Celebrations

The last week and a half has been all about celebrations for us, and so today I'm going to focus on those, with some updates interspersed.

! Today's (more or less) the last day of school! I could not be more excited- it's been a long school year. Adding the adoption paperwork to working full time has been even more difficult than my last two years of working full time and going to grad school full time. I could use a week or so of sleep right about now.

!! No more garage sales!! After five garage sales over 6 days, we are exhausted. Not only are we celebrating being done, but also raising just over FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS. Seriously, that's our combined total from the Craigslist, Ebay, and garage sale items that were donated and a part of our purging. Incredible! Interestingly, we got to meet the most wonderful, heartwarming, encouraging people through the process. We are thankful to be done, but so grateful for the experience, your donations, and getting closer to bringing Baby J home.

!!! Today is our anniversary!!! Nine years ago today, we began the adventure of marriage, and it has been such a gift. I am so thankful that we ended up together- I couldn't have gone through this process with anyone else (nor would I want to)! Pictured here is us about eleven years ago, when we first started dating. 

!!!! Our home study is done! We are waiting on the signatures, but it has been approved by both agencies! This means several things, not least of which that we can start applying for grants. We will next be working on our dossier, and besides a MASSIVE amount of paperwork, we're not sure what to expect. I'm sure adoptive parents can/will enlighten me, but I'm sure we'll also figure it out as we go along. We are also thrilled to have our sweet friends coming home with their precious adopted daughter right now (like, literally right now) and it feels like such a great thing to be able to celebrate as we're in the middle of our small victories. While we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, we're getting to see what actually at the end of the tunnel, and it's so remarkable!

Thank you all for your love, support, encouragement, help, time, donations, prayers, and patience. We couldn't do this without you and we're happy to have you all around to celebrate these things with us! We will update again soon- until then, we love you!