The Highs & Lows of our Mini-Vacation!

My good friend and college roomie, LaDonna, got married this past weekend. She lives in Springfield, MO so we decided to make a weekend out of attending her wedding and then spending a few days at Silver Dollar City.

It was quite the eventful trip! Rather than trying to tell all the stories in detail, I think I'll just list the highs and lows in chronological order as a bulleted list.

• Low - Kaden's poop explosion on the trip out, resulting in messes all over the van and his car seat, going through an entire pack of wipes, and the loss of his snow pants which had to just be thrown away.
• High - Visiting with Ryan & Sam Cannon and their kids and the fact that they were gracious enough to let Kaden take a bath at their house to get rid of the poop smell!
• High - LaDonna & David's beautiful wedding and getting to visit with Elkie, Sam, Anne, and LaKeisha. It was great to reconnect.
• Low - Kaden vomitting on the trip from Springfield to Branson.
• Low - Having to wait in a line for over 30 minutes just to get into Silver Dollar City.
• High - Kaden entertaining the waiting crowd by singing "Jingle Bells" at the top of his lungs and being told he is the best show in Branson!
• High - The amazing 5-story Christmas tree light show, light parade, Geyser Gulch ball pit, and Frosty the Snowman show at Silver Dollar City.
• High - Being very impressed that at the Frosty the Snowman show, they present the GOSPEL story to everyone present. Way to go SDC!
• Low - Branson traffic on the way to our hotel and again the next morning. It really stinks to only go 1.5 miles in 1.5 hours!
• Low - Kaden being 1/4 inch too short to ride the swings and elephant ride and him calling out to the ride operator, "But what about me?"
• High - Kaden enjoying the 3 rides he was tall enough to ride, the Living Nativity pageant, the train ride (which once again presented the Gospel!), meeting Santa, riding the Flooded Mine ride two times because Kaden loved it, and much less crowded SDC on day two!
• Low - Kaden's shoe falling in the water in the Flooded Mine. It was recovered, but unwearable the rest of the night.
• High - Stopping to see Tisha & Noah on our way home Monday.

So, that's our trip in a nutshell! There are tons of pictures and video clips to see on DropShots. I recorded the big Christmas tree and Kaden wandering around the stage at the Frosty show. Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

David & LaDonna Fraley

Tricia, Elkie, LaDonna, Sam, Keisha, & Anne

Kaden pointing with fascination at the 5-story tree

Kaden enjoying the ball launcher at Geyser Gulch

Kaden standing front & center at the Frosty the Snowman show

Kaden riding the ladybugs

Kaden and Santa

Family self-portrait on the train ride

Kaden & Noah - Look back at this post to see how they've grown in 14 months!

Adoption Update - Well, sorta!

Sigh. I know God's timing is perfect, but I sure am getting anxious about our adoption. The social worker assures me she will have our homestudy ready to send to Holt by the end of the week. I sure hope so. Until we are officially on their "list" we are not eligible to be matched with any of the waiting children that become available. They get a new batch of referrals at the beginning of each month. So, I always wonder if we have "missed out" on a perfect match because we aren't on the list yet.

I also worry because I've been hearing more and more reports of decreased referrals from South Korea. Wait times are increasing to about 2 years for the regular program. So, I have a feeling that the waiting child program will receive more applications as people attempt to shorten their wait, therby actually lengthening it for all of us already in the program! Also, South Korea has announced they will be closing all international adoptions in 2012. So, this is our last chance to get a sibling for Kaden from his same birth country. It could, in all likelyhood, take the entire 3 years for us to get our referral.

But, if that's what it takes, then that's what it takes. I used to say that I wanted my children to be 4 years apart in age anyway. So, I shouldn't be worrying about it! But, I would appreciate prayers that everything will go smoothly from here on out and that I won't be obsessed with the long wait each and every day. I need to be enjoying my time with Kaden and enjoying the here and now as opposed to wishing for the future to be here.

Thanks for letting me rant!

Long Day!

