Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Adoption Update

Well we got it!!!! Our USCIS approval has finally arrived! That means we are officially approved by the US government for international adoption and that we can officially be added to the waiting list to be matched with a child. 

But with this good news also comes some bumps in the road.  Adoption has slowed down greatly in Uganda and our agency is not sure if they will be able to continue with their Uganda program :( 

Originally when we got our USCIS approval we were supposed to pay our first really big fee, $3,000, to our agency.  We have about $2,000 raised toward this so far so we were praying that God would provide the other 1,000 quickly so that we could pay the agency and be ready to receive a child referral.  The agency contacted us yesterday though and told us to send them our approval but to hold off on paying them because everything is kind of up in the air right now.

So there are tons of unknowns right now.  Will we be able to continue with our current agency?  Will we need to change to another?  Will adoptions in Uganda be near impossible so that we will have to change countries?  Of course I hate not knowing the future but we know God has a plan in all of this.  We just don't know what the next step will be yet.

So will you please pray for our family?  Pray that the path we are to take will be clear.  Pray for direction and wisdom.  

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Chic Fil A Rodeo Night

For family night, Chic Fil A gave every kid who came dressed in rodeo clothes a free kid's meal! We love Chic Fil A and of course we can't pass up a free meal.  The kids got their faces painted, had balloon animals made, created a wood stick horse, played rodeo games, and got to ride ponies. 
 
 




Happy St. Patrick's Day

We all wore our green for St. Patrick's Day.  We had green scrambled eggs for breakfast. The kids learned about the true history of St. Patrick for homeschool.  They also made leprechaun hats and put on a little leprechaun puppet show. 


Doug Dynasty Adoption Fundraiser

Doug has been growing a beard for the past few months to raise money for our adoption.  People have been sponsoring his "bear marathon" by making a donation per every half inch.  Then at the end we allowed everyone to vote how he should shave it.  There were some pretty crazy options and surprisingly the one that won wasn't even one of the options! Clean shaven!  Our friend Danny is a professional barber and he came over and gave Doug the complete works! It is so nice to see my hubby's face again! 


Farm Fun Day

We went on a farm field trip with our homeschool literature group.  We had just finished Charlotte's Web and started Little House in the Big Woods so a farm was the perfect environment!  The kids got to feed horses, pet a pig, gather eggs, climb trees, ride on golf carts and go down a zip line.  We also made homemade butter which turned out super yummy.  The kids never wanted to leave! They were in heaven!


































Grace's Birthday

The kids had a blast at their cousin Grace's birthday.  Before the party, we headed to the Kemah Boardwalk.  Then we got to the party and the kids played on a giant bouncy slide the whole time.  Needless to say, everyone slept good that night!