The Best Gift Ever (For A Family Who Is Adopting)

My little sister found this baby book for us for Christmas this year, and I LOVE it! It's specifically written for kiddos who are adopted with sections like Waiting, The Match, Our Journey to You, What We Know About Your Birth Family, and Adoption Buddies plus two family trees, one for the adoptive family and one for the biological family. It's even available on Amazon, and for less than $12.00 - what a great find! A GREAT gift for a family in the process of adopting, if I do say so myself. Image and link below...



Click here for more details on this fabulous adoptive baby book...

Our First NUMBERS!!!!

Julie with AGCI called last night, and she said our dossier looked GREAT! It's ready to send to Ethiopia asap! Therefore, we are now officially on the WAITING LIST!!

Our first official numbers: Boys #34, and Girls #49. AGCI is estimating a 6-8 month wait for a referral at this time. So, we're thinking June-August-ish. Followed by a court date. Followed by a U.S. Embassy appointment/travel dates. Sometime in 2010...

Next step, United States Department of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)paperwork and fingerprinting...

:)

It Arrived!

Our dossier arrived safely in Portland, Oregon yesterday morning at 10:05 a.m., according to the handy dandy FedEx tracking number website.

Expecting a call from our case worker sometime today...

And hoping, hoping, hoping that today will be the day we get our first official wait list numbers...

Our paperwork is in!!!

Finally...finally...finally...

After nearly 5 months, our homestudy is done and we were able to FedEx our dossier in this morning!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!

I thought I would be completely at peace, getting our paperwork out the door, but really...I think it'll take a phone call from Julie with AGCI saying that our dossier has arrived safely before I will breathe easily. Lord willing, that will be early tomorrow morning.

A HUGE milestone on our adoption journey.

A WONDERFUL day.

Ramblings...

Not a whole lot to report. All is well here!

This week marks the end of the musical at the high school - The Music Man - with final performances tonight and Tuesday night. It's been fun to play cello with Nathan conducting, but it'll be nice to get back to "normal" around here too.

I'm planning to cut the girls' hair for the first time EVER this coming weekend, just before their 3rd birthday.

We're hoping to meet some dear friends for supper and cards Saturday night.

This week is "Hh" week at our house. We're creating hats, houses, holes (with hole punches), and hens, and eating hot dogs and hamburgers, making heart "Hh"s, playing hopscotch, etc. Both Evie and Sylvie still really enjoy doing their workboxes. Between the two of them, they already know all of their letters (Evie knows some better than Syl and vica versa :)). But, our shapes and colors still need some fine-tuning!! Plenty of time though...still almost 3 years until they'll be old enough for kindergarten - now to think of enough to keep them learning until then!!

Potty training is still a bit "hit and miss," but we're improving. We're down to usually one accident per day per kiddo. And 90% of our accidents are #1s; thankfully, the #2s nearly always make it into the potty. :)

We found out this week that our social worker didn't have background checks done in Wisconsin and Iowa for us (though we thought she had), so we'll likely be delayed at least a few weeks (and possibly months) because of this "slip up." Initially, I was incredibly frustrated, but I have resolved to trust that this too has happened for a reason that I just cannot understand right now. So, more waiting here...

I think that's all I have for now...

Progress...

We heard late last night that our home study was e-mailed to AGCI yesterday afternoon! Hoping and praying that no revisions are needed. AGCI has 5-7 days to review the home study and get back to us. We'll keep you posted!

Hoping our dossier can go in the mail sometime next week...

:)

Maybe I'm Alone Here...

It occurred to me yesterday, while visiting with a friend, that much of what we've been asked to do thus far in the process of adopting comes down to presenting ourselves well to the people in the Ethiopian court system who will ultimately decide if we are "qualified" to parent an Ethiopian-born child. We've been working hard the last three months to present our home, our family, our jobs, our health - mental and physical, our character, our resources, etc. in the most positive light possible. And I started having all of these emotions about it just recently.