We went to the "big city" today. As usual, we tried to make the best of it by fitting as much into one day as possible. We started off with getting Christmas photos taken at Portrait Innovations. I took the very first appointment of the day so we could get in and out and get more accomplished. But, that meant that we had to leave home at 6:30 a.m. and since I didn't sleep well last night, it made for a long day. It also means that I don't think I did a very good job choosing our portrait packages from the 53 photos available. You can see all the photos at our DropShots site (if you don't know the password, contact me!). But, here are the ones we ultimately ended up printing:

After photos, we went to Target to buy a new camera. Unfortunately, our faithful little Kodak Easyshare 3.1 has bit the dust. Awhile back, Kaden got ahold of it and dropped it. The zoom button fell off. We kept trying to put it back on, but it ultimately got lost and is gone for good. So, no zooming. Then, the rechargable battery has not been working. The camera works for maybe 5 mintues at a time. Worst of all, it somtimes won't even turn on at all. We have to click back and forth between the on and off buttons and pray it will work. So, it was time for a new camera.

After camera shopping (see the results of our purchase later) we met with a friend at a great Asian restaurant called Pei Wei. It was so, so yummy! I hope we eat there again sometime soon. Then Kaden was ready for a nap, so we parked outside the mall and Ryan and I took turns going inside to just look around. After Kaden's nap, we headed to my doctor's appointment. The good news is, the doctor and I think we can put off my hysterectomy for awhile. The bad news is, it is still inevitable and will definitely need to happen. So, I am just praying for God's timing and that my pain levels will continue to remain low thanks to my new diet. It has to stay a permanent lifestyle change and not just temporary in order to keep working!

After the appointment, we hit the zoo. I love having a memebership. It paid for itself after just two visits. We have been there at least 10 times this year, so it's well worth the money. We had a great time and it was a beautiful day for walking around the zoo. We also got some great shots with the new camera. Going from a 3.1 megapixel camera to a 10.1 is quite a change!

All's well now!

I had a bit of a scare this weekend. I started to go "numb" in my arms, hands, feet, and legs. They kept falling asleep and even after they would "wake up", I'd still feel like a cold liquid was running through my veins. I was extra tired, dizzy, and had to be careful when I'd stand up. One time I got up too fast and Ryan had to catch me before I landed on the floor.

So, I went to the doctor this morning. Well, I got the riot act! It was the "Never start an extreme diet without first consulting your doctor" speech. It turns out that by cutting out all sugar, including natural ones, and cutting out yeast products, I wasn't getting any carbs at all. So, I have made myself hypoglycemic and my body is retaliating. We don't have the results of the blood tests yet, but at this point she is figuring that by allowing good carbs and natural sugars back into my diet in moderation, I will not have to be medicated and should be able to maintain my weight (I've lost over 20 pounds now since mid-July). Anyway, I am glad that Ryan forced me to go to the doctor. She said it could have gotten much worse had I continued on this way. So, lesson learned. If you start a diet, consult your doctor!

In other news, it's been 1 month today since our homestudy. Our social worker has had several delays because her mother has been in and out of the hospital. She e-mailed me today that she will be making the final changes to the report this week and will have it to Holt by the weekend. Let's just pray that Holt accepts it quickly and without any changes so that we can get the official copies and move on to the immigration paperwork!

Big boy bed!

We've been wondering how/when to get Kaden out of his crib and into a toddler bed. He never once has ever, ever tried to climb out of his crib. He's always been perfectly content in it and didn't seem too interested when we'd suggest a "big boy bed".

Well, yesterday after lunch I let him watch cartoons for awhile and he made himself a cozy little bed out of our ottomon. When the show was over I told him it was time to go upstairs for his nap. He asked if he could take his nap there on the ottomon. I figured, "This won't work." I told him he could but that if he got up and didn't go to sleep, I'd put him in his crib.

Much to my amazement, he never moved off the ottomon! He was in the family room, surrounded by toys, and just laid there until he fell asleep. I was so surprised that I told Ryan about it when he got home, and we agreed to go ahead and convert his crib to a toddler bed to see what would happen.

The first night, he slept clear through the night with no problems. He never got out of the bed before falling asleep, and he didn't even get out after he woke up in the morning. He waited for Ryan to come get him! The second night, he also did well, but did fall out of the bed. We need to buy a bumper guard. So, all in all, our fears about Kaden waking up and climbing out of bed several times a night seem to be unwarranted. He's done great!

Here's a picture of him all excited to be in his "big boy bed". He is very proud of it. He was pretending to be asleep, but was still smiling for the picture!



I taught a class on Digital Scrapbooking last night. I didn't have a lot of students, but those that came said they learned a lot. It was so fun to have my laptop hooked up to the big screen T.V. I think I could get use to that! I plugged the big screen monitor into the laptop, then used a wireless mouse & keyboard. I think it would be a great set-up to have at home. We'd have a big screen T.V. and I could use it to scrap with while sitting on the couch. Being able to see all my photos and elements that large was so fun! But, there is definitely no big screen T.V. in our future. :(


Have you heard the saying, "No news is good news"? I don't think that applies to adoption. I have not heard back from the social worker since she sent us the homestudy to proofread. I am hoping she fixed the few minor errors and got it sent to the main office for approval. But, I don't know. It's hard sometimes to just let God be in control of the adoption process. I often want to grab the reins!

