If I were Mark Twain...

Mark Twain supposedly once said, ""When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Cincinnati because it's always twenty years behind the times." Well, in the spirit of Mark Twain and completely tongue-in-cheek, I say "If I ever find out I am going to die in a certain number of days, I am going to take a job with the court because then I can just keep delaying the date of my death."

Well, unfortunately the court in India has yet again delayed the hearing for our daughter's court date. What was supposed to have occurred today is now set for October 22. If you are keeping track, that is now the forth delay for the same court date. This is only the second court date, and we have been told to expect 3-5 appearances in court. What looked in January 2010 to be completed by perhaps the summer of 2010 now has the potential go many more months.

I just can't help but wonder what the rest of the world would look like if we all operated our lives and businesses the way the government runs theirs.

Thankfully, the God who sings over me also sings over her. We love you "S" and will be there to get you as soon as we can.

Rock. And Roll?

Today we received in the mail the culmination of a research project undertaken by someone in China we have never met, and likely never will. Several months ago, in a step of faith that perhaps only other parents of internationally adopted children may understand, we sent $250 to a different lady we have never met. Maren read a posting of hers on the internet telling about this lady in China that does research for families who have adopted a child from China. For $250, she would do several things for us. She would go to the finding city, take pictures, try to locate the finding spot, gather written material from there, try to get some correspondence from the orphanage, mail us a postcard from that city, and a few other things. It was several months ago that we parted with that money on a whim that we might be able to add just a small piece of our son's history. Several weeks ago, we received the post card mailed from his finding city. Today, when we arrived home from our 17th wedding anniversary get-away weekend, we found a package on our porch. It was not until we opened it up that we realized it was from this research project we had started. I won't go into all of the details of what was in it, but one of the things sent me to sobbing. I have only done that a few times in my adult life. After looking through the entire package, we somehow missed one piece. In a small red bag, we found a rock about the size of a large grape. A note inside the bag indicated it was from his finding location. Now, to be perfectly honest, it may have been a rock from in front of this lady's home. Based on everything else we received, I would highly doubt she falsified this part of it. For whatever reason, having that in my hand quite literally overwhelmed my senses and left me struggling to understand so much about my son's journey.

So, what does that have to do with our daughter? Well, after yet another court delay, there is supposed to be a date tomorrow. We still have had only one court date in India. The second was supposed to be in August. Then it was pushed back to September 6. Then it was pushed back to September 30. Then it got pushed back again to October 4. As we are getting ready to go to bed soon, it is just the first part of the working day there in India. When our social worker called from Oregon to tell us about the latest delay, he also stated that the lawyer in Monday was expecting a positive outcome in this October 4 date.

We only got a message about this information. Thus, we do not know if the lawyer meant "positive", as in things should go well and get us moving towards the next court date, or if it was meant as "positive" in that the lawyer has some expectation that we might get legal guardianship tomorrow.

When I began to pray tonight before bed, I began to pray that we would gain guardianship tomorrow. Part way through it, I switched to an honest prayer that court would simply go the way the Lord wants it to go. And the thing is, I meant it. While I struggle to see how delaying things helps our daughter (particularly being an adoption-focused therapist), I also know that I don't "see" a whole lot.

There are a few reasons why obtaining a favorable result tomorrow (actually while we sleep) would be pretty cool. After the 9-11 attacks from 2001, I picked up the phrase of the husband and father on the Pennsylvania flight when he helped to lead passengers in an attempt to overcome the terrorists. "Let's roll" has become now a standard phrase for me. So, it is possible that in this 24 hour period we will get a rock for my son and be able to roll for my daughter.

Let's Rock. And Roll.

Nothing to do but wait

It is hard to come up with anything pithy, profound, or even personal when talking about court dates. So, I guess I won't much try. The first court date in India has taken place. The judge then promptly went on vacation. It was hard not to think that it sure would have been nice if he had taken vacation during the entire month of May when court was closed. Our daughter sits in foster care while people who control her life shut down or go on vacation. Ok, so apparently there is something personal about the court dates after all. It is kind of weird, as I type this, I didn't realize how much frustration is floating around in my head about the whole thing. As is tradition in our family, we can't come up with a common name that we agree on. I could say that my wife can't agree with any of the great names I come up with, but she might read this! Anyway, we keep trying out names with the letter magnets on our refrigerator. We recently added our daughter's picture next to the list to "inspire" us. This helps us in our naming process but makes it harder to know she is waiting for mommy and daddy and siblings while a judge takes yet another break. This is one of those times to talk about God's timing. It's true. It is also true that He is with her. It is also true that those too previous statements aren't always as comforting as they should be. Obviously that is my issue not His, but there you go. Ok, so going back to the title of the post, there is nothing to do but wait...and pray. Oh yeah, and trust. Geez, this walk with the Lord business is always a teachable moment. Oh, one final thing. The first court date was August 7. The next court date is September 6.