I've been reading other families' blogs who are in the same place in their adoption journeys, and I can't help looking at their photographs and reading their stories, and thinking, "Gosh, our house doesn't look like that" or "Our photos aren't as 'professional' as theirs" which leads me to question myself, and our family, and if we're "in the same league" as others who are bringing little ones home from overseas. I DON'T question our call to adopt, not in the least (Nathan and I have both felt nothing but peace since the very beginning). And I DON'T question that we can offer this little one a stable, loving home with parents who are committed to each other, and to the Lord.

I think it's just a difficult thing to feel like you're constantly trying to convince someone (again, the courts) that you're "good enough," "qualified enough," "capable enough" to raise a child. Maybe our home isn't as big as some. Maybe our resources aren't as abundant as some. Maybe we're not as physically attractive as some. Maybe we prefer to take photos with our dinky little digital camera and tripod. But, I KNOW that the unconditional love we already have for this little one is real. I KNOW that we will be committed to raising this little one with the knowledge of the Truth. I KNOW that we will do everything in our power to support and uplift and serve this little one.

Getting caught up in "how we compare" isn't helpful to anyone. I only pray that the Holy Spirit will be working in the hearts and minds of the people there who will be making decisions in regards to our child.

The Hold Up

Our home study agency just let us know that they need one more piece of paperwork from us...UGH. If you were wondering about what the hold up is, and why we STILL haven't sent in our dossier, that's why. FRUSTRATING! (But to be expected as it seems like things rarely go 100% "as expected" during one's adoption process...)

But, I sent the paper they needed in today, so we're still hopeful that our dossier will be ready for send off early next week. November 3 will be the 3-month mark, from the time we received our dossier folder. I have that date in my mind as the day we should absolutely have everything sent in. And, I believe that's this coming Tuesday...we'll see.

Through this adoption process, I am becoming more aware of my weaknesses, namely my lack of patience. II Corinthians 12:9 has been coming to mind over and over as we seek out the new little one God has for our family - "...for my power is made perfect in weakness." That is my prayer. Despite me, that HE might be glorified.

A Few Photos That Did NOT Make the Cut...

So, we have to send in some photos of our home and family with our adoption paperwork, to give the Ethiopian courts some idea of who we are. The following are a few select photographs that we will most definitely NOT be sending in with our dossier...



Scantily clad rockstar girls




My first time using the porta-potty




Whenever I put underwear on my head, I think I'm a doctor!




I REALLY like to pretend I'm a doctor...





Yes, we often play on our scooter wear only undies and bike helmets...




"If I could only pick this little bit of goo out from in between my toes..."




We have been known to have a fit if things don't go our way...




Don't knock sleeping like this until you try it.




Look, everyone, Daddy just stepped in dog poop!


And now you see why we need MANY prayers. Hopefully, the photos that DO make the cut will present our family in the most positive light possible. If you think about it, could you pray for just that?

L.O.V.E.

Maybe it seems strange to think about loving a little one out there, halfway across the world, whom we have never met...

With a love so strong that it already literally brings me to tears just thinking about holding him or her in my arms for the first time. And never letting go.

This child of my heart.

Our Morning Blessing

I'm just beginning to learn that, in order for the focus of our day to be on things above, I have to be intentional about that - both for myself and for our children. I heard it said recently that, while most families have annual holiday traditions unique to their family, fewer families take time to intentionally implement DAILY traditions (or "habits") that point to our Great and Mighty God. With that on my heart, I've been prayerfully considering what new habits to put into practice in our family.

One of the things I've been doing for the past several weeks is saying a "morning blessing" with/over/for the girls each morning, usually at breakfasttime. I contemplated using Scripture itself, and looked on-line for ideas, but ultimately decided to compose my own. And here it is:

"Lord,

Today, may you give (child's name)
Ears to hear Your voice
Eyes to see Your goodness
Lips to bring glory to Your name
And hands and feet to serve You this day.