I can't do math!

In my last post, I said that our adoption fundrasier was now up to $2,200. It's actually $1,700. I counted $500 of the donation twice. I think I need to go back to college! Anyway, that's still an excellent amount and we are so appreciative of our wonderful church body.

Speaking of church, we had a really fun event yesterday. We gathered as a community in the park for a wonderful pork roast picnic. Kaden's favorite part of the festivities was the giant inflatable slide. He went down with a few of the local college guys first and then with Ryan. Eventually, he wanted to go by himself. He's such a little daredevil!




We got a rough draft of our homestudy today. Our social worker's mom is not doing well and has been in and out of the hosptial. So, she's not sure when she'll be able to get it edited and sent to the main Holt office, but hopefully it won't be too much longer. Once they approve it, we will receive an official, notarized copy to send on to immigration. We'll have to be fingerprinted through the FBI to receive federal clearance. Then all that is left to do is to wait for a referral and try to save up as much money as possible for the invoice that accompanies it!

God is so good!

Sometimes God just knocks your socks off! Today we got a check from our church treasurer. We had received a few checks in our fundraiser bottles last week that were made out to the church, not us. So, she took them and then wrote one check to us. Added together, the checks totaled $500, half of the total amount we raised.

Well, when we opened the envelope and saw the check we about fell over. Apparently a few more checks trickled in for the fundraiser. With the addition of these new donations, our new total is......get ready for it......drumroll please.......

$2,200!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am shock. Thank you so much everyone. I was so excited to have enough money to pay the USCIS fee. Now we also actually have a "nest egg" started toward the BIG fee that will come at the time of our baby's referral. It's great to know that we are another $1,000 closer toward being able to pay that huge invoice without taking out a ridiculously large loan. God knows what we can and can't handle and God is GOOD!

In the name of Jesus!

A few months ago, Kaden started waking up several times at night because he'd had a bad dream. We taught him that when he was scared, he could call on Jesus to make the scary things go away. It definitely helped, because we'd hear him call out to Jesus in the middle of the night, and then he'd go right back to sleep.

Lately, Kaden has been "scared" of everything. I don't know if it's because of the Halloween season or what, but he's become quite the scaredy cat. He also uses it as a convenient excuse. If we need to go change his diaper he says, "We can't go upstairs to change my diaper. There are monsters in my closet." If I ask him to go get his shoes so we can go somehwere, "I can't get them by myself. I'm too scared."

Well, the other day we were at my parent's house. My mom asked Kaden to go into their office to get something. Kaden replied, "I can't. There's an alligator in the office. I'm scared of alligators." Here's how the rest of the conversation went:

T: There is no alligator in the office Kaden.
K: Yes, there is.
T: No, there's not. Now get in there.
K: But, I'm scared.

At this point, I started to tell mom about how he's scared of everything these days. While talking, I saw him inching closer and closer to the closet door. Then all of a sudden, he put his hand out in front of him and said in his most evangelistic voice:

"In the name of JESUS alligator!"

Then he walked right into the office. It was sooooooooo funny!

This past week was a lot of fun because Ryan's parents were here from Indiana. Kaden had a great time with Mam Maw and Pap Paw. He was very sad when it was time for them to leave and told them he wanted to go to Farmland too! I think we convinced him that he should stay here with Mommy & Daddy. But, we promised him that we are going to go to Indiana after his birthday sometime in May.

So, later that day, after they had left, Kaden and I had the following conversation.

K: I'm 3
T: No, you're 2
K: I'm 3
T: Kaden, you're 2. You haven't had your birthday yet.
K: But I want to be 3 so we can go to Indiana.

How he put all that together himself is beyond me! I am constantly amazed at my little guy's intelligence.

Harvest Farms & Adoption Update

Saturday we took Kaden to Harvest Farms to pick a pumpkin. It was so much fun! They had a great play area, a petting zoo, a hayride, and lots of other fun activites. Of course, there was pumpkin picking as well. Here is a scrapbook page of the festivities. I'm blaming Ye-In for the top photo! He had just taken his other hand down off his face when I snapped the shot.