Coincidence? I think not.

Last week, I walked into my company's administrative office (consisting of a whopping two women). I walked in and muttered a quick "hello" as they were previously engaged in conversation. I went about my business, and their conversation soon ended. One of the ladies asked me if we were going to be traveling soon. I brought her up to date on the very little information we had and said our best guess was that we would be traveling in the Fall sometime. The other lady politely interrupted by saying, "If you don't mind my asking, how much..." She completed her sentence but not before I already finished what I assumed to be her question in my mind. I was sure she was going to ask how much it cost to complete an adoption. It is probably a mark of our world and society that we get that question just about more than any other (except for "Do you know when you will get her.") Anyway, when she completed her sentence, I learned that my assumption was completely wrong. In fact, what she said was, "If you don't mind my asking, how much time do you plan to take off when you go to get her?" I told her that we had to be in India for about two weeks and that I hoped I would be able to take off a third week once we returned.

It turns out that I am VERY glad she interjected herself into our conversation. You see, part of her job is to portion out the company benefits. She told me that she was just getting ready to send out the next round of checks and that with the new fiscal year upon us, company policy stated that no one can carry more than two weeks of vacation into the new fiscal year. For those with more than two weeks, they are to be automatically paid out the remainder. I have been at our company for over 10 years and never realized this policy was in place. She said it hadn't really been an issue before but that this year it would be carried out. She then said she suspected I preferred to not be paid out but to be able to keep the time I had accrued. I absolutely told her that was the case. She told me she was sure she could make that happen for me.

This was a pretty big deal because I have been saving vacation time like crazy for over a year in preparation for this upcoming trip. I would have been crushed to have worked so hard to save it only to lose much of it just a few months before I could use it.

It is so good to be taken care of in such a way. I am thankful to all of my parents who instilled in me a strong work ethic that sets me up to have people go the extra mile for me when I need it. I am also thankful for that God-ordained meeting where I just happened to go in on that day (not usually at that office), and where a coworker just happened to ask me that question, and where our benefits person just happened to follow up with a meaningful question of her own.

The Army Men and the Dolls: AKA The Fish and the Loaves

Jesus once took two small fish and five loaves of bread, prayed over them, feed over 5,000 people, and had food left over. We had a smaller version of this play out at our house over the weekend.

You may recall that several weeks ago, our kids came to us with a small collection of toys stating they wanted to have a yard sale to help defray the costs of bringing S home. I am grateful that I didn't shoot down their idea like I am so prone to do. If I had, we would have missed a tremendous amount of blessing and watching the Lord work. In addition, untold numbers of other people would also have not had a blessing.

The small collection of toys turned into a massive yard sale. We had two side yards, a front yard, and a driveway filled several rows deep with things to sell. Many of our friends donated things for the express purpose of helping us to raise money in this sale. Some people donated a few things, some donated many. The number of things donated was irrelevant. What was so special to see was how people gave. The final amount of goods to sell was pretty amazing.

The sale was a fantastic success. Though the final total is not yet in, we are just a whisper below $900 in sales...for a yard sale! What a tremendous blessing. We are so grateful.

The story does not end there, however. In addition to the amount of money we were able to raise, a friend of ours was able to take two full van loads of goods to her ministry called Even Trade. This ministry is designed to meet some of the physical needs of the financially poorer members of our city. This ministry gives things away to families in need in return for some variable requirement. For example, for this past month's disbursement, the families taking advantage of the free goods had to enroll their kids in VBS. If they fail to bring their kids, they will not be invited to the next disbursement. This means that they get many of the things they need but also give back in terms of their time or talents. Thus, the small box of toys our kids brought to us not only brought in about $900, they also are directly in the line of helping to bless many other people that we will never even meet. None of that would have happened without their faith.

