Minor update

I found out today that our dossier IS submitted. The docs we just sent are to prevent it from being kicked out. I think this is a VERY good update.

Happy Halloween!

Praying for Fedex...

Our latest set of documents is on their way to our facilitator. They have given us a delivery date of next Wednesday. I am hoping that Fedex gets them there sooner, but mostly that they are sufficient. This will be our third try.

Wii Can Do It!!!

We are in the final weeks before we are blessed to go and meet our girl! We are running this special holiday drawing to raise the last of the funds to bring Mattea home. Please consider helping us reach our goal. For every $5 donation your name will be entered into a drawing for a brand new Wii game console. The ChipIn will be open until the night of November 11 and I hope to have this Wii on its way to its new home on November 12, with plenty of time to arrive for the holidays. Thank-you all so much for your generous gifts throughout the last few months! We are so excited that the time is drawing closer to bring our girl home!

Not again...

The authorities have requested further paperwork to be added to our dossier. No Snoopy dancing here. I sure wish hoop-jumping burned calories...

The Wii!!!

The fundraiser poll results are in--- and thankfully, so is the Wii game console! There are advantages to living near a Walmart out in the boonies! This will be our final online fundraiser and we are hoping to raise enough to be able to bring our girl home. We should have our appointment/travel date any day now so Mama is getting nervous. For every $5.00 donation you make, you will have one chance for this brand-new Wii game console, just in time for the holidays! Please help us if you are able, and please keep Mattea in your prayers. We are very, very grateful for all of the many donations we have received so far, and any we are yet to receive.

Pending raffle...

It looks pretty certain that the popular vote is for the Wii game console. I will be heading out this week to see if I can find one and then I will post a ChipIn widget. Thank-you everyone for your votes!

We are...

SUBMITTED!!!!!!!!!!

This means that our dossier has been submitted to the central adoption agency in Mattea's country. This means we are very close to having a travel date, and our agency here says it will most likely be some time in November!!! Please pray that funds will be made available to us in time. I am hoping to be able to work some overtime at the hospital. We are getting closer to our goal.

PLEASE TAKE A MINUTE...

We are still quite a bit short of funds for Mattea's adoption, we are running out of time, and we would like to have another online fundraiser that would be appealing to the most people. Please take a minute and cast your vote on the poll in the side bar, and stay tuned for the results! Thank-you!!!!!!!!!

One more week...again...

Well, it seems our document is in the correct country but not yet in the correct hands, so we wait again until another Monday. :o(
Our agency feels that we will still travel in November.

Sorry this is blurry. If you can't read it, it says "Yes, it's great to be pregnant, but a 22-month pregnancy is too long! I want to see my baby!"

Crazy waiting...

Our amended document is where it needs to be. Now to wait and see if our dossier is submitted this week. I am not a patient waiter at all...
I am trying to write a paper that is due tonight and it is all I can do to focus on it. My Estuardo is obsessed with the "Cars" movie (Pixar) and it has already played 3 times this morning. Each time it ends he cries for "car race, car race." So it is my background "music"...
I have plenty to do but no focus.

Paris, again

Our repaired document has arrived in Paris en route to it's destination in Eastern Europe! I am praying hard that our dossier can be resubmitted first thing next week! I hope to be jumping and cheering and Snoopy-dancing!

AT RISK-We Need Mommies and Daddies!!!!!

Reece's Rainbow has some very special children who are in desperate need of Mommies and Daddies. Many of them face being transferred to mental institutions very soon. You can see them here: http://www.reecesrainbow.org/atrisk.htm

One Word

One word is all we needed to change on one piece of our paperwork. Stew is headed to Santa Fe today to apostille and express mail. Hopefully by next Monday we will be back "in." Meanwhile, I am brainstorming for yet another fundraiser...
I am thinking since this is taking more time than we thought, it's time to fly up and visit Mom and Serena and her family.

Eastern European Previo

In Guatemala, when our paperwork got "kicked out" for whatever reason, it was called a "previo." Well, our first dossier submission has resulted in an immediate previo. Apparently they have decided the wording on my husband's Power of Attorney needs to be reworded. I think it is a quick fix, and then hopefully we will be "in" by next week and waiting for our court date. It is annoying and sad to have a setback again, but at least our paperwork has actually been looked at. Our funds are growing, as is my vacation time, so there is a little bit of positive to the wait. I am just worried about our girl. I pray that she will be able to stick out this winter without becoming sick. I am still hoping and praying we can get her here this year.

25 hours later

We had our pancake breakfast on Saturday. Unfortunately we were competing with the Balloon Festival in Albuquerque as well as the Pinto Bean Festival in Moriarty, plus it was raining! But we had a few faithful attendees and we are VERY grateful to those who attended as well as to the MANY local businesses who donated food, eating utensils, and many generous gifts and gift certificates for our silent auction. We were able to add a couple hundred dollars to Mattea's fund but more than that we got to know our little town a lot better.
We all came home Saturday afternoon VERY exhausted, and I think every one of us took a 2 hour nap. We ordered out pizza for dinner, and a few minutes after we turned on the TV to relax, a tornado warning flashed across the screen. It was the first one we have seen for our area since we moved to Albuquerque 3 years ago. Then a few minutes later, our power flickered off... Thank goodness, the tornado did not touch down near our home, BUT it took down 6 power lines in Edgewood. 25 hours later, our lights are finally back on. It is very humbling to be without power for a day. I just thank God it was nothing worse.

Blogversary event...

Life With My Special Ks: TODAY'S THE DAY!!!!

The above link will take you to the Special Ks' special blogversary gift basket give-away. Head on over and join in on the fun, and check out an awesome blog!

PANCAKE BREAKFAST SATURDAY!!!!!

Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare for our big Pancake Breakfast and Silent Auction/Bake Sale on Saturday. It is at the Edgewood Community Center, here in Edgewood, NM. We are very grateful to all of the local businesses who have so graciously donated either food or gift certificates or other items for our auction. I am hoping we have a good turnout.

Hurry up and wait

Once again we wait. "They" have responded to our facilitator with the statement that no dossiers will be accepted until October 14th :o( :o( :o(
The only consolation I have in that is it is only 1 week away and not months and months. Even though right now a week feels like an eternity. I am hoping that our travel date is before the holidays but that seems to be almost impossible now. I am bummed. I hope Mattea is okay.

Tuesday?

Our facilitator hopes to submit our dossier on Tuesday! Praying...

PANCAKE BREAKFAST!!!

Mark your calendars! Saturday October 11 from 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
If you aren't able to make it, please keep us in your prayers!!!

(This is a picture of Mattea from last year---)

Pancake Breakfast and Silent Auction/Bake Sale for Mattea

$5.00 per person for the meal

Lots of neat auction items and gift certificates from local businesses~

Edgewood Community Center

Edgewood, New Mexico

Come eat pancakes and help save a life!

Not yet

Our dossier has not been submitted yet. Our appointment letter was submitted 2 or 3 weeks ago and our facilitator is now waiting for an appointment to submit the rest of our paperwork. Our agency is predicting that we may travel the end of November.

OCTOBER IS DOWN SYNDROME AWARENESS MONTH

October is Down Syndrome Awarenes Month! Reece's Rainbow will be posting 31 different children, each available for adoption, on their blog, one each day. By clicking the above button, the one on the top, it will take you to their blog. The bottom button will take you to another site that will tell you all about the 31 for 21 Challenge.