Paper Chase

Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God

and into the patience of Christ. 2 Thess. 3:5

We got our home agency packet on Tuesday and wow! It's a lot! We should be getting our agency packet today with contract, etc. as well. I'll be honest, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with everything we are going to have to do on top of getting this place ready for our home study visit. We've done a lot already - handed out reference letters, started our autobiographies about our entire lives, signed on dotted lines, made dr. appointments, etc. We are also knee deep in garage sale preparations and selling things on Criag's List (a lot of disappointments and mishaps unfortunately)... I am resting in knowing that God is giving us the strength, endurance, patience and peace to get everything done - getting that much closer to our sweet one.

Wizard of Poz

For about a month now, Claire has been asking about watching the "Wizard of Poz" - not sure why the P is in there but it's super cute! I hesitated because I didn't want the monkeys and witch to be too scary. Well, she watched it and LOVES it! She loves the singing and the characters. Her favorite being the "munch-ins" =) She said she wanted to be a "munch-in" for Halloween this year but I'm thinking I might have convinced her Dorothy would be fun because she has cool red shoes! There are a number of parts that we skip. On Sunday, she wanted to watch the tornado at the beginning and as soon as it started, both girl's snuck into the tent. We caught these pictures as they couldn't resist watching what would happen next...

17 months - What she loves

I wonder how many months I'll go for Eden's updates? =) She still changes so much and I love to remember what she enjoys at this age.

She loves to make us laugh, she loves to "tell" us what she thinks, she loves to do what she does on her own time, She loves to have fits, she loves pretending, she loves coming up to your leg and moving her hands to pick her up and then finding anything and everything on counters, shelves, etc for you to pick up for her! Pillows - she LOVES pillows! She will throw herself on them all day long and this girl LOVES to EAT! If someone is eating, she's gotta have it. As in the words of her great-grandma Ann "I've never seen a baby eat so much!"

Here are some pics and one video (her twirling) from the past couple of weeks with some of the other things she is loving right now:

Shoes - if there are any laying around, she'll try all day to put them on - BY HERSELF of course =) Here she is with Mama's slippers...

And here she is with Claire's tennis shoes one! We have a shoe lover on our hands!

This girl LOVES to dance - she'll pump her arm and her latest dance move is twirling as long as she can till she gets crazy dizzy!! Here is the CUTEST video =) (Don't worry! I was watching her close in case she was heading for anything sharp like those cabinet corners! It still makes me nervous just watching it!)

Eden loves chairs that are just her size! This has been an on going love from a couple months before but these pics were too cute and her love just keeps on growing. Who can resist a polka dotted stool?
And movie theater seats for little ones? Yes, this is at a birthday party at Mini-Town with Lily Kate. They were watching Nemo!
This Dora pop up tent is the best entertainer when Mama needs to get something done. She could spend all day in and out, in and out.
She really likes when the tent is on it's side and with sister in tow.
Oh this girl LOVES to color - crayons are her friend and she is actually really good with them. She of course loves to color when sissy is =) Isn't this the cutest?

This week we finally turned Eden's car seat around - I was waiting until she just couldn't fit backwards any more and she was dreading getting in the car so... we turned her around and she LOVES it! She's so much more comfortable now that she is finally growing taller. Here she is sleeping when we got home from church. We did get some video of her just laughing it up when she rode for one of the first times.
And this is what I love... still holding my girl and keeping her my baby a little bit longer =) She NEVER does this so I just had to get a picture to capture the moment!

Acceptance call

Wow - whoever was praying with us for a speedy turn around, THANK YOU so much! We weren't expecting our application to even get to Oregon till Monday by 4:30-7 p.m. but we got the call from Christy today to say they received it and we have been officially accepted! YIPEE!

We will now be getting our orientation packet and then have an orientation phone meeting to go over everything with the contract, program details, timeline, fees, etc. Christy was really helpful in giving us some guidance in picking our home agency. We had to pick off their list between two (I spoke with both earlier this week) and we've decided to go with Lutheran Social Services located in Austin. They have representatives here in SA so the long distance isn't an issue. So, we should be getting their contract this week as well.

This is just the beginning of our paper chase a.k.a. our paper pregnancy!

Again, thank you for your prayers!

Application

Well, this past weekend we got a tiny glimpse of the waiting game we will be playing the next year or so =) We faxed all our supporting documents to AGCI on Thursday for our phone meeting that afternoon and we never heard from our contact. We were pretty bummed - I left a message and emailed. I knew that something must have come up because they have been WONDERFUL about their communication. So, it was pretty much just waiting to hear back and wondering what was going on! Monday we heard from Christy and she had been VERY sick and out of the office Thursday and Friday. I knew it and was not glad to hear she was sick but glad to hear that it wasn't simply because she just didn't call, etc. So....