Oh Lord, please give me faith like that. Please give me the faith of a child. I miss out on so much and others miss out on so much because I am so foolishly "knowledgeable" about things that can and cannot work. Teach me your ways and help me to put faith into action. Thank you for my children who help me to remember.

The sale before the sale

I am very curious how our Priceless Yard Sale is going to turn out. I go back and forth on what I think will happen. For those that know me well, you know this is par for my course. However, I can tell you this. The movement of our children to begin collecting some of their things and gathering a few things from some neighbors has already produced its first tangible fruit, well, dollars. A friend stopped over tonight to donate some things to the yard sale. She had not received the email until late this afternoon. Ironically, her family had just participated in their own neighborhood-wide yard sale. She came in from that sale and learned about what our kids have started. She loaded the unsold things up in her van and brought them over. I knew this was going to happen because I got the answering machine message she left. Maren had no idea she was coming. What I completely didn't expect is that after we unloaded her van, she turned to Maren and I and handed us some money saying, "And here are the proceeds from our sale". Can you believe that?!! Needless to say, we were very touched. The kids are thrilled. It was another example of what we saw during our first adoption. We knew God was going to move us during the adoption. What we were not initially prepared for, and watched in awe over, is how God moved others. Thank you friend for your gift today. May the Lord bless you for your generousity.

C.A.R.A. and the Book of Life

A few days ago, we received a PDF document from the Central Adoption Resources Agency (CARA) in India. Their website states: Its mandate is to find a loving and caring family for every ophan/destitute/surrendered child in the country. That night, while lying in bed, I was struck by the strangeness yet odd excitement of seeing our names and address printed on some document created halfway around the world. Our names on that document meant that the country of India did not object to our adopting our little S. In other words, at the right time, we will be connected and be able to be one family. I laid in bed and thought about the amazing reality of our names on that document. So far away. Just for us. Simply amazing. And then it struck me. India is not the furthest away that our name has been written down somewhere. Further even than China when we adopted Elijah. Our name has been written down in the Book of Life. I have no concept where that book is kept. Obviously under the care of God, and obviously not in some agency on the face of this earth. If our name being written on a document in India is amazing, then the only way to describe our name being written in the Book of Life is "awesome". At just the right time, our name there means that our own adoption will be complete. Our Heavenly family will be connected. The Creator of the universe has no objections to us joining Him for eternity. Whoa! God has found us as orphaned/destitute children and has paid a much higher price than our adoption of S. He gave it all. For me. For my family. It boggles the mind.

Priceless Yard Sale

Our children began to gather things from around the house to sell at a garage sale to help raise money to bring their little sister home. They also began to ask people to donate items to the sale. We were touched by their efforts and have felt led to participate too. We are gathering things around our house to sell and are wondering if you might have a few things to donate too?

Here are a few things you might want to know:
1. We are working towards bringing home the priceless treasure who is our daughter. Because that is the goal, we will not be pricing any item in the sale, but are asking shoppers to spend what they feel led to spend.

2. We are reserving the right to refuse to sell to low-ball offers. We will invite those people to return at the end of the sale on Saturday and if the item remains, they may have it for their original offer.

3. The sale will be held June 25-26 from 8 am- 4 pm.

4. Any donated items that remain after the sale will be donated either to New 2 You or the the Goodwill.

5. We have made space in our garage to store donated items as we prepare for this sale. If you would like to share something, please let us know and we can make arrangements to get the items. We can pick up some local items and would be grateful to be available for you to drop things off.

6. We will also be having a bake sale/lemonade stand during the yard sale.

7. If you have a folding table we could borrow for the sale to keep things off of the ground, that would be helpful. The tables will be returned after the sale (of course).

8. We already have several families who have volunteered items for the sale. We will be selling knick-knacks, clothing, baby items, and even some furniture. Anything will be helpful.

Thank you for your willingness to help bring our little girl home. We are praying this sale will be a huge help towards meeting the goal of being able to bring her home without incurrin debt. We appreciate your continued prayers as we go through this process.

