Dallan and I just got home from taking pictures with the wonderful duo of Enchanted Images and checking the mail. Lo and behold, what was in there? Our FINGERPRINTING appointments!!! Holy Freaking Crap that was FAST!!! We take them on January 6th. This is all moving so fast and its reassuring to my heart that it's so smooth; it just reaffirms that it's meant to be every single time and that my friends, is a blessing I'm ever so thankful for!
I HATE paperwork on a good day and this adoption has brought stacks of documents that I couldn't have imagined in my worst nightmare. We have ALL, yes that's right, ALL of the hard stuff done. We just have to make photocopies of our passports and create a collage and then our dossier is done. We are skating now... But anyways, the biggest "hurry up and wait" hurdle is Immigration. We were told we could submit some paperwork to open a file and let them know of our desire and intent to bring a child home so that when we arrive in Ghana we don't have to start this paperwork. The agency helped us with the forms and we paid our fees and they told us not to stress and check the mail everyday. Oh geez! So today I go to check for Christmas cards and lo and behold there is a letter from Immigration. My heart sank; the only time things go this fast is when they need extra stuff from you or the fees we paid were incorrect. For the love....but I was totally wrong! They received everything they needed and have opened the file. They are just waiting on our home study (our social worker sent this out on Friday) and then they can issue us appointments to get another round of fingerprinting done. They said in the letter to look for a followup letter around the first week of January. Once we do these and they get the results (approx. 3 business days later...) we can have a date to TRAVEL AND PICK GRACE UP!!!! OMG this is really happening!!!!
That's where we are at. All is sailing just fine and we are getting the nursery ready for her. When its done I'll post pictures.
So after many years, tears, trials and paper trails we are FINALLY parents! We became Daddy and Mommy on Sunday when our little girl was born. The people at the hospital named her Esi (this literally translates to Sunday born...). Isn't she absolutely perfect? I've often been told, as I'm sure many of us have been, that things happen in His time, not ours. I couldn't be more thankful for this lesson learned. She is the perfect little girl that we've dreamed of these last five years. The next few months will be crazy as we prepare to travel to Ghana to pick Gracie up. We will be there about a month while we wait for the courts to finalize all the travel documents and adoption paperwork. We can't wait to be amongst these beautiful people. The tentative time frame will put us home with her around February.
I can't be too deep here because my tears are flowing with excitement and nerves but I couldn't wait to share either. More to come when I can focus...
When I was 9 I so desperately wanted to go see New Kids On The Block, but my mom wouldn't let me. After Friday night I can see why, but at the time I was devastated. I LOVED them, couldn't she understand that? Sadly they broke up when I was 10 and I never got to see them in concert. When I was 15 Joey Mac and Jordan Knight had solo albums. My sister, cousin and some friends saw them perform that summer. We were in the front row. They looked right at us. They were amazing and we cried....
When I heard they were reuniting I told Dallan I was going to the concert. When the concert dates/locations were announced I was bummed to see the price of tickets and came to accept my presence at their show would just never happen. Thursday afternoon, an old acquaintance sent an email telling me she needed to get rid of two tickets and was going to sell them at a loss to her. I called Morgan since she was planning on coming down anyways and asked her to come, she said yes. Then on Friday morning when I was talking with my friend she mentioned that there was a third ticket available and wanted to know if I'd like that one too. Heck yes I did! I asked my friend Emily to come along and she was just as excited as Moe and I.
We got there right in time. The lights dimmed and the screens started to display graphics. The band was hitting notes and the next thing you know there they are. It was absolutely deafening. I almost couldn't breathe and yes, I cried again. I totally embarrassed my sis and girlfriend but I couldn't help it. It was so freakin' awesome.
When we got home and Dallan asked how it went all I said was, "I could die in my sleep tonight and feel like my life was complete." Poor guy - he's so amazing for understanding my obsessive attachment to all things boy band related - he laughed and tucked me in to bed. I obviously didn't die, but its one more thing I can cross off my bucket list!
My sister and her hubby took in a couple sporting events this summer. While we could care less about the Cowboys or Braves coming to San Diego we do know this: it means they need a baby-sitter for the evening (and in the case of the Braves game, and OVERNIGHT sitter; they were celebrating their third anniversary). Dallan and I were happy to oblige. Dallan was slightly nervous about going down to visit as he hadn't seen Kenna since April when she was about 4 months old, but he shouldn't have worried - Kenna was all about Uncle Dallan....
The first time we babysat, I went down early as Dallan had an interview and physical fitness test for the sheriff's department. Kenna and I played all evening; riding the jeep in the backyard, coloring on the floor, taking a bath and then it was time for bed. Dallan's flight was delayed so he made it to the house sometime around midnight and we went to bed. The next morning we got up an hour before we knew Kenna would be awake so we could shower and get ready and clean up our air mattress. Once I heard her moving around upstairs, I went to get her. She is so cute in the morning (actually she's WAY cute whenever she wakes up...) and was totally cuddly. Once we got downstairs though and she saw Dallan it was all over for me; she was like clay in his hands. The second weekend was much the same; once she had eyes on Dallan she didn't know anyone else existed.
What do you do with an almost two year old? You attend the Elmo and friends breakfast at Sea World of course. We also spent time on the US Midway ship and at Seaport Village in downtown San Diego. All in all, we had the most fun with her (and my sis and bro-in-law) and look forward to the next opportunity to see her!
Our second adventure this summer: cruising the beautiful waters that are Alaska for 10 days!
Dallan has always wanted to go to Alaska. I was fortunate enough to go back in the summer of 2000 with my grandmother and sister. I've been putting off this vacation destination in favor of other things (basically I'd already seen it so I wanted something new), but I realized last year that only two things mattered... 1. We had survived the deployment and would be together and 2. Who cares, where we go - we're lucky to be able to afford what we want to do! So, I called a travel agent and she took care of everything. We left out of San Francisco harbor on the morning of Aug. 15 and docked back in on the 25th. Along the way we saw Victoria, Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka and the Tracy Arm Fjords. It was so much more beautiful than I remembered and Dallan says it totally exceeded what he thought it would be. We'd definitely go again some day. Even on our days at sea we managed to have the time of our lives. We went to art auctions, trivia in the library, swimming, the movies, photography lectures and so much more. We were also lucky enough to eat every night with the three best couples on that ship. They were so warm and amazing - what lives they've all lead - plus the one guy was a walking trivia game*; needless to say we were never bored and the ten days went by way too fast!
*My favorite piece of trivia from the cruise.... Name all the states that start with either M or N. I'll give you this much, there are 8 of each....
A little bit about us...
We've been married almost seven years (and most days I can hardly believe this myself!) and have a beautiful little girl named Gracie who is two. I wanted to say a beautiful baby but I'm reminded by her daily progress and brilliant little mind that there isn't much baby left. We're hoping to add to the family soon, but for now the three of us are getting by with busy schedules and a whole lotta love goin' round!
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