After the pumpkin patch, we went out to eat to celebrate Ryan's 32nd birthday. He is now as old as me! Sometimes I really hate being the "older" woman. I had to turn 30 first, will turn 40 first, will turn 50 first, etc.!

In adoption news, we haven't heard anything yet since our last update. I am really hoping that our social worker was able to get our homestudy typed up this past weekend as planned. If she did, then she should be calling or e-mailing soon to let us know that it's done. Then she will fax it to us to proofread. Once that is done, it must be approved by the main agency office. Once it's approved, she will make the official signed, stamped copies and we will be "officially" waiting!

After we receive our official signed, stamped copy of the homestudy, we submit it along with a form called the I-600A, official copies of our birth certificates and marriage liscence, and a hefty to check to the immigration department. We already paid out twice as much for the homestudy itself. So, we decided to do a fundraiser through our church to raise the money for the immigration paperwork fee and to recoup the cost of the homestudy.

We handed out baby bottles and prayer cards two weeks ago and asked everyone to fill them up with change and return them in two weeks, which was yesterday. During Kaden's afternoon nap, Ryan counted and sorted all the change. There was over $200 just in coins! When you add in the checks and cash that were received as well, the grand total came to $918!!! Do we have an awesome church body, or what? Since the immigration fee is $965, this is perfect. We can't thank everyone enough for their support.

When Kaden woke up, came downstairs, and saw all the money laying on our coffee table, his eyes got really big and he said, "Whoa. Is that money for me? I'm gonna need a bigger piggy bank!" Ryan did his best to explain that the money was not for him and what it was going to be used toward. So then Kaden said, "Oh. It's my sister's money." He understands much more than we give him credit for sometimes.

Catch the Blog Train!

We're having a great party over at All Things Visual. Come join the fun! There's games, challenges, freebies, prizes, and a chance to win a $20 gift certificate. Plus, check out Kelley's new products including hybrid albums. Ride our blog train and collect enough quickpages to fill a Maya Road 5-ring album. You can snag my contributions (pictured below) by clicking HERE. Then go on to Lynette's blog to pick up two more great pages and the next blog link!


Speaking of hybrid Maya Road albums, I recently completed one! I took all of the layouts I have created using Kelley's products and resized them to fit onto these cute cards. I decorated the box using "Cowgirl's Dream". I'm really happy with how it turned out. To see the full-size versions of each of the layouts, just go to my gallery. The card box and cards are available HERE.

Join the Party!

Yours truly is hosting a template challenge on Saturday, October 18 at 1:00 p.m. in the All Things Visual party forum. One lucky winner will receive a $5 gift certificate to the store!

Also, check back here on Friday. We are having a blog train and will be giving pieces to complete a full 5-ring tab album by Maya Road. Kelley now has these available at All Things Visual. You can see the album here. You don't want to miss the beautiful quickpages we've created for it!

Quick Update

It turns out we don't need the Indiana background check after all. Yay! The State of Kansas only requires that you go back 5 years and Ryan has lived here for 11 now, so no problem.

Also, I have updated the subscription section of my blog. Apparently the one I was using before went out of business. So, to subscribe, simply enter your e-mail in the field to the right. Then you can have my blog entries sent directly to your e-mail, and you don't have to remember to check the blog. It's much easier to keep up that way. I subscribe to several blogs and would be lost without FeedBlitz!

We had our homestudy today!

We had our homestudy visit today. It went really well, but we found out that we need to have another background check done for Ryan. Because of the Adam Walsh act, you have to have clearance from every state you have lived in since age 18 in order to adopt. We didn't know this before, so now I'm going crazy trying to figure out how to get the appropriate forms. Those of you in Indiana, I'd appreciate your help in acquring these!

Anyway, once the background check has cleared, our social worker will type up the homestudy report and fax it to us to proofread. She'll then make any necessary corrections and send it to the main Holt office. They will approve it or ask her to make changes. Once it's approved, she will make 6 official, notarized copies and send them back to the main office. Then we'll get a copy to submit with our USCIS paperwork and we will OFFICIALLY be on the waiting list for our little girl! Yeah!

We are doing a fundraiser through our church to help offset the cost of the homestudy and USCIS fees. We have also asked for prayer for patience, provision, perfect timing, paperwork, and peace. Right now, paperwork is the really big one!

Here's a picture of our family taken today. I can't wait until there is a 4th member!

It's a Boy!