The heart of children

Today was Mother's Day. Maren had been gone for the past 4 days and got home late this afternoon. She decided on Chipotle for her dinner (mmmmm, Chipotle!). While there, the discussion arose as it often does about traveling to India. While Maren was gone for the past few days, one of her friends suggested that Nana and Papa travel to New Delhi with the kids when we are to arrive there during the second week of our trip (thank you Carol T.). This would cut down on expenses while still allowing the kids to experience some of India and still meet their sister in her birth country. We shared this idea with the kids at dinner as a possibility. Of course, they were quite excited that this is something to consider. They were beginning to relegate themselves to the idea that they may not be able to travel. After hearing this idea, they shared some stunning news with us. The kids have been secretly stashing away a bunch of cash from their birthdays, babysitting, and allowances and have accrued $133 to be used for the trip as a way to help offset our costs and allow them to go! Their heart and generousity brought tears to my eyes. I knew they had been gathering some of their toys and other things to have a yard sale to help with the costs, but I had no idea they were saving like this as well. On one hand, $133 is a drop in the bucket for airline tickets that may cost in the neighborhood of $10,000, on the other hand, how do you discount something like this? Almighty God, we pray that you would see fit that our whole family could travel with us for the entire trip as we continue to form our family.

NOC approval!!

It is only one step, but it is an important one. We have received our NOC approval which is a document stating that no one in India is objecting to our adopting our little girl. It is an exciting document because it is the last "informal formal" step. The next thing that happens is that our documentation is entered into the Indian courts. We are still a long way away, and there is much to be done and that can happen, but it is exciting none the less.

His time, THIS time

For our first adoption, I sweated everything. Every little detail was fodder for me to moan and groan about. Even when things were out of our hands and in the hands of foreign goverments, I still found ways to drive my family (particularly my wife) crazy with all my "what if" questions. Quite honestly, I drove myself nuts too.

We got a quick mix of good news, possibly bad news that I believe I am completely OK with. Our Article 5 document has come in from the US Government. This means that our case can be officially filed in the Indian courts. However, soon after learning this news, we also learned that the courts in India (at least in our location) take a break between April 26 and May 21. We need a document in India called the NOC though I am not sure what that stands for. It is currently taking 4-8 weeks to get this approval. We have 3 weeks to get it done before the break. We can't do a thing about it. Realistically, this means that our paperwork will not be moved along until May 24 or later. Because of the timing of other things, our tentative leave date has been pushed back even further. Rather than traveling between July-September, our best guess is that likely travel will be between mid-September - mid November.

This is disappointing information at best. I was really hoping to travel during the summer months. While it would be brutally hot there at that time, she could also come home while it is warmer here and then ease into the cooler weather. I would love to travel earlier rather than later. I just want to go bring her home. The nice thing is that I am not grumbling about the timing. Yes, I would like to leave earlier, BUT, it is not up to me nor can I do a thing about it.

A Mother's Heart

Greg has done most of the updating for this particular adoption, but today I feel moved to share some of my thoughts and feelings as we pursue this child. This week we received our Provisional Approval of our I-800. This is the next step in the process of getting a visa for S.

As I was sharing this progress this morning in small group prayer request time, I mentioned that the paperwork refers to her repeatedly as "S___ Unknown." Her last name is Unknown. This is literally a child with no last name. No family to call her own. She was found, abandoned, outside of a Catholic hospital young enough to still have an umbilical stump attached. She was then taken into the hospital and cared for in the NICU until she was stable. This hospital then transferred her to a Catholic orphanage named Swanthana designated for the care of mentally and physically handicapped girls. Here is a video taken at her orphanage: http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSGfZM4V27s

Since she is neither mentally nor physically handicapped, last April at age 2.5 yo, they transferred her care to another organization who made her adoptable. Vathsayla Charitable Trust (who now oversees her placement) received her with no last name, no birth date, no family history. They assigned a birth date, choosing a random day at least 9 days after her initial hospitalization. We will adjust that when we adopt her. She is now in a foster home supervised by VCT waiting to come home.

Only she doesn't know she is waiting. She doesn't know she has no last name. She doesn't know her birth date was assigned randomly. She doesn't know she was abandoned. She doesn't know she has a family who cannot wait to hold her, feed her, love her. She doesn't know she has in her future the options of dance lessons, soccer games, art classes, and other fun enrichments. She doesn't know we get King's Island passes every year and go as often as possible. She's never been to the beach and doesn't know what she's missing. She just doesn't know.

But we do. My heart just aches knowing what she is still waiting for. This rejected child will find acceptance. This abandoned child will find haven. This orphan will be treasured. She will have a mother and a father. She will have a last name. She will no longer be an orphan. She will be a daugher. My daughter.

