We're on the Waitlist!

Monday we received our Gladney approval and Tuesday, June 24th we were placed on the wait list for a male infant up to 12 months but prefer an infant less than 6 months at the time of referral. Gladney's current wait times are 3-5 months however things have slowed down a bit lately so it could take a little longer. 3-5 months from now is September 16th-November 18th. If you would like to make a guess as to when you think we'll receive our referral for Brady leave a comment and I'll add you to the list!

Tomorrow marks our 6 month anniversary as a family and on Friday we'll complete our readoption for Maryn and Keller. Time really flies by quickly. Check back on Friday- I'm going to try and put together a slideshow of pictures showing our first 6 months. The kids are doing wonderful and it feels like we've been together since the beginning and we really have. Maryn and I talk about how we always had each other in our hearts and that she grew in my heart. She's such a little drama queen she loves to talk about this and how Mommy and Daddy we're looking for her and Keller for a very long time but we always had her in our hearts. Man I love these kids!

Awareness for Children of Ethiopia

Please take a look at this beautiful video created by Drew and Carey for Gladney. This is so special to us because many of our sweet friends from Ethiopia are in the video and our precious Tsigerida is shown singing her heart out at the very end of the clip. Man every time I see video of Maryn or Keller in Ethiopia I just am overcome with emotions...to think how their lives have changed so much in 6 months. It's hard to think of their life before we met them, I'm thankful because it molded them into the wonderful little people they are but it's also hard for me to think back on the hard times they faced. I couldn't imagine my life without them and I'm so proud of them. I've found the meaning of my life in their faces.

Maryn and Keller's Baptism

This weekend we celebrated Maryn and Keller's baptism and we were so excited to have most of our family join us here in Atlanta. Unfortunately, Andy and Cory weren't able to make it, it seems that baby Jack is thinking about making an early appearance! We're all hoping and praying that he settles down and stays put for at least a few more weeks- he isn't due for another 8 weeks or so. Outside from missing Andy and Cory and enduring 97 degree days we had a wonderful time. Poor Maryn was so so sad when everyone left, she said to me, "I NEED MY FAMILY!!!"- poor thing cried herself to sleep. She especially enjoyed having 25 people give her 100% attention.

The week we completed our dossier finally! Kate is in the process of authenticating everything, If all goes smooth we should be on the waiting list in the next week or two. Unfortunately, we had some issues with our homestudy provider again which caused about a week delay- don't even get me started in this topic. It's very frustrating and annoying!

Once we're added to the waiting list I'll ask everyone to post a date when you think we'll get our referral for Brady. Right now the current wait time is 3-5 months so that puts us September 8th-November 8th if we get on the waitlist by June 23rd. Although it looks like I have given this alot of thought, I have to say I am so much more relaxed this time around and I know the time with fly. Maryn and Keller filled the huge hole that existed in my heart so the wait will be so much easier this time around. That's it for now on the adoption front, I'll post as soon as we make it to the waitlist!

Enjoy the pictures from our wonderful weekend!

Over Due Update

Well I know it's been quite a while but to say things have been a little busy would be an understatement. I survived my first week away from the kids when I went to Germany on a business trip. The kids had a great time with Daddy but I missed them like crazy! This weekend we spent alot of time getting ready for next weekend, my entire family and most of Geert's family are coming in next weekend for Maryn and Keller's baptism. It will be the first time Geert's sisters will meet the kids so we are really excited.

On the adoption front things are going well- we finished all of our paperwork and are just waiting for our homestudy agency to mail our documents which probably happened on Friday! Kate from KBS Dossiers has already started getting everything authenticated so we should be on the waitlist hopefully in the next two weeks! Once we go one the wait list I will ask for everyone to submit their guess as to when we will receive our referral- right now the current wait time is 3-5 months.

Here are a few pictures from Mother's day when we took the kids down to the Olympic rings in Atlanta. You can also see more on my sister Katie's blog.

Thank Goodness for Ice Cream and Sprinklers

Friday afternoon Maryn and Keller had to undergo yet another round of shots. Both of them officially hate going to the Doctor and I'm no longer their "best friend" according to Maryn because I make her go and get these shots! Well I've learned that all can be healed with ice cream and an afternoon running under the sprinkler.

On the adoption front our dossier is complete, Gladney application is nearly complete and we are just waiting to wrap up our homestudy. We anticipate that we'll be on the waitlist by the end of the month and one step closer to our sweet little Brady. Once on the wait list we'll wait 3-5 months for a referral, I'm guesssing that we'll travel late December or January to meet Brady. This will really depend on what's happening with the courts. Like last time we'll most likely receive our referral during the court closure which may delay things slightly.

Enjoy the pictures of my babies- I had a wonderful first mother's day with my family and love every minute with them.

Keller's Debut of Jammie Time

I've tried to post this several times..hopefully this time it makes it onto the blog. Yes, I know my singing is awful but man is he cute!

Great News and Baby Boy Names

We heard back from Gladney today that we are completely CIS approved and there is nothing else we need to do for immigration. In October we'll need to renew our fingerprints but that's it! This is really important because it means all we need to do is finish up our homestudy, our physicals and gather a few remaining documents and we can be added to the waitlist. Normally CIS approval is the final document you wait for and it can talk up to a few months to receive approval. SO YEAH!!!!!

