Hannah Montana???

Collette got a Hannah Montana wig for xmas. So we of course had to try it on!!! Who do you think makes the best Hannah Montana????

So close, yet so far

Adoption update: I was looking at the unofficial list for the waitlist and we are 13th on the list. Which is where we have been for the last week. So I am counting and I realize we are 2nd, that's right 2nd in line for either gender(AKA a boy)...AHHHHH...Ok trying to pull it together. I thought we were 4th, not 2nd. And 2nd to people that we know. All this to say, there is still no telling when we will get a referral. But we are very close!!! So, much to do, so little time. Elliot will be with us before we know it. Please continue to pray for our family as we are going through this process. Also, pray for our baby and their family.

Pictures are hard to upload right now , but I will get some up as soon as I can.

Where the heck did the time go???

You probably thought that we had fallen off the face of the earth. Not so...We are just super busy. Where to begin, I am working full time in L&D and loving it! I work nights so flip flopping is a challenge, at times. It seems to be working well for us though. Troy has had some interesting job developments over the last few months. He lost his main client back in July and that has really put us in a bind. We basically have been living off of my income, which is less then half of what Troy was making. So we have been cutting back a lot. We have also had some really generous people help us out. I don't think that we could have survived the last few months without these people. Thanks you to those that have helped! A month ago, we decided that Troy should start looking for full time work. He has been on several interviews and thankfully God has blessed us. He started a job today! Praise God!!!

Where are the kids in all of this? Well, we enrolled the kids in day school at our church. So, on Tuesday and Thursday they are there and loving it. That leaves us with just one day every other week that we need a sitter. We have that all worked out already! On Friday we have our homeschool co-op. The kids are enjoying this as well. Collette has been playing soccer and loving it. She has her last game this Saturday. So far her team has gone undefeated! Dakota is getting ready to be 2 years old. I can't believe he is that old. He is still such a sweet boy. But man, is he ever a boy. He loves playing ball, cars, blocks, or guns. He keeps us on our toes. He is talking more, except Troy and I are the only ones who can understand him.

Adoption update: We are 4 months in on the waiting list. I am excited and nervous all at the same time. Average wait time is 8 months, so we are more then half way there. It is really a quiet time and it helps that we are so busy. It makes me look back at the last 4 months and think, Where did all that time go? We are ready to see our baby and find out if it is a boy or a girl. It will happen in God's time. We are just praying for a healthy, happy baby.

I will post pics as soon as I get a chance. In the meantime enjoy the update. Hopefully, I will be back on her sooner than 4 months.

Wait Listed!!!

It is offical...we are on the wait list as of yesterday. We are so excited to be to this next step. I called last night to tell Troy the news. He laughed and said "It's weird, I feel the same way I felt when you told me we were pregnant with the other two...nervous. There's no turning back now." So, we are officially "adoption pregnant"!!!

Our baby name is: Elliott

This will be our baby name for a boy or girl. We picked out one name so that we could have something to call the baby, before we know what it is. Also, so that the kids can get used to the name and the idea of a new baby. We did this when we were pregnant with Dakota and it made not knowing what he was that much easier.

I will post pics soon.

Stamp of Approval

We got our CIS approval in the mail on Friday!!! It was 4:45pm, I get the the mail box and it has finally arrived! At that moment I realized that we only had 15 minutes to make it to FedEx before the notary leaves. Then we would have to wait until Monday...ugh. So, we drive as quickly as possible, get the form notarized, and get it all mailed to KBS Dossier. Whew! We are so excited because now we will get to be put on the waiting list. One more step closer to our next baby. We should be officially on the waiting list this week! I will post baby name as soon as we get to that point.

Collette is so ready for a new baby. She prays for "Our new baby" every night before she goes to bed. What a great big sister she is. Dakota, on the other hand, still has no idea what is to come. Hopefully he will be a great big brother, as well.

Family Pics

Here are some family pics that we had done recently! These are a few of my favorites. I am so excited about how they turned out. The problem I have now is deciding which ones to order.

Sorry It's been so long since I have updated this. We got our fingerprints done and now we are waiting on CIS approval. We are so close to the waiting list!

Update

All of our documents have been authenticated without any glitches! All we are waiting on right now is the CIS approval. We are so close to the waiting list...I can feel it! Check back the first part of June because that is when I am estimating us being on the list.

I Did It!!!

Dakota is not my talkative child by any means. He can say Dada, Mama, dog, ball, but mostly he points and says "da". So I was shocked today when he looked at me and said "I did it!" I thought maybe I was hearing things, but a few seconds later he said it again. This time my friend, Carie, heard him and confirmed that she heard the same thing. Later this evening I was telling Troy the story and not 10 minutes later Dakota says it again! So, I had to try and get it on film. This video is him saying "I did it!" Fair warning though, it is toward the end of the almost 2 minute video. So please wait for it...you will know when you hear it. The boy has been holding out on us. I am so proud that he can talk!

