add additional info - repeat

we're getting pretty good at submitting additional information.  we got another request today for further details.  this time it was for our formal application submission from last friday.  we're very excited that they've already viewed what we turned in just a few days ago, and hope that this additional information will satisfy their requirements now. 

we feel like we've been answering the questions we were given, but apparently we have not been doing a very good job at it.  i got a little bummed when i got the message earlier today, but when husband got home we sat down and knocked it out, scanned it in, and sent it off.  hopefully we're getting pretty good at the follow-up part.

for the love of it

we do a lot of things for the pure love of them.  going out to eat on certain holidays is just one of those things.  this year was different.  in our urgency to save as much money as we can for this upcoming adoption we decided (made a joint pact) that there would be no frivolous spending on things we did not need, one of which being a fancy dinner out on valentine's day.

dinner out at a fancy restaurant is a lot more than just the food that we order.  we love a dining experience.  we love the time together, the ambiance of the place, the music they play, how the wait staff interacts with you during the meal, trying new things, being indulgent, and having a reason to get dressed up.  by skipping the dining out experience this v-day we still did not want to give up on the typical fun that we find in the fancy restaurant so i planned us a fancy schmancy dinner at home.

husband came home to find a deliciously made from scratch four course meal with wine pairings, a perfectly set dining room table, menu cards, and our favorite tunes playing on the ipod in the back ground.  we both got semi-fancy in attire and played just like we'd gone out some where.  we rated the food, ambiance, lighting, and music all a 5 out of 5.  we both sincerely enjoyed our night in with the quality time together and celebrated in the hopes that this would be our last v-day without a little one.

we've  never eaten a meal on our wedding china before, so we figured this was the perfect occasion!

this is a little menu card that i made for our special dinner!

celebrating our 15th valentine's day together!

we loved the ambiance of "chez nous" and had a wonderful time together!

happy valentine's day 2011!

press submit!

we've struggled to get past all of the illness this week, and husband just had his first fever free day today, but we've gotten two great bits of information this week. 

the first notification from the agency was that the informational meeting we need to attend is being held april 1st.  that was a great piece of news to have because we've been wondering how to plan around a mandatory out of town meeting that we did not know the date of.  now that we know the date of the meeting we can request time off from work, make other plans for other out of town events this spring, and have the date on the calendar to look forward to. 

the second thing that came along with this was a prompting for us to finish filling out our formal application.  we were given a nudge to go ahead and submit the application  (if we were done) so that we would not miss out on the class.  we'd finished it last week, but just wanted some more time to mull things over and see if we needed to re-word anything etc.  so, after i got the nudge today we mustered up the courage to press the "Send to Bethany" button.  we definitely wanted to get the paperwork out the door, but were feeling nervous with large text fields and what they should/should not contain.  the longer we thought about it, the more we thought we had not said enough, or we'd said too much.  we told our story and feel good about the final product.  we hope to have some confirmation of acceptance past this next stage soon and will keep you posted as soon as we hear anything!

this photo was just one of our favorites from our pre-adoption photo shoot with kaitlin roten this past fall.  we thought it was perfect to say happy valentine's day, and here's to one more adoption landmark under our belts!

sickly

since moving to north carolina, i can honestly say that we hardly ever get sick.  however, when one of us gets sick, the other one usually does too.  while i was in northern va the other week i picked up bronchitis and then inadvertently shared that with will.  we had to go to asheville this past weekend to pick up his mom's car, but the trip was long and difficult with both of us being on decongestants and expectorants.  while we were there we both picked up will's mom's stomach bug and both spent the past 24 hours battling both illnesses.

i often wonder how parents manage to take care of their children when one or both of them falls ill.  we've been through some major illnesses, and through those times we've had support.  however, with the day to day bronchitis or stomach bug when you are just too tired to drag yourself out of bed, yet you have to, so you can take care of another human being - i just wonder where that strength comes from.  did you have it all along, and just never know it?  or, did you know all along that you could dig deeper, but just did not have to before the kids came?

chapters

we got the stage 1 approval we wanted, so now where have we been?

i had to go to the headquarters for my job for a few days last week and am just getting back into the swing of things.  we started on the formal application the night we got it and will completed about 40% of the general information questions.  we left the longer more essay style questions for a time when we could mull them over and figure out exactly how to communicate what's in our hearts.  last night i sat down to answer those questions to the best of my ability and then emailed all of that to will so he could work on the formatting and making sure everything comes across as we'd hoped.

