Home Study!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our home study was today.....finally. We have been cleaning and fixing (remember the dirt and the garage painting?) the house since January for this day. I have been so nervous. I laugh then cry then laugh again because I don't know why I am crying.


Rosy and Gina helped us clean the house and get it spotless :). We dusted, vacuumed, swept, mopped, wiped the baseboards in every room, washed clothes, mowed the grass, washed the dogs, painted a wall (long story), and can someone explain why we washed the sheets?

Gina

Rosy

Rob fixing to mow the grass

We went to the grocery store yesterday and bought some "stuff" for the home study. I bought candles, air fresheners, flowers, and some snacks. We had grapes, melon, strawberries, blackberries, three different kinds of muffins (banana nut, apple, blueberry), cranberry and almond cookies (I baked), and a variety of cheese with crackers.

The appointment was scheduled at 9 am. Rob and I were dressed and ready to go by 7:30. So what did we do? I watched music videos standing up (so I wouldn't mess up the bed) and Rob stood outside waiting for our caseworker's car to turn the corner. He was more than certain she was parked in front of the neighborhood mailboxes, so he would peek around the wall and run back inside jumping up and down with excitement. (Which we later realized it was just a random car.) Then he would go back outside as I pleaded for him to stay inside. I wanted to pretend not to be anxiously waiting her arrival and when she rang the doorbell, calmly walk to the door and welcome her into our home. But we couldn't sit still, Rob repeatedly went outside to look down the street and peeked out the window and both of us were breathing funny - hee hee whoo.


Heather, the caseworker, was 2 minutes late. I was panicking. I didn't know if we had scheduled for another day or if she forgot, or what if her flight was canceled? But she got here. She was very sweet. We talked about our marriage, how we met, our strengths, and our weaknesses. She asked us about our little boy. What to expect when adopting from Ethiopia and how we plan to discipline him. She told us about her trip to Ethiopia and allowed us to ask as many questions as we wanted. Then I was inerviewed by myself and we talked about my family. She wanted to get to know them as much as possible. My sisters, mom, dad, and nephews. She asked why we are the person we are today and what I love about Rob (EVERYTHING). Then she interviewed him while I waited in our bedroom.


What I liked most about the interview was that every question started with a "when you have your baby..." or "when you travel to Ethiopia...". She never said "if you" but "when you". When we told her how anxious we were for her to call us to schedule the home study, she laughed and said "that is nothing, wait until you are waiting for your referral". Eek


She asked for a quick tour of the house. She was so sweet. She said it takes about 30 days to get the report then we can send it off to immigration. In conclusion, we had multiple anxiety attacks for no reason. It was not bad at all. We are relieved and now, I am off to get fingerprinted. :)

 

Rob and I right before the home study.

Hang on baby boy, mommy and daddy are really trying to get everything completed as fast as we can. We love you!

Congratulations Lorena and Happy Birthday Rosy!!

My sister graduated from Texas A&M at Kingsville yesterday :).

Finally!!!!

Did I mention she has two children?

AND Happy Birthday to Rosy!! (I am so blessed to have such an incredible woman as a mother-in-law)



My in-laws love those wigs. :)



Mother's Day Weekend

I had a great weekend! I spent Saturday with my mom, dad, and sisters. No children, no husbands - which we love and can't live without. It was not planned for it to be just the five us but we ended up hanging out for hours. We laughed, debated, and cried. We had not had family time like that in a very long time.

I thought I was going to be a complete disaster (emotionally) on Sunday, but I actually had a blast with my silly family. The only thing that threw me off guard was that everywhere we went I was told "Happy Mother's Day!". I mean, everywhere. Even while picking up food at a drive thru. The cashier looked at me (I was in the passenger seat) and gave me and not my sister (mother of one) a carnation. This made me think, I am either getting old (it is about that time), I am gaining weight (looks like I have a two-day old at home), I look tired, or I need a new outfit. (I do not mean any disrespect to all of the mothers out there. I admire every single one of you.) But what I will believe is that I have a glow. The pregnant glow. That I look happy and my face reads "I am going to be a mommy soon". :)

Rob and I are probably the luckiest couple ever! Both of our mothers are amazing!! They are the best advisers, listeners, supporters, and friends. We don't know what we would do without either one. Moms, Happy Belated Mother's Day! We love you more than words can say.