You can help to bring her home!

Dear family and friends,

You can play a part in bringing our daughter home. As with our son, we have created necklaces we would like to sell as a fundraiser to help in this process. Each necklace was completely designed by Maren and Greg and made by Maren's hand. We would be humbled if you would consider helping us to reach our goal.

We would like to sell the brown and red necklaces for $30 each and the grey necklace for $15 each. We are happy to ship it to you anywhere you might want it sent, however, we would like to be so bold as to ask that we be able to add the cost of the shipping to your order. We know the cost is higher that you would expect to pay in a store, but we ask that you remember the purpose for the purchase. Also please remember that you cannot purchase these in a store as they are exclusively designed to help bring S home.

We thank you very much for your help and are touched by your thoughtfulness.

Minor delay

We got back info from the USCIS stating that our I-800 application was incomplete. It is frustrating because the directions were unclear. Imagine that. Government directions that are unclear. It is also disappointing because our adoption agency also checked it over prior to us sending it, and they didn't find anything either. Oh well. I guess we can only do what we need to do.

Life is busy. God is good.

Good grief. Much has happened since our last post. We have officially completed our dossier as well as our placing agreement packet. Our dossier is in India with the placing agency. They (and we) are awaiting the completion of our I-800 with the U.S. Government. This document is what the U.S. uses to approve a specific child to enter the country. Once that document is received, the placing agency in India will then send off our dossier to the Indian government where our case will begin to wind its way through the Indian courts. We have been told to expect 3-5 court dates in India. We have given someone there power of attorney to manage our court affairs there. That is weird. I know it is what is needed, however, usually a POA is given to someone you know, you know?!

We are all very excited here. We hope to travel in 5-8 months. I suspect that the next several months will go quickly and slowly all at the same time. Can't wait, that is for sure!

I will dance, I will sing, to be mad for my King!

The David Crowder Band has a song called "Undignified" which is written about King David dancing before the Lord in celebration. The title of today's post references that.

I write this right now just after walking around the house shaking my head and repeatedly saying in awe, "That is amazing". Remember the post a few days ago about receiving an unasked for no-interest loan that was going to cover our next fee? Yesterday I was going through some paperwork we recently received. Included in this paperwork was an invoice for the next fee. The fee was smaller than we had expected...to the tune of about $2500 smaller. I emailed a question about the invoice to ask about the difference. I just got a response back stating that because of S.'s previous institutionalizations that the fee was reduced to help adjust for this. Ok, so that was amazing, and I kept stating as much. Then I remembered something else. I went to our bank website to check what we owed on our home equity line (only used for adoption fees from earlier in the process) to discover a new praise. Starting with the no-interest loan we were given, minus the fee we were just quoted, minus the amount on our home equity line, we were left over with $95.18 to the good!!!!!!!!!!!! Our next fee was covered, our loan with interest was also covered, and we are now free and clear to focus on our travel expenses. Those will be substantial, BUT, God knew we needed to travel to India to get this little girl when He sent us on the journey. I am certain that some how, in some way, those travel fees will also be taken care of.

I will boast in the Lord.

Who knew?

To say the least, I am surprised that NOT being Indian decreased dramatically our wait for a referral. Decreased it by 12-18 months to be precise. India has a very strict pattern for how people are able to adopt from their country. First priority goes to Resident Indians (those living in country). Next priority goes to Non-Resident Indians (those who are citizens but live outside of the country). Third, and least prioritized are those who are not Indian. That last group would be us. Pretty obvious, huh. Who ever heard of pasty-white Indians? Not me either. Anyway, all indications were that we were going to be waiting a very long time. To get a referral now was mind-boggling. Maren got a chance to talk to one of the workers in Portland and was able to ask about this. It turns out that we are the only non-Indian family on their wait list, and the only family willing to take a child as old as the one we are now pursuing (3 years, 2 months old). Thus, the massive jump up the wait list. Huh, who'da thunk it?

But let him who boasts

This is what the Lord says, "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, let not the strong man boast of his strength, let not the rich man boast of his wisdom, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight" declares the Lord. Jeremiah 9:23-24

May I boast clearly about one thing. The Lord, He is faithful. The Lord, He is good. The Lord will not call someone to something to which He will not provide.

