Leading into Christmas the entire family except for myself came down with strep (YUCK!!). We left early for Christmas with my family so we could go to our biometrics appointment. Had three Christmas celebrations with my family and came home to a quiet Christmas day at home.

We then had two Christmas celebrations with Chris' family. It was good to spend time with Chris' cousin who is also adopting a beautiful little girl for Eastern Europe. We could compare notes and time frame and the differences in our adoptions being from different countries and celebrate the little mile stones that get each of us closer to the day we pick up our daughters. If we can both stay on track without any delays we will be bringing these cousins home about the same time. It was also good to spend time with the two newest members of the family: Chris' sister's new baby and his Uncle's son who they hope to have full custody of next month. Welcome to the family both of you (and good luck with this crew).

Jeremiah then got sick and has spent the last couple days with a terrible cough. This momma is ready for a break which will start on Friday! Chris and I leave to go elk hunting. This is my first year hunting elk and I am super excited. Elk meat is so yummy and we haven't had any in three years. Chris did not draw this year so maybe we can stagger our elk to keep fresh meat in the freezer (that is if I can get one).

Hopefully USCIS approval comes back fast and we can get things apostilled and on their way to county and meet our daughter this spring! Some days the paperwork and the perfection required on the paperwork can wear me down. To know that we are so close to being done with it is comforting yet stressing because now begins the official checks to make sure it is all correct. Please pray for us as we enter this stage and that everything will move smoothly because we are approaching our deadline for having documents in country. God Bless!

What a week this has been and it's not over yet...

Cayleigh fell three weeks ago and ended up with stitches in her lip and now we are doing follow ups to see if she will need to see a cosmetic surgeon to have the lip realigned. That appointment was on Wednesday. The lip is still swollen so we go back again after Christmas.

My sister-in-law had a beautiful baby boy on Tuesday who I can't wait to meet! And, we (in reality my mother-in-law) ended up with all three of her older kids sick and now mine are getting it so, we are all isolated and can't see that baby yet!

The preschool teacher ended up with the flu and was quarantined for the week so I got to sub preschool on Monday and Tuesday.

Drum Roll Please.....
Monday we received our USCIS appointment date! Each step is a step closer to bringing "Sally" home. We are so close to having our dossier ready for submission it is killing me.

What a weekend to fly!!!!! The kids and I went to stay at my parents for the balloon festival while Chris was at an EMS Conference.

On Saturday morning the weather reports were all saying it was going to be beautiful flying weather. When we arrived at the field it was a bit breezy. Our pilot and good friend Mike decided we would stay grounded that day. It was my turn to fly so I was feeling pretty bummed. We left and by the time we got back to Mom and Dad's there were seven balloons in the air. Our pilot never did fly but it made us question the decision until we heard that one balloon had gotten caught in a thermal. He had to let his balloon cool to get out and not go to high so when he came out he fell to the ground and hit so hard he ended up in the bottom of his basket (YIKES!!!!). He was OK thank goodness. We then felt good about the decision not to go up.

Sunday morning weather report didn't look so good for flying but hey the weather had defied the reports so far. It was a beautiful morning and WE GOT TO FLY! Yes it is hard to contain my excitement.

It was a gorgeous flight. We had a wonderful 45 minute flight then had a perfect stand up landing and since weather was holding my mom traded places with Chris (I picked him up the night before) and we went back up. It was another wonderful 20 minutes in the air.

The landing this time was a little rougher but was still better than some I have had in the past. Josiah got to get in the basket when we walked it to the trail to lay it down.

 He thought that was the most fun he has had in some time. Jeremiah was fascinated by the balloons and kept pointing at them and squealing. Cayleigh was much more reserved and was upset when Grandma took of in the balloon instead of staying with her.