Good news! She said all our pre-app supporting documents looked good (financial wrksheet, doctor's documentation on Neil's melanoma, Neil's personal statement on his cancer and my personal statement on a handful of counseling sessions I went through back in 2001). YIPEE! So now we filled out the REAL application and will be sending it to them tomorrow along with our fee, a picture of our family and a picture of the front of our house. Then we wait again to hear if we've officially been accepted. Please pray for a timely response so that we can possibly apply for a partnering fundraising opportunity. We will have to be accepted by AGCI by May 1st to get our application in on time =)

Just called two of the social service offices today to compare procedures, costs, etc. so please pray for us as we make the decision of who to use. I'd like to get that started soon because it's a lot of paperwork to be included in our dossier and we can know a date for our home visit. That just makes me nervous thinking about it!

(Here we are sending our app off to Oregon today! Claire was so excited! "So we get our baby brother now?" and I got to tell her "Not for awhile honey but this is our first big step and we're one step closer to him!")

Family

Last week on Friday we welcomed my Grandma and Aunt Linda to San Antonio and we've been having such a great time! They have really enjoyed spending time with the girls and taking part of some Fiesta Fun! Last night we had a girl's night out to the night Fiesta River parade. I can't believe I've never been before! Loud, decorative floats going down the river + good seats + really good popcorn = a memorable evening! Looking forward to taking Claire to the battle of the Flowers on Friday. She LOVED it last year and just can't wait to see the princesses this year =)

Me and Aunt Linda
Jenny and Grandma
My mom with her friend, Kathy (we didn't get a pic of Kathy's daughter, Molly)

All the family =)

Heart on her sleeve

Here is my sweet, sensitive Claire who wears her heart on her sleeve.

Those of you who know her know that she will cry at the drop of a hat - if she gets in trouble, if I correct her in any way, if someone laughs at her (for whatever reason), if she has to leave and doesn't want to, if she thinks she hurt someone or if someone hurts her or her feelings... the list goes on. (My mom likes to remind me that I was the same way) This drives me crazy at times but you know what? Along with this tearful part of my girl comes the sweetest heart you will find in a four year old. She might be ultra sensitive but she has the empathy that many don't ever posses. So I'll take the sensitivity if that means she will forever have her tender heart for others. It just makes me smile thinking about it. Here are a couple stories I want to remember:

-The picture above was taken this week while she was making cookies for all of our neighbors. I came hone and told her we were making cookies for our neighbors Larry, Sandy and Joanne as thanks yous for various things. With the biggest smile she yelled out to our other neighbor Lucy "We're making cookies for you! And for Peggy and Laura and Larry and Sandy and Joanne..." She wanted to make special cookies for everyone just because =) How could I say no to that? And her favorite part was knocking on the doors to deliver the brightly packaged cookies. Oh and having a cookie for herself! What a sweetie!

- Always kissing and hugging on Eden when she is upset or crying. She often gets swatted at when this happens because it's the most inopportune time according to Eden.

- The other day Claire asked to say the prayer after our bible time together. She said "Dear God, Thank you for the bible and for all my family and friends. Please keep baby brother safe wherever he is. And thank you for Jesus. Amen" Oh, melt a mama's heart!

- Looking out at a lady who was waiting for a bus and saying "Oh no mom! That lady doesn't have any food. We should go give her some." Always looking to help those in need.

- Picking up some trash in the HEB parking lot and saying "Mom, we need to take this because we aren't supposed to litter" and then put it in the car.

- Giving Aunt Linda a huge hug while she was sitting down at the dinner table. Linda asked "Who paid her to do that" but she had done it on her own accord. I LOVE the unsolicited hugs and kisses.

- When she says "Mom/Dad.... I have a present for you..." and she gives us a huge hug =) That's all the present I need.

- The other morning she told me "Mom, I want to get a bag and put toys in there to give to other kids." I gave her a bag and she went to work. When I looked in the bag she had some of her favorite toys in there including one of her favorite dolls and her new favorite star purse. Wow - convict my heart when I hold too tightly onto things. Just things! When I asked her "Are you sure about _______?" She would say "Yeah mom!" like I was crazy to even ask her. Thought this was coming out of no where but later I found out that daddy told a story the night before about a Care Bear who learned that it was better to give than to receive. They are always listening!

Gosh I LOVE this girl!