On Tuesday of this past week, Maren got a call that there was a referral ready and waiting for us if we were interested. After listening to some of the details about this little girl, she asked for more information. The next day, we received details of this wonderful little one. The following day, the day before Christmas, we received an 8 minute DVD of this sweet girl. By now, we had made the decision to move forward with accepting this referral. To do so would require a multi-thousand dollar committment. We didn't have that available to us. We weren't expecting to receive a referral for another 12-18 months. I can say with all honesty (and those who know me may be surprised) that I was not the least bit concerned about where this money was going to come from. God called us to it, He will provide. I was sure of it. Not arrogant sure, but peaceful sure. And yet, we didn't know where this money would come from.

Ok, are you following the path so far? Tuesday, we get the verbal referral. Wednesday, we get the paperwork documentation. Thursday, we get the DVD. We decide to adopt her, but have a boatload of cash to come up with. That brings us to Friday. Friday, we get an unsolicited offer for a no-interest loan for $1,000 more than we need to move forward with the adoption!

I am experiencing a mix of feelings about this. I think the predominant feeling is one of peaceful admiration for our God. Let me boast about Him. He is worthy to be praised. I am thankful for the number of people He uses to bless us and our daughter-in-waiting. I ask for return blessings for them.

Where paperwork meets people

So the past week or so, I have been meaning to add an update or two to our process but haven't gotten it done. Writing about paperwork is a bit dull, and let's face it, repetitive. Let's see, I think we are up to four sets of fingerprints now. Just yesterday I got our second copy of our marriage license. As a quick aside, may I say that if everything about the adoption paperwork process was as easy as obtaining our marriage license from Clermont County, why this would have all been over with months ago. From the moment I stepped into the Probate Court office, I walked out in less than three minutes with a new certified copy of our marriage license. Mind you, I did this without an appointment. It was marvelous. But I digress. Anyway, we have been working on the final touches of our dossier. Actually, we thought it was complete, but when I went to put things together, I realized there were several pieces that we were still missing. Very frustrating. So, the last several days we have been slogging once again through the gathering of more paperwork. It has been an aggravating process UNTIL...

Maren got a call last night from our social worker in Portland. After asking some routine questions about where we stood on our paperwork, he asked if she was ready to discuss a possible referral! Say what? We weren't expecting a referral for about a year at this point. She got off the phone with him and called me while I was on the way to a dinner meeting. We were both surprised to say the least. In the adoption world, it is generally unheard of that things happen faster than you expect. And things happening a year early, well, I have never heard anything like that. Today, we got information about this girl including estimated birth date, first name, and medical information. Due to Hague Convention rules, we are not permitted to share any of this information online. In a surprise Christmas gift, we are now very seriously considering accepting this referral for this little girl.

We are very excited about this yet calm. We are certain that the Lord will lead us and are seeking out His will. We are looking forward to tomorrow when we are supposed to receive a Fed Ex package that includes a DVD of her.

New sense of......something

It is interesting, you know, this thing we know as the Holy Spirit. For those who are not Christ-followers, the whole thing must sound like a pretty crazy (I was going to us the word "cockamamie" but I didn't know how to spell it) idea. I mean really. Think about it. A Christ-follower describes that "the Spirit led them" or some such unusual statement. What is that supposed to mean anyway? However, if you are a Christ-follower, having the Spirit lead you is a pretty normal kind of thought. But then, you run into a conundrum of sorts. Is what you are feeling from the Holy Spirit, your own personal desire masking as something spiritual, or simply the extra-spicy chili? It makes it challenging to say the least. So you know what is coming next, right? Sure, you do.

This past week, I had a strange sense of need to complete our paperwork. It can't exactly be described as "urgency" though in some sense that describes it. I guess I think of urgency as being similar to emergency. The feeling was not a "I have to get this done now, or there will be really bad consequences" kind of feeling. It was more of a "Greg, it is time to get this done because I am doing a new thing in this process, and you need to be prepared" kind of feeling. Make sense? Well, it does to me anyway. And, thankfully to my wife as well.

That being said, we spent the last few days buckling down and working to complete our dossier. We are are nearly there. We have recommendation letters to obtain (a story in itself) and two forms from our home study agency. All of those things are on the way. We have also gotten needed info and notarization from our bank.

Who knows? Maybe the sense last week meant something. Maybe not. Either way, we continue down this road on which we have been led. It feels good to be nearing the end of the paperwork process.