HAPPY MAY DAY!!!

Okay, so I am a day late, but finally we have gotten to May! We are so ready for summer and spending time at the lake. We just had two gorgous days this weekend and that definately made us ready for our swimsuits, flip flops, and some summer fun.

So, what is going on with the adoption?? That's easy, not much. We did re-file some paperwork recently and went to be fingerprinted again. As of today, the CCAA has processed all dossiers through Nov. 1 2005. While we are excited to see them make it to November, it is being reported that November is a huge month so we suspect it will take a while to work through and make it to December. Meanwhile, we continue to wait! However, we are surely not alone as there are many, many families being affected by the lengthy wait times. On a bright note, there are definately more families behind us than in front of us. So, very slowly..........but surely we are moving up the list and one of these days, it will finally be our turn.

May is a really busy month, as always! We are headed home next weekend for Mother's Day. Then, the next weekend is my birthday. After that, we will be headed home again Memorial Day weekend for Rusty's 20 year (yes.....I said 20) high school reunion!! A very busy month, but lots of fun things to occupy our time. I think that's the key - stay busy till we get our Miss Emma home!!!

Waiting and waiting.......

Yes....we are still waiting. You would think we are getting pretty good at this, but it is a struggle and we are just trying to get by the best we can. We were not expecting this when we decided to adopt, but we know that when the time is right, we will be meeting our Miss Emma. We did receive a letter from our agency last week, and they are expecting us to receive a referral early November or December. Right now, we are hoping that we can travel to get our little girl home before Christmas. We are beginning to refile some of our paperwork (as it will expire before we travel). Of course, we wish we didn't have to do this, but it is necessary and we know that it brings us a little closer to meeting our baby girl.

So...in the meantime, we have manage to keep pretty busy. We re-decorated one of our bedrooms and it turned out really great! We are very pleased with the results. Next week is Wild Woman's Weekend and that promises to be alot of fun. I am really looking forward to spending time with my family. Rusty will be heading to the lake for deck building, painting, and I'm guessing a
little golf as well.

I guess that's it for now. I will be trying to post each time a batch
of referrals are sent out. We will try to keep everybody up to date
on this wait for Emma Paige!

11 Months and Counting......

Today marks 11 months of waiting. We actually started this whole process in April of 2005, but only 11 months since our log-in date. At this time, we hope to receive a referral later this year (we're hoping for sometime this fall) but as we all know, that is entirely out of our control. So....we continue to wait and wait and then wait some more. In the meantime, we are trying to keep busy. One thing's for sure, Rusty and I agree, Spring cannot get here soon enough!!!

One Room Down, One To Go!!!!

February 1st was an exciting day for us (actually, we didn't find out until about 8:00 pm)! Our dossier for Emma Paige has been officially moved from the review room to the matching room. Basically, this means that all our paperwork has been reviewed and approved for us to adopt. That being said, now we are on to the 2nd stage of waiting for them to match us with our Emma! As you can see, they have filled referrals through October 13th, 2005. Our log-in date is March 7, 2006, so we still have several months to go, but this is a huge step forward and we are very, very excited!!

We hate January......

We hate January!! We hate the cold!! We hate the snow!! Although you can't tell by this picture, I REALLY do hate the snow!! We didn't know for sure what new picture to post, so Angie said "get out in the snow and let me take your picture!!" So, here I am, standing by "Red Hot". Yes, the "blonde bombshell" is no longer with us!! She was sold, and I bought Ashley's Saturn, which Angie has named Red Hot!! "Blondie" was a good car, but it was time for a younger, hotter model. I really like driving it, it's a good car!! So, thanks to Ashley & Chris for selling Red Hot to me!!
We are starting to wind down from the holidays, and are looking forward to what Spring has to offer. We had a great Christmas, and it was fun to watch little Michael during his first Christmas. It made me very anxious to get Emma here so we can watch her experience her first Christmas. This year we decided to have Christmas just as if Emma was here. We bought her gifts, filled her stocking, which Angie cross stitched(along with one for Michael) just fer her. Santa even left her some great gifts. We decided that Ashley would make a great "stand in Emma". She was sooo excited to open her gifts!!!
Coming up in February, Gary, Casey, Brian & I are going to the KU vs Texas A&M game in Lawrence. It should be fun, since the Hawks will win!! GO HAWKS!! The women plan on hanging out in Wichita while we are at the game. Besides, they are having their annual "Wild Woman's Trip" in March over Spring Break. It's no men allowed, so us guys might be down at the lake in Canton, Oklahoma getting the trailer ready for summer. The trailer is getting a paint job and a deck put on, so she'll be good to go when we all start hanging out down there in a few months. We plan on having ALOT of fun this summer at the lake, especially with the addition of the jet ski!! We only got to use it over Labor Day weekend last year, so we are all looking forward to that!!