~ Acceptance Packet Send Off ~

It's finally finished...I just got back from sending off our Acceptance Paperwork packet back to Holt. Hopefully we won't have any revisions (fingers crossed). A special thank you goes out to Kristine at Holt for responding so quickly to all of my questions while filling out the government forms. Everything else was fairly easy to fill out, but for some reason I struggled with the I-864 forms. The woman that notorized our paperwork stayed late at work on Tuesday to accomodate Wes's work schedule. She has a daughter who is in the process of adopting from Ethiopia, so she knew how important getting these documents processed was to us.

Now we just sit back and wait for Levi's legal documents to arrive. It takes usually 3-5 weeks to receive these. Once Holt, receives them, they will be overnighted to us. When we receive them, we will add our updated homestudy and the I-600 form to the legal papers and then overnight them to USCIS so that the Levi's visa can be processed. Allegra and Judy with our state Holt branch updated our homestudy within a matter of days from us receiving our referral and we have received our notorized copies. Everyone has been so fast in helping us to complete all of our required paperwork thus far. I just keep praying that they rest of the process goes this smoothly.

I guess I better clean off the dining room table. With the acceptance packet and welcome album mailed off, I don't really have an excuse for the remaining paperwork still covering it.

~ Welcome Album for Levi ~

This morning I finished up the welcome album that we are sending to Levi. I am not very creative and definitely not one of those "artsy" people, but I am hoping that a 1 year old won't notice the pictures that aren't cut exactly straight (my sister always tells me that I can't cut a straight line) and will still enjoy the pictures of his family.










We like to...eat popsicles, bake cookies, go on picnics, draw with chalk, ride the stick horse, blow bubbles, and dance.


Jaidyn drew a picture of our family of 5 so I had to include it. Too cute!

~ Last Day of Preschool ~

Jaidyn and Addy are officially on summer vacation! Yippee! Addy had her last day last Friday and Jaidyn's last day was yesterday. They both got to bring one of their favorite riding toys to ride around in the parking lot that was set up like a mini town.

Most of the kids in Addy's class hung around the water station. It was a nice, hot morning, so I am sure the water felt good.

Addy is so proud of her pink scooter that she received for her 3rd birthday.


Writing a letter and mailing it at the post office.


Jaidyn is giving her bike a good scrub at the car wash.

I love this picture...There was a line of 7-8 kids just waiting for this...

McDonald's! I guess all kids love McDonald's.

Snacktime! They have been taught well. Just look at them waiting patiently to tear into their bags.

Acceptance Packet & Welcome Album

We received our acceptance paperwork packet on Thursday afternoon. And while I jumped right in filling parts of it out, I truly thought that I could get most of it done by Friday evening. The majority of the paperwork has to be notorized and we had planned to get this done yesterday afternoon until we realized that no one works or they take off early on the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend. Understandable, but it looks like we will now have to wait until Tuesday or Wednesday of next week to get it done.

I found some time yesterday afternoon to start working on the Welcome Album that we will send to Holt who will then pass it along to Levi and his caretakers. It will be a simple book that will include photos introducing Levi to his immediate family, pets, and his surroundings. Hopefully, the pictures will help start preparing Levi for the transitions that he will soon experience and will give him a preview of his new life with his forever family. Since he is only 12 months, most of the pictures are face shots and I will not include a lot of descriptive captions.


Our dining room table is a mess with scattered paperwork and the Welcome Album pages. Normally this clutter would completely annoy me, but these are "Happy" papers, so a mess it will probably stay until we are ready to send the completed papers back to Holt.

I will take pictures of Levi's welcome album and post them when I have it finished.

Happy Memorial Day weekend! To me, this weekend is the start of summer. Time to fire up the grill and spend lots of time at the lake and pool. I love summer! At the same time, I will be remembering the many lives lost by the brave women and men serving and protecting our country.

~ Introducing our Son ~

Isn't he perfect?

The lower picture is a picture of his Hemangioma. A hemangioma of infancy is a benign self involuting tumour of endothelial cells (the cells that line blood vessels). In most cases it appears during the first days or weeks of life and will have resolved at the latest by age 10.


I still can't believe that he is ours. After months of reading about other referrals and seeing pictures of their child(ren)and dreaming of when our day would come I still sometimes have to remind myself that he is actually ours. We have had his file reviewed by our family doctor and have officially accepted the referral. His report has so much information about his birth mother and father and we are so fortunate to know so much of his background early on in life. Now we have to wait to receive his legal documents. This usually takes 3-5 weeks. Once we have received these, we will be able to file our I-600. In the meantime, we will fill out our acceptance paperwork packet that we should receive in a couple of days.

We are going to change his name to Levi Jax. This is something that Wes and I have debated about for quite some time, but feel completely confident in choosing this name. In his referral report he was referred to as Lee as it is his middle name. So we just expanded on his middle name a little coming up with Levi. Our family has always liked the name Jaxon as Addy would have been given that name had she been a boy. Back when we started the process just over 2 years ago, Jaidyn would tell people that she was going to have a baby brother and his name was going to be Jaxson. We have compromised with her and have shortened it to Jax for his middle name. This name will be passed along to his caregivers so that they can start calling him his chosen name. His legal name will stay the same until the adoption is finalized, but we will still be able to call him by the name we have given to him.

On our end, we will stay on top of any paperwork that needs to be completed and hopefully the other parts of the process will go smoothly and we will have Levi home with us as soon as possible. Now, the really hard wait begins.

