uscis fingerprints

We had our appointment today with USCIS for our I600A (application for advance processing or orphan petition). We were excited to get another step of our adoption out of the way. We basically walked right in they looked through my bag and used the little metal detector. I guess we passed because they let us through! :) We were about 20 minutes early, but got right in. They fingerprinted us really fast and that was it. We were done even before our appointment time had started! These are a few pictures of the two of us on our fingerprinting "date". We called it a date because we had a friend watch the girls for us. Afterwards we went to Family Christian Store and bought a gift for someone and an "i love my husband" shirt (Adam already has an "i love my wife" shirt). We then proceeded to Buy Buy Baby and bought some sheets for the baby's crib. We decided to start buying things here and there. It is so exciting!!! Over the weekend we bought a Bumbo chair and tray for $20 at a garage sale. Yay for us!!

We are continuing to get lots of donations for our fundraising garage sale. Our garage is full. We need to get out there and start pricing and organizing! The sale is a week from Friday and Saturday.

We are continuing to be more anxious, but know that it will all come in God's timing. We are just so excited to see our baby's face for the first time. We have decided on a name, but we want to wait to announce that later...It is weird talking about the baby by name and not knowing who that baby is and what they look like.

official numbers

We are officially number 9 on the boys list, 10 on the siblings, and 32 on the girls. Adam and I talked a lot about it and we decided to remove our names from the girls list. We know that we would more than likely have a boy, but wanted to give someone that was specifically wanting a girl to move down a little on the list. We have two daughters now and a son will be wonderful! We still are on the siblings list in the case of twins. We moved down 5 spots in 2 weeks and I think that is pretty amazing! We are so excited and cannot wait to bring home our new baby! We feel so blessed and are so happy that we are following God on this journey to our baby.

While on the phone with Kiersten I asked about courts closing and exactly how that works. She explained it all to me, but then added that this morning they were told that the courts have scheduled court into August which may mean that the courts will not close. She said to keep our minds set on courts closing, but that is what they have been told. She said it may also mean the courts only close for a short time. We will see! We are getting so close to our baby!

no official numbers yet

I do hope Kiersten calls today with our official numbers. I am pretty sure I know what they are compared to some of my blog friends numbers. I will wait to post them once they are official! Please call today!

waiting

So we have been "waiting" now for only 11 days for our referral, but I really want to know what our new number is! I received an email today that they will be calling this week and to be patient because they have a lot of calls to make. For those of you who don't know our agency makes monthly calls at the beginning of the month and you receive your new number on the list.

I will learn patience throughout this adoption, I just really want to know how much further we have made it down the wait list. I want to see how much closer we are to holding our new little bundle of joy!

I am just so excited! and also still amazed how quickly we were able to get on the waitlist!

just wondering

i wonder...

-If our baby has been born

-Where our baby is right now

-What our baby is doing right now

-When will we get our referral

-When will we travel to pick up our precious child

-How our child's birth mother is feeling right now

-What does our child look like

-How old will our child be when we get our referral

-How will I feel when we get our referral

-How will I feel when we hold our baby for the first time.

And so many more questions.... My mind is racing. God take over my thoughts.

I have been doing all of this wondering and my mind is constantly going. I just cant wait to hold our precious child.

I also wonder what our number will be on the list when AGCI calls tomorrow. hmmmm...I know I will be looking at the phone to ring all day!

On another note, our prayers for the finances of our adoption are being answered with monetary gifts from family and friends and a nice sized refund from our Escrow on our mortgage and a pretty good drop in our monthly payment for our house!!! YAY!!! God is so amazing!!!! At the end of the month we are doing a fundrasing garage sale for the adoption expenses. Everyone pray that is goes well and if you live near us feel free to bring over any odds and ends that you may want to donate.

My Baby turns 5

Newborn Maggie

5 year old Maggie

Maggie turned 5 this past weekend! It seems like yesterday that I was holding a 7 lb 1 oz new baby girl in my arms for the first time. She is growing to be an amazing little girl. Wise beyond her years and faith like nobody I have known. She is an amazing gift from God and I am so glad that I can call her my daughter. When she smiles I have always said that her whole face smiles. Her eyes just light up. She amazes me everyday with all of her cute little remarks and questions. I love that she loves to cuddle and loves to spend time together. We went on a mommy daughter date last night and it was so much fun. I love her little laugh. I love how she is so giggly when it's time to go to sleep. I love that she wakes up every night to sleep on our love seat in mommy and daddy's room, just so she can be close to us. I love that she wants to play with us so much. I love when she plays pretend and makes her pony's or lizards talk. I love that she always remembers to pray and loves for us to read her bible to her. I love that she loves lizards and snakes. I love that she is a girly girl and a tom boy all wrapped into one. I love her imagination. I love that when I say "how did you get so big so fast" she says "i will always be your baby". I love her.

Maggie had a great time with family and friends at her party. The morning of her birthday she received a present from mommy and daddy. She was surprised with her first American Girl Doll. She loves it and loves to brush her hair over and over again!!! During her party we did a pinata, decorated hats, played pin the skirt on the barbie, ate cake, and opened presents. I think her favorite gift at the party was from Granny. She got her very own fish tank and fish!!! She names is sparkles and LOVES it. She takes very good care of it. Next year she wants a bearded dragon (it is a lizard). We will see. Overall her birthday was fantastic!!!

Happy 5th Birthday Maggie.

another wait list number

When I spoke to Kiersten on Friday she didn't give me a siblings list number. I didn't even think about it until we got off the phone. I emailed her and she responded back and we are #15 on the siblings list. In our parameters we said in the case of twins 0-12 months that we would want that referral if they came up at our time. So our parameters are boy, girl, twins, healthy, 0-12 months.