State Seals Done

Yesterday we got one more paper notarized, then went downtown to get a county seal (again), then went to get a medical form, and then we headed to Frankfort (KY's capital) to get the State Seal put on our documents. Our dossier is complete and should be on its way to Washington DC in a few days!

It's A Boy

As of 9:12pm tonight we officially accepted the referral for a 2 month old baby boy in Ethiopia!!!!! We now will have to send off our documents to Washington DC and then Ethiopia and wait for a court date so that Baby Boy will become legally our son.

We are naming him Bennett and keeping his middle name.

Copies. Copies. Copies. Copies.

We are sooo close to being done with our paperwork for our dossier so we can send it to Ethiopia. Today I made copies (FOUR COPIES!) of everything in our dossier!!!! Which is a LOT of paper... just trust me. Tomorrow I am getting one last thing notarized early in the morning and then Brian and I are driving to Frankfort to get the state seals put on 2 of our documents. Tomorrow our agency should be sending us one last letter I need to include with our dossier. After we get home from Frankfort and recieve the letter from our agency I plan on sending our entire dossier UPS to a courier in Washington D.C. so they can get the United States Seal put on them and go to the Ethiopian Embassy. YAY!!! I will be glad to get it out of my hands!!!!

PS. We got the medical file on Baby Boy today and sent it to a doctor to look at! Oh, and I went shopping at.... BABIES R US (yeah, I know its early, so what!)

BIG NEWS!!!!

We have a baby on "hold" for us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHH! Now we have not "officially" accepted his referral, because we have not reviewed his complete medical yet and our paperwork is not just yet at the point to where we can..... but WE HAVE A BABY WAITING FOR US IF ALL WORKS OUT RIGHT!!!! I cant give much details here but I'll just say BABY BOY :) Keep lots of prayer that all goes well throughout this long process!

Thanks, Brooke and Brian

Notary Verification

Today we got all of our documents "verified" at the Jefferson County County Clerk Office. To say the least it was a pain in our butts! We called and found out where the county clerks office was and it said Outerloop. So that seemed easy enough we went to what we thought was the County Clerk, turns out that was just the government center so we just had to go 2 blocks up to the real County Clerks office, no big deal. Once we get there we find out that they dont do verifications of notary publics there and we need to go down town. Ugh. Oh well, still no big deal we were going over to Indiana anyways. Well when we get downtown we drive around the block like 3 times before finding a meter and then find one and park and get out, only to find out that meter was out of order. So we get back in and had to drive around several more times until finding a meter that worked. Then we went into the wrong "County Clerk" office and had to walk to a different building right across from it. Once we got in there all was fine and she looked up all of our notary publics names. It cost $60! But then I come home and realize I only needed 2 documents verified which would have been $10, ugh. Oh well it is done now! We are getting so close to being able to accept a refferal I am about to freak :) Just waiting on the homestudy....

Things Left to Do For Dossier

Today we are getting done:
1. Notarize letter from CPA
2. Passport pictures (not for our passports, we have those already)
3. Notarizing several documents the basically say "the attached documents are true"
4. Notarizing Insurance Letter
5. Finish gathering pictures of us

Tomorrow we are getting done:
1. Notarize letter from doctor ( Thanks to Susan for going with me to get it notarized!!!!)
2. Notarize passport picures page
3. Notarize letter of employment from my mom


After Tomorrow when these things are done.....
1. Make sure homestudy agency sends all their documents to me and to CCI
2. Get state seals put on our power of attorney letter and our cover letter

After Get Seals....
****Send our dossier to Washington DC*****

Happy Father's Day

We hope all dad's had a great day today! We were able to celebrate today with all the fathers in our lives. We went to Cardinal Hall of Fame Cafe after church with some of our family (my dad was there, Brians dad was there and Brian's brother Jason also got to celebrate with us), then me and my sister went with my dad to celebrate with my grandpa, then I went to my mom's house to celebrate with my stepdad Steve.

My daddy:

Brian's dad: Brian's dad and Brian's Brother (Father to Brian's neice)

My Stepdad, Steve:

Vacation to Myrtle Beach

We went on our annual vacation (well except for last year due to my wedding) with my mom, step dad, sister, and her boyfriend to Myrtle Beach, SC. We left Saturday the 13th and returned Saturday the 20th. Saturday we got there late and just hung around the condo and slept from our trip. Sunday we hung out at the beach all day and then ate dinner at Dick's Last Resort, which is a resturant that makes fun of you and rights dirty comments about you on a big stupid hat. We also got henna tattoos and mine is of Africa with a heart over Ethiopia. Monday we went to the beach and then ate at Libertys at Broadway at the Beach and then shopped. Tuesday the guys went golfing while the girls went to Le Grand Circ show and then we ate dinner at Rios, which is an awesome Brazilian resturant. Wednesday we played at the beach and pool all day and then went to Medevil Times. Thursday we ate at Hooters and played at the beach then ate at Landrys. Friday we rented jetskis and went on a dolphin tour which was awesome. We saw about 30+ dolphins swim right around our jetskis close enough to touch. Friday night we ate at TBonz. Many of the nights after we got back to the condo we would crab hunt on the beach and one night Christa found a GIANT dead sea turtle (seriously like 300+lbs). Me, Brian, Christa and Devin played putt putt 2 different nights, the first night Christa beat Brian so of course we had to play again. We had a great time with our family. We love going on vacation with them. This last picture is me and my sister doing our impression of dancing like Hellen Keller (we are stupid I know lol).

Preparing our Dossier

I am ready to get things done so we can have a baby in the home as quickly as possible! Pray for us as we work through the paper chase!!!!



Things I need to get done:
1. Power of Attorney- getting notarized tomorrow
2. Dossier Cover Letter- waiting until done with rest of things so I dont have to re-do it
3. Home Study Approval Letter- should be coming soon
4. Letter from adoptive parents stating why you want to adopt from Ethiopia- notarizing tomorrow
5. Family Photos- have them but need to arrange them on paper still
6. Home Study- complete just waiting on documents
7. License of Home Study Agency- they should send
8. Diploma/License of social worker providing the Home Study- they should send
9. Obligation of Adoption or Social Welfare Agency- they should send
10.Parent commitment Letter to Provide Post Placement Reports-getting notarized tomorrow
11. Employment Letter for both adoptive parents- need to get notarized but have them
12. Bank Statement or Letter of Economic Status on your bank's letterhead- have but need to be notarized
13. Page 1-2 of tax form 1040 for the last 3 yrs- have but need to be notarized
14. Original Birth Certificate- done
15. Original Marriage Certificate- done
16. Medical Reports for both adoptive parents from their doctor- did but need to re-do so it is notarized (need to find notary to go with me)
17. State Police Clearance Letters for both adoptive parents- done
18. 3 Reference Letters- done but need friends to get notarized
19. Two passport size photos of each adoptive parent- need to do when return from vacation
20. Insurance Coverage Letter- need to get from company

Updates

Hello Everyone. Monday my dad had surgery on his left eye. He had a retinal detachment in that eye and went blind in it. Surgery seemed to well and we hope he will regain vision in it. He has to keep his head down looking at the ground for several days which is the worst part.



We sent in our application and our first big check to our adoption agency today. We are hoping to get working on our dossier this week. I just heard that the I 171-H is taking a while to get back from the USCIS so that really bummed me out.


We are going on vacation to Myrtle Beach leaving this Saturday and returning the 20th.

Christa and Mercedes Birthday!

Yesterday was my sister's 20th bday and my puppy's 1st bday. We had a great time at the pool, then with slip-n-slide and water balloons, then we all went to dinner at Tumbleweed! Happy Birthday everyone!