What an Adventure!!!

Yes, I know you all are cringing right about now, because this isn't a referral picture post, but I thought I would post about our adventure race that Wes and I did on Saturday this past weekend first. I promise I will post again shortly (hopefully tonight)with a picture of our darling son.

Wes and I participated in the 10th annual Ozark Greenways Adventure Race. I did the race last year, but this year Wes and another couple joined in on the craziness. The day was truly exhausting both physically and mentally. I am so glad that I only participate in these 1-2 times a year as I don't think it is something that I want to do on a regular basis. The race was very different from last year as the canoe portion was cancelled because of dangerous waters (we had lots of rain) and it focused primarily on orienteering as we had to find 9 flags hidden in the woods. Okay, maybe they weren't "hidden", but at times they sure felt like it. For approximately 4-5 hours we trampled through thorny brush filled woods and fields. You should see our legs as they are covered in scratches from about the knees down. We also did a lot of biking through muddy roads and "un-ridable" horse trails. I felt like I pushed my bike more than I rode it. We all had diarrhea bootys from the mud flying up off our back bike tire and landing on our shorts. It was quite a sight to be seen. Even though I came home and showered shortly after the race, I still have a nice case of poison ivy developing on one of my arms and my legs. Somehow Wes and my teammates seemed to have escaped this tragedy. We finished 30th out of 55 teams and although that doesn't really look like a good finish we are pretty darn proud of ourselves. We managed to pull through the challenges that 2 flat tires and a bike with no brakes presented to us. Wes is pumped and is already looking forward to another event in the fall. I honestly cannot say that I am pumped as I am still trying to recover, but do hope to do one again someday.


Team: Call 911 ~ Wes, Jenny, Crissy, & Matt
Here we are about 6:30 am before the race started. We were there shortly after 5:00 am planning our strategy. I am not sure why we needed to get there so early as our only strategy was to FINISH. The little dots in the picture is rain. We started with rain, but the day ended up being perfect weather for racing.





We finished in just under 10 hours and are excited to be greeted by Jaidyn and Addy.




So glad to be done...parts of the day did not include such big smiles.


My sister's team had a great finish for the day as they finished 9th. They are studs and we just enjoy being in their company.

It's a Boy!

Good Morning! IT'S A BOY!!!! Wes's days of feeling like he is living in a sorority house are soon to be over. Yesterday afternoon we received a referral for a 12 month old boy from Heart of Mary Villa orphanage in Malabon City, Philippines. He turned 1 last weekend on May 9th. I do have to say that I had to giggle a little when I first saw his picture...he is a chunk! So cute and I just want to kiss his chubby little cheeks. His report went on to say that he has a healthy appetite which is good to know with our family as we all like to eat. Don't worry, I will share more details and a picture soon. :)

~ Addy's Birthday Fiesta ~

Even know we had some rain and the weather turned cold, we did have a couple of rain free hours with some sun at the park to celebrate Addy's birthday with a Mexican fiesta. It was especially nice to get to spend the afternoon with our moms for Mother's day. I am so glad so many of our family and friends were able to attend.



Addy received her pink iced white cupcakes as requested. She licked the icing off of 2 cupcakes, but I don't think she ate any of the actual cupcake.






Uncle Jared and Addy blowing bubbles.




Drawing with sidewalk chalk. The older girls had a long lines that followed the walking trail.








Happy Mother's Day!

Wes and his mom, Penny.


My brother and I with our mom, Rhonda. We were sure to text this picture to my sister letting her know that her know that our mom took a picture with her 2 "Favorite" kids. Ha!


My dad and his mom, Eleanor.


The day before, Jaidyn and Addy surprised me with some pink roses (courtesy of Grandma Penny) for Mother's Day. She also gave me a pair of darling little hoop earrings which I love as my current pair has tarnished some from wearing them almost every day. I rarely ever buy myself jewelry and won't let Wes buy me any either (part of my frugality) so this was a special treat.

Tea Party ~ Fancy Nancy Style

Jaidyn, Addy, and my niece Hadley attended a Fancy Nancy style tea party at the library today with their Grandma Penny. I jazzed up their sundresses with boas, slippers, crowns, and gloves. They had a wonderful time and each received their own tea cups, headbands, feather boas, and made princess themed picture frames. Their tea party menu consisted of flower shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, ham and cheese sandwiches, chicken salad, strawberries, cheese, and several other enjoyable treats.

~ Random Pictures ~

Wes has spent that past 2 days up in northern Missouri for his Great Uncle's funeral. We have missed him here at home, but are enjoying the sunshine that past 2 days have given us.


Addy loves dirt! She just can't stay away from it. It's almost like it calls her name. I usually have to wash a pair of her tennis shoes every other day.


Just outside of our basement door is an area of pea gravel. Addy plays in this like it is a sandbox. I caught her yestday making snow angels in the rocks. At least it isn't as dirty as playing in the dirt or an actual sand box.

I stopped along the side of the road today to pick up a turtle. Addy and I brought it back to Nana's house so that they could enjoy it for a little while on the screened in porch. Nana forgot that I had put the turtle out there and opened the door to let the nice air in and shortly afterwards found a turtle on the loose in her home.







You just never know which dress-up box accessories they are going to drag out. Don't you just love the Easter hats? Don't worry, I have never actually made them wear these.


For her birthday, Addy received a Bella Dancerella Ballet set and DVD. Here they are showing off moves from Swan Lake. Of course they wouldn't dream of dancing without their gymnastic leotards on.