Lots of updates....

I haven't posted for a while one, because there wasn't much to say and then two, everything happened all at once. So now there is lots to update everyone on.

We finally received our paperwork from CHI outlining specific requirements for each step of the adoption process. It took one week longer than they originally said it would. This of course made us nervous for a bit, but all was well. Obviously they were just busier than they thought they would be. Our next step is to sign the approval agreement and return it with a small deposit. With everything else going on (I'll get to that in a minute), we will probably get to that the first or second week in August. Shortly after that we hope to begin our homestudy.

Mom has already been to some garage sales and procured some really cute clothes. All of which we've stashed away for now. We are beginning to gather things a little at a time. Although we have many hurdles to jump over before actually going to China to pick up our little one, we are "buying in faith" as it were.

In the meantime we have decided to buy a new home (our first). We had begun the process a while back, but were unsure where Tony's job would be located so we put everything on hold. After being offered a position in Columbia, we picked up where we left off and went to look at houses last Wednesday. Before leaving the second house we looked at we decided it was perfect. God has truly blessed us in this process as everything is falling together quickly and smoothly. The house is everything that we have looked for: 3 bedrooms, a family room in the basement, fenced in backyard, close to both of our jobs, etc., etc. So in approximately 3 weeks we will be moving to Columbia and become homeowners.

This new development will slow us just a bit on the homestudy. We hope to get settled before we have a social worker come in. But the plan is to look at the last of August.

We'll keep you updated....