Not Ready!

The summer has once again flown by!  This summer has been filled with so many fun times with friends and family, and it's sad to see it come to an end!  Jacob keeps saying, "this has been the best summer, ever!"  I love to hear those words from him!  We are entering our official last day of summer, and I always find myself getting a little bit weepy to think that we are going into a new year of school, which will fly by, and the kids will, AGAIN, be another year older!  Our oldest son is starting Jr. High on Thursday.  While I'm not ready for him to go, I can see that he is.  He is maturing and becoming a young man, who we are both so proud of!  Jacob is entering 5th grade.  We found out tonight that he has the TOUGHEST 5th grade teacher at the school.  She seems to be a wonderful, caring woman, but has a tough reputation!  While I am a little scared, I know that this year will be a time of growing and learning for Jacob.  He is going to be pushed to be the absolute best that he can be, and there may be hard days, but I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do when pushed to the max!  Allyson will enter the 4 year old pre-k class.  She will attend school on MWF mornings.  She has been the "baby" around here for the last 4 years, so having her gone just a little will make for some quiet mornings at this house!  I have alot to get accomplished in those quiet mornings, and pray that I can use this time productively!  She will love every minute of her school day, and I'm excited for her to get to start next week!
So, for tonight, these two are having one more sleep over... she loves having him sleep on her trundle bed.  Tomorrow, it will be back to school bedtimes and everyone in their own beds, and back to setting alarms and getting to places (on time!).

So very thankful for a wonderful summer with the best kids around!  We can't wait for Gracie to come home, and look forward to more memories being made with our newest precious gift!  Our paperwork is just about ready to be sent off to China, we are awaiting a couple more documents, which are being authenticated, and then we will be DTC (Dossier to China)!  So very close!!!

Happy 4th Birthday, Princess!

Our sweet girl turned 4 years old yesterday! We celebrated with a Princess Tea party, and she loved having all of her friends come to play!

Happy Birthday, Allyson! You are a true delight to your Mommy and Daddy! We love you and are so thankful for the gift of YOU!!!

Fingerprints.....

CHECK!!!

Can you say WOW???

We have been overwhelmed with the way God is providing for this adoption! While we have raised $860 on the Chip in, what you don't see is the nearly $2200 that has been sent to us at our home! Thank you, thank you, thank you to all have been able to contribute to our Gracie fund!  We knew when we began this journey, that God would have to provide for every step of the way. We had been able to save up some in the past couple of years, anticipating purchasing a home again one day, but who needs to buy a house when you can bring home another precious child! We don't mind renting.... especially when we have kitchen appliances go out (which has happened in the past 2 weeks) and only have to make a phone call and the problem is fixed, with nothing out of our pockets! So far, in this process, we have been able to pay up front every dime that has been needed, and as we look ahead to the next installments, the money is already there! Praise GOD!!

We received our fingerprint appointment, set for August 25th, but we were told that we can go in and sit and be worked in, so Monday morning, we will head to our USCIS (immigration) office and see if that can happen! If they work us in, we can be a couple of weeks ahead of where we should be, which hopefully means we can get Gracie home sooner! All in God's timing, but we will work diligently to get there as much as we can! After fingerprint approval, we can send our Dossier to China (DTC) and we will really feel like things are more official when that step is completed!

We are enjoying a little summer weather up here in the Pacific Northwest. The summer here has been VERY mild this year, and we are seeing some 90 degree temps for the next couple of days, so we are getting outside and enjoying playing in the water and eating popsicles! We are heading back to the 70's for highs midweek, so we will enjoy it while we have it! The ONLY drawback to the warmer temps, is that we do not have airconditioning, so it gets a little warm in the house, but we can live with it. We are thankful for the two window units that we have for the bedrooms, so that sleeping is still possible! We had three, but had a little mishap this week.... one of our children (who shall remain nameless) decided he was hot and opened up his window, which also happened to be holding the window unit. Needless to say, it fell two stories and crashed on the ground outside our dining room window! Thankfully, no one was outside when it happened!

Thanks for checking in on us!  We hope you all are having a wonderful summer!