Homestudy finished!

Today we met with our adoption counselor and we got to read our home study report. It was very interesting to read a 9 page story about ourselves. We had to fill in a few blanks on things we had left out of our 20 page paper we wrote to her. It also included a few quotes from our confidential reference letters written by friends and family. Thanks for doing those everyone, they were great. We are going to have to be billed for the $2100 and she wasn't excited about that, but they have us because we can't go on until they get their money.

We did get the instructions for our dossier though, we just can't turn it in until we have the last payment paid. Plus the dossier includes another $800 payment. In this step we need more reference letters, a letter from Lance, answer more questions, police reports and psych evaluations. Plus some other stuff that I can't remember now. We were told it should take us about a month to complete. Then we mail it to our agency, they finish it and mail it to the Philippines. After that we wait for notice that the Philippines got it, it takes about a month for that.

So, we are moving along. We are just taking each step as it comes. It will all work out at some point, just not as fast as we had hoped. We'll keep you updated.

Creative Financing

I admit that I lack creativity, so I am asking for help. On Tuesday, Oct.30th, we have our final meeting for our homestudy. However, to actually make our homestudy complete we need to pay our next fee of $2100. Ryan works on the side for his friend and this is how we save the money for adoption fees. However, business has been slow for his friend and Ryan is lacking time since he started his new job. Needless to say, we don't have the money for this payment. Now,you could say, well, just wait the money will come. And yes, we will have the money someday, but I want it now.

I've checked into different grants and loans already and the paradox is...they require you to complete your homestudy before you can even apply. I'm not begging for money, I just need some serious advice of how to do creative financing. This is already such a long process and to drag it out more is hard on the spirit. Plus, there is always a chance that a country could close their adoptions (case in point Guatamala in January). Or that adoption laws can change.

So, just think about it please and post comments. Even if you don't have a real idea, a funny joke will be accepted because humor helps.

10/29 Update: Tomorrow we have our meeting with the adoption agency and we won't be giving them a check, however we are at $900 right now. They don't mind billing us, it just delays the process. Ryan has been working a little for his friend and we hope to pay the money soon. Thanks for all of the great ideas!!

Our Liam makes news

Yesterday my dad called me to tell me that he saw Liam's picture in the newspaper. There was a picture of Liam at school in Friday's paper next to an article about their school. He was in the south metro section of the Star Tribune, which is the largest paper in the 7 county metro area, and one we don't subscribe to. It was pajama day for his class the day that they took the pictures, luckily we bought new pj's for the celebration at school.

Ryan's traveling

We love Ryan's new job. He likes the people and he likes the actual work. I like having benefits and the security of a large company. However, we may differ in opinion on one thing. His job involves traveling, which I was not aware of. His first trip is next week for three days to Richmond, VA. The timing is good because the boys and I are on break for the week, so I don't have to get babysitters while I work. The bad news isn't even that I will be alone for 3 days, which is bad. The part I don't like is that he gets to travel and see new things without me. I'm sure it will be all business and he won't get to sight see, but I have never been to VA and I would love to go new places. I am happy for him and that he gets to go and I keep it in the back of my mind that someday we could be transferred somewhere and I would love that. Say a prayer for safe travels for Ryan and sanity for me. I'll be alone with the boys for 3 full days, can you say pizza!?

Mom's Conference

I went to a mom's conference this past weekend and it was fun. This was my fourth year going to it and I learned a lot. Although it is a one day conference, it's far enough away to stay at a hotel for the weekend. I went with my sister and a friend. They had great information for moms with kids of all ages. You can look at the topics and the books they sell at their website. I have seen most of the speakers and every year I think I don't need to buy anymore books and I always buy more. This year I bought a devotional for the boys and a Bible to go with it. I also bought a new recipe book on how to cook for one day, eat for 30. We'll see how that goes. I like it when they tell me new things that I didn't even think about and when they tell me to do things I already do. (I really like that because then I think I'm an okay mom). Last year I went to some sex ed presentations and found out that I am way behind the power curve for talking to my boys about that. The best part of the conference are the large group sessions. Over 2000 women singing and laughing and they always have a great guest speaker.

Liam's Birthday

Today I am compiling a wish list for Liam's birthday. I know it is over a month away, but I also know that much of our family shops early because of shipping ect. These ideas also carry over into the Christmas season. I gave links so that everyone can see pictures of exactly what we are talking about. However, the only things that have to come from a specific place are Land's End red polo shirts. For uniform purposes there are so many reds in the world they have to from Land's End for consistency. Liam knows about the list, so I'm sure he will have me update it regularly as he thinks of things. I hope this helps with shopping. Feel free to leave a comment if you have questions or e-mail us.

Adoption Update

We have turned in our huge paper about ourselves and it was only 15 pages long! I guess we don't have much to say about ourselves. Our next step is meeting with our adoption counselor to complete our home study and to start our dossier. We are going to meet her on Oct. 30, pay a lot of money and we're off to the next phase. We currently don't have any homework, so that is a nice break. I have been in contact with someone that works at the orphanage we want to adopt from. We have been discussing by e-mail some possible matches. We are so busy these days that the waiting hasn't really hit anyone, but I'm sure after we have been matched it will be hard.

Mom's Brag

Friday is the end of the first quarter for the boys, so I thought I would post their grades for everyone. Both boys went to school everyday and have zero tardies. Liam beat Lance in behavior by having no bad marks all quarter. Lance got in trouble 4 times during the quarter (usually for talking). Liam doesn't get letter grades of course, but he did well in every area and learned everything he was supposed to. His reading is really improving and he loves to learn. Lance is getting letter grades for the first time now in 5th grade, his grades are as follow.

Language Arts 95% A
Science 97% A+
Social studies 100% A+
Math 91% A-
Physical Education 100% A+
Spanish 96% A
Latin 106% A+
Visual Arts B- (don't ask me how you get a B- in art)
Orchestra 100% A+

I would guess that P.E., Art, and Orchestra is just comprised of coming prepared and participating. He did extra credit work in Latin and he is joining Latin club next quarter after school once a week. Both boys are in chess club after school, but they say Liam is a better player.

Little Artists

The boys and some of their art work. I took a picture of each of them with their favorite art piece of fall quarter. Lance's piece was created last school year and then the teacher saved it and put it in a local art show this fall. He has an award for participation. Liam made hats this fall in kindergarten art class, the one he is modeling is a fish. They also made chicken hats (which was my favorite hat). They have a wonderful art teacher at their school and all of the children love him. We like him also because he has great ideas for projects. We love our school!