Amen"

I point to their ears, eyes, lips, and hands and feet as I give the blessing. Both girls ask for their blessing now, and some mornings, want me to say it over and over again (which I do gladly).

So, there you have it. I'll keep you posted if/as other ideas come to mind.

Fingerprints!!!

Our fingerprints came in!!! Our fingerprints came in!!!

The last piece of "paperwork" we needed for our homestudy to be finalized is in!!!

Next step (after all parties have reviewed the homestudy, and we've had it notarized)...

Our dossier (read: our mountains of paperwork) can be sent in and we'll make the "official" waiting list for a referral!!!

What a GREAT day!!! (hence the excessive use of exclamation points!!!) :) !!!

Weekly Happenings...

Behind on blogging again!! Ah well. Since my last post, we've been having lots of good times in large part due to our workboxes, I think. Either that or it just happened that the girls' increasingly long levels of calmness just happened to correspond with the implementation of said boxes. Either way, I am thankful for the moments of peace we've recently been experiencing in our days. Some photos below...




All of the FABULOUS finds I made at our local used bookstore for only $8. (The last Thursday of each month, they have "everything you can fit in a paper bag for $8;" one of the lovely things about living in small town America).




Our display door full of Letter Aa and Letter Bb pictures; Letter Aa last week and Letter Bb this. (Note: This door was inside the old hired man's house on my grandparents' farm. I saved it [and two others] before the place was bulldozed. I KNEW it would go to good use!)



As part of our workbox stuff today, the girls and I sat down and listened to/read along with this Spanish c.d. and book I ordered recently. It was a hit, let me tell you! We listened to it together in the morning, and then Ev and Syl asked to hear it again while I was making supper, and then wanted to listen to it AGAIN after supper. At 25 minutes a pop, I was LOVING the fact that they could do this independently for SUCH a long time, over and over again. We'll see if it remains popular...



I don't know if it's my camera or what, but I can't seem to get pictures of the girls with their eyes open. So, out of the 5 or 6 photos I took of Evelyn "workboxing," here is the best one.




And here's Sylvie. Same thing! :)

Lifebook for Little LeFeber

Another new-to-me idea...

I checked out a book from our local library on creating a "lifebook" for your adopted child, and I'm REALLY excited about starting this project for our littlest one.

A lifebook is sort of a combination between a baby book, a scrapbook, and a story book. It's our child's life story told in a simple way through photos, script, drawings, journal entries; it includes how we decided to pursue adopting this child, any history we know about him/her and his/her birth family at the time of adoption, our thoughts and feelings as we get ready to welcome this new little person into our home and family, our journey to Ethiopia, our arrival home, and our transition into being a family of five. It's a way for our child to know his/her story from the very beginning.

After all of the adoption paperwork is complete (hopefully in a few weeks), I'm thinking I'll have time to get going on this exciting venture!

Still longing for the day when we can bring him/her home...

Our First Day of "Workboxing"

WOW! We had a great first day of "workboxing," let me tell you! After our first box- an A coloring sheet-only took 2 minutes to complete, I thought, "We'll be done in 10 minutes or less at this rate." But, no! Two and half hours later, we had worked our way through all 7 workboxes, and had a lovely time doing it (all 3 of us). :)



Our workbox system in the corner of the dining room.






Sylvia's chart (before they can look in each box, the girls take the corresponding number off of the workbox and put it onto their chart; when all the workboxes are completed, they get to velcro their smiley face up too).




Today's workbox contents: an A is for alligator coloring sheet, ABC puzzle, wooden magnetic dolls, sorting cubes by color, Dr. Seuss's ABCs book on c.d. (read by yours truly), making fingerprint ants on big letter A's, and apple and peanut butter for snack.



The girls hard at work. (Did I mention this occupied 2 and a half hours of time?!? I folded and put away 2 loads of clothes, emptied the dishwasher, did supper prep work, and paid bills in addition to supervising as needed). We'll see how tomorrow goes...

