Good News!

There are many ways an adoption is like a pregnancy. You announce you're adopting, at some point you can announce the gender, and at the end of it all, you bring a kid home. One glaring way adoption is different than pregnancy is the millions of steps you take to get to the end. I am so thankful for the army of people on the other end of this blog who pray for us and encourage us. You are so valuable to us!

I'm sure you're wondering what the good news is at this point. We've received our approval from the US Dept. of Homeland Security/Immigration. What that means is that the agency in South Africa can now begin pursuing a court date. Once they have a court date, we will get notice to travel. We are getting close!! It was a miracle we got it so soon. It's only been two weeks and we were told it would be at least a month.

We are hoping and praying to bring T home before Christmas. It would be so sweet to have that season together as a family of three. In the meantime, we're preparing and working hard to get ready to bring T home. I hope this kid likes Legos! Good thing they're light! We can take some to South Africa with us.

African Safari

This weekend was a whirlwind trip up to Rochester, MN to visit my side of the family. My paternal grandmother (Grandma Cookie) just moved into assisted living and her home (which she had lived in for 60+ years) had been sold. I've spent many good times in that home and I really wanted to see it one last time before it was handed over to the buyer. The home needs a lot of work, so it is going to be flipped and will never look the same. 

Grandma Cookie's kitchen wall - it has looked this way as long as I can remember.

Living in a home for that long and never throwing anything away makes for a busy weekend. There was a garage sale and the home was quickly being cleared out to make way for the new owners. One great find - BAGS of beanie babies. While many people were giving their beanies away, throwing them away, or selling them, my grandma saved them all. So when my uncle asked me if I wanted any, I jumped at the chance. We now have a full African safari of animals.

We grabbed any animals that are found in Africa, or more specifically in South Africa. When we were picking out animals, Brian grabbed the mongoose, of which we weren't sure there were any in South Africa, because he hates snakes. I just looked and there is a mongoose native specifically in South Africa. (Brian will be happy to hear there are creatures eating the numerous [venemous] snakes that live in South Africa.) I'm excited for our kids to play with this set. I'm already thinking through other things that could make the safari more fun, but I think we're off to a good start.