Fingerprinting...at last

We have a date set for our fingerprinting. It is May 20th! Does anyone remember how long it takes to get CIS approval after the fingerprinting? I would like an idea of how much longer, roughly, until we are on the waiting list. I can see the light at the end of the paper tunnel!!! We are so ready to be on the waiting list. As soon as we are on the list I will post and let you know what we are going to name the baby. Yes, we already have a mane because I need to be able to all this kid something before we know what it is. We did this when we were pregnant with Dakota. We had decided that we were not going to find out what we were having until he was born. So instead we picked out a name that we liked and could use for either a boy or a girl. It made the not finding out a whole lot easier because we had a name that the baby could go by. We are kind of using the same thought process for this one. If we have a name then the transition and wait will be a lot easier for us and the kiddos. So, stay tuned to for us to announce waitlist and our little one's name!

Easter Fun

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Long and Winding Road...of Adoption

We have been Gladney approved! All of our paperwork for Glsdney is done. Our homestudy should be in the hands of the state. All of our dossier paperwork is in the mail and should be to KBS Dossier early next week. Now we have to wait on state, CIS, approval and finger printing for CIS. Then we are on to the wait list!!!! Troy and I are so excited to be mostly done with the paperwork. There were several documents that were such a pain to get completed. Oh well, we are just happy to be where we are in the process. We will keep you updated as to when we get CIS approval.

March Fun

Here is a video of some of the things the kids have done in March. Collette has started playing soccer with Tyler. Their team name is the Tigers. They are pretty good at the sport and they like to play. Collette is still doing very well with homeschool. She loves to write her letters. She is starting to learn how to write her lower case letters. She is also doing good with counting higher and recognizing numbers. Dakota is getting so big. He can walk really well now and he prefers that to crawling. He is getting close to running...watch out. He loves to play catch and to throw the ball. He throws it and then just giggles. It is so cute.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Adoption stuff: We are going to be sending all of our dossier paperwork to KBS Dossier as of tomorrow! There were 2 pieces of paper holding us up. We finally got those taken care of today. We got an email today stating that the final copy of our homestudy has been sent to Gladney. Hopefully by the end of this week it will be on its way to CIS. Then we have to wait for CIS approval. It takes roughly 60 days once they get our homestudy. We are getting closer to being on the waiting list. Please pray that all of this goes fast and smooth. We are really tired of doing paperwork...no really, it sucks.

Down Memory Lane

I was at church tonight and I got a little sidetracked. I didn't make it to class on time so I spent most of my night talking to others in the hall...I know, don't judge. Anyway, I was in the library looking for some books on baptism, for our children's ministry. I ran across some old pics from VBS 1970 and lots of other events. Among the pictures there was a Church of Christ directory from 1970. I cracked it open and there on the first page was an advertisement for a friend of my grandfathers. I thought, oh my, how cool is this. I continued to thumb through the directory and found several names that stood out including my Dad's family, when he was in high school. I turned the page and that's where I saw this add:


I was so excited to see this. This is my Great Grandmother, Mary Smith. She was an Interior Designer for Sears. It was so cool to see this pic and so many memories resurfaced as I looked at it. It was great to walk down memory lane and to see some familiar faces. I remember all the dolls that my she made for us. The countless number of sleepovers that we had at her house. All of her beautiful clothes that she kept in her cedar closet, I can still smell it. Her hot pink round bed with matching curtains. Playing the organ for hours at her house. Mostly, I remember her love for us. I love and miss you, Grandmother Smith. It was great to relive old memories. I hope that my family enjoys this as much as I did.



New post about the kiddos and our family soon! Sorry for the wait.

Happy V-day!

Happy Valentine's Day! This is the kids eating all the yummy treats that they were given. They say "Thanks, Grandma & Papa and Megs & Papa!" Troy and I say, "Yeah, thanks...next time you get to clean them up."
Really though, thanks for thinking of the kiddos they are very happy with all of the gifts.

I PASSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God is Good! Enough said...

NCLEX Woes

Sorry for the length of time between posts. I have been studying, working, and spending time with the family. So, here I am post NCLEX. AHHHHHHH. I took the test this morning. I went in at 730AM and by 905AM I was done...DONE. I had 75 questions(the minimum that you can have on this test). My computer went grey and all I could think was "NO, it's not suppose to be over that soon." I got up, left the testing center and there was Paula, fellow nursing student, waiting on me. She had done the exact same thing, 75 questions and then off. So, Now we have to wait until Sunday to find out our results. All of this being said, I am stressed out. I go back and forth between I passed, I failed, I passed, I failed. I will know soon enough, but for now I will stay busy and try not to think about it.

In other news: the kiddos are good. Collette is ready for me to be home more. She is still loving homeschool and asks if we are having homeschool. I love that she is so excited to learn new things. We are signing her up for soccer. She is so excited. Dakota is getting really stable with the walking. He still prefers crawling because it is quicker. He is really generous with giving out kissses to anyone who is close. It is very sweet and very slobbery. I love it though, my little cuddle bug. Troy is staying busy with work and helping me keep up with the kids.

Adoption news: Most of our application is turned in. We are waiting on one report to be turned back into us. Then we will be done with that part. We are going to start out dossier within the next couple of weeks. Paperwork is so icky. We are slowly moving forward.

So, he can do it!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We are so excited that Dakota is starting to walk. I told Troy that one day he was just going to take off and sure enough that is what he did. The other day he stood up holding onto a chair then he let go and took 3 or 4 steps. This boy has been holding out on us! Let the trouble begin.

I will post Xmas pics real soon. Sorry...I'm behind.

Adoption note: We mailed in the first part of our application today. We are getting there, slowly.