At Last!!!

We are finally out of the black abyss otherwise known as family court!!!! I am so excited and feel so relieved right now! I know that this isn't that big of a step for a lot of people but it has been such a huge hurtle for us. Our agency said that it may take a couple of weeks for preparations and then we are off to PGN!!! So hopefully we will be in PGN before Christmas. I know this may not mean a whole lot to some of you who aren't as familiar with the whole adoption process, so I am going to put a time line on my blog this coming week to help clarify what is left in the process. Thanks so much for all the prayers, thoughts and fasting! It has been such a blessing and gift! Keep us in you thoughts!

Prayer and fasting

There is a group of people out there who have dedicated today for prayer and fasting for us, Shiloh and our case. I just wanted you guys to know that we are so thankful for you! We are so touched and feel so blessed that you are taking this time and making this sacrifice to pray for us! Thank you so much!

New Pictures

We got new pictures! They are a cheesy Halloween theme, but she still looks so adorable! I miss her so much! I have been so down over the last month, but I am really working on letting it all go and chilling out about it all, but it is really hard. I'll be totally cool and fine one minute and then the next totally bummed out. We had a good sermon at church yesterday about not worrying. One of the things he was talking about was seeking first the Kingdom and letting God worry about the rest. It kind of hit home for me. I feel like God has worked on me and drawn me closer to Him in so many ways through this whole process, but I feel like I haven't been seeking His will and His Kingdom first, I have been seeking after this adoption first through Him. I don't know if that makes sense or not. Basically I have grown a lot closer to God but a lot of my prayer life and focus in reading the bible etc. is all so focused on Shiloh coming home, when she's coming home, what is happening in the process. I guess it is time to grow a little bit more and make my focus God and what he wants to do through me and in me and release the rest of it into His hand for Him to take care of (since that is what is going to happen anyway) and not worry about it. It's hard and still so emotional for me, but I do feel a little less of a burden than I have been feeling over the last month. Anyway, that's my thought and feeling for the day. I'm sure it will be different tomorrow.

Now on to the pictures...

Looking for advice

So lately I have been wanting to read up on what to do with your adopted child when they are home, specifically about bonding etc. For example, I want Shiloh to be able to sleep in her own bed when we are home with her, but I had also thought that went we went to Guatemala to pick her up, it might be nice to have her sleep with us while we are there to be able to have that bonding time. I just don't want to make it hard for her to adjust once we are back home. Also, I want to be able to rock her to sleep initially if she needs it, but eventually I want her to learn how to fall asleep on her own. At what point are you bonded enough to be able to go into more of a training mode. (I know, I over think things way too much. It drives my sister in law crazy.) I haven't checked out too many books, but the ones I have looked at all talk more about how to tell your child that he or she is adopted, how the adoption process works, how to deal with tough questions you child may have when they are older, and the few that I have seen that do talk about bonding are more about bonding with an infant. Not really what I am looking for. I am wanting something practical. Something that is more about, "your home with your not newborn baby, now what?" I know that a lot of it will come naturally and depends a lot on the personalities of the child and the parents, but as a first time mom and first time adopter I just wanted to see if any of you had any good suggestions for any books or websites, or for those of you who already have your little ones home, what has worked for you and what hasn't? I am open to any thoughts or ideas about anything that you might have. Thanks!

Our posh little girl

*Update below*
Many people are rushing to get their hair as stylish at Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham's new hair cut. They are spending millions at salons and on hair products. Fortunately for Shiloh, she is naturally posh. No hairstylist needed for this styling girl's hair. See the evidence for yourself...

On a more serious note, we are supposed to be getting a new update some time this week. I am getting so nervous! I am hoping and praying that we will see some progress. I am praying for that miracle that our process will have moved farther than we could have thought possible, but I am also nervous and aware that we could once again get the same update we have been getting since August: that we are still waiting for the social worker to schedule an interview with the birth mother. I am in such turmoil. One minute I will be at peace about it, the next I will be stressed out. One minute I will be full of hope, and the next I will be "trying to be realistic" which is really another way of saying looking at the bad side of things. Please be praying for us! Pray that we will see some light at the end of this tunnel instead of the constant black hole we have been stuck in for the last few months! I'll keep you all posted once we find out.

*Update- Well, I got our update today. The social worker did the birth mother interview on the 9th. Now she needs to visit Shiloh and do the homestudy for her. This still isn't scheduled. I know that I should be happy that we finally have a social worker that is doing something, but instead I am just disappointed. I feel like the smallest amount of progress that could have been made is what happened. Like instead of even making a whole step forward in 4 weeks, we made a 1/4 step. I should be happy that any progress was made at all, since nothing has happened since August, but I was just hoping for a little bit more. I am just so tired of this wasteland that is Family Court, and this isn't even supposed to be the hard part. If this is what family court looks like for us I am afraid to see what PGN will be like. I am just so so tired with no end in sight. Sorry if this is such a downer, I am just really really bummed right now. Please keep us and Shiloh in your prayers.

Shiloh's room

Here are the pictures of Shiloh's room. We still need a little table next to the chair for her lamp and need to get new blinds, but other than that it is pretty much done. The pictures don't totally show the right color (it looks better in person) but you get the idea.


This is a panorama of the room. It's a little distorted, but gives you a bigger picture of it all.



We got these little paintings in Antigua



Inside her crib



I got this chair at a garage sale and recovered it. It used to be an old blue LazyBoy.

Giggles and the paper chase

So I was going to post something else, but changed my mind. Instead... this is a video I have been wanting to post for a while, but I had to figure out how to do it first. I love it. It makes me smile every time I watch it because I love hearing her giggle and I love to see her daddy playing with her!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

In other news... I always figured that we would be working on our next adoption before I had to do the paper chase again. Silly me. We are in the process of updating all of our paperwork so that we can send an updated homestudy to USCIS to extend our I-171h. Anything that is over a year old (which is everything) besides official documents like marriage license and birth certificates have to be redone. So once again I am running around getting medical exams, reference letters, employment letters, bank letters etc. On one hand it is a total pain, on the other I guess it gives me something that I can feel like I have a little bit of control over (since I definitely don't have any control over anything else.)I really can't wait until all of this is behind me! I am so ready for the next season of my life. I am ready to be a parent instead of waiting to be a parent. Please keep us and Shiloh in your prayers! I'll post pictures of her room next time, I promise.