today we're putting the signed acknowledgment paper for the privacy act and the next phase of the required deposit into the mail.  we hope to continue to work on the formal application online and get it submitted by week's end.  the office confirmed that the next informational seminar (which is technically the next step) is not until spring, so we will just hang tight and wait for the next step once we get this online application completed.

in other news - i had to get rid of my beloved 2000 vw jetta last night.  the car was due for its state inspection and 16 codes appeared when the mechanic ran the diagnostics to figure out why the check engine light was on.  i'd always loved the car (since before i even owned it) and purchased it for myself as a graduation present from college.  i took it to the local vw dealership to be sure that it's fate was decided, and they confirmed the worst.

my parents told me it was a lemon after all of the trouble i had with it.  i ended up having to get an additional warranty to cover about $8000 worth of repairs that were done from 2001 - 2004.  but - it was my car - my first car.  i was so happy when i paid it off and i figured i would have it until i ran it into the ground.  i just never knew that would happen so soon.  when the repairs to get the car to pass the inspection totaled over $1600 we knew we had better cut our losses. 

admittedly i cried on the way to carmax last night, but then the more i thought about it i knew it was an end to an era.  the next car i drive will be one designed around children - child safety - ease of getting strollers into/out of the car - and places to put all of a child's things.  we decided to not take on an additional car payment until after our placement has occurred and will's parents are being so kind as to loan us one of their cars until that happens.  then, when we're financially able we will go out and get the perfect family car.  (i just hope it has blue dashboard lights, a moon roof, and leather seats.)

some happies

this photo was taken in june of 2008. 

it was the second time we found out that we were pregnant.  we took a million tests, all of which confirmed the same thing, and we were so giddy happy we could not hardly contain ourselves.

we feel this exact same way right now.

we just got word from Bethany today that our initial application was processed!  with this approval into the portal came a list of what is next - YAHOO!  and we can now begin gathering data to fill out our formal application.  we could not be happier!

the latest email says that "our" social worker will be reaching out to us to discuss our next steps.  (don't you just like the sound of that?)  we're so excited to be in this phase of the process!  we are floating on air!

wrapped in the warmth

this thursday's small group and this weekend have given us time to share what we're going through, where we're at, and where we're headed.  in sharing we got a lot off our chests - a lot of things we've been keeping inside so we did not have to bombard our church family with constant uncertainty in the process we've embarked upon. 

we know we're supposed to be on this adoption journey to build our family through adoption - God did get us that far, but we've never received any confirmation that this path, the path of working with an agency, working with this agency, was the route that was meant to build our family.  when you get pregnant you know that you're having a baby, you know that God has temporarily gifted you this soul growing inside you to build your family, and you just know that this is the path for you.  we've just felt something is missing from the certainty with the length of time it's taken to receive the approval from the initial application.

questions still linger about if we'll be approved.  will the agency be able to work with us despite medical conditions we have?  will the issues that prevented us from being pregnant in the first place also be the stumbling blocks to building our family through adoption through this agency?  only time will tell.  i think the longer the wait of this "doubted" approval has taken the more it's made us question our worthiness.

however, after long conversations this weekend husband and i refocused on the fact that even if we are not approved with this agency it does not mean that we still can't adopt.  it's possible to still work with another agency to complete an international adoption, or to work with the foster care system in the state of north carolina.  we just know that in the end, no matter how hard we have to work, how much paperwork we fill out, how long we have to wait, how twisted the path becomes - we will be parents.

"Faith is walking face-first and full-speed into the dark. If we truly knew all the answers in advance as to the meaning of life and the nature of God and the destiny of our souls, our belief would not be a leap of faith and it would not be a courageous act of humanity; it would just be... a prudent insurance policy."

