Long time no blog!

Sorry for such large gaps in the postings, however now that we are in the "waiting" phase, we are doing nothing but just "waiting". Let me tell you......waiting sucks! I know, I know, we have only been waiting for 3 weeks, and I have many more weeks to come, but those of you who know me well know that patience is something I lack! I was talking to a friend at work the other day about my lack of patience and control freak personality...she laughed and said "What on earth made you think that waiting months in an international adoption process where you have no control over anything would be a good idea for you?" Hmmm - No answer for that one!

Anyway, we have been keeping busy. Our house remodel is in full swing and our sheet rock guy is working hard right now as we speak! Most people paint little rooms pink and blue to prepare for a little bundle of joy....here in our home, we knock out walls, remove lathe and plaster, get new windows, etc.

Also, we spent last weekend at the beach for Brando's Granny's 85th birthday. It was so much fun, and many of Granny's 12 (yep thats right...12) children came for the occasion.

Brandon has run off for a photo shoot, but I'll bug him this weekend to get me my pics of the house and of our beach weekend.

Valentine's Day

This year was Brando and I's 8th Valentine's Day together!!! On our first, he wrote me a poem and it turned into a tradition that instead of cards, chocolate, or roses, we write each other a poem (or song). Our poems are pretty special, so I won't post all of his, but he is so clever...he wrote me a poem about our last year as a family of 2.

Here are a few of my favorite lines, in no particular order:

Privacy, soon to leave
Dirty diapers, I do believe

Say goodbye, to our rest
The time has come, to share our nest

The way we choose to get them here
Stork or plane, you nav...I'll steer

Seriously, I cannot believe I get to love this guy everyday! He is the most amazing husband, friend and lover and I know he'll be an even better father!

We are Officially Paper Pregnant!

This means that our dossier is complete and all of our papers are in order! We are heading to Yakima this Friday to be fingerprinted and then we'll eventually receive our 171H, but then we'll just have to wait for the referral for our children!!!!!

After what feels like years (but was really only 3 months) of paper-chasing, legwork, government appointments, phone calls, parenthood classes, workshops, seminars, and home study visits we can finally sit back, relax, and wait!

I think the sitting back and relaxing will now be the hard part. My mind races with all the possibilities of our children; I wonder what they will look like? What their laughter will sound like? What will their personalities be like? I think about the memories we'll make - trips to our cabin in Montana, weekends at the family beach house, little every day things like watching their father dance around our living room in the mornings...I've been waiting for hours, but it already feels too long, and I have quite a bit of waiting ahead of me!