WE MADE IT!!!!

We are officially on the waiting list for our adoption!!!  WooHoo!!!!  After four sets of revisions to our dossier - we finally got it right!  We turned in our dossier on December 17th and have been put on the waiting list January 21st.  Just a little later then we hoped!  We know God has a plan, and we are so stoked to be a part of it!  The wait list is only gender specific, not age specific.  Right now we are number 74 on the boys list and 98 on the girls list.  We have been told to expect 9-12 months before we get a referral, but we are hoping for a shorter time.  Please keep praying that God will continue to be in all the details!  We appreciate you all!!!!

Blessings,

Ashley

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

My last post had exciting news of our mailing the dossier to AGCI.  We mailed it as we were on the way to the airport to go on a five day cruise, so I was unable to attach pictures.  That is also why I haven't updated in awhile.  We went on the cruise, got back the evening of the 23rd, Christmas Eve and Christmas happened, had family in from out of town Monday and Tuesday, then New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, then kids back at school!  We had wonderful holidays and are so blessed with good family and friends to share them with!

3 copies of our dossier...

ready to be mailed...

in the envelope soon to be on it's way!!!!

When we got back from the cruise, we had a message from AGCI that we needed to "tweak" a few things in our dossier.  Each of the five items we needed to revise were fairly simple fixes, but with the holidays, not very quickly done.  We had to wait for a few people to get in town, notarize again, etc.  We finally got things worked out and today I mailed the revisions!  AGCI should get the package tomorrow. Hopefully everything will be approved and we'll be put on the waiting list by Friday.  Exciting!!!!

Mailing the dossier revisions

In the meantime, there are more papers to be filled out (nothing like the dossier, though) and more fingerprinting to be done.  I'll keep you posted as things progress.  We CANNOT wait to see the little boy or girl God has picked for us!  What an amazing and humbling feeling...

Boarding the ship

Our cruise took us to warmer weather - yeah!  We went to Grand Cayman Island and Cozumel, Mexico.  We had a wonderful time together!  Our favorite adventure was in Mexico at the Amazing Secret River.  It is a recently found cave system with a river running through it.  We donned wetsuits and helmets with headlamps, and hiked and swam through the cave.  It really is the AMAZING Secret River!  We recommend it to anyone going to Cozumel.  Swimming with the Stingrays in Grand Cayman was pretty awesome, too.

Evanne and Watson sitting on swinging bar stools in Cozumel

Riding the ferry to Stingray City in Grand Cayman

Christmas and New Year's were spent laughing and playing with family.  We are fortunate to have our families close by and able to get together.  

Celebrating with the Keightley cousins  

Grammy and Grampy gave each grandchild a bear  

Briana, Evanne, Ashlyn, Callie and Watson

Celebrating with the Dill cousins

Evanne and Emma making cheesecake crust

Connor and Watson looking through the 

book of toys from the 1940s given by Momma D

But the fun didn't stop there...our dear friends, Chris and Leigh Anne, took the kids out for dinner and a movie between holidays. 

Looks like they had fun (rockin the 3D glasses)

I will try to be better about posting.  No promises - but I'll try!  Hopefully my next post will be in the next few days letting you know our number on the wait-list!  Thank you, again, for your prayers and support on this wonderful journey!

Blessings,

Ashley