Getting ready to leave!

Wow! I can't believe it's finally here! We have a flight to Eastern Europe on Sunday morning, and then an appointment to (hopefully) receive referrals for the three kiddos. That means we'll be allowed to visit them, get to know them, and decide if we want to adopt them. Then we will have a court date, where they decide if they will allow us to adopt them, and then we have a ten-day waiting period, in which the children's family members may appeal the decision. Then another court appearance, and the final decision is made. Then we have to get visas, birth certificates, and passports (I think) for the kids. Happily, we have someone there to guide us through the maze. Lots of adventure ahead of us!

Soon, we will be hugging and kissing these kids, instead of hugging and kissing their photos (Just kidding. No, really. I never did that. Okay, maybe a few times, but only when it got really hard.)

We heard that this sweetie is really rowdy, so it sounds like she'll fit right in with our rowdy crowd.  We also heard she likes to give and get lots of hugs, so that sounds pretty good, too.

I heard from someone who recently saw this little boy that he is doing well, and is absolutely beautiful.  We could already tell that, though, right?

Pray for us, everyone!  I will try to get lots of pictures on here, and keep you updated as we travel.  Looking forward to seeing a new land, and a new people.  God willing, we will come home with new children.

Fall is here

Good news!  Our dossier has been submitted to the government of the country from which we hope to adopt.  It has now been almost two weeks, and we hope to hear any day that we have an appointment with the department which handles adoptions.

Meanwhile, we continue to live our normal lives.  We know our lives will change in a very big way (soon, we hope) and we don't know how much longer our lives will go on this way, but for now we live day to day.

We harvested our garden, which was fun and delicious.  It's an annual ritual, that signals the end of summer, the beginning of the school season, and ushers in the cool, crisp weather.

Now that school has started, it's also volleyball season. Here is a pic of our girl on the court. The "action" shots turned out too blurry. Oh, well!

The last memory of summer. B entered his vermiculture bin in the county fair, and won a blue ribbon. You also see that he won "best in category." He has researched everything he can find on vermiculture, and put together the bin himself. Now he thinks he could design a better one.

Look at these wigglers! He says, "My worm bin has gone 'super-nova!'"