The waiting game

I can be frustrated and annoyed but I wont (its been since July that any medical check-up was done and the doctor is now "on leave")....since its November and the time to be thankful, (well, thats really any time)- I am going to be thankful- Thankful we have already seen little man S's face and never spent a day on the wait list (we went right through the WC program), thankful our dossier has been been sent to Ethiopia, thankful that the prices I am researching for February flights are cheap (really, this looks to be a great time to fly, even if its 2 months later than I thought we would go), thankful that I have an amazing husband that does so much around the house so I can work two jobs and go to school (this will change when S gets here....but its my reality right now), thankful I have an amazing 6 year old who will be 7 in just three weeks- and he is just the smartest, most inquisitive child i have yet to meet (and I am a teacher), thankful that the money is almost all together- after a grant I get in January we will have all our travel money; thankful for Thanksgiving break and Winterbreak coming up- of which i never have to worry about taking time off b/c I am in education !

...i am just hoping for a court date and update soon......
Little Man S has club feet and has had at least two surgeries and is supposed to be in casts/braces. I have yet to see these braces in any picture which has me concerned. So during the holiday break I shall be researching this big time, and hope to have some sort of medical update to go from. The one I got in August (which was actually done in July) says he is walking and such...mentions the "pop-casts" he is wearing, but no pictures show those....I did get actual pictures of his feet in September (her was sitting on a baby potty- yay, potty training).... so those are what we are going with now....
I have found a OT therapy place, that also helps with sensory issues and Autism/aspergers etc - so its a great place for motor as well as some emotional/social issues

A long weekend

We have been busy...the last of our agency fees are due this month so that we can get submitted to court after the translation of all our documents. We also got a letter stating that all our visa materials were already sent to Ethiopia....fun fun
I went to Washington DC for the Rally for Sanity and had a blast. I ate Ethiopian foodin Adams Morgan at the very same place I first ate ET food nearly 10 years ago....how amazing what 10 years does!
We are still waiting more updates on S, Its been over 3 months and it has becone upsetting. Gabe and John hit the neighborhood and had a great time tirck or treating...i think there were some tricks!

IMMIGRATION FORMS ARE ALLIN!

Just when i was starting to scour my emails tofind the immigration case worker- we got our I17H! Our dossier was officially accepted by Holt on October 12th and now this completes everything! All we do now is wait, work , plan, save and get one more round of shots....oh wait, and buy airline tickets (of course that wont be until we get the email/call about a court date)
Whew....it feels like such a long time, but really its just been since May- 6 months of compiling paperwork,interviews, committee meetings and forms upon forms to be notarized. I am hiping for an update on S soon. We havent seen new pictures since mid July...ugh

Dossier is on its way!!!

This evening we finally got the dossier, and copy off to HOLT. I finally feel like we have everything we need in...whew....now we just wait and wait...and plan :) Our family book will, hopefully, soon get to Little Man S. We haven't gotten any updates since mid July though :( I am hoping for one any day now. School and work has been busy and stressful. However, I did get a 97.5% on my first paper this semester! Gabe and John have been doing cubscout stuff, very cute.

progress and more!

Well well in the last two weeks we have made progress...fingerprints in, immunizations started, dossier set to go- and it shall be sent out tomorrow/Monday. I am waiting for my social workers notarized liscense...they gave me unnotarized copies which did me no good- I was told i could not get them notarized as pertaining to me b/c my signature wasn't on them. Ugh....needless to say the agency is an hour and a half away. They are being overnighted to me...so once they are here (tomorrow) they shall be copies and then put in our big dossier package and OFF IT WILL GO!! sosos happy finally to get it out...HAPPY OCTOBER! Its my favorite month of the year, and not ponly because of my name heheh.
Also our fundraising shirts are on the way :) plus more coffee....the next thing we are getting ready for is our Halloweenie Roast!

PRE-ORDER YOUR SIMPLY LOVE T-SHIRTS NOW!

Hi all and happy FRIDAY! We are kicking off the weekend with our t-shirt fundraiser
We are having a t-shirt sale to fundraise for the newly required 2nd trip to Ethiopia, additional airefare aint cheap!!!. Shirts come in S, M ,L, XL and in one of three designs- one is more manly (but i still like it) and one is kinda more femine, the blue.teal is in the middle :)


There is Simply Love Choc/Teal (womens vintage fit)

Simply Love Black/Teal (more unisex)

Simply Love "Man Up" in a darker army/muted green and red

I am attaching the three designs. Prices are $25 and I accept pay pal. My pay pal account is through "autumnperkins@gmail.com" or you can link to it though the donate button on my blog- over there to the right!!!. In the comments make sure to tell me what size and design.

I need to place an order of at least 25, so I will probably go ahead and pre-oder mainly mediums, larges and XLs. Let me know what "man" size you may need (I will probably preorder alot of XLs) AND of course let me know which of the 3 designs you would like



ALSO- On Oct 23rd, a Saturday, we plan on having a fall family festival "Halloweenie Roast" (plus maybe marshmallows and a haunted candy trail)- an EVITE will follow. I will have shirts by then, as well as some more information about the adoption process in general (we are going to a conference in Atlanta the week prior and will have a good deal of information for people interested in a variety of countires), information on possible court dates and Ethiopian coffee for sale too. BRING THE KIDS! It will be 5-9pm, with dinner-snacky foods and other things.

Thanks for all your support in this huge endevor

16 days til finger prints

Hi hi- i have been going through dossier materials this morning and realized I need a new copy of my employment letter, and can pick that up next week. Otherwise, its time to get it all notaorized, copied and packaged up. I think I am going to follow what another family who is doing the WC child program with Holt and send in the dossier right after we get our finger prints so they can review and we will send the 171H as soon as we get it.
Other siwe we are just waiting...i am folloiwng one awesome blog with a new little 2 year old who just got home last week...and now realize that we must have a plan for our "wooshas" (dogs) since our Little Man S will most likley be afraid of them.
I am not sure we have mentioned this, but we plan on using the name Micah. Not sure if it will be a middle name or his first name. His S name was not given to him by his family or even the nuns who love him so. It wasgiven to him by the police officer who found him. It is important b/c it is what his caretakers know him as- but we want him to have a name from his *family*. We will see how it goes. For today WE ARE GOING TO GET ETHIOPIAN FOOD!! mmmmm mmmmm good!