Two New-to-Me Ideas

So, maybe most of you have already heard about these two things (hence, they might not seem all that exciting to you), but for me, a not-on-the-computer often, don't-get-out-much, just-trying-to-take-it-one-day-at-a-time, kind of person, they are SUPER EXCITING!

1. Muffin Tin Mondays

Basically this is serving your kiddos a fun theme-based lunch out of muffin tins on Mondays. And I just happened to be at our local thrift store today and found 6 muffin tins in good condition for $1/each. There you go, I'm set. If you want to learn more, check out http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com

2. Workboxes

The idea here is that you have a series of "boxes" on a shelf for your kiddos, each filled with an activity (learning toys, games, worksheets, crafts, etc) and you number the boxes from 1-whatever. Throughout the day then, your kiddos start at box #1 and work their way through all of the boxes sequentially. I think the idea originated with homeschooling students in mind, but I think preschoolers could definitely benefit from this sort of visual progression through "school" activities too. I'm hoping to get our "system" up and running this next week. We'll see if the girls are still too young to do this independently...I'm just desperate to add a bit more structure to our day, and I'm hoping that this might be the answer. If you want to learn more, check out http://docs.google.com/View?docID=dwstdgn_447mphsmf8&revision=_latest for a bunch of neat blog posts on the subject.

That's it for now. :)

Don't Knock Social Workers

I absolutely love our social worker!

Truth be told, I was nervous about meeting her/having her check out our home/telling her some of our parenting philosophies and methods of correction/etc.

But, she is a sweet, caring, wants-the-best-for-everyone-involved kind of person. And she grew up near my grandparents' seed corn company; even de-tasseled for good old Hoegemeyer Hybrids in her younger years. Talk about a small world!

Best of all, she already told us that she is going to recommend to her co-workers that we are approved for adoptive parenting. Phew.

A lovely gal. A lovely visit. Another step closer...

Progress...

Progress this past week...

Birth certificates all arrived.
Marriage license here.
Employment verification letter written.
Worked through Chapter 7 in adoption education workbook.
Signed up for on-line adoption education courses.
References all secured and all six questionnaires/e-mails sent out.
Doctors appointments set up (August 27).
Fingerprints taken.
Passport photos taken and passports ordered through the county courthouse.


Next up...

Our first homestudy visit with our local social worker tomorrow.
First office visit with our social worker on Saturday morning.
Trip to the State Patrol in Lincoln for FBI check.
Update the dog's vaccinations.
Letters from life insurance, health insurance, and mortgage companies.
Local criminal check.
Financial paperwork.
More education - both workbook and on-line.

We had our weekly phone call on Tuesday night with our case worker from AGCI, and she seemed pleased with our progress. She thought, if we keep moving along at this pace, we might have things ready to submit in a few weeks...

That sounds lovely.

One step closer to holding our newest little love in our arms...

Helping Daddy Wash the Car

A couple of recent photos of our girlies...

That's What Faith Must Be

To hear with my heart
To see with my soul
To be guided by a hand
I cannot hold
To trust in a way
That I cannot see
That's what faith must be.

Some of my favorite song lyrics ever.
Now if I could just remember whose they are...

DAYBOOK #2

Outside my window…
Clouds, rain on the driveway

I am thinking…
About how much I love my life

I am thankful for…
The ability to stay at home with our kiddos

From the learning rooms…
Paddington’s Colors book

From the kitchen…
Peanut butter chicken stir-fry with green beans and yellow sweet peppers from our garden

I am wearing…
My work pants with a comfy blue T-shirt

I am creating…
A master menu planning list and system

I am going…
To wash some baby things today 

I am reading…
My Utmost for His Highest

I am hoping…
That I haven’t forever altered a treasured friendship

I am hearing…
Sounds from Veggie Tales: Queen Esther

Around the house…
3 loads of clean laundry, waiting to be folded and put away

One of my favorite things…
Cuddling my little girls

A few plans for the week…
Get all birth certificates and marriage license ordered, schedule appointments with doctor and police department, prepare for our big Saturday night BBQ with our community band friends, finishing watching Wall-E with my hubby

Dear Friends

Us, and our dear friends, the Grahams,
after 7 wonderful days together. :)

My First Act of Motherhood

So we've received all of our home study and dossier paperwork at this point. A tad bit overwhelming already. But, here's the truth: it is a JOY and an HONOR to work through it - the birth certificates, marriage license, passports, fingerprinting, home study, references, criminal checks, medical checks, employment checks, photographs, state certifications, notarizations...