The ladies of both sides of our families - six of whom are amazing mothers

Signs From Above

My parents call me their “miracle child”. When I was six years old, doctors found a tumor in my left kidney. The doctors told my parents it was cancer and I was immediately hospitalized. I stayed on the cancer-treatment floor with all of the other cancer patients for over a month. My kidney was removed. Not until it was removed did they realize that the tumor was actually benign. The chances of MY tumor not being cancerous was .01%. Doctors from all over the world studied my case. I am not trying to brag, but my case is also listed in a medical journal. Since then, my family believes that I am still standing in this world because I will experience and live through something BIG. They believe I will one day win the lottery or discover something new. They make me laugh. My grandpa always invites me to play Bingo with him or asks me to buy his scratch off tickets. Well, now I know why I survived that surgery and I am living it right NOW. There are so many ways in which God keeps reminding us that what we are doing is perfect and that He really does listen. I will list them in the order they have occurred (all in the last week):


1. Adopting. Hello! This is a huge miracle. We feel very strong and passionate about it. We truly would not have wanted it any other way.


2. Rob is a bartender, so we never know how much money he will be bringing home. Saturday when I was having my boo-hoo moment, part of it was due to financial stress. The adoption is going to cost us close to $30,000. I know God will provide and everything will fall into place. I just have my moments just like every other normal person. That night, one of his customers ate at the restaurant and left Rob a $600 tip!! When has this ever happened? (Never) Why did it happen? (No idea) I was working on some of the Dossier documents yesterday and had to submit them with another payment (I didn't know how much to make the check for) and when I flipped through the Agreement Page my eyes got watery. Our next payment is for exactly $600.


3. Since we don't know when our home study is yet, I keep making sure everything is up and running. Tuesday night I asked Rob "how do we know for sure the smoke detectors are working?" (I know, stupid question) and he responded with a "babe, relax, they start beeping really loud when a new battery is needed". Guess what woke me up on Wednesday? Guess?! A loud beep. That very same day Rob bought a new battery and now I am assured our smoke detectors work :).


4. On Tuesday, Rob and I were talking about how we wished we had the same schedule. Since he works in the restaurant business, he works nights and holidays. I have spent Christmas alone and New Year's Eve at the restaurant - not fun. His job has been good to us so we can't complain. I was telling him how much he really needs to find an 8 - 5 job, especially with a baby on the way. He said to trust in God and things happen for a reason. Believe it or not, the next day he got a call from the company where he interned and they asked him if he was interested in a job. He went to their office in the morning and completed some paperwork. Today, they officially offered him the job. He starts on Monday!!! Which takes me to the next item on the list.....


5. We are supposed to advice our agency of any changes. Of course I was super excited for Rob and congratulated him on his new job, but I immediately panicked. I didn't know if this was going to slow things down. He called our case worker and she said "perfect timing! This change would have been an issue if the home study would have already been completed". Now I know why the home study is taking a little longer than expected. God was just waiting for this to happen first.


I am not exaggerating or lying or making these things up(I couldn't even if I tried). They really did happen in the last 7 days!!! We can't wait to witness the rest of the blessings this process will bring (the biggest being our son). We truly are in awe with God's actions.

Life Is Good

This past weekend was wonderful. Because I was feeling sad and blue towards the end of last week (I don’t know why, life is good), sweet Rob made me breakfast in bed Saturday morning. He cooked biscuits and gravy, hash browns, sausage, and scrambled eggs. Yummy! It was better than any IHOP, Jim's, or Denny's. Then, he turned a regular Saturday into a “Spoil Carmen Day”. We ate our breakfast, drank our coffee, and since it was “Spoil Carmen Day”, he allowed me to do anything I wanted to do. I mean, anything. So what did we do? We cleaned!!

We have been wanting to clean the garage for a long time so we went to Lowe’s and bought some paint and bushes. The only reason we bought more plants is because they were 50% off!! I bought nothing but colorful and flowering bushes which we planted on Saturday. Rob finally agreed on buying rose bushes - he thinks they are the ugliest kind of brush there is out there but, we compromised. We planted them in the back corner of the yard, where no one can see them. No worries, I will make sure and point them out to everyone that comes over (wink).

Sunday we went to mass and cleaned the garage. We didn't organize it, but we swept and painted the walls. Organizing it will be another 3-day project. Finally, after 3 years of living in our home we are cleaning the garage :).I don’t understand why cleaning and organizing makes me happy but it does. We finished the weekend by eating a simple, quick, and easy dinner with our neighbors.

AND, today was my last day of class. I have successfully completed one more semester :).

See, life is good!

Happy

Yes, we dusted the walls before painting. (I am afraid of spiders)

Peekaboo