Go Impact!!!

The mighty Impact moved to 3-0 on the season yesterday in a dominating performance. The final score was 11-0 and our kids had a blast. It's amazing to watch how far these kids have come. They are now starting to understand the concepts of running to open spaces and passing the ball to one another. Stuart and I were very impressed with them yesterday. Oh, and they're also great kids who are very caring for one another. We are very proud to be their coaches.
We have had a fantastic weekend so far and are planning on just relaxing the rest of this afternoon. On the adoption front, we began watching our required parenting DVD's from Heart of the Matter Seminars on adoption. We were kind of expecting some really interesting videos on other people's experiences with international adoption. Not so much. It was basically 2 hours of someone talking to us. Seriously, they should make it a book on tape so I can at least listen to it while I drive. Neither Stuart nor myself were impressed. But, we took our first quiz today and each scored 100%. Only 3 more to go...

I love Fridays!!!

Because that means I have a light work load on Fri. afternoons and will most likely be out of here by 4:30 this afternoon. As some other people in my field might know, getting out of work at 4:30 for an athletic trainer is like having an extra day to your weekend. Just fabulous!!! This week has been crazy busy as usual. We typically have something going on every night of the week right now. That will all change in a few weeks as Cameron's soccer will be over, our soccer will be over, and no more Wednesday night bike rides. I'm actually looking forward to some nice quiet evenings at home. Which brings me to this weekend. No plans!!! Yep, that's right, no plans. I may not leave my couch after I plop down sometime tomorrow afternoon. The Impact is putting their 2-0 record on the line tomorrow morning so I'll keep you posted as to how that goes. No Colts game this weekend so that means an extended Sunday afternoon nap. I love naps!!! Here's wishing everyone a great weekend. TTFN.

Finally a Free Moment!!!

After the most hectic weekend of 2008, things have finally settled down enough to let me reflect on how well our homestudy went. I think Stuart and I were afraid to get too excited about the whole thing. For some reason, after our social worker left on Friday, we were able to finally truly grasp the excitement of the whole thing. She literally said "I have no doubt that I could put you two on a plane tomorrow and you'd be ready to bring home babies." We both grabbed that statement and allowed ourselves to rejoice in it. We are ready to bring home babies and can't wait to expand our family. Another important thing that happened was that she approved us for more than one. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that we will get more than one. However, if twins or a sibling group becomes available, we are approved to adopt both. Can you imagine going from a family of 3 to a family of 5 literally overnight? It's happened before and you never know if it might happen to us. Whatever will be, will be and we're just going to take it and run.
In other news, our soccer team, The Impact, is now 2-0 on the season. Cameron has thoroughly enjoyed this season. We now play on a bigger field with goalies and we keep score. The kids love it and Stuart and I are having a blast coaching. Of course, it probably all stems from the fact that we are now keeping score so there is evidence that we're not terrible coaches.
And now for the most exciting news of all...Cameron can tie his shoes!!! Seriously, I was beginning to think he might be the only future president to only wear velcro shoes. He finally figured it out last night and was very excited (as were his parents). That's all from the Rogers family for this week. We are all looking forward to a quiet rest of the week and weekend.

Another project done

Today was the day. Our homestudy visit. It went very well to say the least. Of course, the week leading up to this visit can best be described as hectic. However, this morning went off without a hitch. Our social worker arrived and after giving her a brief tour of the house (my incredibly clean house thanks to an evening of frantic cleaning), we sat and chatted for about 2 hours or so. It all went very well and now we feel that we are finally getting somewhere. So, here's how the process goes from here.
1. Our homestudy gets written by our in state agency
2. Our homestudy gets sent to Children's Hope for approval
3. Our homestudy gets sent to the State Dept. of Homeland security for approval and state certification
4. Once we receive the "Golden Ticket", the I171H, we submit our completed dossier to Children's Hope
5. They submit our dossier to the Federal Government
6. Our dossier is in Ethiopia and we are officially "paper pregnant"

Wow, I'm worn out just thinking about all of that. The good news is though, that we've done all that we can do and are just waiting on the State, our in-state agency, and Children's Hope to do the rest. So, bottom line is, we're getting closer but not quite there yet.

