Happy Halloween!

Vroom...vroom!

Thanks to Charlie and one of his job perks, I had the opportunity to ride in a race car today out at Kansas Speedway...what a rush! Sophie hung out with grandma while I went around the track for a few speedy laps - she loved watching the "fast cars!" I had so much fun...I couldn't help but smile during the ride, but the wind was so cold and hitting me so fast, my teeth felt frozen! I am extremely grateful to have had this experience. Enjoy some of the photos (as you can tell, it's a cold, dreary day here...we were lucky to get this in as we've been dodging rain all day).

Happy weekend everyone!


Sophie with the official pace car...
Posing in victory lane...
Got my "fashionable" suit on...

Getting ready to climb my way into the car...

Sophie's ready to watch mama go fast!

That's me...blurry at about 160+ mph...
Making the race helmet look good! (actually, I just didn't know how to get it off!)

Girls can do anything, Sophie!

Cookie Monster

Thanks Grandma for the fun cookie...

Licking her lips in anticipation of the yummy cookie goodness...

So In Love...

Today, Steve and I celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary! Steve took the day off work and we took Sophie-girl to Lawrence, our favorite little college town to walk around and stock up on new KU gear. Later, Sophie went to Grandma Gayla's while Steve and I enjoyed a nice dinner out, just the two of us. What a lovely way to spend the day!

Hard to believe that we've been married for 8 years...We are blessed beyond measure!

Pumpkin Patch

Five.

Happy five months of waiting everybody! We are suprisingly upbeat at this month's marker as we feel we are getting extremely close to knowing who our next little family member will be.

As it stands on the unofficial waiting list with our agency, there are only 3 families ahead of us thanks to an abundance of referrals happening these past few weeks. I always remind people that things can slow down just as quickly as they can speed up, so we are "cautiously" optimistic while still attempting to be grounded. ;-)

We find ourselves excited with anticipation as we await that all-important referral call and all of the emotions that go along with it...we are so lucky to grow our family in this way!

Congrats to all of our forum friends and their recent FANTASTIC news!

Had a date with...

our local Citizenship and Immigration Services office this morning. Many of you may remember that we had our fingerprints taken and filed our I-600A way back on June 30th. The fact that we still had not received approval of these things worried not only us, but our adoption agency as well. The I-171H was the document that we were waiting on, which basically indicates that we've been pre-approved by the US government to bring a baby from another country into our family as our own. While things through USCIS have slowed down, this timeline seemed a bit excessive. So, after many failed attempts by our adoption agency to contact anyone regarding our applications status, we made a person-to-person appointment for this morning to finally get some answers!

Steve went with me to make sure we covered all of our bases and I was DETERMINED not to leave there without some answers! We waited for them to locate our paperwork for approximately 10 minutes at which point, the little fella behind the counter called us up to the window and handed us our I-171H! We had been pre-approved on July 7th (about a week after we filed our application!)...they had just failed to send us the notice of our approval. As happy as I am that yes, we are officially not waiting on that paperwork any longer, it also makes me a bit peeved that a vital piece of my sanity was sitting in a folder on some guy's desk all this time! We've learned our lesson...when in doubt, question the people "in charge" and if it comes down to it, make that appointment to contact them face-to-face.

So, HOORAY! We finally, finally have our I-171H! Things at our agency seem to be moving right along as several of our adoption forum buddies have recently received referrals for their children! What a blessing it is for us to follow along with their journeys - such a source of strength and inspiration for us as we continue to wait for our miracle. We are getting very, VERY close to knowing who our next baby will be - of course, we are super-excited for that day to come! I feel as though we're a family on the verge!

A special and unrelated shout-out goes to my friend, Danielle and my sisters-in-law, Dana and Leah...can't wait to see you all here next month for the KC NKOTB concert...Ninth row tickets are made all the more special by the prospect of sharing such an experience with you all...Lots of love, my girls!

Happy Fall! (It's our favorite time of year!)