Well it has been awhile! A lot has happened since we were unofficially matched in August. We have been jumping through the hoops and have been very thankful for God's provision in every step. We have had a few fundraisers including a couple yard sales, and two spaghetti dinners with silent auctions. With these fundraisers every fee we have had has been met. God has provided the amount we need. Never more never less.
After we put in our home study application it seemed our appliances decided to hiccup. The dishwasher pump decided it was done which we learned is a common thing to happen when you start your home study. When the repair man got here it decided to work great...go figure! Then our freezer decided it was done sealing but a defrost and it was working again. We are thankful they were both easy fixes.
It took several weeks to get a social worker but once the ball got rolling  the home study went very quick. We had a wonderful social worker. With the home study we were able to set up a sponsorship page on Reece's Rainbow. Which of course as I am learning when God calls you to something you will meet spiritual resistance and we did with this step also.
We are continuing to trust God and know that He will provide and it will be in His time. He has provided so far in everything and we know He will continue to provide. He has brought us to this and He will bring us through it.
Stay posted for more updates. I will try to do better but will admit up front I am a terrible blogger! Our home study is headed for state approval then it is immigration approval.

The day after I wrote my post about my lack of patience we found out we were unofficially matched! Which of course then put us in the scramble to come up with the $5000 we were short. We has a second yard sale and had a dinner and silent auction. When all was said and done we were only $250 short of having our agency fees. It put us in a position to be able to cover the fees. So, now we move on to our next obstacle, the home study. We have to pay $1000 up front for our home study. We have watched the amazing way God has worked to bring us to this point  and trust that he will bring us clear through this adoption. All we can do is trust Him and His timing through all of this because it is not us making it happen it is God.

Waiting is the worst part. I am definitely going to have to learn patience in this process. This is suppose to be our shortest wait time and we should know if we were matched with Sylvia this week or next and it seems like time is dragging by. I really want to know whether I can officially call her my daughter. My heart already does but will the law? I know it is early and if I am already struggling with the wait I am in for it. I appreciate the prayers from everyone that gets us through the waits in the process.
While our gofundme account may not show it we have had some amazing support in our fundraisers and are only about $3000 from our agency fees! Which means $6000 including our home study fees. We feel so blessed by all the people that have stepped forward to help us and support us in so many ways. We still have a long ways to go financially but our first goal is almost met. THANK YOU!

Wow, a year has past without a post. I am probably the world's worst blogger. Life just has a way of consuming us and things that we may try don't always get completed.

Well, off of the excuses now and on to our amazing news. Chris and I have started the adoption process! After years of praying and considering adoption we are finally doing it! God placed the file of a little girl from Eastern Europe in our hands and we knew that we wanted her in our family.

Until we can give out her real name after court ( a long way down the road) we are calling her Sylvia. Sylvia has some special needs and it is very important that she get to a place with more advanced technology then where she is to receive treatment for these needs.

We did so much research before putting in our application to be matched with her and thought we had the process and time frame of adopting a special needs child figured out. When we put in our application we learned that we will be moving even faster then initially thought. God works in mysterious ways and we trust that He will provide for all of our needs through this process.

The total adoption will cost approximately $30,000 with a third of the costs being due within the month. We are at about $4,000 of our $10,000 goal for the month. The sweet and condensed version on our process is: submit application,be unofficially matched, home study, complete dossier, travel, be officially matched, court, complete documents for Sylvia to come home, bring Sylvia home, readopt in the US. As you know nothing is free and each of those steps has a price tag attached to it.

We had saved about $3000 before we began this process and are now planning fundraisers. We had a yard sale last weekend, will have another this weekend, have a spaghetti dinner and silent auction planned in two weeks, and with the first Sunday Night Praise we will be having a dinner also. We have also applied for grants and when our home study is complete will apply for more. Doing some searching on the internet I found some interest free loans that we will also apply for. We are doing the work the God asks us to and know He is faithful.

I will add our gofundme widget to this page for anyone that feels that God is calling them to help bring Sylvia home. I will also try to do a better job of keeping up with the blog and where we are in the process. If at any time you would like an update and haven't seen one in a while please call me out on it!