Officially "ON THE LIST"

It feels really good to say that! It's been quite the up and down week. We received the USCIS approval in the mail today! Right away, I loaded up the boys and went to the UPS store to fax it to our agency! We thought we were going to be #20, but someone got a referral today so we are #19! Things are moving already! Our subdivision is having garage sales this weekend. As we were driving back from faxing the form, I noticed our neighbors had a nice Little Tykes kitchen set for sale. I thought it would be fitting to celebrate the day, by buying our first present for our daughter. Of course, I also knew that the boys would love it and in fact they played with it for an hour straight! Hopefully they won't "wear it out" before she gets home!

Dossier sent!!!!

What an accomplishment! It sure did feel great to put that (very thick) envelope into the FedEx box on Saturday! I was in a great mood all weekend -enjoying the fact that we had reached this milestone! We dropped it off on our way to a picnic for Michigan families that are adopting or are in the process of adopting children from Guatemala. I found this group online. It was great to meet many families and great to see the boys interact with the Guatemalan children.

Today, I am feeling a bit down! I called our Case Worker to let her know that the package would be arriving. We had a good talk about what happens next. I had a feeling, based on what I had been learning from the various online forums that I read, that the wait for the referral may be longer than we initially planned on (2-4 months). My suspicions were confirmed. She told me that there are 19 families on the list right now for a referral of a girl and it would be at least a six month wait to a referral (and then 6 months after until we can bring her home). We also need to receive the USCIS approval in the mail (hopefully any day) before we are "on the list". It may be hard for many people to understand why this all takes so long. It is mostly due to politics and "red tape".
At any rate, I feel a bit discouraged today, but once I adjust to the new timeline, I will be okay. Again, I know that it's all in God's perfect timing - I always believe this in my head, it's just getting it through to my heart sometimes that is hard.

Once we receive our approval form from the USCIS there won't be much to report for quite some time! As I heard someone say recently, I am going to become a "professional waiter". We still appreciate your love, support and prayers. Even though we don't know who our daughter is yet, she is very real to me and she is a part of me everyday. It seems like so long until she is with us, but I know all the pain of waiting will disappear when she is finally ours!