It's a..........GIRL!!!!

I'm so happy to share with the world that we have accepted the referral of a beautiful, baby girl! We received her information last week Friday and had an instant feeling that she would be our daughter. I will admit that I was a little shocked as I had always kind of figured we would have another boy. We didn't state a gender or infant preference and with the ways of international adoption, that usually (although not always) translates into a referral of an older infant boy. She is quite young and very, very special. I won't be sharing details or photos at this time due to her very unique special needs and the fact that as much as we want her to be, she isn't truly ours until the courts say she is.

We hope and pray for her spirit and strength while she waits for us to come and bring her home (hopefully this fall).

Our focus up to this point has been fundraising, and while we have been so incredibly blessed by the generosity of others, unfortunately we are still about $20,000 short of what we need to bring her home. I spend a huge part of each day racking my brain for new, creative ways to come up with the funds; and the other part doing research and educating myself on her special needs. We have a lot to plan for - not only bringing a new baby into our lives, but also making sure we have the resources lined up to help her (and us) when she arrives home.

We understand that we have a very long, difficult road ahead of us, but also realize that it will be one of the most amazing journeys we could embark upon. We so appreciate everyone's support and prayers during the months ahead.

Wisconsin SOS Rocks!

I had the day off yesterday because I worked the whoooole weekend so I took our dossier to the Sec of State Office for authentication. I dropped it off at 8:30 and spent the rest of my morning running a million errands. I got a call at 11:50 letting me know my documents were done so I turned around and went right back to get them. I would say that a 3hr 20min turnaround time on an entire dossier cannot be beat by anyone! Thank you lovely SOS ladies for your hard work!

This weekend I emailed our state representative regarding an ongoing problem we are having with USCIS with regard to E's citizenship. They happily accepted the application and took our money back in October, but have yet to produce a certificate or an explanation about what is taking so long with his case. Well, I've had it and decided to call in some reinforcements. Wouldn't ya know it, a wonderful gentleman emailed me immediately Monday morning requesting additional information about E's case so he could access the USCIS records and get this taken care of.

Long story short, I'm feeling pretty darn good about our Wisconsin officials today!