— Elizabeth Gilbert

this week we've been feeling the love and warmth of each other, that of our friends, and that of our families.  a dear friend at church knitted our baby a beautiful crisp white baby blanket and two adorably comfy hats.  the warmth of these items reminds us how incredibly warm we've felt in the recent sharing of this amazingly emotionally chaotic journey with friends and family.  we know that all of these wonderfully caring people support us on this journey and we need to continue to allow them the joy in the blessing of helping us along our path, no matter how long it may be, and to continue to keep the faith in knowing that it is God that lead us to this point, and God that will see us through.

baby steps

we're just making baby steps.  another email, hopefully the last email, was received this afternoon for one more letter confirming will's recovery from the decompression surgery.  we're typing this up tonight to get this back into the email to the agency, and hopefully this will get us past all of the requirements for the initial application. 

our steps are tiny through this process when i am used to taking huge strides.  friends used to always tell me that i needed to slow down, not walk so quickly, not to take such large steps.  however, towering just shy of 6' tall my legs are long and my strides are big.  it's been hard for me to get to the point where i can just take the tiny baby steps that we've been given.

things happen for a reason.  we know this.  i just sometimes wish i could fast forward to the future, see the reason for all of the hang ups, and then rewind and happily sit and wait.  unfortunately (or fortunately depending upon how you look at it), things do not work this way.  the reason for all of this will be revealed to us in time and we know and understand this. 

i think the thing that makes this all so difficult for me is that i thought we were being so super diligent when we mailed in our paperwork on december 1st, that i just never dreamed there would be all of this back and forth.  47 days later we're no further along, and that's just hard for me to digest.  the progress we've made seems so marginal in the grand scheme of things.  however, i know that it takes all of these steps, even the tiniest of baby steps to get us where we need to go.

this is the now

last night was date night in wake forest. 

we were worried that our baby girl dog, iliana, was going to thwart our date night plans as she presented with some strange happenings around 1:30 in the afternoon.  she had me worried and i scheduled a vet appointment for 4:15.  i was worried we would not get out of the place until after 7.  they can take a very long time.  however, we got there a few minutes early and by 4:20 we had a diagnosis.  seems she had severely impacted glands.  we get their glands expressed every 4 weeks, but the doc said we may have to now go to every 2 weeks.  crisis averted!  iliana was much better, and we were on our way back home for date night!

every second friday is art after hours in our small town.  all of the artists come out to show off their paintings, photography, musical skills, and all of the stores stay open late for some shopping (just in case that is how you express yourself). 

we had to go to this month's AAH because my all time favorite local musician was in town for a show at the local coffee shop.  arielle bryant was back in town to grace everyone with the ethereal sounds of her latest hits, and some of our old favorites.  Arielle Bryant  she did not disappoint.  she is so raw, so true, so real, and makes me remember that whatever you feel, you need to get it out. 

for a while i've been bottling things up, and that is just not healthy to do.  her song "mother, mother nature" really spoke to me last night.  the first verse (and a bit of the next) says: 

"been traveling long
been traveling wide
it's been long and lonely sometimes
but i keep my eyes on the prize
fight the good fight
but mother, mother nature
won't you please fill me in
i'm so tired of waiting for my life to begin
...
keep wanting things i haven't got"

sometimes if a song hits me all i just want to do is cry, but this time i was just happy knowing that i've rounded the corner with recognizing i need to focus on the now, while still working towards the goal.  we jammed out a bit and talked about how old we felt.  we were in a coffee shop surrounded by people that we could be the parents of.  everyone was about 16, and they were all having so much fun.  reminded us both what it was like to be a silly teenager, and how parent-like we really are now.  to me, this was a good thing.

after the show we headed to a local restaurant for some dinner.  husband picked a seafood restaurant named "shuckers" and we feasted on some oysters, and both had a smattering of seafood on our dinner plates.  we had a great conversation and so enjoyed the quiet (although music filled night) hanging out together.

date:  no babysitter required

as an aside - husband has a long time joke about red velvet cake.  he told me over a year ago that it was my mom's favorite cake.  i thought he was dead serious, so i had to call her and ask, and she had no clue what he was talking about.  so, its been a huge joke ever since then.  well, turns out that he has never even had red velvet cake.  while i was in tx visiting a goody good friend last october i saw it on the menu and had to order it, just out of principal for the joke to continue.  so, last night they had red velvet cake at the coffee shop and will just had to have a piece.  he declared that it did indeed taste like chocolate.

oh yeah!  got my mitts on some red velvet cake!

looking out the window

"can't hardly wait" is the title of an article in the latest issue of real simple magazine by lucinda rosenfeld.  


admittedly, as you already know - i am not a reader.  sure, i get southern living and the real simple magazines delivered to my mailbox each month, i admire every single photograph, love the room makeovers, drool over the food, take the tips, but rarely ever read a full article.


