Puzzle Update! + 5 more pieces :)

Good news- we're making progress!! Puzzle progress that is :)  We are incredibly thankful to everyone who has contributed to our adoption fundraising efforts- you have no idea how much it means to our family.  Currently, we have 24 29 puzzle pieces spoken for and we have raised 28% 34% of the puzzle's money value.  Wow!  Special thanks to Wes' efforts in raising money lately- thanks to everyone who has participated!! Thank you so much to everyone who has taken part in coming along side our family to raise our adoption funds.  Your notes of encouragement and gifts have been such an encouragement and blessing to us.

Here is the updated puzzle: 

 And, here is Kaleb saying 'Thank-YOU!' 

If you haven't donated yet and would like to contribute a little or a lot... 

check out the donate button right here ------------------------->

Or, leave a comment if you'd like our address to send a check.

The Hand-off...

What it feels like to finally turn in your 80+ pages (x 4 copies) of adoption paperwork...

Super excited to hand over that pile of papers :) 

Kudos to the rock-star photo bomber social worker in the background too...

she's the one who makes this all happen!! 

The next step- authentication at the Ethiopian embassy in Washington, DC.  

All Together Now!

This is the weekend we've been waiting for all summer... our paperwork is completely gathered.  Its all there.  It is literally, signed, sealed and ready to be delivered tomorrow.  Last week we came to the conclusion that our immigration letter from USCIS was lost.  It should not take over 2 weeks for a normal envelope to travel from Missouri to South Dakota.  We joked that we should have just drove to Missouri to pick it up ourselves.  To make a longer story short- a few emails and $25 worth of overnight express mail resulted in a newly printed letter from USCIS in our front door by about 9:45am Thursday morning.  (the original letter has yet to show up after being mailed 17 days ago?).

Friday, Wes was the honored one to make the infamous trip to Pierre to have our adoption paper work sealed by the State Secretary of State.  Crossing big 'ole Missouri River... 

Our beautiful state capital :) 

 And, of course... a stop at Zestos.  It is the best. 

I think the next South Dakota state stamp and/or quarter should have Zestos on it.  

After getting it 4 sets of everything copied, I went to get it all sorted out and ready to go.  Because of our ever 'helpful' 2 year old... the solitude of the school and my plethora of tables were quite ideal.  

 If you want to know what it looks like to adopt.... here is the final product:   

It's basically, the biggest homework assignment to date. I believe my complete National Board Certification 'box' wasn't even this big.  Some may say- that's crazy, I could never do that.  

Bringing home another little one to live life with and love on= totally worth it!

However, I will admit this time around has not been easy.  Between long parts, lost parts and insufficient parts- we've had a wild ride for sure.  And, we owe a huge pile of thanks to God for making it happen.  Tomorrow we'll hand it over and within the next few weeks- we'll officially be on the wait list!!  Oh, we can't wait :) 

" Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!"

Psalm 27:14

Thank you for all those who have helped, prayed and encouraged us along the way! 

My Why.

Today we revisited one of our very own little family traditions.  Today was the very last day of summer vacation.  Sure, I've already had 3 days of in-service.  But tomorrow, my classroom is full of kids.  Papers to grade will start piling up, we'll stock the concession stand and begin our routine of toaster waffles in the car for breakfast while listening to KSLT as the sun rises each morning.  By the middle of winter- we'll leave home in the dark and get home in nearly the dark.  Might sound crazy.  You might be right.  But, we have a crazy good reason for signing up for another school year of running around. 
Last night when I was rocking Kaleb to sleep, we were chattering back and forth.  Filling our love tanks with "I Love You's", snuggles and about 8 renditions of our little homemade song of "Oh, My Baby".  When all of a sudden he whispers "sister, brother- sister" then looks me in the eye with a little giggle.  And, a tear suddenly popped out of no where and nearly fell outta my eye.  Oh, my- my baby. 
My sweet little boy has such a sweet big heart.  I think that was the first time we mutually shared our hopes and prayers together.  It was like a little prayer offered up from the heart of a nearly 2 1/2 year old.  As we were lovin' on each other he thought of him or her.  I can only imagine how awesome he'll be as a big brother someday long down the road. Why do we do the crazy schedule, hectic mornings, busy days and daycare chaos?  Because God has called us to another one.  Another one to share in the tickle wars, trips to the park and a life full of crazy awesome blessings. 
We've got a long ways to go before we get there however.  Until then, we're going to savor the days with our little man.  Which brings me back to today's family tradition.  The last day of summer freedom.  So after the post-church nap, we loaded up and headed to Spearfish for ice cream and a stop at the park.  It was good in so many ways.  Here's a peak at our last drops of summer...

 

Our first trip to Cherry Berry :) 

We are blessed and we are grateful.  

So incredibly thankful that God chose me to hang out with these two awesome guys.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, 

who does not change like shifting shadows" - James 1:17

P.S.  Please continue to uphold our immigration letter in prayer...we would greatly appreciate it.  

It is safe to say that we've all went a little 'Charlie Brown' 

these past days as we've watched and prayer for our mailbox.  

We're still waiting for our USCIS letter.  That's right- it still hasn't shown up.  We know it was sent on August 8th however it has yet to appear.  I'm starting to think that one could ride a bike from Lee Summit, Missouri faster than the postal service is taking to get that crazy letter here.  Obviously, there is a reason for it taking so long however, to be honest- I just don't get it.  What I do know, is that we'll keep praying it shows up soon!  Will you pray on our behalf that our letter shows up soon?  

Other than that, we've been busy with Rodeo Bible Camp, a wedding in Wyoming, side trip to Laramie and then school started this past week.  Yikes!!!  Summer was fun and full and good.  

Speed Bumps...

This week reminds me of how many women say 'no two kids are the same'.  Well, no two adoptions are the same either.  So far, this one has been much more filled with detours, side trips and a little more drama than our first.  This week- was no exception.  We learned on Monday that our I-600a did not get approved initially.  Sound oddly familiar... well, only we are 'fortunate' enough to get an RFE (request for evidence) on our I-600 for both adoptions.  Odd, bizarre and honestly- a little frustrating.  What does this really mean?  We spent this week getting our social worker to write additional information and documentation for our home study.  A whirlwind o
f phone calls, scanned documents, discussions and finally this morning we express mailed it back to our immigration officer working with our case.  Had our home study been 'ok' by USCIS standards, our USICS letter would have been mailed out on Monday.  It would have arrived Wednesday and we would have our paperwork completely complete.  We would have driven it to Pierre for state seals by now.
However, that was not the plan.  So, that is not how it happened.  Hopefully, maybe we will receive our letter by the end of next week.  Please pray that we receive it by Monday, August 12th.  Tuesday, August 13th is my last day of summer vacation.  School starts up on Wednesday the 14th (I know, crazy early!).  Once school is here- life gets crazy and Wes will need to spend a vacation day getting our state seals.  Not the end of the world but, it would be a huge relief to get all those papers done and gone.  At the heart of it all is the fact that our wait to meet our next child will be much longer than we waited for Kaleb.  It will take like years.  Yes, years- a few of them anyways.  Right now, the clock isn't even ticking yet.  We're not 'in line' so to speak.  That letter is the last step in getting in line so to speak.  Once we're in line, we're going to fill up life with crazy fun times loving on our Mr. Kaleb.