We have a crazy weekend ahead full of social gatherings and soccer. We'll keep you posted!!!

Paperwork, cleaning, books, paperwork, cleaning, paperwork...

This is what my life is this week. Yesterday was the first day out of this whole process that I felt like I was losing my mind. We have been trying to acquire all these documents for our dossier, making sure we're meeting all of the requirements, making sure we have everything done for our homestudy this week, studying the required texts and dvd's on parenting an adopted child and trans-racial adoption, and still trying to get on with real life. On top of that, the week for me is jam packed with too many other activities. I know we will get it all done but at times it just seems so overwhelming. It's little details like the UPS guy only coming to deliver my state certified birth certificate during the day and then they want to send it back because we're not home. It's trying to fit in a TB test when the only days you can go are the days the doctor isn't in. It's trying to make sure everything is signed and notarized correctly. It's insanity!!! This morning I feel much better than I did yesterday and I think once I get past this week and weekend, I might feel somewhat calm.
In other news, Cameron is hilarious. Yep, I know I'm biased but I don't care. That kid is funny. Last night he lost his second tooth. He was a bit disappointed this morning when he found that the tooth fairy had only left him 1 dollar. He thinks that since he's lost 2 now, he should get 2 dollars. I tried to explain to him that he only gets 1 dollar per tooth. It doesn't multiply with the amount of teeth he loses altogether. I used to think that when kids lost teeth, they started to lose their cuteness. I personally think my kid might be the cutest toothless kid ever (once again, I'm biased) He also informed me yesterday that 6 year olds only eat waffles for breakfast. News to me!!! The other night, I introduced the kid to Diet A&W Root Beer. Talk about a classic reaction. After he took a big swig, his eyes rimmed red because he forgot to breathe and followed up with "Megan, that is the best thing I ever tasted!!!" Funny.
Friday is the final homestudy and I'm also looking forward to that whole day away from work. Hopefully it will be a productive day and we will start to feel a little more at ease. We'll keep you posted as to how everything goes.

Cameron's Birthday pics

Cameron and Daddy playing the shooting game

The Smeltzer family was out in full force for the party

After a nice ride on the Go Karts
Cam and Mackenzie in their party hats
Yay presents!!!

And the news just keeps on coming...

I know that I've been obsessed with updating the blog lately. But, the beauty of a blog is that if no one really wants to hear your news, they can just not read it all. Anyway, wanted to post a little bit about the fact that Cameron lost his first tooth yesterday. It happened at school and we haven't seen him yet because it was his Mom's night to have him. So, I can't wait to hear all the details when he gets home tonight. I'm so sad we missed it. But, at least the Tooth Fairy doesn't have to come to our house this time. Grandma Gill told Cameron that the Tooth Fairy now brings dollars instead of change. So, we might be poor by the time this kid loses all of his teeth. We have no plans this weekend other than hanging out with my gorgeous nephew tomorrow and getting our house cleaned for the home visit. Maybe Hayden and Cameron can wash baseboards and windows.

Remember when...

school pictures consisted of just a cheesy snapshot with some random background or prop (much like the infamous wicker chair pics)? Not so much anymore my friend. Today was school picture day at Pleasant Crossing. Can you believe the cheapest package was $16.00? The most expensive package was $60.00. For goodness sake people, it's a school picture. Not only do you have to check one of the 13 packages they assemble for you; but you also have to choose a background, the layout, and if you want your picture touched up or not. Do they know these kids are in kindergarten? Needless to say, the thrifty Rogers family chose the cheapest package and are planning on getting more pics taken by a family friend. Seriously.
In adoption news, we got our homestudy visit scheduled. Friday September 19th is the day. Hopefully shortly after we can get the homestudy approved and then send it off for the magic CIS approval. So, in the meantime, I plan on cleaning like crazy. They tell you that it's not a white glove test, mostly just a safety check. I don't buy it. So, other than napping and watching football this weekend, we will be cleaning from the baseboards up. Nothing like a little motivation to finally get all those little projects done that we've been putting off for so long. I think that's all from our end of the world. I promise I'll get Cameron's birthday pics put up in the next few days. TTFN

