Reject

At least that is what the fingerprint machine kept saying to the lady trying to take my fingerprints today for our USCIS approval.  :(

3 of my 10 fingers are apparently too smooth.  I blame it on the endless diaper changes which result in endless hand-washing.  She kept trying to get a "passing" fingerprint on those fingers but couldn't, so now they send them to the FBI anyway and see if they are good enough to clear.  If not, they will send me a new appointment, and I will have to go back and try again.

Birthdays!

Last week was birthday week in the Crispin house.  Caden's and my birthdays are 2 days apart, so we get a few days straight of celebrating.  :)
Caden turned 3, which has got to be the most fun birthday with kids because it is really the first year that they really get that it is their birthday!  Caden was hilarious all day long (as usual!)

Can you tell the kid loves Buzz Lightyear?  He got to pick out the birthday decor.

Ethan is always excited for birthdays too, regardless of whose it is, because it means he gets cake.

And would someone please tell me how it is that my one year old already knows how to do a cheesy fake smile?

This boy really only wanted the icing.

Everyone wanted in on unwrapping the presents.

All in all a good birthday for Caden.  

Caden's birthday was on Thursday.  On Friday, we headed up to my mom's to drop off the kids so we could have a night out for my birthday.  We stayed in a hotel and actually got to sleep in (for the first time in almost 5 years!)  We also ordered room service for breakfast.  I have decided that breakfast in bed in a hotel is the way to go.  That way someone else gets to clean the crumbs out of the sheets.  :)  We then headed back to my mom's where the boys and Grandma had made me this:

Can you tell who colored which letters?  

My mom also made me this for my birthday:

It is an African tree made out of African mahogany.  My mom is getting really good at woodworking.  She just got her second saw and has been making all sorts of cool stuff.  She made Caden three animal puzzles for his birthday.  You should check out her Etsy site here:    http://www.etsy.com/shop/glrivera2004?ref=pr_shop_more

We have our USCIS fingerprint appointments on Thursday!  I can't wait.  It is our last step before the waitlist!  :)

Spring Family Fun...And we got our USCIS fingerprinting appointments!!!

So, I figured it is about time for an update with some pictures.  We are loving the warmer weather and the longer daylight.  We went out for ice cream the other night, and the kids were so funny that I had to get a few pictures.

 

Caden wanted to push Abbie's stroller.

This is actually a more typical picture of them.  It is hard to get a picture of Caden where he is not a blur.

Ethan made himself very comfortable while eating his ice cream cone.

We also made it out for a fun trip to the park earlier this week.  I completely forgot that it was spring break for all of the big kids in town when I told the kiddos we would head to the park, so we went to a smaller playground next to a splash park (which was still closed) and we had had the place to ourselves!

The boys figuring out how to fly like Buzz Lightyear. :)

Couldn't get Ethan to look up for a picture for anything!

After taking this picture of Caden, I decided he was looking a little too much like a toddler version of a current preteen rockstar, so he got a haircut. He sure is cute though isn't he?

Abbie loves to swing.  

Caden was not happy when it was time to go home. 

And last but not least...look what came in the mail today!!!!

Our appointments are next Thursday!!!  

Gladney Approved, One Step Closer??

We received our Gladney approval on Friday, March 4.

I would have posted about this sooner, but it has been a crazy couple of weeks.  When I received the email on my phone, we were sitting at the hospital bedside of my father-in-law, who would walk into the arms of Jesus a few hours later after a battle with cancer.  I am pretty sure that at that point he could still hear what was going on in the room, so I am glad that we got the email when we did.  He asked often how the process was going, so I am glad he got to hear that we were one step closer to bringing home another grandchild to add to his current dozen.  :)

Aside from everything else that happened over the last week, our approval has not brought quite the excitement I was hoping for.  We really don't know if we are any closer to bringing home our kiddo.  With all the unknowns in Ethiopia right now, we just aren't sure what will happen.  We are praying that whatever is going on is just a temporary staffing issue that somewhere along the way something was misconstrued to be more than it is.  I don't know what the outcome will be, but I do know someone who does.  We know that God has led us every step of the way in this process, and we know that he is not going to leave us now to figure out the rest on our own.

Now, we are basically just waiting on our USCIS (immigration) approval, then our dossier will be complete, and we will be on the waitlist.  (We got a very official looking receipt from USCIS and they cashed our check, but we don't have our fingerprint appointments yet.)

The next few weeks should be super busy.  We are going to have another two garage sales (one at our house and one at my mom's)  at the beginning of April to add to our adoption fund.  Next week we will also celebrate Caden's and my birthdays.  That's right, they are 2 days apart.  I brought him home on my birthday. :)  Definitely the best birthday present I have ever gotten.

Please keep praying for us and all the other families that are in the process of adopting from Ethiopia.  As stressful as this is for us, I cannot even imagine the emotions of the families that have already seen their child's face or should have been receiving referrals any day.  Please pray that the government agencies in the Ethiopia that are meeting will come up with a system that is best for the orphans of Ethiopia and will give as many of them as possible a chance of growing up in a loving family.

6 Months Into the Process

Today marks 6 months since we requested our info packet from Gladney and began the adoption process.  Today is also the day we finally got our first draft of our home study back!!!  Because of all the crazy weather, the Gladney offices have been closed on and off, so it took a little longer than usual.  We also finally got BOTH certified copies of our birth certificates in the mail today!  It is funny how we have just been waiting on paperwork to roll in for the last month with nothing happening and now we get 3 things in one day.  Once our home study is finalized, it will be sent off for our immigration approval and we should be done (for a little while at least) with paperwork!

The estimated time on the wait list has increased too, so while I was hoping we would get our referral by Christmas, it really will probably be early next year.  :(  We also upped our age range to 0-18 months because of this.  We originally could only request 0-12 months because of Abbie's age (our agency requires a one year age gap), but since the process is taking a little longer, Abbie may be a little older by the time we get our referral.

We are glad to have the first 6 months of this process behind us.  It really has gone by pretty quickly, and we know that God has control of the entire timeline.  He knows who is supposed to be in our family and when they will be ready and waiting for us, so every delay has a reason (although it is HARD to see that right now!)

FBI Clearances - Take 2!

We got our FBI clearances back again today...complete with appropriate seals and signatures!  Hooray!  I was really surprised that they came back so quickly.  It only took 9 days including sending them there and back.  Now we are just waiting for our homestudy to be finalized so that we can send off for our CIS (immigration) approval.  We are getting closer to the waitlist!!!

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Apparently my excitement over our FBI clearances was premature.  I have to send the forms back to get the raised seal stamped on them. :(  Hopefully that won't take too long.