 Birr= 100 cents
· Main Exports: Coffee, hides, oilseeds, beeswax, sugarcane
· Infant Mortality Rate:
Total: 80.8 deaths/1,000 live births
· Total Fertility Rate: 6.12 children born/woman

Please pray for us as we try to expand our family through adoption and hopefully pregnancy as well.

Happy Mothers Day

Today we had a great mother's day. We went to church in the morning and heard a great service about Christian's call to adoption, which has been in our hearts and minds for a little while now. In sunday school they talked about Ruth again and how she had a bunch of set backs in her life but they all lead to the greater good for her and all of history. It is nice to know that such a great woman was able to survive all of her set backs. After church we went home and picked up Mercedes. We went to my mom's house for a cook out and to spend time with her, my mom, my stepdad, sister and uncle. I made 2 scrapbooks for my mom as her gift. We went to spend time with Brian's mom and dad after that. Overall it was a great day. Happy Mother's Day to all moms out there and to everyone who has lost a child too, because you are a mom.


Here is a card that I got from Brian and Mercedes. Here ismy mom and my NeNe.

Here is my baby Mercedes.

Here is my mom with me and my sister at Derby.

Here is Brian and his mother on our wedding day.

P.S. My Birthday is SOON!!!!!!

Church today!

We had a great lesson in College class today. It was in Ruth. It was about loyalty. More people now days need to be loyal in my opinion. We need it in every aspect of our lives marriage, family, buisness, and definately Friendships! Just thought I'd share that!

Derby

Today was the Kentucky Derby. It was my 2nd year going. My mom and stepdad took me and my sister. We all went to breakfast at the Galt House before the Derby. We had tons of fun!!! Here are some pics from the day.