Quote of the day...

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain."

Almost finished with our Dossier!

Last week (after 2 weeks of rushing around to complete documents) we finally finished completing the required documents to submit our next set of paperwork (dossier) to Ethiopia.  Now, we're just waiting on my passport.  It's been about a month and a half since I filed for a passport, but I haven't received it yet.  Before we can send our Dossier to Ethiopia, I have to have a photocopy of the title page of my passport.  So, as you can imagine, every day I rush home after school hoping that it'll be in our mailbox...so far no luck!  As most of you know, I'm not very good at this waiting thing.  Oh well, I guess it's just good practice for all the waiting that's yet to come (right Jen?!?!)!

After we submit our paperwork to Ethiopia, we have to complete some more documents and then we have to go to Sioux Falls for yet another set of fingerprints.  This set of fingerprinting is with the ISCIS (FBI fingerprinting).  That should be the majority of what we have to do for now....then we wait!  

As most international adoptions go, the "wait time" for Ethiopia seems to be increasing each month.  We are thinking right now that we will travel in the spring of 2011.  We'll just have to have faith that when the time is right for us and for our new little one we'll receive "the call".

Other than that, life is great!  Allie is getting to be such a big girl and it's fun to see how she understands what we say now more and more.  When you tell her to put her socks on, she'll take them and try as hard as she can to put them on!  It's just adorable (mommy biased)!  I just can't wait to spend the summer with her!  ONLY 8 1/2 more days to go!!!  YEAH!!!!

Last Saturday, Cory and I went with another couple (Trent and Katie Guida) to an Ethiopian restaurant in Sioux Falls to celebrate our adoptions and Mother's Day.  I wasn't sure if we were going to like the food, but we were pleasantly surprised!   It was very good and we plan on going back again soon!

That's about it.  I am unable to post pictures because our computer is broken and I can't upload pictures to my work computer!  Hopefully soon it'll be fixed!

Have a great week everyone!

Mother's day...

Dear T,
Today, we are thinking about you and about the sacrifices you made. Words can't even do justice the joy I feel every day from having Allie as my daughter . We will be eternally grateful for the gift that you have given to us.

We want you to know that we continue to pray for you and we think about you often. We feel a permanent bond to you even though we've only met twice. You will always be a part of our family. You will always be remembered. You will always be Allie's birthmom.

I want you to know that Cory and I will be there for Allie in good times and in bad. We were there for her when she took her first steps and we'll be there for the steps she takes as she walks down the isle at her wedding and all the way, you will be with us.

Happy Mother's day to the mother who made the ultimate sacrifice when Allie was born. Because I can't hug you myself, we pray that you can feel God's arms wrapped around you in the warmest embrace letting you know Allie is loved and cared for.

Happy Mother's day!

Sincerely,
Cory & Nikki