DNA at Lab!!

I woke up this morning around 6:00a.m. to get ready for my day. By 7:30 I had emailed the Lab in N.C. to tell them that our sample was on it's way. By 8:00 I had called Baltimore to try and straighten our visa situation out.
At 8:15 we received an email back from Pat at the Lab. Yes, I am on a first name basis with her. She is so nice:0) They had not received the sample yet and seeing as it was only taken on Friday, it would prob. be a few more days before they received it.

By 9:00 I had given up trying to deal with the immigration office and did what I should have done last week. I called our Senator. Within 15 minutes they called back to say that Baltimore had forwarded our information to the National Visa Center. They would follow up with the NVC later and call us back. In the meantime, we received an email from Pat at the Lab telling us that Liam's DNA sample arrived. Yes, you read it right. Something actually happened ahead of when we thought it would!!!!! It should take a few days to test and then the results will be sent back to the Embassy. The awesome thing is that Pat will give us the tracking number so I can follow along and see when it gets back to the Embassy. We then got a call from our Senator's office that the NVC has gotten the information from Baltimore and had forwarded it on to the Embassy. All of this before noon. What a morning. Have I confused you yet??

I then spent the afternoon getting our paperwork together and filled out. Not an easy task when you no longer have an agency to walk you through it. I am still not done after 3 hours and will probably stay up tonight to finish when I have no little ones under foot. The kids and I gave the dogs a bath. Bailey loved it. Abbie, not so much. We had to give up. She is so old now and just was not having it. Gareth did lots around the house today. We really accomplished a lot. We have been ready for our little man to come home forever now, but we still have little things to do to get ready. Most of them couldn't be done until now. Hopefully,we will do that over the next few days so when that email comes, we will be READY!!!!!!

DNA TEST COMPLETE!!!

We received the email after 5:00 tonight. This was a shock because this morning, we were told that it probably wouldn't be done until Tuesday at the earliest. i got a bit frustrated and once again mentioned flying down to handle things on our own. Our new lawyer said that she got on the phone to relay the message to the facilitator and this afternoon, it ended up getting done. I will be playing hard ball from now on. Now, we can track it to the Lab in North Carolina. From there it goes back to the Embassy and within 24-48 hours, if all goes well, we should have our travel date.

That being said, I spent most of the afternoon trying to sort our "Visa situation" out. I was on the phone with the National Visa Center to try and have them forward our information to the Embassy once more. Needless to say, after speaking to 3 different individuals, I was close to banging my head against the wall. I am amazed at how I can get 3 different answers and 3 different solutions from 3 different people all looking at the same records. I have now contacted two different Senators to see if either of them can help me ASAP. Monday will have to be my follow up day. I pray that this gets resolved and quickly. I would like one step in our process to go the way it should. I hope that is PINK!!!! We could have our travel date as early as Friday if the DNA doesn't get lost to or from the embassy. ( I say that only half joking) and if we can get this visa information resolved.

Enough adoption info. for now. Just please keep us and the situation in your prayers.

The kids went to a vacation bible school this week at the church where Callum went to preschool. They had a blast. Every day they collect an offering that goes to missions. This year, the collection was going to the Asthma research foundation.(very close to my heart) in memory of a beautiful little 10 year old girl named Claudia. She went to this church and a nearby school. She passed away due to her asthma a few months ago. The kids compete girls vs. boys. I am so proud of Alex. She was saving for a new Build a Bear, and instead of keeping her money, she gave all of her $22.42 to the collection. She said she wanted the girls to win. Of course, they did and jointly they raised over $550.00 for the foundation. What a blessing kids are.
The girls then got to throw tons of whipped cream all over the pastor. It was great to watch.

Tonight, they did their presentations. Alex did great singing. She doesn't mind being on stage at all. She must take after her mom:0) Callum on the other hand stood as still as a statue for the first half. The second half decided that he wanted to get a reaction so he preceded to stick his fingers in his nose, and them attempted to take his shirt off. All the while cracking up and watching people laugh. He was totally living it up to the crowd. I have not laughed that hard in ages. Gareth and I had tears coming from our eyes. He was a total clown.
The weekend will be fairly quiet. Gareth's grandmother has a birthday so we will have the kids call and sing to her. She is in her 90's and such a sweet women. Happy Birthday Nanny Jenkins!!!!!

Ready for a laugh???

There has been talk on one of our adoption boards about contacting the Embassy to make sure that they have all of your updated paperwork. If they don't, you won't find out until you are "pink".( Get your travel dates) Anyway, I commented that we contacted them months ago and although we didn't get a straight answer, they didn't mention anything about not having all of our paperwork.

Earlier in the week, I decided better safe than sorry. I emailed again and this afternoon received and email that told us that they had yet to be sent our updated Visa information to bring him home. Just a little back ground, Your original visa paperwork is good for 18 months. We had to update ours last fall since it was expiring. The updated Visa never made it to the Embassy. Now, this would normally be a quick fix right? I have a copy, I can email it down. WRONG. I had to contact the National Visa Center, they have to spend the next 2-3 days researching it, and then hopefully, they will send it down. At least we found out now instead of later. I just pray that they get it to them quickly and it doesn't hold anything up. I kept saying that I wasn't going to let my guard down yet. There is still too much that can go wrong:0) The good thing is, we know that God didn't bring us this far to not let us finish. We will get this resolved and hopefully it will be quick!!!!!

