Homestudy approval

We finally got word that we are going to be approved for our home study. We have to have one final meeting next Thursday to come up with a plan for Fisher when he comes home such as what we will do for attachment, therapy, etc. to help with his loss and grief as he is 5 years old. Our agency has come up with a new policy for adopting older child from Ethiopia so that the transition is smoother for all. We were a little nervous for a bit that it cause us a problem with approval but thank goodness it only slowed us down!

Update on Fisher

We are so excited we got our official first update on Fisher from someone one that traveled to the orphanage during her trip to Ethiopia.

I'm so happy this little guy has a family! He was a little bit shy with me, but finally seeing his smile was worth the wait.

Do Not Enter

We are having our final home inspection tomorrow, i.e., making sure the ladder to the attic is safe and covered. Peter was very ambitious to come up with an inexpensive way to make it safe. I love that he cut out some Do Not Enter vinyl himself.

Check out Tate and EB's "matching" pajamas. Last night they wore pink matching ones.

Lemonade

There are not many times when I am at a loss for words, for anyone that knows me that is a suprise, but today I was speechless! A few of Tate's friends came to the door and rang the bell. I thought maybe they were coming to see if we wanted to go to the park. Instead, they handed Tate a coffee can filled with money. His friend Matt had gathered a few friends to sell lemonade to help raise money for Tate's new brother to come home. They did this after school with some boys down the street from school. It was amazing and so generous of them and all who bought the lemonade. They raised $41.14 and brought tears to my eyes!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

The kids counting the money and Tate grinning from ear to ear!

Tate counting the money again to confirm that there was $41.14.

It is Official!

We have accepted a 5 year old boy from the waiting list. The first thing I did was go and get pictures printed. We are not allowed to post his picture until we pass court and he is legally ours but I can tell you he is CUTE and has the biggest brown eyes that have melted all our hearts. The kids were so excited to bring him to school with them tonight that they each carried his picture and "introduced" him to everyone and anyone. I am so proud of them for being so excited about Fisher.

We cannot wait until you come home Fisher! We love you already!

Here is our first family photo together with Fisher. Tate was so excited to get him in the picture. We took this in Harper's class as part of the scavenger hunt.

3 Kids Crashed out

We went out after dinner tonight to garbage pick -- what can I say? We are having a huge garage sale on May 22nd to earn money towards our adoption efforts and it is the free garbage day here in La Grange on Monday. We tossed all the kids in the back and before we made it home they were all fast asleep. I love love this picture of them. We had some fun family time in the car and got lots of treasures and a priceless picture -- what more could you ask for?

Spring Cleaning?

Peter and I are very excited we have such support for our Garage Sale on 5/22/10. Please think of us if you have anything you don't need or want, we will gladly pick it up.