Well, the T-shirts are done!

I will have them up on our site shortly to order.  I have to convince Kristen to model one for me so I can get a picture on the site for people to see what they look like.  We will have kids, unisex, and women's shirts available.  They are American Apparel shirts so they are really soft.  I will post more info later.

Ok, I convinced her and here is the shirt.

Papers, papers, and more papers

Staples is our new favorite store.  Organization is a must at this point I guess.  Today I received another stack of forms that need to get filled out, found out I might as well buy 10 copies of my certified birth certificate and marriage license, and feel like turning my basement into a assembly line for forms and documents to be organized and put together.  Next step is to get everyone that is required to fill stuff out to get it on their own stationary and notarize it. Should be easy right.



On a fun note, our T-shirts for the fundraiser are being made on Wednseday and we are waiting to put them on our blog to buy until you can see a sample on an actual person.  Also we got added to a yahoo group from our agency that is reserved for families working with the agency so that we can share information.  It has been very exciting reading there experiences to get an idea of what to expect.

Beginning an Adoption?

As Kristen and I  looked to adopt in the beginning stages we researched all over the place and it was a little confusing going through everything bouncing around from site to site and blog to blog.  I would find something I liked and then forget which one it came from.  I remember thinking, I need to write down all the resources and sites that we used so that we can help others in the beginning stages or at least work through it together as we learn also.  I want this process to be smooth for my wife and as stress free as it can be, so I figure if I take care of the leg work, she can concentrate on what she does best and that is loving our family and dreaming about our family to be in Ethiopia.  I want to share our information with all you families who are beginning our thinking about adoption.  I have started to compile links to the resources that we have used.  I will update it as we go but also ask that if anyone has other sites that they have used to send a comment to me at the end of the blog.


Ok, I admit my wife is right.  I am a bit of a research nerd and love this stuff!  Take care.

on our way...

1 down,two to go!! we had our first homestudy visit today,and happy to say it went great!!! anyhow, this post doesn't have much to do about the adoption..but with our sweet children!! we went to the pumpkin patch on the opening day,and we all had a blast!(I love the pumpkin patch!!!) they both love all of the animals at the petting zoo,and even got to ride the ponies!!! And come next fall,hopefully we will be taking 2 more kiddos to the patch...yay!! anyhow,enjoy a few pics of the kids at the patch!! happy wednesday!!

Our Adoption Tees coming soon!

We have been working on a design for our T-shirt fundraiser and I drew this the last couple of days.  I am just putting it out there for some feed back before I move forward with making them available.  The back of the shirt will have Ethiopia written in Amharic with the scripture John 14:18 on it.  The front will have the two hearts for each baby on the location of Ethiopia.  Click on the shirts to get a larger image.

We also wanted to thank our family and friends for all the support we have been receiving.  It really means a lot to us.

Look back soon for a link on the blog to order these shirts.  Proceeds from the fundraiser go to help with the adoption fees and who doesn't like a cool tee!

Loving the new blog layout. Thanks Jen!

Well, its almost done and we like it a lot.  We were going to try and create this blog ourselves and would love to claim it as our own design but we have to give props to Jen at http://theartoflivingblogdesigns.blogspot.com/.  She is awesome to work with.


We have so much going on right now with figuring out what next we need done and continuing the home study process that going through the blog community and reading other peoples blogs keeps us calm.  It's nice to watch families who are further down the adoption road than us so that we can see that all the hours being put into this are so worth it.  We have so many links to blogs that are just awesome to read, and we will share them soon.  Going through some of them you just realize how many amazing stories and incredible people are out there.

extreme patience...

well, i think it's fair to say, i am a very patient person.however, in this instance, i am continually having to tell myself to be patient! I am beyond excited for this upcoming year! i love kids and i love helping people,so this feels so right! grant and kate told me yesterday," mom, you're going to be a mother of 4!" HOW EXCITING is that!!but until then, i'll be patient....