Now onto baby names, well first there was Jack but then my brother found and his wife found out they were having a baby boy and they claimed Jack, then there was Finn which we really, really love but unfortunately it doesn't really sound good with our last name, then Geert wanted Connor- I said nah, I said Zane-Geert said no-way! Soooooo we finally found a name that we all love- including Maryn and Keller, although Maryn really wanted us to name our new little guy Keller. She's a practical little girl and really didn't see the need for her brothers to have different names- they could both be Keller. So we're 99.9% sure that our new little man will be named "BRADY". And as I've said in the past if you would like to leave comments that you love the name Brady please do if you don't please keep it to yourself!

I posted Keller's video on the blog this afternoon so hopefully it will show up soon- it's hilarious and so is my singing! Tomorrow night Geert and I are heading out for the night to see Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban! We're really psyched because they are filming their live DVD so it's going to be an extra long concert- we're huge Keith Urban fans! Aunt Katie and Uncle Jeff are going to keep Maryn and Keller overnight- I almost looking forward to sleeping in as much as I am for the concert- pretty said when you consider sleeping in 8AM- the joys of parenthood!

Update on a Special Little Friend!

Yesterday I received news that I've been waiting for ever since we left Ethiopia. Maryn's friend, T from Kechene is being adopted by an American family. This little guy is about 4 or 5 years old and he's just as sweet as can be he also looks like he could be Maryn's brother. His face has been one that has stayed with me and I am so so happy that he'll have a family. I'm also hoping that I might be able to get in touch with his new family. The last time I saw T he had on little converse sneakers that were two sizes too small and he had an awful case of pink eye. He just cried and begged for me to hold him- which I did. Although I was worried I was going to have two pink eyes in the morning I didn't care, I just wanted to hold him and rub his head. When we left that day for the last time poor T cried and cried- it broke my heart. I've thought of him often and kept him in our prayers. Maryn was so excited when I told her that T was going to have a family- she cheered and confirmed it with me a few times to make sure she understood. So today was a happy day, to know that one more special child found a family.

So being the ultra prepared A-type personality that I am I'm cruising through our paperwork this time. I'm still waiting to hear back from Gladney regarding our CIS approval. Outside of that I'm only really waiting for our FBI fingerprints, physicals (all scheduled for the week of May 5th) and our homestudy (scheduled for the next two weeks). I've managed to pretty much complete all the homestudy paperwork, Gladney application and dossier in record time. It was so much easier this time now that have a better idea of the whole picture. Normally you would hold off on your Dossier documents until you complete your homestudy because they expire in 12 months but some of the same documents are required for the homestudy so I just went ahead and did it all. The other reason for collecting everything quickly is that if we're able to use our current CIS approval we want to get everything in as quickly as possible since our approval will expire in early February 2009.

I'll post later this week about our trip to Tampa with some pictures and a really cute video of Keller singing "Jammy Time" the song we sing every night when we put the kids jammies on- it's hilarious! I'll also share some news about potential names or "the name" we have picked our for our little guy.

Birthday Parties and Cute Pictures

I'm really late in posting pictures from the kids birthday parties, Keller turned 2 on March 29th. We were very fortunate to have lot's of friends from our Atlanta adoption group there as well as our new Ethiopian friends, my mom from Buffalo, neighbors and friends. Keller had a great time at the party and was a real sport when it came to sharing the day with Maryn. It was just too much for her little heart to bear that she didn't have a birthday. Luckily April 1st was her 4.5 birthday so we were able to celebrate with her too.

The kids are both doing great and they LOVE school. Keller has learned that it's a requirement to say "NO" to everything when you are two. He even got his whole class to tell the teacher no when it was naptime last week. She said it was hilarious because Keller had them all chanting NO! My little boy is breaking out of his shell!

We've begun collecting all our documents to prepare for our homestudy and to get our dossier ready. So far so good, we're still waiting to hear if we can us our current CIS approval or if we need to refile. That's it for now! Enjoy the pictures.

Daughtry American Idol Gives Back 2008

Once again I'm moved to tears watching Idol Gives Back. This video by Daughtry was one of my favorites, although it's from Uganda it reminds me alot of Ethiopia. I see all those children and I think that was Maryn and Keller 3 months ago and it's just really hard to think what a different life they could have had. I continue to struggle with those little faces that we left behind. I keep asking myself what can I do? I don't feel like I'm in a position to pick up my life and move to Ethiopia but I can tell you the thought has crossed my mind. I'm not sure what I can do but I will do something, I need to do something. Any suggestions? I've talked to a few people about starting a non-profit organization so I may need to give that some more thought.

The past week we sent in our post-placement reports for Maryn and Keller and began working on our next adoption. I spoke with Gladney and Families First to get things rolling. I feel so much more comfortable with everything this time around since we know what to expect and I know I'm in good hands with Gladney. I've also started to think about the special young woman somewhere out there in Ethiopia who may already be carrying our little boy in her belly. I pray for her heatlth, safety and for happiness and joy to fill her heart as she gives life to our baby boy.

Sorry I'm sappy today- Idol gives back kills me everytime. I almost get to the point where I'm ready to quit my job and move to Africa!