Halloween Week

 Lots of fun stuff going on this week!  We've had our church Fall Festival, trunk or treating at the girls' school, and now Brian and the kids are out trick or treating.  Mommy is staying home to rest as I've been pretty sick the last couple of days.  Can't believe tomorrow is already November!

Painting Pumpkins

Pumpkin Patch

 Today we went to the pumpkin patch with our friends, the McArthurs.  We went to Wise Acres--the same place where we went strawberry picking--but this time, we picked pumpkins!  The weather was right around 70 degrees today.  It was a lovely fall day.  Love spending time with my family!

Unexpected Blessing!

Praising God for an unexpected blessing!!  I found out that Ethan's orphanage has a Facebook page so I joined it. In the group, there is a precious lady that has been volunteering at Ethan's orphanage for 11 years!  She gave me a picture of her holding Ethan last year in the hospital. 

Our little guy has spent a lot of time in the hospital which is so hard on my Mama heart. (To think of him alone.)  So thankful for God's reminder that he loves our son even more than we do and is taking care of him. 

The second picture was taken Tuesday!!!  Isn't he the sweetest?!  

Happy birthday to Molly!

Happy 9th birthday to our sweet Molly!  I can't believe she's nine!  So thankful for this girl!  Thankful that her birth mom chose life for her and thankful that God brought her into our family. We love you, Molly!!

We've had a fun day celebrating Molly!  Birthday brunch, presents, ice cream sundaes, and a sleepover at Nana's!  Id say Molly has had a great day!  (And a great night. She just texted me this picture of her eating ice cream at Nana's house at 9pm!) 

School Helpers

Today Aaron and I went to the girls' school to eat lunch with them and volunteer. We were the "mystery readers" for Rayna's class and then we volunteered at the book fair. I think Aaron liked going to school with the big kids today!

Bathing Ducks

Whenever Aaron goes to the church office, Ms Michelle lets him give the ducks a bath. He's so sweet and meticulous about it. He lines them up by color, gives them each a bath, drives them off, feeds them, then puts them to bed. Sweet boy!

School Pictures

Molly 3rd grade and Rayna 1st grade.

Celebrating the Girls

Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Marie came over today to celebrate the girls' birthdays which are both right around the corner. We had a great day with family and then the girls went shopping with their birthday money. Rayna got a little dollhouse and Molly got a new Lego set.  The girls are excited about their upcoming birthdays!

DTC--October 14th!

Our dossier left for China today!  This is a huge step in the process to bring Ethan home!  For anyone who is curious about the further steps in our adoption, here's what's next:

*LID (dossier will be logged in)
*LOA (letter of acceptance)
* i800 (immigration approval specific for adopting ETHAN)
*GUZ # (case number with consulate)
*PDF/RTF (Letter from NVC)
*Art 5 P/U (Ethan's visa paperwork picked up from GZ and sent to BJ)
*TRAVEL APPROVAL!

Our estimated time frame from this point is 2-6 months with the average being 4 months.  So we could travel anytime between December-April.  Our guess is February or March.

One step closer to bringing home our boy!!

Nana's Boy

Family Time

Aunt Lynn is in town this week.  We had several people over for lunch today.  It was great spending time with my family including my cousin Jesse who is here all the way from Korea.