this article had me at the title, and i skipped to the end and saw that the entire thing was just one page, so i knew i could hold my waning attention.  the article found me at a good time.  with three friends on facebook giving birth on 1/11/11, and one of my all time sweetest friends on the planet announcing her pregnancy, i needed to still focus on my impatience.  


very happy that others have not had the struggles we've had in conceiving, and that they have sweet babies to hold now, and babies growing inside them, but needing to focus on the fact i "need to embrace the present" and stop attempting to rush the process of our paperwork and the future arrival of our match.

the dr. we've been waiting on confirmed that she is mailing the letter that Bethany needs today, and that makes me feel good - just to know we've completed that chapter, and the ball is in their court.  we thought we'd be going to a seminar next, but learning that we'd next be granted access to the "online portal" leaves us wondering even further about what is next.  however, this time i'm okay with that.  we'll cross that bridge when we get there.    


today we're just savoring these moments together.  these moments are free of paperwork, free of responsibility for another human being's life, free of worry over diapers or formula or getting enough sleep.  sure - we cannot wait for all of those things, but for now we'll be happy with what we have.

goody goods

we got a goody good news e-mail on friday. 

Bethany finally got the phone call from the dr. that they'd been waiting to hear from and that she's sending a letter to them shortly.  Bethany confirms that once they receive that letter they'll resubmit our initial application to the director (which our contact added should be approved without issue) and then we'll be given access to their online portal to add our formal application.  being a planner, it was great to have some sort of idea about what will happen next.  sending up prayers that this dr. will get the paper work in quickly and that we'll be into the portal shortly.

my other goody goods lately have to be my sweet pups.  don't see them here in this photo?  they've been like waldo this week.

the pups have been taking advantage of the newly cleaned and organized office closet, as well as learning to cuddle in this winter's chill.  on thursday amelia decided she'd hide out under daddy's storage shelf between an old flat panel monitor and a key board.  however, by friday the sisters both learned to cuddle up in the middle of the office floor under a blanket. 

all of these goody goods made me smile.

patience.

patience is a virtue.
patience is a gift from God.
patience is trusting in the Lord.

some people know just what you need.  one of my sweet sisters recently sent me this adorable card.  she hears me grump about things taking too long, the process being slow before it has even begun, and the fact that my patience has worn thin.  this little turtle reminds me that it's slow and steady that wins the race.

to distract myself i've been working on some projects.  last week i emptied the former craft closet and moved everything upstairs to the office.  the office closet was also full of mess, so that had to be cleared too.  i got some things  we have not used in a while ready to go to goodwill, got the necessary craft and computer items organized in the office closet, and the keepsakes stowed away in the attic.  this left us with a pretty good storage area for sweet darling deer's belongings, which we are steadily accumulating!

when i lose track of the importance of the wait i head back to the closet and spy on that little turtle in there.  he makes me smile and keeps me focused on the initial laps being as important as the end of the race.

i emailed bethany again today to ask if they could resend the letter to a doctor they were waiting to hear from since the doctor has not yet received the medical release form bethany is seeking.  i left messages/emails for both parties, so we hope they will finally get everything they need to move us on to stage number two.

now we resume the wait!

the gifties keep rollin' in

Merry Christmas to our sweet baby darling deer.

we did not ask for any presents this year that were not baby oriented.  after all, we need tons of things before this little one gets here!  everyone entertained us and purchased items off the registry.  super helpful, so we will be ready whenever we get this process started.

our dear friends delaine, alex, and caleb sent a giant box of prezzies last week - all of which were for the sweet baby deer!

this box was chock full of cloth diapers, diapering notes, and washes.  the adorable little giraffe goes ever so sweetly with the giraffe mama and papa taylor gave us back at my birthday.  delaine took special care to write notes on each type of diaper and wipe, and even pre-washed items that required extra laundering!

