Random Bits

This is sort of the "weekly wrap up" of all the not homeschooling stuff going on around here.

Where are we at with the adoption?

Well, our homestudy is finished and approved by our placing agency, yeah!  We're waiting on notarized hard copies to arrive in the mail.  Once I get those, I can send off our initial imigration paperwork.  We'll get fingerprinted, again, by USCIS, and wait for approval to bring 2 orphans into the USA.  Process is taking a little more than a month right now.

We're still waiting on Katie's file to hit our agency.  Some of the files from her orphanage are starting to trickle in, so it should be any day now.  Once that happens, we'll pay to have the file reviewed by a doctor, to look over her lab work and other medical stuff.  Then we can submit our Letter Of Intent, where we ask China if we can submit our dossier for her.  Pre-Approval (China's answering yes) usually takes about a week.

Where are we at with our Safe Families hosting?

Right now, it looks like Sparkle and Fluffy will be here almost until Christmas.  They're with their mama on weekends.  Friends have generously shared clothes for Fluffy, and Sparkle fits in Hannah's things, so we're all set on clothing.  We have a borrowed high chair for Fluffy and I picked up a cheap booster seat for Sparkle.  We're good on car seats, as long as Paul doesn't take off for work with one in his car again, lol.  The only thing we "need" (okay, it's more of a want) is a toddler bed frame to get Fluffy's mattress up off the floor.

What else is new?

Football season is almost over.  Sam has played his last game, although Varsity has a couple more to go.  As much as he loves football, it will be so nice not to have the extra driving around!

Zach is in the Middle East again, and hopefully will be coming home for a visit after his tour there is finished.  It's been over a year, and we all miss him.

Annaliese has her learner's permit and Paul has started teaching her to drive.

The kids have started making their Christmas lists.  I'm still in denial that the holidays are fast approaching.  It looks like we'll be at the firehouse for Thanksgiving again this year.  I've gotten 3 Christmas presents so far, and almost half of the Christmas Eve pajamas.

And that's about it!  Thanks for reading!  Please spare a click for us below, to keep our blog visible.  The more people who see our fundraiser page the better, right?