Complete Randomness

Who says you have to be pregnant to be emotional? From my experiences early on in this whole adoption thing, all I have to do is see a picture of someone seeing their baby for the first time and I'm done. Just like every bad employee, when its slow at work, I tend to surf the net (don't deny it, you know you do) and read up on every/any Ethiopian adoption blog I can find. Through my "blog stalking" I find myself getting choked up every time I read a different referral story. I just can't imagine what that moment is going to be like. The feeling that God has selected this special baby for us so we can take him home and love him. I don't think I quite understand what that kind of love feels like. Yes, there are definitely times in my life that I've had that fierce motherly love for Cameron. However, something tells me that is going to be different from this. So many questions in my mind. When that day comes, what is it going to be like? Where will I be? How long will we have been waiting? What will my reaction be? What will Stuart's reaction be? Then, I think about the first time I actually get to hold this baby. Will I be overjoyed and emotional or completely and utterly terrified that for the first time in my life, I will be solely responsible for a young life? My guess is a combination of both. I came across this video the other day in one of my blog stalking adventures. Seriously, I watch it at least 4 times a week. Get out your tissues and have your sound on.

http://www.kristinjphotography.com/Slideshows/Day4_Slideshow/Ethiopia_Day4/

That's all my randomness for now. Who knew adoption hormones could be so strong?

Seriously?

I wait 7 long months for the return of my Colts and that's what I get. What a disappointing opening to the season. Hopefully they can shake the rust off and impress me more next week.

Anyway, other than basking in the joy that is the arrival of football season, we had a busy weekend full of birthday fun. On Saturday the entire Smeltzer side of the family was up for Cameron's 6th birthday celebration. It was a great time and included bowling and go kart rides at Rascals followed by pizza, cake and ice cream at the Rogers' household. It was a great day but we were all worn out by the end of the evening. Project this week: rid ourselves of the cake hangover. Next time I get a chance we'll post some pics of the weekend.

Homestudy Interview 9-4-08

We have had such a full day, I can hardly remember where we started. Stuart and I were up early and off to the State Police Building downtown for fingerprinting. That didn't take long at all and pretty soon we were on our way up to the ASC. Since we arrived at the ASC early, Stuart and I went over to the CVS to have passport pics taken. We needed those for our dossier. Not sure why but I think it has something to do with our Visa once we get in country. After that, it was time for us to meet with our social worker. We basically sat for 2 hours and we talked about ourselves. I can honestly say I've never wanted/had to talk about myself that much before. But, this is only the beginning. I'm sure we'll be repeating the process again in a few weeks when we have our homestudy. After we finished all that it was down to Franklin for a quick lunch and then off to the Johnson County Sheriff's Dept. to obtain our local background check. Everything went very smoothly today with the exception of trying to get color copies of our passports. Apparently it's illegal to copy because they are copyright protected. So, we will need to find a way around that as we have to have that for our dossier. We are making great progress on getting things put together so I think its very realistic for us to be on the waiting list by December. I did receive an email from CHI today stating that the dossiers have piled up so much in country that they won't be sending anymore over for a while. The referrals just have not been coming in as fast as the dossiers. So, let's hope it starts raining referrals come Oct. when the courts reopen in Ethiopia. Thanks for all of your prayers. We're getting closer!!!

Labor Day Weekend 2008

We have had the most fantastic weekend!!! This weekend was our friend Jenica's wedding. It was such a beautiful day and I must say I've never seen a better looking ring bearer. We all had a great time and danced late into the night.
Cameron was done by the end of the night and so were we. Luckily Aunt Karen and Uncle Mike came to the rescue and we had the entire next day to recover on the boat.



So, that was our fantastic weekend. Today we plan on being as lazy as possible in preparation for a busy week ahead.