The Waiting Game

We have spent a lot of the past few days organizing documents and appointments for our homestudy. Our first homestudy interview is scheduled for September 4th. Stuart and I are both taking off that entire day so we can work on getting fingerprinted (for the state background check) and also getting documentation that is needed for the homestudy. We each have to have a physical exam so we are getting those this Friday afternoon. I'm hoping that if we overachieve and get a lot of this stuff done before our first meeting, it will help expedite the process. I've been hearing through the blog world that wait times for babies in Ethiopia are increasing so the sooner we get our dossier over there, the better. I just have to keep reminding myself that God's timing is perfect and I don't have any control over how this is going to turn out. So, we'll let you know how our first homestudy interview goes.

On the homefront, Cameron is loving kindergarten. He is eager to show us everyday new things he has learned. He has even started to learn the difference between consonants and vowels. I think that's pretty impressive for a kindergartner. He's got his magic birthday coming up on the 6th of September so last night we had a big debate on what kind of cake he wanted. At first he told us that he wanted a banana transformer cake. Well, after preparing myself for the challenge of that, he then told me that he wanted a dog bone cake like we had at Lady's birthday. Okay, I thought, I can do that. Well, now he's changed his mind and would like a funfetti Transformers cake with both chocolate and white icing. So, it seems that I've got some work to do.

Last night, Stuart and I celebrated my birthday early upon my request. We went to the wheat beer dinner at BJ's brewhouse with some friends. What a great time!!! We were treated to a 5 course dinner and samples of 8 different wheat beers from around the world. The food was delicious and the beer was great, however, the company was the best part. Apparently BJ's is going to be doing a themed beer dinner once every quarter so we are excited to find out what the next beer selection will be.

This weekend, Cameron and I are in a wedding of some friends of ours. We're planning on spending Saturday night and Sunday with my Aunt and Uncle and hopefully be able to go out on their boat. Then a glorious Monday of no plans. Hooray!!! I'll be sure and post some pics of the weekend festivities next week. Until next time...

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Return to Glory

How excited am I that the U.S. women's soccer team won gold!!! I thought for sure they would struggle without their star forward Abby Wambach, but they came through and avenged their world cup loss from last year. This game reminded me a lot of when they won the World Cup in 1999. I was in New Zealand visiting my Grandparents and Aunt and I was glued to the live results as they were being fed very slowly through the internet. Thankfully, Mom sent a fax through right after Brandy Chastain secured the victory with the famous penalty kick followed by de-shirting scene.

That's about the most excitement I've had for the week. The Olympics have been a bit anti-climatic after the excitement of Phelps' 8th gold medal. The triathlon is over so we're setting our sights on different upcoming events. Mainly the Hilly Hundred in the middle of October. It's a 2 day, 100 mile bike ride through the hills of Southern Indiana. It will be a challenge but it's not a race so there will be plenty of time to stop and rest if we feel like we can't go on.

Cameron seems to really be enjoying school. When he spoke to his Grandma Gill the other night he told her that "the other kids are learning, but I already know it." As you can tell, he's pretty modest about things.

On the adoption front...after the initial excitement wore off about our application being accepted we are now in "holy cow we have a lot to do" mode. First and foremost, we have to decide how to best finance this. As you all know, adoption in general is not cheap. However, it is reasonable. The problem comes with all of the initial fees that are due right away. The Rogers' financial plan is to just take one step at a time and trust that God will provide. We also got our first interview scheduled for the home study. We are interviewing on Thursday September 4th at 10 a.m. In the meantime we will be collecting all information we need such as letters of reference, letters from the police, letters from our doctor, birth certificates, and pet vaccinations. Yep, you read that right, they even want pet vaccinations!!! We feel very overwhelmed with all of this but we are "doers" so once we get started, there will be no slowing us down. I can't say enough nice things about the ladies at the Adoption Support Center. They are the ones that opened this doorway into international adoption and are now going to be doing our homestudy. They are so friendly and helpful. It comforts me to know that they will be helping us through this process.

This weekend is shaping up to be nice and relaxing. We really don't have any plans except for dinner with friends on Saturday night. It will be so nice. Until next time...

"Is Holy Ship a Bad Word?"

This question was posed to me yesterday by a certain almost 6 year old. He certainly keeps us laughing.

What a weekend!!!

Wow, this weekend has gone by in a blur. We have packed a lot in over the past few days. Friday night was our night out with the London Gang. Those are the girls that I went to London with during Winter Term 200o at Franklin College. There are still 4 of us that get together with our hubbies usually every other month or so. It's such a great time and so nice to hear what everyone has been up to.
On Saturday we headed downtown to tour Lucas Oil Stadium.
All in all it was a decent tour but we were disappointed we didn't get to see any of the luxury suites or many of the other features of the stadium. While we were downtown, Stuart and I went to pick up our race packets and check out the condition of the canal. The canal is newly cleaned, however, it didn't look like it so much. Disgusting!!!
And today was race day. We both did as well as we thought we would. The swim, of course, was our weakest event but we made it. Stuart and I managed to stay together during the swim but then lost each other on the ride. It was a pretty good experience and I think we will both be doing that again sometime.

Stuart crossing the finish line and TEAM ROGERS

What a fantastic weekend!! We sure did pack a lot of stuff in. Thank goodness for the Sunday afternoon nap tradition I typically follow. Until next time...

Another step in the process

Stuart just emailed me. He received an email from Children's Hope stating that our application is approved. I know that this is a small step, but a step nonetheless. It's a pretty good feeling that we can start moving forward in the process. I am now hoping that we can get this homestudy done within the next two months and I think it's a realistic expectation to have everything done and be on the waiting list by December. When I think about where we are on the journey and how far we have to go, it sometimes seems overwhelming. However, I have never felt more strongly that this is the path that God wants us to take. I know that our little baby is probably not even born yet but I am so excited to be a Mom. I consider myself a mother to Cameron but it's different with him because he only is with us half of the time. It is going to be so nice to love a child and not have to "share" with another parent. We have not yet shared any of our plan with Cameron and we probably will not until we get a referral for a baby. He continuously reminds us that he wants a baby sister. The other night when we were saying our night time prayer, he stopped me in the middle and said "Don't forget the one about you trying to get me a baby sister." Moments like that are precious and we pray a lot for a new baby in our family. We almost feel that we should request a girl so Cameron can have that baby sister. But we both feel that we should not request a specific gender because there is a baby out there that needs our love regardless of gender. So, that's the first step. Here's hoping we can start getting the rest of it underway soon.

Is there any doubt that this kid is related to me?

Nope, there's no disputing it, Hayden Alexander is my soul mate.