I finally made it back to Little Rock, Arkansas to visit Katie! It only took a year to get there, but Mom and I flew out together July 31. We ate lots, yum yum, but mostly stayed inside in different places because that place is BLAZIN hot in mid summer. Great Day was it hot! We walked the dam one day. We also painted pottery! What fun! Mom painted a striped bowl. Katie painted a tea pot and I, of course, had to paint a pig shaped piggy bank. I also painted a fancy plate to put up in my kitchen. It was so much fun! Katie went to pick them up yesterday and she is going to fly them home Labor Day weekend when she comes back for a wedding. I cant wait to get my pottery, but I am also hoping to spend more time with her since I probably wont see her again until Christmas...wow... thats a long time away!
More later!!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Today is Mom's birthday! She came today to visit, let me treat her to lunch, and to bring Jackson. Ryan and I get to keep Jack since Mom and Dad are leaving tomorrow morning for Cancun, Mexico. They are going to Michael and Rachael's wedding! What fun! I know they will have a blast with them. I hope everything turns out great!!!
This morning we had ANOTHER stinkin home study. I say stinkin because I am so tired of being interviewed and having my home inspected. Even though they really do not look at much, it is still nerve racking trying to clean and prepare for everything to be ready. I am learning a whole lot more about the laws and process on how things work. That part has been really helpful! Social Services has been so easy to work with. They have such a hard job and I just can not imagine trying to do what they do! They deal with SO much.
We are grateful for the great people we have been working with. Both from Bethany And from Social Services. We have been blessed, that's for sure!
Have a Blessed day!
This morning we had ANOTHER stinkin home study. I say stinkin because I am so tired of being interviewed and having my home inspected. Even though they really do not look at much, it is still nerve racking trying to clean and prepare for everything to be ready. I am learning a whole lot more about the laws and process on how things work. That part has been really helpful! Social Services has been so easy to work with. They have such a hard job and I just can not imagine trying to do what they do! They deal with SO much.
We are grateful for the great people we have been working with. Both from Bethany And from Social Services. We have been blessed, that's for sure!
Have a Blessed day!
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Video is here!
I think I did it! Yeah! I hope you enjoy it. Again, this is a first attempt at the whole video thing, so hopefully the next one will be alittle more "together."
Adoption Update...
Well, there isnt really much to update you on. We are done with our homestudy with Bethany and we are having our final homestudy with Social Services on Monday at 9am. I just want something to play out. I am starting to get frustrated. We emptied a room to be able to to put a child in, but now we do not know if we get baby furniture, or just regular furniture. It is hard to know what to do. I really do not do well without planning. I guess it is just one of those things! I am definitely learning the true definition of patience. I do not like the word...
Camp
We survived Centrifuge 2008! We took 18 kids to Centrifuge camp in Ridgecrest, NC last week. We had a BLAST! It was so much fun and the kids were great. What an awesome experience for everyone! I am going to attempt to insert a video we made (1st try at this) and show you some of our experience. It was excellent!
Friday, June 20, 2008
Whew...
HOMESTUDY IS COMPLETED!!!
Well, it was supposed to last an hour.... hmmm.... 2 1/2 hours later she left! We are talkers though! Everything went well. Our house complied with everything, thank goodness and we talked forever about expectations and trainings etc.
Now that that stage is over with, we can finalize this homestudy and get ready for the trainings in July. These will teach us about the complete process of a Domestic adoption. Its completely overwhelming but thankfully we have great people to work with to help us along!
Now we have to plan for camp... we leave June 30th!
Have a great weekend!!!
Well, it was supposed to last an hour.... hmmm.... 2 1/2 hours later she left! We are talkers though! Everything went well. Our house complied with everything, thank goodness and we talked forever about expectations and trainings etc.
Now that that stage is over with, we can finalize this homestudy and get ready for the trainings in July. These will teach us about the complete process of a Domestic adoption. Its completely overwhelming but thankfully we have great people to work with to help us along!
Now we have to plan for camp... we leave June 30th!
Have a great weekend!!!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
whirlwind of a day...
What a day...
Today started off in Richmond with our last home study interview for Bethany Christian Services. We are finalizing it so we have it... just in case... The home visit will be first thing tomorrow morning at 9:30. We have been cleaning the house for a week trying to prepare! We have baby locks on the cabinets and we now have an empty room for a child whenever we should get the phone call. All we have to do is throw some furniture in the room and we are good to go!
The Call...
In the midst of all this craziness today, we got a call from Social Services for two children that needed a home. I, of course, freaked out. We were sitting in The Cheesecake Factory when they called, so needless to say, I did not enjoy my meal. My stomach was in knots! The call taught us that you really have to be ready to take someone in within a few hours. We could not believe how fast it all happened. It did not end up working out for us to take the children, but we learned a lot about the experience... we learned we have amazing family and friends who are willing to drop anything at anytime to bring up supplies and needs. We are so thankful to be so blessed with those relationships!