Christmas this year was at will's folks.  his folks got us the baby monitor and diaper sprayer from our registry and also picked up some additional books for the baby's growing library!  (we are heading out this afternoon to check out some sales on shelving to get the things out of what was formerly the craft room closet to get this back into the baby zone.  we need a place to put all of these wonderful things!)

so touching how so many people have given us such special treasures before our little one has even been scheduled to arrive.  we cannot thank everyone enough for their love and support through this process.  all of this preparation has helped us to finally see how this is really happening for us, and that after all of the years of planning we really are nearing a family of three.  Merry Christmas indeed.

making Christmas merry

sometimes when things are difficult you take what is right in front of you for granted. 

not being 100% sure why, this Christmas just seems more difficult than any other has ever been.  last night i walked past a picture in our bathroom that we took on a trip to the ilse of palms in sc after having to cancel our trip to mexico when we found out our first sweet baby was probably not going to make it into this world.  i see that picture every day.  we were so happy - even with the news we'd been given - because we held out hope that the dr. was wrong and that this precious baby inside me would grow to term and spend it's life with us.  looking at the picture last night reminded me of all of the stepping stones we've used to get across this river, and that no matter how raging the river was, that will was there - right beside me - holding my hand.


i know that there is a possibility that this will be our last Christmas alone, and so i hope we can take it slowly - minute by minute - and treasure every single thing that unfolds between now and then.  will is my protector, my best friend, my soul mate, my reassurance, and the daddy-o of our future babies.  i hope on this Christmas, more than ever before he knows how wonderfully remarkable he is, and how i just cannot wait to raise babies with him.

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2010!

books

i've never been a big reader.  my folks never really read us too many bed time stories and i when i had spare time, i was sure to find something "better" to do than to sit down and read a book.

however, i love reading books to children.  i love adding the voices and inflection to help keep the story interesting.  when i worked at a pre-school right after college i made sure to have story time every day.  will and i have chatted about how we plan on reading bed time stories and keeping a bookcase full of books in the baby's room.  hopefully our teaching our baby to love reading will help me regain appreciation for it as well.

it was a great surprise when kathy and mark gave us this story book for the baby last night.

i attempted to make my way through the story while we were making dinner last night.  i got a few pages in and found the tears were making it too hard to read.  this is the page that hung me up.

will took over and finished the remainder of the book.  such an amazingly sweet little story about God matching the adopted baby to the perfect family.  even though i know this is exactly how this is supposed to work, i was still getting antsy about the pace at which things are moving.  we are not even at the point where we are on a wait list (nor will we be for some time yet), but i was already getting worked up about the waiting game.  however, this story book will help me remember that this is all happening at God's pace - and God has the perfect plan in store.

baby it's cold outside

in the patience there is a stillness.

sometimes GOD gives us this wintery mix to slow us down, remind us of what is important, and show us how beautiful our world is. 

so thankful for the slow down so we could refocus today.

patience

got an email from Bethany Christian tonight.  i was hoping for a packet - the next steps - the seminar - something.  it was a Christmas card - and don't get me wrong, it was wonderful - just not what i thought we needed right at that moment.

seems like we've had lots of lessons in patience through the years.  i mean, it's not like we just showed up on this journey without a lot of hard work to get to this point, and it took us 6 years of being infertile to know we were on the right path.  however, now that the initial paperwork is in it seems like we need patience now more than ever.

we know there are going to be things we cannot control - the time line in which everything happens on everyone else's end is one of those things - the critical one of those things.  we are just so over the moon ready for this to happen it seems like we're in the home stretch, when really we have not even begun.

so - we're going to work on our patience, and trust in GOD to know that when the right baby is born HE will send us right to them.

generosity

lots of things begin for us with food.  we're what you call - foodies - so it's only natural that one of my goals this past year was to become YELP elite.  YELP was a way that i could justify my fascination with taking photos of food, and we figured it would be a great way to get out and meet people with common interests.  when i received the honorary YELP elite status i had to call those family members who'd even know what YELP was, so they could help me celebrate my new status. 


we went to multiple elite events, husband even received the elite status himself - yet we never found anyone at those events that seemed to mesh with us.  being a nosy nelly i find myself interested in other's profiles.  you can learn about people, see what their favorite food groups are, what they like to do outside of their food obsessions, and see what you have in common.  i'd friended a gal  a while back who seemed to share common interests in her profile, and we'd briefly chatted on the website, but nothing had gone beyond this. 


that all changed a few months ago. 


i'd stumbled across her profile again - i really do not even know what lead me back to the page - but i'd noticed that she'd changed her settings talking about her "new son".  i'd followed links before to her blog and found myself wrapped back up in her family's story.  come to find out - they'd just adopted.  i reached out to her, not knowing what type of response i'd get, but knowing that we had nothing to loose by trying to touch base and make a connection to another local couple who'd been through the adoption process.


