Happy Mikayla Day!

Hello?  Anybody still there?  If you are still hanging on with us even after a 3 month blogging break, you are amazingly faithful! 

On Saturday we celebrated a very special day for our family.  It was the one year anniversary of the day that we arrived home together, as a family.  I affectionately call it Mikayla Day. It is almost surreal to think about how quickly time has flown by.  Wasn't it yesterday that we were in Ethiopia just after their celebration of Christmas?  Wasn't it yesterday that they put this sweet little girl in our arms forever?  It hasn't been an easy year by any stretch.  I would  venture to say that it has been the hardest year I have ever experienced.  It has been a transforming year for all three of us, and change isn't easy.  We have stretched and grown in countless ways.  Even with (or perhaps, because of) these growing pains, this year has also been the biggest blessing imaginable.

In addition to extra snuggles, hugs, kisses, and prayers of thankfulness, we celebrated by heading out to a local Ethiopian restaurant.  The food and family time were great, and I love that we got another picture by the Christmas tree decorated for the Ethiopian celebration of Christmas.

Happy Horses!

One of the blessings of our adoption journey has been making new friends, both in the physical world and in virtual world.  In this post, I mention The Morgans, a family in our area who has travelled on this journey and have adopted two adorable boys.  Part of Luke's recent birthday wish was to see some horses.  Since I am a horse lover as well, it was my pleasure to invite the entire Morgan clan to meet my mom's horse Dreamy.  While the boys were a little nervous at first, once they got to meet Dreamy they warmed up to him and ending up brushing him, riding him, and even giving him treats.  Unfortunately I was too busy having fun with the family, so I didn't take any pictures of my own.  I did, however, grab a couple of my favorites from the Morgan Family blog.  You can read more about their visit here.

The laughs we shared together that morning and the looks on the boys faces as they spent time roaming around the farm were priceless.  I just can't get enough of this sweet family!  We're so thankful for the precious friendship of the Morgans.

Baby Steps

Last week we received word that our paperwork has been approved by the US government (Citizenship and Immigration Services). They send the approval on to the embassy so we are one step closer to being allowed to bring our adopted child home! Although this doesn't feel like a huge step foward, it is nice to know that baby steps are moving us forward.

We're Waiting!!!

That's right...our dossier was sent to Ethiopia today, and we are officially on the waiting list for a referral. I have to admit that patience is not my strong suit, but I have never been happier to be waiting for something. The smiles haven't left our faces yet!

We're Official!

We got word today that our dossier, which has been in Washington, D.C. since Tuesday has made it successfully through the US Department of State and the Embassy of Ethiopia! All of our documents are officially authenticated and acceptable to be used in a foreign country. Now our precious dossier is on its way to our adoption agency. This puts us closer and closer to being on the wait list for a referral. Here's a quick snapshot of our dossier after being authenticated in North Carolina, before we sent it to DC :

A Thing of Beauty...

is a complete dossier! We are thrilled to say that we finally have a complete dossier, and it was approved by our case manager yesterday. That means we are done collecting documentation and preparing paperwork for right now. Next step...we take this precious document to get it authenticated by the North Carolina Secretary of State's office. Then it will get authenticated by the United States Secretary of State and the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, D.C. This feels like progress!