Ill keep you posted on any new excitement!
Thanks for your prayers as we seek the completely UNKNOWN!!!
-Ashley
Today started off in Richmond with our last home study interview for Bethany Christian Services. We are finalizing it so we have it... just in case... The home visit will be first thing tomorrow morning at 9:30. We have been cleaning the house for a week trying to prepare! We have baby locks on the cabinets and we now have an empty room for a child whenever we should get the phone call. All we have to do is throw some furniture in the room and we are good to go!
The Call...
In the midst of all this craziness today, we got a call from Social Services for two children that needed a home. I, of course, freaked out. We were sitting in The Cheesecake Factory when they called, so needless to say, I did not enjoy my meal. My stomach was in knots! The call taught us that you really have to be ready to take someone in within a few hours. We could not believe how fast it all happened. It did not end up working out for us to take the children, but we learned a lot about the experience... we learned we have amazing family and friends who are willing to drop anything at anytime to bring up supplies and needs. We are so thankful to be so blessed with those relationships!
Ill keep you posted on any new excitement!
Thanks for your prayers as we seek the completely UNKNOWN!!!
-Ashley
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
lots of phone calls
I know it has taken a month to get back on here...but school is now out so hopefully I can be better about keeping you updated!
adoption craziness...
well, obviously we are not going to Russia. Although I was a bit let down by the news, at least we still have options. A lot of people have asked what we will do next, and the truth is, we do not really know, but Ill fill you in on where we are now.
Just today I had 2 very good phone calls. The first one was from Bethany Christian Services. This is the agency that we have been working with to go to Russia. This time, though, I talked to the lady who is a domestic case worker. She was great. I talked to her for an entire hour! We have the option of rolling over our paperwork into an infant adoption program. We are going to finish the home study with them so we have it done, we only have one meeting left from before that was not completed, then we will decide if we want to pursue the rest of the program. For now though, the home study is our main focus, with them. If we do not get it done soon, stuff will start to expire, like our medical evaluations, and we do not want to have to complete those things again!
phone call #2 was from Social Services...Its amazing, they called me back! Haha ... for those of you who know, they are hard to get a hold of! Anyways, the lady I talked to was WONDERFUL. She was super sweet and really answered alot of questions. See, ideally, Ryan and I would really like to adopt someone from our area who is already in need of a home. In order for us to do that, we have to, most likely, Foster to Adopt. This really frightened us at the beginning, but the more we find out, the more I think it might be for us. What better way to help out children than to give them a home. And hopefully, someone will need one permanently. For this process, we have to complete a separate home study for "foster-to adopt" parents. I was told by the worker this is "cake." We are hoping to get some paper work done tomorrow so that we can get the ball rolling. Why not?!
So there we are...after several months of waiting, now we have two directions to pursue at one time. I am just appreciative of the nice people who I talked to today. They make things like this so much easier!
Say a prayer for us... something will work out one day! For the time being, we are gearing up for the beach. CANT WAIT...
More later!
adoption craziness...
well, obviously we are not going to Russia. Although I was a bit let down by the news, at least we still have options. A lot of people have asked what we will do next, and the truth is, we do not really know, but Ill fill you in on where we are now.
Just today I had 2 very good phone calls. The first one was from Bethany Christian Services. This is the agency that we have been working with to go to Russia. This time, though, I talked to the lady who is a domestic case worker. She was great. I talked to her for an entire hour! We have the option of rolling over our paperwork into an infant adoption program. We are going to finish the home study with them so we have it done, we only have one meeting left from before that was not completed, then we will decide if we want to pursue the rest of the program. For now though, the home study is our main focus, with them. If we do not get it done soon, stuff will start to expire, like our medical evaluations, and we do not want to have to complete those things again!
phone call #2 was from Social Services...Its amazing, they called me back! Haha ... for those of you who know, they are hard to get a hold of! Anyways, the lady I talked to was WONDERFUL. She was super sweet and really answered alot of questions. See, ideally, Ryan and I would really like to adopt someone from our area who is already in need of a home. In order for us to do that, we have to, most likely, Foster to Adopt. This really frightened us at the beginning, but the more we find out, the more I think it might be for us. What better way to help out children than to give them a home. And hopefully, someone will need one permanently. For this process, we have to complete a separate home study for "foster-to adopt" parents. I was told by the worker this is "cake." We are hoping to get some paper work done tomorrow so that we can get the ball rolling. Why not?!
So there we are...after several months of waiting, now we have two directions to pursue at one time. I am just appreciative of the nice people who I talked to today. They make things like this so much easier!
Say a prayer for us... something will work out one day! For the time being, we are gearing up for the beach. CANT WAIT...
More later!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)