What I have been reading

To pass the time away while we wait for our numbers to dwindle away I have been doing some reading. I can confess I am the world's worst to read a book from the front page to the back. If I do manage to read the entire thing it was because I had to for school back in the day and even then I would skip a page or two just to get to the end or a miracle happened and I was interested enough to carry though the entire book. I wonder where my 9 year old son gets it from. I love to read to my kids and I love to read for myself, it's just finding the time to sit down and read (for myself) without interruptions seems to be a task in itself.
So ladies and gentlemen I can say I read this book in it's entirety. I loved the interviews that the author had with many different children. The children's comments were too cute. So if you haven't read this book yet you should defiantly consider picking it up. It gives great in sight of what race means to younger children.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Im-Chocolate-Youre-Vanilla/Marguerite-Wright/e/9780787952341/

Winter Days

It's only January 23 and I am already so sick of winter!! The kids are going stir crazy inside because it's been too cold to play outside. This photo was taken shortly after our first dumping of snow. Our daughter and Heidi our dog decided to escape the house for some winter fun. Aren't they too cute! Heidi has the thickest coat and will do anything to be outside in the snow. This is her favorite time of the year.

Spaghetti Anyone??

So back in September we had new counter tops installed. Ever since the kids have been begging to eat spaghetti right on the counter top without plates. Well, they finally got their way and we served the spaghetti right on the counter top all right. Surprisingly they didn't create too much of a mess and the best part was there were no plates to clean and put away. They have been asking when we can eat spaghetti again. They didn't want to use their forks either but I had to draw the line somewhere.

Government APPROVED

I can't believe it. Matt brought in the mail and he said that we had a letter from the homeland security immigration department. My heart sank thinking that there was something wrong with our fingerprints taken on Friday of last week. So I tore open the letter thinking I would find the worse and actually found nothing but the best news. We are officially approved to adopt from Ethiopia!! I am so excited. Now all I need to do is chill out a bit and watch referrals roll in for others and wait for ours. Everything thus far for this adoption has gone smoothly as God is orchestrating the bright future for an orphan. I pray that the rest of it goes just as smoothly. I also pray for those whom have had bumps and heartache in their adoption process.

Numbers, numbers and more numbers

So being new to this whole adoption thing and the waiting list confuses me a bit. I have figured most of the details out but trying to keep up with who has what number is a bit crazy so I'll just worry about us for now or until I get the hang of this. We were supposed to receive a number last week but due to the large number of referrals last week the agency was a bit behind in getting to those of us with higher numbers. It's okay, I completely understand that it has to be completely crazy. So are official numbers this month are 16 for a boy and 29 for a girl. Last month we were at #17 for a boy and #31 for a girl. So we're moving up. We also have UNofficial numbers which are numbers that are based on the amount of referrals given out. Every referral given out has 10 days to accept the referral so if all referrals are accepted are Unofficial numbers are #12 for a boy and #27 for a girl.

When we were asked if we wanting to be on both waiting lists even though our numbers are no where near one another we said "yes" because I want to put it into Gods hands completely and if he feels a boy is in our horizon then a boy it is. We'll see as the months slowly move on by.

I had thought that time would go by fast having 2 children and working full time but honestly the adoption has been on my mind constantly since the first day we decided to move forward with it. I find myself not being able to get enough information about the next steps or adoption parenting as a whole.

We should be getting our next set of numbers in a few weeks. In the mean time I will be reading away and playing with the kids.

As you can see I don't write often, or as often as some may. My Mac is a bit outdated and so blogging can be a bit of a challange. I also find that I am a little spent after working all day and then come home to a house full craziness. I will try to keep up as much as I can, I promise. So yesterday morning Matt and I rushed the kids off to the sitters house and managed to plow through the snow to down town Milwaukee to get our finger prints taken. We were so excited over the finger prints you would have thought were boarding the plane for Ethiopia right then and there. These finger prints were needed to do a background check on us and once all is cleared we should receive our letter from the government in a few months that will allows us to bring our child home. This past week many people received their referrals and many moved down the list of boys, girls and siblings. What a great Ehtiopian Christmas gift. The Ethiopian Christmas is celebrated on January 7th because they follow in a different calender year than we do. We did not receive our new numbers yet and our social worker e-mailed us last night to let us know that due to the large amount of referrals handed out this past week that she would have to call us on Monday. Because we are still high on the list I am okay to wait just hopeing for the referrals to kee p rolling in.
This whole journey thus far has been a roller coaster of emotions. I explained to Matt last night that I compare the emotions like you are cranking a Jack-N-The-Box and even though you know that the end result will be one of the greatest things that happen to you, you're nervous, scared and excited all at once.

So it is now after the holiday season and although I hate to see the holiday season pass so quickly I also find myself excited because we are closer to the day we get our refferal. Of course the older two kids are not so happy that school is starting back up, now after winter break but I look forward to getting back to a schedule. We have been waiting for a letter from the Imigration Department to indicate the date and time of our finger prints so the FBI can do their backgroud check on us. I have never been so excited and nervous at the same time over an appointment. I have heard that this feeling will continue for each process as we go through each one of them. So our appointment is this Friday at 8am. Please pray that the finger prints go well. I have heard about horor stories that they sometimes do not turn out or something happens that delys the process. We need an approval letter from the US Imigration department to accept an referral and to bring our child home.