Lawyers

Tomorrow, August 1st, 2008 Floyd and I will meet with an adoption attorney to find out all the in's and out's about what we need to do, fees and so forth!

We also have completed the homestudy as far as turning in all required paperwork. Our fingerprints are in (wow! fast!) and well, I guess we need to wait about 15 days for some other paperwork for Floyd. Other than that we just wait. We will finish our "home session" with our Homestudy caseworker, Mike soon I assume.

Our caseworker, Mike has been wonderful. He has made this stressful journey so much easier. He is laid back, kinda go with the flow and super patient! You can check out his website below!

http://www.adoptionhomestudyservice.com/homestudies.htm

Nothing else new is going on for now! Talk to you later!

My Review of The First Years Hide Away Gate

Originally submitted at Toys R Us

Designed to provide safety when you need it and virtually disappear when you don't, the Hide Away Gate from Learning Curve® has no foot holds for climbing, a two-step locking mechanism which is easy for adults but too difficult for children, and is hardware mounted for added security. Unlike ot...

The First Years Hide Away Gate

Works good..

By Nicole from Frederickson, WA on 7/27/2008

 

4out of 5

Pros: Easy To Use, Easily Stowed

Cons: LOUD Very loud

Best Uses: Play Area, Stairs, Toddlers, Crawlers

Describe Yourself: Parent of Two or More Children, Child Care Professional

Love the gate. Only downside is that is noisy. The overall idea is wonderful. It does save us tons of space and its "hides" away. But it is loud and the demo/video does not show how loud it really can be. If I were to open or close it while kids were sleeping...well lets just say they would be instantly woken up. It makes a loud noise.

(legalese)

IVF Fundraiser

First let me say "Yes we DO want to adopt!" and "Yes! We are still planning on adopting!" and "We are so close to finishing all our homestudy paperwork!"

We do however want to try IVF once at some point in our lives. As I have stated before IVF costs so much! We are starting a 26day posting looking to raise $2000.00 to add to our savings for IVF. Floyd and I will continue to save and save and save some more until we reach our goal.

For now, as hard as it is we are looking to family, friends and even strangers who may want to help. Even if you can't or don't want to help monertay wise, that is so totally fine and I will never know the difference but maybe you would just pass the website on to others who would want to help out monetary wise. If you don't want to do that even, no harm done. :)

Something I hope Floyd and I can do is help others looking to afford costs of IVF and medication by starting something. We know first hand how HARD this is and I want so badly to help everyone who needs it to be able to give life, or even adopt. Adoption costs are alot too!

Here is the link to our site. It is open for 26days. After that, well, I don't know what happens. But if we don't raise the $2000.00 by the 17th of August and you did donate (THANKS!) you will get your money back from the site. We do not get one single penny until we reach our goal.
http://www.fundable.com/groupactions/groupaction.2008-07-22.6563666051

Is your Child Forward Facing already?!?!

Watch these....maybe your child should NOT be forward facing just yet!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psmUWg7QrC8

Is your child in a 5pt harness....maybe they should be....Watch this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azgBhZfcqaQ&feature=related


Everyone knows how much of a carseat nut I am. Just spreading the wealth and knowledge.

Remember:

If you are EVER in a minor fender bender, huge accident or just a little one your carseat DOES need to be replaced! If your child wasnt in the carseat, you still NEED to replace the seat.

Also, carseats are only good for a certain number of years. Check your carseats and see when it was made. In 5years (unless a Britax brand 6 yrs) you need to replace the seat and destroy it.


CARSEAT QUESTIONS?

Check out www.carseat.org

Pliko P3 and Prayers

Well here is the stroller we will be buying! Exciting, I know. No worries, only I am excited. My husband is not excited at all about driving to pick it up. But, the stroller is 399.99 new and this lady is selling her nearly new Pliko P3 Peg Pergeo for $125.00 to me. I am very excited about it and this will be a great stroller to use for the daycare kids and hopefully for our own adopted or through IVF. However Floyd tells me that I will want a new one when we have our own or adopt. Which is probably correct, but for now....

On a sad note Floyd's father who has been battling cancer is not doing so great. He hasnt been doing well for several years now and by the grace of God has been living much longer than the Doctors said he would. At his inital diagnosis he was give 3 to 6 months to live, that was over 5 years ago. Then a year ago he was put on hospice and we were told he would live about 6 months . Well a year later he is still alive and moving. He has gained some weight (a lot really) and has stopped smoking. Roger (Floyd's dad) is this amazing man. Roger helped Floyd and I out a lot when we first got together. Today we got a phone call from Sue, Floyds mom saying Roger's cancer has spread to all over his body, which is not good. He will start chemo again. Please say a prayer for him. I think all we have left is prayer and miracles right now. Roger truly is someone who is just this amazing man. You'd have to be to go through all this. I worry about my husband a lot. His dad has been his everything. I can't imagine my life with out Roger and I know for certain Floyd can't either. I just worry about Floyd so much during this. Of course I am trying to prepare myself for the worst and praying, just praying that we can make it through this together. I pray that God gives me the strength to help Floyd and the kids through this. I pray God gives me the courage to walk the path with my husband, the kids and his mother to a speedy healing process. I pray God gives Roger more time on this earth. I pray that people find a cure for this horrible, awful, life altering disease. I just pray that someone in one of those research studies figures it out tomorrow or the next day so we can have our Roger back. I suppose things like this happen for a reason, I am not sure what reason that is yet. Soon maybe we will find out.

I wish Floyd would come to church with me and the kids. I need him there and want him there with me, beside me. I can't make him go, but I can pray he will go with us. We together have so much to be blessed with and so much to continue to pray for......his dad being someone we need to pray for.

Say a little prayer for us and for his dad.

Update on the adoption

This was the list that was sent to us to have completed:

Autobiography *done
Genogram *done
Adoption References *done (but i know a few of you still need to mail yours!)
Background clearance *done
FBI clearance letter *done (sent in and now waiting!)
Medical statement *only mine is left to do
Financial statement *done
Guardianship designation *done
Birth Certificates *done
Divorce Papers for Floyd *done

So far we have just about everything completed. Floyd just went in for his physical today. His was great :) I go for mine on July 23rd. I cannot believe we have just about everything done for this! Once I get my physical completed we will mail in everything. The great part about all this was that Floyd's dad HAD his birth certificate. We were so worried b/c he was born in Seoul, Korea and well getting a birth certificate for there would of been kinda hard. We also had copies of his divorce decree so that was great that I was able to find, okay remember where I put them.

The longest part (and hardest) will be the waiting for the finger prints to come back....

Here is to waiting...

Our Backyard

So I forgot to blog about our backyard FINALLY getting done. After Floyd lost his job we were kinda "forced" to stay in this house, but unfortunatly the yard was not in usable condition. It was literally a mud pit. Well I am happy to say it is finally done and beautiful! We have to finish one side of the yard and we are still deciding if we want to wood chip (play chip) that part or put in some cement for bike riding and such for the daycare kids.

It has been so NICE to have a usable yard for the kids here. They can come and go in and out as they please. It is safe and just, well nice to have finally!

Anyways here are the pics of the yard :) Enjoy!