SMILE

Zoe had her braces taken off today ! YEAH ! What a beautiful smile. She had them on a little under a year. They put a permanent retainer behind her front teeth and fitted her for a retainer she will wear at night!The pictures are of her signing the "Wall of Fame " at the orthodontist office and her posing with Doctor Montgomery. Then we picked up Adam and went out for lunch at Zoe's favorite Chinese restaurant Panda Express.
We also received the home study today via FedEx and took that downtown to the Secretary of State's office to be authenticated. You can tell we don't get downtown much. It was an adventure for the kids. They were amazed at all the skyscrapers and the inside of the building. Zoe asked if we would be seeing the President .Anyway..I have updated the sidebar with our new time line updates. Bye for now!
Bambi:)
P.S. I forgot to add that we FedExed the homestudy to Wasatch. So.. All dossier documents are into the agency !!! mission completion. They are working on getting the documents translated and then they are sent to the Haitian Consulate, in Chicago, for yet another round of authentication.Things are a movin'! Keep Praying!!

Christmas

Hello, hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!We've posted pictures below in our smilebox of all the holiday fun. Even though I've enjoyed the holiday break, I am looking forward to the start of the new year. BRING ON 2009 !
Bambi:)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Almost There

Yesterday, I took all the dossier documents , minus the home study , for county verification and state authentication. Everything went very smoothly. Much easier than trying to drive around and finish my Christmas shopping yesterday ! I took everything to kinkos and made an exact copy and then packaged it up to be fedexed. When I returned home, I realized the agency is closed for the remainder of the week.So panicked I called fedex. Luckily they had not sent it and I was able to go pick it up today. I will be mailing out this weekend !I was also notified today that my home study agency was not able to get the home study verified this week due to icy road conditions and the holidays.They said they will be able to get it verified and mailed to me Monday.Will it ever end ? I'm not sure .But I am still determined to get this paperwork in by the 7th.It is Christmas Eve and Adam is sick with Strep throat. We have canceled Christmas Eve here with my family and will be traveling up to my mom's house to spend the evening and open presents.My hope is that Adam can rest and feel better for Christmas Day. Keep praying for us. We need the prayers and encouragement.Pray that the home study would get here at the beginning of the week and I can take it downtown for authentication and off to Wasatch. Pray there would not be any more delays in getting the dossier done. Merry Christmas to everyone and your families !
Bambi:)
PS I forgot to add that now that the home study has been completed we were able to file for the I6OOA renewal.I have updated it in the sidebar. This goes to USCIS (immigration ) for advanced orphan processing.

Healing Art Missions

My step dad ran in to an old friend who's daughter happens to take several trips to Haiti a year for missions. She is a doctor who has a family practice in Granville, Ohio.They have a group of professionals who together with the community raise funds to provide medical care and other supplies to the people of Haiti. I put the link to the website in the sidebar under Haiti links.It is sooo cool how God connects us to other people .
Bambi:)

Getting Closer

Well folks, we are getting down to the nitty gritty on the paperwork! We had our medicals done Wednesday and all went well. The doctor's office is now keeping all the medical records on computers as well as doctor/nurse notes.So with all this advanced technology he was able to type up our medical letter right there in the room with us.We should be able to pick it up as soon as the test results from our required blood work are back.At the same time we were able to complete the medical paperwork required for our homestudy and get that scanned over to the social worker.I'm telling you , I have really begun to appreciate technology throughout this process!After the homestudy is reviewed as well as our dossier documents, we will be getting everything verified at the county level and then onto the state for authentication.Please pray that the paperwork would be wrapped up soon so we can move forward to this next step.Please pray that God would continue to remove the obstacles before us and to lead us through this process.Please pray that we would persevere and that his timing throughout this process would be perfect.Thanks:)
Bambi

Etsy Store

Please check this online store out. This is a store that sells handmade items to raise money for the Hope For Little Angels of Haiti Orphanage.That is Callia's orphanage!All proceeds go to help provide food and medical supplies for the children.You can check out her blog at, countdowntohomecoming.blogspot.com, she has some pictures up of the orphanage as well. Very Cool!!!!The link to the Etsy store and Hope for Little Angels of Haiti are posted in the sidebar of this page.Check it out!
Bambi:)

The Heat Is On

Time for a weekly update. The heat is on . We have less than 2wks now to prepare for Santa's arrival and we are pushing to meet a deadline of January 7th to get our Dossier into Haiti.Why the hurry? Well, Haiti has implemented laws from 1974 that say couples with biological children cannot adopt. They have told some agencies that if their clients get their paperwork in before January 7th these people would be able to have their paperwork signed off on without a presidential dispensation.We may need to do this extra step anyway.We have scanned all the documents we have so far to our agency to begin translation. The next phase after our much anticipated doctor appointment next week will be getting everything authenticated at a county and state level. We will be going down to the Franklin County Clerk of courts and the Secretary of State's office to have that done.So.... please be praying that this will all go smoothly the next couple weeks.Pray that we will beat the January 7th deadline.Please continue to pray for Callia as they also prepare her paperwork in Haiti.Pray for God's guidance for us and his perfect timing in all of this.Have a great weekend:)
Bambi

Thanksgiving( round two)

Well we officially wrapped up our Thanksgiving holiday this weekend.We went out to Grandma Brenda and Grandpa Glen's house for round two of Thanksgiving dinner.Again, we are laying around overstuffed with good food. No complaining here!It was a beautiful(but slick)drive out to Thornville.The snow was really coming down.Once we got home the boys put on their hats and gloves and headed out to shovel driveways. They have become the mystery snow shovelers of the neighborhood. They started shoveling driveways last winter for people, just to help out and it looks like they are at it again. Very cool!The pictures below are of Thanksgiving at Grandma Brenda's and also a picture of Granny Rose visiting the day after Thanksgiving. While I was setting this smilebox up I was thinking how lucky we are to have so many family members to visit for the holidays.The picture above is our trip to Easton to officially start Christmas shopping. Last year we started a new tradition of taking a sleigh ride around Easton shopping center.The kids love the horses and it is warmer than walking around to see the lights:)Bye for now.
Bambi

Thanksgiving 2008(2)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Stlll..

Well, this week I'm feeling like things are very still. Have you ever been crazy busy and STILL haven't accomplished anything. We are STILL collecting paperwork, STILL waiting for our doctors appointment, STILL reading the parent manual, STILL need to start Christmas shopping. So, with not too much to report, I thought we would try something fun. We are going to send a care package for Callia with our agency on the next parent trip. It has to fit in a gallon sized zip lock bag.We are already sending a photo book of the family , but I would like to include something else also.Please vote in the poll at the sidebar of this page.If you have any suggestions comment below.Have a great weekend:)
Bambi
PS( Carson and Shannon in the picture above ) "Santa's Elves"