FINALLY ORANGE!!!!

We sent the slip off to the lab first thing this morning. Within 10 minutes, we had the receipt and information that it had been faxed to the US Embassy. Now, we wait for him to be brought in to the Embassy, the sample to be sent to the lab, and the lab to send it back to the Embassy. That should all be able to happen in 5-7 days, but you know us, don't hold your breath:0)

When the Embassy gets the results, we should have our travel date within 48 hours!!!!!
Let's pray that he gets in quickly for the test and that the sample doesn't get lost in the mail coming or going:0)

Want to guess what today's title is????

How about NO NEW NEWS AGAIN! I know better than start getting excited. I started to let my guard down a little. We were supposed to have dna authorization today and haven't heard anything at all. It is now 10:15 and I am off to read a book. Oh well, maybe tomorrow.

I am a little bummed. Someone that got their b.c. the same day as us will have their travel dates tomorrow. There has to be a reason that we keep getting delayed. Please continue to pray for us. I thought it would be easier at this stage, but it isn't!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GARETH!!!!

Gareth is 32 today!!!! I don't think that he will mind me posting his age. He seemed ok with it this year:0)
We got up this morning and gave him his cards. It is hard to get him gifts with father's day being so close. He ended up pretty much having a combined gift of a grill. He has been wanting one for a few years now. We have already used it 4 times this week.

Tonight, he is off to a baseball game with his guy friends. He has no idea that he is going. We went earlier and got his car from work and cleaned and vacummed it for him. I took it back to his work and put a change of clothes in there for him. His last client of the day is a "new" client that is made up, so he doesn't know he is getting off an hour early. His boss was in on it so we are ok there:0) Anyway, his next to last client is a friend and after his appointment, he is going to whisk him off to the game. Once he gets there, there will be about 10 guys waiting and they were able to get a suite for the occasion. I truly think that we pulled it off as a surpise, so thank you to John and Ken for helping me. If he had a clue, he certainly didn't let on.

I am taking the kids to the pool and Alex didn't understand why Gareth wasn't coming. I had to explain that it is daddy's birthday and we want him to do something that he wants to do. Not that he doesn't like the pool, but I wanted to plan a night out where he can relax and have a good time with friends. Hopefully he will do just that.

Orange Monday. ?????

WE got an email late in the night saying that we will be orange on Monday. They didn't get us in yesterday and the Embassy won't take the paperwork on a Friday. This is why I don't get my hopes up. Oh well. We also found out that the lawyer working on our case is no longer working on our case. They assigned someone else to us. I hope it is because we are straight forward now, not because I annoyed him by emailing every other day. We weren't given a reason why we have the switch. I am a little disappointed. I don't know this new person at all. Hopefully they will be as good as him.

Alex has been in a production camp all week. She has her show tonight. I will keep you posted. She is very excited!!!!

Orange tomorrow????

That is the latest report. Our translated and legalized documents were supposed to be picked up today and we are supposed to be orange tomorrow. Only time will tell and I know not to get our hopes up, but at least we are moving in the right direction.

We have a passport

Our little guy has a passport and our documents are finished being translated. Now they are coordinating submission to the US Embassy for orange. Orange is the slip that the Embassy gives out to authorize your second dna. Yes, it is really orange too:0)
that should happen in the next few days. Once his second dna is taken it is sent to a lab here in North Carolina. They send the results back to the Embassy and within 48 hours, we have PINK! Our traveling appointment and Embassy appointment date. (and yes, the Pink appointment slip is pink;o)
It is really moving. I pray that we continue going so smoothly!!!!!

Happy Father's Day!!

Today started with us waking and taking Gareth for bagels. He is not a breakfast eater, but the kids were so excited about Father's Day that I told him if we didn't make him something, then we had to do something. So off to the bagel place we went before church. We were actually early for church. That NEVER happens on a regular Sunday morning. The service was great. We had lunch with friends that will be away for a month and then Alex had to go back to church. She is in a camp this week and today kicked it off. Tonight, we grilled out on Gareth's new grill. My father was able to come over with my mother today. He has good days and bad. today seemed just ok I am just glad that we got to see him out and about. So, my dad and Gareth hung out outside on the deck playing with his new toy. The grill/ His father's day present that he has wanted for a few years now. I have been saving and on Tuesday told him to go pick one out. I knew that I knew nothing of grills and wanted to make sure he got what he wanted. He ended up finding the one he wanted, already assembled and they gave it to him for a discount. Gotta love how I rub off on him sometimes with wanting to find the deals:0) He is the most wonderful, thoughtful and caring man. Every year, he just becomes a better husband and father. We are so blessed to have him!!! He works so hard to provide for our family and never complains. He is so selfless and considerate of every one else in this household always putting our needs first. I hope that we made him feel as loved as he is today.