My sister delivered a beautiful baby boy today.  He was born at 4:48 p.m. and weighed 8 lbs., 14 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long.  Emily had been scheduled to be induced this morning, but went into labor on her own while getting ready to go to the hospital!  She was in labor for 10 hours before the doctor ultimately ended up taking Isaiah via C-section.  Emily had invited me to witness the birth, so I was disappointed to miss out that experience, but just wanted what was best for my sister and nephew.  Her labor never progressed to where it needed to go, even after receiving patonin (sp?), and with Isaiah's size, the doctor felt a C-section was in Emily's best interest.

Here are some pictures of the big day.  It is now way past time for me to be in bed!

Is it really October?

Where did September go? Man time seems to be flying by these days. Ryan is busy harvesting, but should be done this week. Yeah! Before we know it, he'll be full time with the phone company. We are looking forward to having him home in the evenings.

This past weekend, we went to a picnic for families who have adopted through Holt International. It was so fun to connect with other adoptive families. Kaden had a great time. He still doesn't do very well playing with other kids. He prefers to be with adults. But, he did pretty well about waiting his turn, not pushing and shoving, etc. so I think we are headed in the right direction. They had a really fun playground at the picnic and he didn't want to leave.



I was able to speak with our social worker at the picnic. She will be coming to do our homestudy either October 11 or 12. Hurray! I am so glad to finally have this scheduled. Now I just need to work, work, work on getting the house ready.

I went to the sack sales today to get some great deals on new clothes. I was able to fill two sacks full and pay only $10 for a bunch of clothing for myself, Kaden, and our future daughter. They never have much in the men's department, so Ryan missed out! But, I was in desperate need of some clothing that actually fits since I lost 15 pounds since July 15. I am planning on losing even more (need to start exercising now and not just dieting), so I didn't want to spend a lot of money on clothing that will, hopefully, not fit in a few months. That's why I love sack sales!

Tractors and Toilet Paper

Kaden got to ride in the tractor with Daddy today. He loves to do that and once Ryan begins full-time at the phone company he won't get as many chances. So, I plan to let him ride with Ryan as much as he wants during the upcoming harvest!

As we were in the van and leaving town to go out to the farm, I noticed something blowing in the wind down the street near my parents' house. So, we drove past there to investigate. It turns out they were TP'd! Since we live in a college town and Dad works there, this happens at least once a year.

So, I parked the car and pointed it out to Kaden. Then we had the following conversation:

Me: "Kaden, what's that in Grandpa & Grandma's trees?"
K: "I don't know."
Me: "It's toilet paper."
K: "Ewwww.......that's nasty! Toilet paper goes in the potty, not trees!"

In his cute toddler voice, it sounded more like, "Ewwww.....dat's naseee! Toewet papuh goez in da poddy, nawht twees!"

Most kids would say "gross" or "icky". But, I do tend to use the word "nasty" quite often and so does Ryan, so I know Kaden picked it up from us. He has quite the vocabulary!

More Kaden Funnies

Kaden has picked up on some things from Ryan. They, luckily, are good things and a credit to his character. Ryan is always very complimentary of me and often tells me how nice I look or how much he likes what I am wearing. So, every morning now Kaden compliments me on my appearance.

Now here's the funny part! Kaden is too young yet to know what is appropriate to comment on and what is not! Here's what he had to say today as I was getting dressed:

"Mommy, I like your green bra. It's very pretty."
(Yes, I have a green bra.)

And as we put clothes in the dryer later today:

"Is this your yellow underwear Mommy? I like it a lot!"
Then he proceeded to put it on his head and shout "Underwear, underwear, underwear!"

Oh my! He does compliment me on my outwear as well, so that's a relief. He's also picked up on other things from Ryan too. Ryan rarely calls me by my name. He usually refers to me as "Hon", "Babe", or "Funny Bunny". So, I'll give you three guesses what Kaden's been calling me lately!

"Can I have a snack hon?"
"Thanks for getting my teddy bear babe."
"Funny Bunny! Funny Bunny! I need my sippy cup."

Usually when he does this I just look around as if trying to find another person in the room and then ask, "Who are you talking to?" Then he smiles and says, "Mommy! I mean Mommy!"

Finally, he has listened in on enough of our conversations to have figured out that we have other names that other people call us. The other day Ryan and I were having a conversation and apparently Kaden didn't feel we were giving him enough attention. He yelled at us, "Hey! Ryan and Tricia!"

We have quite the precocious 2-year-old!

Our part's done!

