Big Boy turns 7!

Our older son turned seven on the 27th. We cannot believe that he is seven already. I didn't get to post on the day of his birthday because we spent the weekend at my brother's in Durango, CO. What a beautiful place! We have been there many times, but never in the winter. The passes are VERY icy and usually close periodically because of avalanches. We had to take the long way around on the way there because of those exact reasons. They had 3 feet of snow in one night in Silverton! But the passes were open yesterday, thankfully, on the way home. I LOVE the snow, we don't get very much here, so it was fun to go there this weekend. It's a GREAT vacation spot, they have an old-fashioned steam train that you can ride. It's really a great town to visit.

Kaleb loves being seven now, he says he's "halfway" to being a teenager (please don't remind me). He's very focused on being "grown up." We keep telling him that he needs to enjoy his childhood. He loves being a Cub Scout and playing Wii. He's a awesome big brother and can't wait to meet his little sister.

Nothing on the adoption front to post about, we should be getting our HS finished up in February. Well . . . we are # 17 now, our agency referred a little girl right before Christmas. So were hoping for 2-3 referrals a month in the New Year! Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and may God bless you all in the coming New Year!

Homestudy: Started

Our Social Worker called and we have had two meetings so far. I guess we are to have seven contacts with her to complete our HS. So our first meeting was kind of a surprise. She called me on Saturday (12/6) at about 2 p.m. and asked if the next day would be ok to do our Home visit. Yeah, like I said . . . a surprise. Luckily I had cleaned my house for Abram's birthday and everything was essentially "ready." She told me that I didn't need to clean and that the purpose wasn't to impress her, and that put me at ease. We are very thankful for our Social Worker, she is easy to talk to and super friendly.

She did a tour of our house and we showed her where our daughter's room was. Chad actually had to work that day and so the boys and I gave her a tour. Then Kaleb (our oldest) read the book "Jin Woo" to her. She considered that meeting our home visit and Child interview.

Then this last Saturday we met her for our couples interview. I felt both meetings went very well, and we are pretty comfortable talking with her. The next step is training which will be in late January. There are two other AAC couples that we will have the training with. Looking forward to that, then she will do our individual interviews.

We are excited to get this part rolling and glad to have this month to keep us busy. I hope January and February fly by and so do the referrals!

My baby turns 4!

"Shaving" in the bath last night.

My little "magoo" at 2.

12 months old.


I can remember his "birth" day like it was yesterday. And now my baby is four years old. How does time fly by so FAST! I cannot believe how big both boys are getting.

Chad called our agency today and we are now #18 on the list. The lady he talked to said everything was pretty slow around there. From what I have heard fall/winter usually is. Once January hits, everything tends to pick up speed. We have plenty to keep us busy this month, thankfully.

For those of you following, our SW (social worker) hasn't called yet, and we haven't began our Homestudy. We have officially met her, at an Adoption Fair that our church put on. She does HS on the side and has a full time job, so we aren't pushing too hard. Plus, our agency doesn't really begin HS until you're 10th on the list anyway. Chad is chomping at the bit to start, but I would rather do it after January. December is FULL and if it gets done now, it leaves more time to wait for our referral (essentially). It will take a few months to complete, and leave less time twiddling our thumbs. That't my thought process anyway :) Like other waiting Mom's have put it, they are "preparing" rather than waiting. I love that, puts a positive outlook on the whole thing.

We will update once we get more info. Otherwise, off to bake a cake for the birthday boy.