cathy and steve surprised us with their welcoming open arms approach.  we shared emails back and forth for weeks - just getting to know each other.  we met them for lunch, they introduced us to their sweet baby, brought us gifts, shared their profile book with us, and really connected with us and where we were in our journey.  will and i were in awe of how tremendously giving they were - even after the first time we met them.


we've continued to email back and forth and they've been a constant source of inspiration for the use of cloth diapers, guiding us to answers for questions we did not even know we had, sharing their struggles and triumphs with us, and encouraging us every step of the way. 


last night we met them again for a meal at their home.  knowing that our friendship all started with YELPING, we knew we had to come up with a tasty little dessert.  will and i baked up a nice little batch of cupcakes and resisted the urge to sample them on the way over to their house. 

they welcomed us in, let us play with their son, gave us instructions and more advice on cloth diapering (my new favorite topic), cooked a delicious meal for us, and sat and chatted with us for hours.  we could have gone on chatting the entire night, but we knew we had to let them to go bed sometime - after all, they have a newborn!  they blew us out of the water with their genuine caring for our situation and their generosity.  we left their home with a custom made adoption ornament, a gift bag with a plethora of burt's bees products, and some g diapers.  the abundance of amazing gifts was unbelievable, but we were even more touched by their openness and willing to connect with us on a personal level and provide support to us when we've needed it most.  they know what we've been through, what we're going through, and what to most likely expect next.  they reminded us in their Christmas card to never forget their support is here for us.

steve does amazing work for burt's bees and gifted us some amazing products!  the abundance of products will keep us out of aveda and the drug store and saving even more money for our adoption!

cathy told me about cloth diapering when we first started chatting.  i initially thought it was not something we could "handle", but cathy brought me diapers and showed me how simple they were, and really encouraged me to investigate it more.  last night she showed me about 6 different types of diapers and gave us some that she'd used up to this point.

cathy handed us a wrapped gift along with their gorgeous Christmas card.  we could not believe it when we opened the box to find a custom made adoption ornament. ( just thinking about it, makes me start to cry again.)

we just hope that what they are doing for us we can thank them enough for, and can someday do something similar for someone else who is in the "adoption pre-game" situation.  it's people like this that make you stop and realize just how life altering a simple decision can be.  it was my desire to share my foodie photos with people and our hope to find new friendships that led us to YELP which led us to the friendship with cathy and steve.  we've gained so much more than what we sought after, we just cannot be thankful enough.

request for additional info...

today we got an e-mail confirming receipt of our initial application.

wahoo!

not quite...

they also requested additional details for one of the questions we answered affirmatively.  we figured this would happen, so we're not totally devastated.  however, i was just excited to have us moving on to the next stage.  i was hoping this email with attachment was the GIANT application, but maybe we will get that shortly!

in other news - we're set all up for Christmas.  will said this was the most excited he's ever been to set up the Christmas tree, and he helped from start to finish.  (hopefully he will have that same enthusiasm when it's time to take it all down.)

our most favorite thing is our nativity scene gifted to us from will's folks a few years back.  it is made from olive wood and each piece is hand carved.  above is the sweet baby Jesus - the reason for the season!

hallelujah

we've officially begun the adoption process! 

after a year of seeking, researching, chatting, reading blogs, friending "strangers" on the internet, and submerging ourselves in God's plan - we've finally reached a milestone.  today was the day when we took or initial application to the post office.

we requested the paperwork back in july, but felt we were just not ready to decide which agency we were going with.  after further research and connections with fellow adopters who were working with Bethany Christian Services, we decided they were the agency we'd like to go with.  we're very happy with their work with the expectant parent(s) and feel like their mission is aligned with ours - to find the baby that God wants us to parent.  we know now that we needed the additional four months to get to the right spot on our journey and we can both tell you that we are SO READY to be PARENTS!

it did not take us very log to get this stage of the paperwork completed.  however, i tried to be extra diligent in requesting doctor's letters etc. for any questions that we answered affirmatively on the initial paperwork regarding our medical conditions etc.  we are hoping that the more diligent that we are initially, the faster this process will go.  only time shall tell!

we'll keep you posted with each step, but at this point we're just stoked to have gotten the first set of paperwork into the mail, and to really be in the works!

this is our packet of papers for the initial application.

this is the special padded mailer we purchased to ensure our photo and papers would arrive safely.

here we are!  right before going in the post office to get this paperwork into the hands of the mail carrier!

here we go!