Ode to Bruno

Bruno is our first child that we have had for about a year and a half. He is the calmest dog in the world. He almost never barks. When he was a puppy we had to put a bell on the door for him to ring when he wanted to go outside to the bathroom because he wouldn't bark. We have to bribe him with treats to get a little woof out of him. He likes to lay on "his" ottoman by the window all day and look at the passer byers. He also lays and sleeps in the craziest positions.

Believe me this isn't even one of his craziest. He is also a dream with kids. It was the one thing I was worried about, him not ever being around kids before. But we got to test it out when my brother-in-law, Andre, sister-in-law, Kim, and niece, Jenna came to live with us for a few months.

He and Jenna get along amazingly. Bruno loves to eat the food that Jenna throws on the floor for him, and Jenna loves to pet his soft fur and bark at him (Jenna barks more than Bruno does). The truth is that Bruno is very patient and will let Jenna do just about anything to him, and he will either just walk away or roll his eyes and lay there.

This last picture we were all watching tv and suddenly looked down, and there is Jenna sitting on Bruno. She could hardly walk at the time, but she managed to get on him, and Bruno just laid there sleeping away. It has given me a lot of peace that our first child and our second child will probably get along pretty well and that our first child won't be banished to the back yard for the rest of his life. I love you Bruno, you're a great dog!

Genetics

OK, so we know who the birth mother is for Shiloh, but we have now received new evidence of who the birth father is...


That's right, the birth father of our child is none other than Derek Zoolander. The resemblance is quite shocking since they both have the stick strait up,dark hair, and of course because they are both really, really, ridiculously good looking.

On another positive note, we are finally in family court as of today. I guess the first time we were submitted we got a case worker who was anti-adoption and they were trying to hold things up, so our lawyer pulled the case and resubmitted it. The agency said that the cases have been taking from 6-12 weeks (and they said that they saw one recently that took 3 weeks, but said that something like that is really a gift), so please be praying for us and that our case can take closer to the 6 week time frame (or less if God wants to bless us that way). It is so nice to finally see a bit of progress!

Update

Ok, I know I just posted a new blog this morning, but I do already have an update. We got the DNA results back and it is a match!!! So that is one huge thing less to worry about. That was what caused the problems last time. God is good.

Right now we are waiting on two things. First, our case goes to court, which hopefully should happen any time and takes anywhere from 6-12 weeks. Secondly (at the same time as the other stuff is happening)they have to approve the DNA to go into PGN. They are about 60 days behind on this, so please be praying for us and the process that it will go through quickly and that the two things will work out at the same time so that we can go strait into PGN without delays!

Cutest little girl ever

We got new pictures of Shiloh yesterday, and they are the best ones yet. She is so beautiful and we just look at the pictures and smile. She is about 3 1/2 months old now. As far as our case goes. The lab has the blood sample for the DNA, so we will be waiting to hear about that hopefully really soon. We are still not in family court and I'm really not sure why. It is getting pretty frustrating, so please pray that we will get into court soon and that it will go quickly. We will probably be getting her measurements next week, so I'll be sure to update that when we get them.

Baby Stuff

So I was going to post some pictures of our bedding, but I guess that will have to wait because I'm not really sure where my camera is. So, anyway, I was looking around the other day at all the baby stuff we have and trying to figure out what we still needed so we could buy one a month rather than all at once, and I realized aside from a monitor and a sling, we basically have all the baby gear we need. In one sense it is exciting because we are achieving the goal and don't have a lot of big money left to spend. On the other hand I have realized that every so often I feel the need to buy something for the baby. I think it makes it all feel a little more real and close for me, plus all the baby stuff is so fun and cute it's hard to resist! I promised myself I was going to wait to buy any more clothes until right before she came so we wouldn't end up with a bunch of things that would never fit her (we have quite a few of those right now). So I find myself wondering whether I am going to be able to control my urges to buy stuff when that moment hits that I feel like I need to get something for her, or are we going to end up with a room and closet filled with way more stuff than we actually need, which is Filipe's fear. The funny thing is that I'm usually not a shopper, I'm usually more the saver. The good news is that I do still have painting and stuff to do in her room, so hopefully that will hold me over for a while. The other good news is that we got approval for the DNA, so hopefully we will be moving along a bit here. Our agency said the lawyer is preparing her updates and taking pictures, so hopefully we will have some new info and pics to share soon! I just read those last two sentences and realized I said hopefully about 100 times. I guess that is where we are right now, hoping and waiting and praying.