I'm so tired!

It's official - I'm overwhelmed. When we first got an email from Gladney with attachments I was so excited. I had G print them and I organized them into sections. Then we got another email, and another, and another, and a separate paper on how to organize all the paper work. They suggest putting it in four different folders and friends, let me tell you, the folders are bulging. I have them on my counter and honestly, I don't know where to begin. I'm trying to stay inspired and motivated but I'm struggling to maintain my previous enthusiasm. We are sure in our decision to adopt and this is definitely what we are going to do but its daunting. We've given ourselves the summer to do the paperwork but I'm wondering if that is even possible.


Here's hoping my energy comes back so I can rock the paperwork!

Our Sweet Friends!

Our very adorable friends have just started their blog documenting their adoption journey to Rwanda. We are so excited to welcome them to the adoption world! Hayley and I have been friends since we were in 6th grade and not only do our husbands work together but now we are both adopting. It's like every little girl's dream!!! Now if we only lived next to each other (I don't know about that).



Check it out: Hayley and Todd

Phone Orientation

Today we had our phone orientation with Gladney - the agency we have chosen to help us with our adoption. We feel super comfortable with our choice - they are very organized and clearly know what they're doing. We now feel fully geared up for a mountain of paperwork but we are not overwhelmed. 


Here's a breakdown of the process:

Basically we have 4 parts to the paperwork process: Application, Homestudy, Immigration, and the Foreign Dossier. A lot of the paperwork will be repeated so that's nice but there is still a ton more. I have decided to take the summer off to get our paperwork ready, catch up on some adoption related reading, and finish some house projects (not to mention spending time with my nephews). 

After the paperwork is completed and approved then we will begin the matching process (hopefully we will be getting siblings - more about that in later posts). Once a match is made they take the babies out of the orphanage and put them in foster care. The babies will be taken to doctors to have testing done (HIV testing is done twice) and to have a complete medical work up. We then get a picture and the medical information of our prospective cuties. 

Then begins the legal process where we wait for the courts to finalize the adoption and FINALLY we go get our babies. 

Seems like a lot but we're pumped - we are excited and nervous but we're ready. We'll keep you all updated more often now that I'll be done with school and we'll be doing more. 

We're on our way!

Today Garrett and I signed our loan papers - we are in the money! We also filled out the pre-application for the agency we decided on. 


I was taking care of my friend's little girl the other day and I told her that Garrett and Auntie M are going to get babies from a far away land. She asked me why they're not here yet - I told her they are waiting for us. She said that yes they ARE waiting, waiting for her to get big enough to help me with them. How cute is that?!

I'm sure we will have more to post now so be sure to check back. 
 

Wyatt!


We can't just show Jack without showing the cuteness that is Wyatt. We are at Wichita's new Donut Whole - which has the best donuts! They certainly got Wyatt's approval.


Lots of love!!!

New Nephew


We have a new nephew! He is very healthy and big (9lbs 5oz big!). We already love him so much and our older nephew Wyatt is coming around to the idea of being a big brother. 

New Year, New Decision

Nearing the end of last year we knew we needed to make some decisions about our adoption process (or lack thereof). We bandied about such words as foster care, international adoption, and Ibuprofen. We spent a good part of our recent vacation to Colorado talking about what we want to do next and we have finally made a decision. Africa, here we come (in ten to twelve months). 

We feel like this is what we are meant to do and we are so excited to share this process with our friends and family. Many of you know that this a direction that we have been leaning towards and what a lengthy process this has been to make this decision. 
So far we have looked into financing and feel comfortable that we have a few options. We have also chosen an agency and country in Africa (Ethiopia). 

Look for more blog posts - I want to keep everyone up to date on this amazing journey.

Lots of love!