News....

Chris was offered a position on the Fort Bend ISD Athletic Crew!! Yeah!! Now we don't have to decide what to do. He doesn't know all the details, but he did tell me that it should be the same pay & hours. He isn't sure where the Athletic Crew will be located (he is currently working out of the Hodges Bend Bus Barn), but it doesn't matter to him. The two possible locations aren't that far away. He will still be able to work his part-time position at Wal-Mart as scheduled. This is great news for us!

Regarding the incident that has been in the news lately about the adoptive mom who sent her adopted child back to Russia, we are not concerned. I got an email from our Buckner Caseworker today that basically said to not be concerned or worry that it will slow or stop the process. Until they hear specifics, things will progress as anticipated. If there are any changes or such, it will take time for anything to be done.

Please keep praying that things will go well. God has His hands all over this adoption (as seen in all the really cool things that have happened lately) and we just need to trust in Him.

Paperwork is in the mail

One of the Spanish teachers at school very kindly translated Chris' birth certificate from Spanish into English for us! Aren't teachers wonderful??

I got all the supporting documents ready, attached them to the I-600A application, clipped on the form to request an email when the documents are accepted and the check for the fees then put it all in an envelope to mail out this afternoon. It was sent out today at 3:30 pm to Lewisville, Texas via USPS Express Mail. It was so worth the $15.90 to mail it. They should have it tomorrow or Monday at the latest.

Now we wait.

I also sent the 1st installment of the Agency Fee to Buckner via regular mail (certified).

We are on our way....

Of course I did all of this in between classes (okay, some was done during a class) today. I have really great students this year!

Today we started talking about Families to get ready for the Children's Unit that starts week after next. When I was going over the different types of families, I kinda lost it a bit (okay, some classes it was more than a bit) when I got to the Adoptive Family. One of my students was asking questions and I just had to cry. Of course, that meant that the other students got mad at her for making me cry, but I just explained that it was good kind of crying. By the end of the day, nobody wanted to ask any questions in case I started crying again! Gotta love 8th graders!!

Chris and I found out about the 2010 Heritage Day coming up on the 24th at Tallowood Baptist Church. We are excited about attending and meeting other 'waiting families' as well as families that have already brought their children home.

Good; no, it's GREAT News!

I got a call Saturday night from Chris' dad with some wonderful news! His sister Sue has been talking with the family (Grandma, Grandpa, Aunts & Uncles in California) about helping with our adoption fund. I talked with Aunt Sue last Tuesday night about how things were going. The news that Mel had to share Saturday night was that the family was going to help us out with most (if not all) of what we need for the adoption! What excellent news! It really made our Easter very special.

I spent the next hour on-line getting information from the USCIS website, downloading the I-600A form that we need to send in. This is the "Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition" that is required by the US Immigration Service we need to submit to get approved to adopt from Russia. It will also include getting fingerprinted. I spent time today trying to get more information (clarify a question regarding translating Chris' birth certificate from Spanish to English) and eventually had to send an e-mail (I really hate computers on the phone....). I hope to get an answer soon so we can send in the paperwork. The sooner it is processed, the sooner we can send our Dossier to Russia!

We are really excited about this new turn of events! Just when we thought that we would have to wait several months or a year to continue the process, God blesses us with this!!! God is so wonderful!!

Please continue to pray for us during this time of paperwork; pray for our children and their current caretakers; pray for our family as they help us out with the funds; pray for Chris' work situation (should know something around the 15th of April).

Bad news & Good news.....

We have bad news & goods news.

As of April 30, 2010, Chris will no longer be employed as a groundskeeper with Fort Bend ISD. They have 'outsourced' the groundskeeping department. The good news regarding it is that Fort Bend ISD will keep 14 of the guys on the Athletic Crew and 6 on a new HVAC (not quite sure what that all entails) Crew. There are 6 positions available in the Custodial department that those not chosen for the other 2 crews can interview for. Chris thinks that he has a decent/good shot of being selected for one of the Crews (the selection process is being done in the 'office' and the guys don't have any say-so in the process) based on the criteria they were told last week. They have been told that they will know if they are selected for a crew around the 15th of April (or so they were told....) we we will have to wait and see what happens.