Just like carrying a baby in the womb and giving birth can be overwhelming and unpredictable, so too seems the journey to our little one across the globe. When I have been pregnant with each of our four biological kiddos, two of whom are in heaven, I have considered pregnancy and childbirth to be my first gift to them, my first act of motherhood. I feel that now for this child. My first gift to him or her, my first act of motherhood, is working diligently - but with a JOYFUL HEART - to bring this little one home. HOME.

There is nothing I would rather spend my time doing.

My New Trick

When I want to be productive, I put on an apron. It makes me feel domestically confident and ready for hard work. Put on some earrings, and I can easily imagine myself as a happy homemaker of the 1950s.

Try it; it works.

Anticipating Their Arrival...

Good friends, Marc and Jill, and their two little ones are scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning. We're looking forward to our week with them.

What is it about old friends? Those people who knew you as you once were - pre-degree, pre-job, pre-house, pre-kids, pre-adult? There's something so precious to me about returning to those people, and remembering...

When I was younger, I always wondered why my parents and grandparents told the same stories of their lives over and over again. And now I know...it's not for the listener's benefit; it's for the teller's. And oh, the joy that telling brings me!

Sweet Corn

Our lovely next-door neighbors whose parents/siblings farm nearby brought us an entire trunk full of sweet corn last night!

After 3 hours of husking, scrubbing, cutting, blanching, packaging, and freezing, we now have 10 quarts of sweet corn to enjoy during those long upcoming winter months.

I LOVE turning homegrown food into something our family can enjoy and use - and NOT spend $$$ on. How incredibly fulfilling.

County Fair

An evening at the county fair. :)

Rides, animals, and root beer floats.

And about 20 - "Hi, Mr. LeFeber"s

And, wouldn't you know, the camera ran out of batteries before we snapped even one picture. Ah well...

SO excited to think about taking 3 little ones to the 2010 county fair.

Longing to meet our next addition...

DAYBOOK #1

Outside my window…
Sun, breeze, 76 degrees in July – perfect.

I am thinking…
About how much I love simple things

I am thankful for…
My washing machine – couldn’t handle all of the “accidents” around here without it

From the learning rooms…
Richard Scarry’s Please and Thank You book

From the kitchen…
BLTs, blueberries, and 7up

I am creating…
A song to teach the girls the names of the countries and their capitals

I am going…
To work for a few hours this afternoon, to break up the week a bit

I am reading…
The Strength of Mercy: Making a Difference in the World One Child at a Time by Jan Beazely

I am hoping…
To make it to the library by myself today either before or after work

I am hearing…
Birds outside and child-noises in

Around the house…
Got two loads of laundry done and folded this morning; made some homemade tomato sauce from our garden tomatoes; toys are everywhere

A few plans for the week…

Going to the dentist Friday morning, taking the girls along so they’ll be ready for their first “official” visit in the fall; getting adoption paperwork notarized in the school office; BBQ with friends from Lincoln; municipal band concert Sunday evening

AGCI

To all who are interested in learning about the amazing adoption agency we're working with, please see their website at www.allgodschildren.org.

Bringing You Home

To our dear little one in Ethiopia,

Your mama and daddy, and many other people, are working to bring you home.

Though you are halfway around the world, we already love you and feel connected to you.

We long to have you here, in our arms. And, prayerfully, that is where you will be in the next months.

Until then, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May He make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you HIS peace.