My household is quiet. It is after midnight and I am going back to scrap booking. I am determined to be caught up by the time we take our trip. Not east when I am doing 3 different albulms at a time, but I can't complain, soon it will be 4!!
I hope that everyone had a GREAT FATHER'S DAY!!!!!

Names.....

So, over the last few weeks Gareth and I have been discussing names. While we were at Riverdance a few weeks ago, I saw in the program that one of the performers was named Liam. We have always liked that name, and talked about using it during Alex's pregnancy and again when we were waiting for Callum. I mentioned to Gareth that I liked it. He said, "great". The next day, I looked it up and found that it meant desire and protection. It is also short for William. I did not know that. I like William, but we always thought that a nick name for William was Wil. (which it is) Anyway, I mentioned to Gareth that Liam is short for William, and knowing his grandfather's name was William, I waited for a response. A few days later he says to me, "I like Liam if we name him William and call him Liam".
We then consulted Alex. She was our biggest critic. If she didn't like it, it was off. She said, yeah that is ok. Over the last few weeks, it has really grown on us and although we have called him Nicholas for over 2 years, we have now decided to name him:
William Antoni. Nickname: Liam!!

We were going to wait to tell all, but we didn't want a repeat of the week after Alex's birth. You see, when Alex was born, we didn't know if we were having a boy or girl. If she was a girl, she was supposed to be Carly. We had phoned England to tell them that we had had a girl and left it at that. Later that night, as I was sitting there recouping after 5 DAYS of labor and almost 3 hours of pushing, Gareth says to me, you know, I don't really like Carly and I don't think that she looks like a Carly. I then responded in a very polite way (haha), " fine, name her whatever you want". That is how she is Alexandria. Well, later that week, we started getting cards from our family in England to "carly", and it was then that we realized that we had told everyone we had a girl, but in our sleep deprived state, we forgot to tell them that we changed her name after she was born:0) Makes for a good story.

So, long story short, you know if you are friends with us, we never do anything easily:0)

We will now have a Alex, Callum and Liam. We are thrilled and can't wait!!!!!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

i took the kids to the beach over the past two days. We have had wonderful weather and had a great time!!! Both of them LOVE water. I kept applying sunscreen, because it was deceiving. It was so beautiful but when the wind stopped, I could really feel the sun. Luckily Alex has no burns to report. Callum has such beautiful skin and has the best looking DARK tan. Oh to have skin like that. On that note, I lathered them multiple times a day with sunscreen and forgot to keep applying it to myself. I have a nice burn all over. I hope I can get comfortable enough to sleep tonight:0) We are all well and truly tired, so it may not be a problem.

I did get a call from my Doctor yesterday. We were going to schedule a surgery to remove a huge cyst on my ovaries. For a doctor to use that term a few months ago was pretty funny. Anyway, I was a little stressed because of the timing. We should be traveling in the next few weeks and with this surgery, I would have a few day recovery period. I didn't want anything extra on my to do list. Anyway, over the past 5 months, the cyst has continued to grow. Last week I had a test done, and it has finally gone down in size, "a little" as the Dr. put it. Not much, but enough that we will hold off on the surgery and see if it continues to shrink, (or pop, yikes). The good news is, this in one thing off of our plates. The bad is that it tends to bother me quite often. Hopefully, it will continue to shrink and I won't have to worry about it again.

Gareth has been pretty busy while we were gone. He could have relaxed and enjoyed some peace and quiet. Instead, he installed 4 new ceiling fans upstairs. This has needed to be done for sometime, and he finally had the oppurtunity while we were away with no little feet under him. They all look great and I appreciate his hard work so much. I will also appreciate that electric bill when it comes. These fans should help cut down on our air conditioning bill quite a bit:0)

Off to bed now. I hope to get a full 6 or so hours tonight:0)

WE HAVE A BIRTH CERTIFICATE!!!!

We just got the email this afternoon. 7 months after PGN approval and 4 months after submission to Mixco, We finally HAVE A BIRTH CERTIFICATE!!!!!

WE are still a bit numb and in shock. I am thinking that it may take a few days to sink in.

More details to follow, but for now, we are one step closer to OUR LITTLE BOY COMING HOME!!!!!!!

Maddening Monday:0)

So, it has been over 100 degrees these past 3 days here. We have one day left and then it should cool off. PLease!!!!
We have been trying to stay in and enjoy the air conditioner. We are so lucky that it is still working!
Yesterday, we did take the kids to the Movies to see Kung Fu Panda. It was really cute. One part scared Alex a little, but luckily she knew that Po would win out in the end.
Tomorrow is the last day of school!!!! We have so many exciting things planned for the summer. I have the kids enrolled in multiple VBS's. Alex got invited and before we knew it, I think that we are signed up for 4, plus a performing camp at our church.
This really is great though, because Alex is my child that has to go out every day. She goes nuts staying in. The fun thing this year is that Callum gets to join her.
I can't believe that it is summer vacation again. It seems as though the time just flies these days. My little girl will be 7 in a few weeks and my little boy will be 4!!!
Well, it is after midnight. I should go to bed. I would hate to oversleep and have Alex late on her last day of school:0)