Either way, Chris still has his part-time job with Wal-Mart and there is the possibility that he will be able to go full-time if he needs to.

I will be back at Beckendorff Junior High next year (turned in my contract this past week) teaching the same thing with a new name. The class name is changing from "Personal & Family Development (PFD)" to "Principles of Human Services (PHS)" but it is still Home Economics.

So far we have about half of the funds we need to continue the paperwork for the Adoption. Because of things going slower than anticipated, we are now looking at starting the paperwork this fall, hoping that we will be able to meet our children and bring them home next summer (unless God provides for things faster; He is in the Miracle business.....).

Please continue to pray that we stay on track. As things have slowed down, it is easy to get discouraged about all of this.

Please pray for my sister and I as we have 3 craft shows coming up: Seven Lakes High School Garage Sale (April 10), Fishers of Men Lutheran Church Mom's Market (April 24) & St. Andrew's Episcopal Church Spring Craft Fair (May 15).

Chris and I are planning a Garage Sale at our house on April 17. Please pray for us as we prepare for it and that we have a good turnout (good profit).

Spring Break Update

Well, Spring Break is finally here and I am looking forward to a week without my students!

Don't think that it will be a week of nothing to do; I have a list of things to get done:

** Work on grant applications

**Get blankets sewn for 3 upcoming Craft Shows

**Clean house & do laundry, mundane household things of that sort

**Get all of our papers together for tax preparation

**and other things I can't think of right now....

Chris still has to work this week (both jobs) so keep him in your prayers.

The DX Kid's Cafe (our concession stand) at the Greater Houston HamFest on Saturday, March 6, went really well! We had some great helpers for the day! Chris came with me in the morning (were there at 6:30 am) and his mom met us there and stayed to help bring the remaining stuff back to our house (got home around 3:30). Our friends, Dawn & Virginia, came out and were very helpful. Also the two daughters of one of my dad's friends (Andre) were a huge help as well! We didn't have as many sales as we hoped, but we did net about $1200 when it was all done and the money counted (after paying Dad back and our expenses). Not a bad day!! Of course, we do have stuff left over that I am not sure exactly what to do with, but I will figure it out this week.

We now have just a little over $10.000 in the bank! Only about $30.000 more to go. One of the things I need to do this week is see if I can get us a credit card for travel expenses. Need to add that to my list...

Please continue to pray for us during this time: that the funds come in, paperwork gets done in a timely manner, our children and their current caretakers.

eBay sale, again...

We now have 3 items that have sold on eBay: 1910 tobacco card, 1973 Rookie Third Basemen baseball card & a Fujifilm FinePix S3000 camera (all are items that people gave us to sell)! Okay, not quite as much as I was hoping for on the camera, but it is more than we had before it sold!

Still have the 1954 Marily Monroe Golden Dreams calander listed and praying that it will sell for more than we have it posted.

eBay sale!!

The 1910 Tobacco Card (precursor to baseball cards) that a friend gave us to sell on eBay sold a few days ago!!! YEAH!! Now we are waiting for several other items I've posted to sell: 1999 Disney 101 Dalmatians lithograph, Fujifilm FinePix S3000 camera, 1954 Marilyn Monroe Golden Dreams calender & a 1973 Rookie Third Basemen card.

The plans for the concessions at the Greater Houston Ham Fest on Saturday, March 6 are going well.

Liz & I have 3 craft shows coming up: Greater Houston Ham Fest on March 6 (Liz will run the tables on her own), the SLHS PTSA Garage Sale (Seven Lakes High School in Katy) on April 10 and the Mom's Market at Fishers of Men Church on April 24. Nothing like being busy with sewing!!