We received our homestudy packet yesterday. Since we've done this before, I knew exactly what would be in it and had prepared as much ahead of time as I could. So, this morning, I sent it all back to her. That means everything we can do to be ready for the homestudy has been done (paperwork wise). Now we'll just be waiting on our references to get in and the KBI & SRS background checks. Once those have been received they will invoice us and schedule a date for the homestudy. I really hope it can be done soon. I hate waiting!

But, while we wait, we have a lot of housework to do. They don't like to see any peeling paint or any type of remodeling at all. We have to have a "safe" environment for the children. So, since our house is very old, we have a lot of work to do to get it up to snuff. It's amazing how much it has deteriorated just in the past 3 years since Kaden's homestudy. There was no peeling paint back then.

Anyway, things are progressing. The case worker has recommended that we go ahead and put in our waiting child application too. I was going to wait until our homestudy was complete, but she said the wait list is long enough that it would be better to get on now. The chances of us getting a referral before the homestudy is complete is very unlikely. So, we might as well have our names in the queue so that when it is ready, so are we!

I think we are going to be launching a fundraiser soon. The homestudy fee and I-600A fee (which is filed with the homestudy) have both gone up significantly since Kaden's process. It will be $3,000 total. So, we are going to distribute baby bottles at church and ask people to fill it up with change for us. Every little bit will help. I'm trying not to freak out ahead of time about the $20,000 bill that we'll get with the referral. God will figure it all out, but it sure is daunting.

Adoption Update

Well, it's been 2 weeks now since we submitted our application for baby #2. Time is already going quickly! We still haven't received our homestudy packet, but there was a message on our answering machine earlier from the case worker. So, I'm guessing she was calling to let us know it's on the way.

We missed her call because we had full morning. We left home at 7:45 and drove to the police station where we were fingerprinted. After that, I had a doctor's appointment while Ryan had a dentist appointment. Then we switched and I went to the dentist while he went to the doctor. Finally, be both had HIV and tuberculosis tests. So, at least we got several steps of the homestudy done and out of the way without even having the packet yet!

When we do receive the packet we will be faced with a mountain of paperwork. The fingerprint cards will need to be sent to the KBI along with payment to have background checks run. We will also have to send a form to SRS with payment to be cleared with them as well. Then there's the ever-so-fun 16 page questionarie full of personal questions to complete. Add to that a full financial worksheet/statement, employment verifications, certified copies of birth and marriage certificates, and you pretty much have our entire life on paper! After Holt receives all of this plus our medical reports from today and our personal references, we will be able to proceed with the actual homestudy. Oh, and don't forget the payment for that! They won't schedule the homestudy until that hefty check has been sent.

We would appreciate your prayers as we continue to jump over the hurdles that are adoption. If the above list sounded bad, wait until you hear about the I-600A, I-600, FBI fingerprinting/background checks, I-864, etc., etc. When we do finally get a referral and accept, we have about 16 documents that have to be signed and notarized in QUADRUPLICATE!!!

But, all the hoops are worth it. We are very excited to be on this journey for a second time. Kaden is such a blessing and we know God has big things in store for us with baby #2. I saw a T-Shirt the online that I would like to save up to buy (it's $29.50 which is a bit pricey to me). But, I love what it says:

WARNING!

I am in love with a child I haven't met yet.

I am in the process of adoption.

I am subject to cry at any moment.

Please bear with me until my referral comes.

EDIT: The case worker just called back. She is going to send me everything she can electronically so we can get the ball rolling. The added benefit to this method is that I can just fill everything in on the computer and e-mail the documents back. It saves postage! The other great news is that we don't have to do the full 16-page questionnaire again. She said to simply update any information that needs updated and leave the rest blank. They asked a lot of questions about our childhood, how we met, etc. Since all that information stays the same, we don't have to fill it all out again. Hooray!

Gotcha Day #2

Can you believe Kaden has been home for 2 years already?  I'll never forget that monumental day 2 years ago.  I was so excited and nervous about meeting my baby boy for the first time.  I could have never imagined the joy and happiness that lay ahead for me!

We had a great time celebrating with Kaden.  We took him to the zoo and then let him choose where we ate lunch.  Of course, he chose McDonald's!  Then we did some shopping and met my parents for dinner.  Kaden got presents and got to eat pizza.  I think he'd agree it was a great day!

We also told Kaden his Gotcha Day story.  He grinned ear to ear as we told him how excited we were to meet him and how it was the best day of our lives.  He is very proud of his story and I hope he always will be.  We love you sweet boy!

Here's some pictures of our special day: