Thanksgiving Holiday

Lisa and I celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday, Nov. 17th. We had to celebrate early because we were going on vacation over the Thanksgiving week.

We invited my mom and dad, Lisa's mom, my Uncle Junior, my Uncle Willard and Aunt Colleen, and Rod, Corrinna, and Hailey. It was a full house for us. Even Jacob was with us (in spirit anyway...since he probably hasn't even been born yet)!

We had a great menu: turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, broccolli casserole, green beans, rolls, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and lots of Cool Whip! It was a great dinner and everyone ate way TOO much...but that is what the holidays are about.

As I sat watching everyone eat, I wondered what it would be like to play the role of DAD at the holidays. That is something that I haven't done yet...but I look forward to it so much. I can imagine that the holidays at this time of year take on a whole new meaning when you have kids around. I can't wait!

Here are some holiday pics to enjoy!

On the adoption news, Lisa and I are still waiting for our I171 form. When we get it, we can fax it to Children's Hope International and get on the waiting list. Sigh..such a long process!

My Aunt Colleen and me

Hailey with a Thanksgiving Pumpkin!

The Three Amigos (Uncle Junior, Uncle Willard, and Dad)

Hailey and me in front of the tree

Uncle Junior

Adventures in Fingerprinting

Hey everybody! Well, we have the fingerprinting phase of our adoption over and done with. It went smoothly...sort of. We left school early on Wednesday, Oct. 10th so that we could get to Charleston, WV in the daylight and find the CIS office. The trip wasn't too bad...it took aboout 3 1/2 hours to get there from here. When we got to Charleston, we kept passing up the exit we needed to take! First we were going one way on the interstate...then the other...then we turned around again. LOL! We finally got off at the right exit. It turned out that the CIS building was one that I had been looking at each time we passed the exit. It was so easy to find.

We were there the next morning bright and early. We had stayed at the Ramada in Charleston. I will have to say that I slept very well there...the beds were wonderful. They also had a great breakfast...eggs, sausage, biscuits, gravy, fruit, cereal, danish, and even waffles. It was delicious!

At the CIS office, I was sneaking around taking pictures for our scrapbook of the adoption. I just knew that the security guard was going to think that I was up to something no good...a terrorist or something...LOL. I snapped a few quick photos and stashed the camera.

My fingerprinting experience was uneventful. They don't use ink anymore. They use a computer. The little lady in the room washed my fingers with water and put them on the scanner. It was a little uncomfortable when she was rolling them to get a complete print, but it wasn't painful or anything. I was out in about 10 minutes. I told my wife that it was nothing.

My wife went in the room to have her fingerprints. I kept waiting and waiting. She was in there for almost 45 minutes! Finally, she came out. Everyone in the room was staring at her. I even joked with her later that the security guard had gone for his gun...LOL.

It seems that they had a hard time getting her fingerprints. The little lady in the room finally started using stuff like witch hazel, corn oil, and even Windex on Lisa's fingers in order to get a good print...LOL! She was finally able to get a good set of prints.

That was on Thursday the 11th. On Saturday October 13th, we had our final homestudy visit. Michelle, our social worker, came to our house and took the grand tour. Everything was fine. Of course, we had been cleaning like crazy...but I think that everyone does that. You just want everything to be perfect.

We also finished up our Because They Waited DVD set that weekend and took the final online test. We just got the results back...we passed. Now, we just sit back and wait for the forms to process. Soon, we will be getting our form that gives us permission to adopt internationally (171). I can't wait!

We will keep you updated! Keep checking in!

Lots of News-----

Sorry we have been so busy and have not updated our blog. A lot has happened since our last post. We had our second homestudy visit with our social worker Michelle. We met with her on Saturday, September 15th. I think it went really well. We have our last homestudy visit scheduled for this Saturday, October 13th here at our house.

Also, we finally got our appointment for our fingerprints. We go this Thursday to the USCIS office in Charleston, WV to have them done. Then we have to complete one more module in our DVD Course and we will have that done. I can not wait to have this part behind us and to finally get on the waiting list. Then the long wait and the nail biting will begin.


I want to thank everyone who wrote a letter of reference for us. This is such a long and stressful process and to see our friends and family really get behind us and give us such love and support is wonderful and a great help.


On Saturday, September 29th, Hailey, our best friends' little girl, had her 3rd birthday party. She is such a doll and she had a great birthday party. Her birthday is really September 30th, but Corrinna and Rod had her party on Saturday when everyone could come.

Hailey and Me

Hailey and Alonzo

Lastly, on a happy note, Jacob's room is finally starting to take shape. Jacob's room (formally our office) is now empty and ready for painting. Really we just wanted to get the office moved so that we would have a place to keep things that people are giving us for him. I'm trying to keep myself from doing too much to his room too soon. I will need something to do to keep myself from going crazy while we wait for our referral. I have bought some clothes and different things but Alonzo is keeping me in check. Alonzo and I have also picked out the paint color for his room but will not start painting till spring. Right now it seems like we have such a long time to go before we see our baby for the first time. It's like everyone says, it will be worth it in the end when we have Jacob in our arms and are finally a family.

I will let everyone know how the fingerprinting and the last homestudy goes this weekend. Everyone take care.

Completed Module 2 on the DVD series

Lisa and I just completed and passed Module 2 of the DVD "Because They Waited." This module dealt with the issues of need and unmet need. I found it very interesting that children from orphanages have had a history of unmet need (changing, feeding, etc.) that will impact their development.

In order to help the child overcome this, it is important that Lisa and I establish ourselves as the child's primary caregivers. However, day care is just a reality that we are going to have to face with Jacob. The good thing is that since we are both teachers, we will have his same school schedule while he is growing up. Also, we will have summers off with him. That is a blessing.

Lisa and I are anxious to get our little one and give him the constant love and care that he needs. I know that Lisa will make a wonderful mother. I plan on being the best dad that I can be. But first...we have two more DVD modules and a million pieces of paperwork to go. Sigh!

News

Well not much happened this week. We have an appointment to meet with our Social worker Michelle next Saturday for our second homestudy visit. We have been working on all the paperwork she gave us at our last meeting and had our medical exams done.

Alonzo and I have also started on our DVD and have taken one test. A 100% for both of us. We plan on watching the rest this week to have that done. We hope to hear from CIS about our fingerprinting soon and look forward to having this part of our journey done. Then comes the long, long wait.

Working on the DVD series

As part of our homestudy process, Lisa and I have to read a book called Adoption Parenting and watch a DVD series called The Heart of the Matter: Because They Waited. After each section of the DVD, we have to take a test. We watched the first of four modules today and took the test. I am happy to say that we each made 100%.

Here is our picture with the materials. We are as happy as one can be with study related material...LOL!

Completed Our Autobiographies

Lisa and I finally finished our autobiographies and sent them off to Michelle. It wasn't bad writing them...just a lot of details about growing up, married life, our beliefs on discipline, etc. Here is a bit of what I wrote:

Lisa and I have been married for 15 years now. It has been great. Of course, no marriage is perfect. You are always going to have your little squabbles, but we always work them out. We have never had any marriage counseling. We generally just talk things out when we have a disagreement. On the most part though, we get along really well. At home, we have three dogs that we care for very much: Pepper (cocker spaniel mix), Sadie (beagle), and Sassy (mini daschund). In the afternoons, we generally come home from school, rest a little bit, eat supper, clean up the kitchen, and then exercise a little bit. We either go for a walk or walk on the treadmill. Then we either watch TV or play on the computer. We have three televisions and two computers so we can do what we want whenever we want and not have to fight over what to watch or who is getting on the computer…LOL!

Lisa and I do not have any children. We always took the attitude that it would happen when it was supposed to happen. Of course, nothing ever happened. When Lisa got in her mid-30’s, she started getting worried about the age factor. We went to a fertility doctor in Lexington and everything checked out medically for us. We tried IUF but decided that we didn’t want to spend over $10,000 for IVF when we could use that money for adoption. IVF might not work. Adoption will almost certainly work. I have the belief that everything happens because it is supposed to happen. It also happens at the time it is supposed to happen. I truly believe that Lisa and I are meant to take this life journey of adoption. It was meant to happen just as surely as you were meant to help us along our path.

Lisa and I live in a brand-new log home that we had built just last year. This is our first home that we have owned. We have rented up until now. We love our home and are very proud of it. The house is 30 X 40. It has a finished basement that serves as a family room and exercise room. There is also a full bathroom and utility / storage room. On the first floor, there is a living room, dining room, kitchen, full bathroom, guest bedroom, and office. When we bring our son home, we will have converted the office into Jacob’s room and the guest bedroom into our bedroom. On the second floor is the loft which overlooks the living room, a third full bathroom, and the large master bedroom. Everything is log, wooden, or beige. We have a very neutral color scheme that goes with just about anything. I would call our style of decorating as mountain lodge mixed with some country influences.

We have lots of space in and around our house for both of us and for Jacob. My parents live right next door to us. Other than that, we have lots and lots of space. There is a wooded area right behind us that stretches out for miles. My parents own several hundred acres of land on the road where we live and on the nearby coal mine which gives them some royalty income each month. I feel that Jacob will be very happy to have lots of space to run, play, and be a kid. We enjoy living in the country and hope to give Jacob this joy as well.

I want to adopt because I want to share my life experience. Lisa and I have a lot of love to give. We have a lot of interests and experiences to share. Lisa and I have been thinking of adoption on and off for several years. It wasn’t something that we just rushed into one day….like purchasing a candy bar. It was something that we knew would happen when it was supposed to happen. Also, as I have stated before, genetics alone do not make a family. Love makes a family. Sharing life experiences makes a family.

Lisa and I plan on telling Jacob about his adoption in stages as he is developmentally ready. I will always let Jacob know that I love him and that I am his dad and Lisa is his mom. Lisa and I will let him know that he was adopted because we loved him and it was meant to be. As far as his birthparents, I will let him know what I can, which will probably be nothing. I will let him know that they loved him but gave him up for their own personal reasons, which was probably poverty. Lisa and I plan on taking him to Vietnam to visit when he is older and can appreciate the visit. I want him to know where he came from biologically, but I want him to know that his family is here and that we love him. I can’t say that everything is going to work out perfectly. Nothing ever does. But, I can say that it will work out the way that it is meant to work out. All that I can promise is to love Jacob and to try and raise him to be the best person that he can be.

My biggest concern about adoption is that Jacob will feel that his parents didn’t want him. I don’t want him to feel like he was discarded. However, that is something that he will have to work out on his own. I can give him love and support. I can’t control his feelings. I only hope that our love and support will let Jacob know that his true family is right here in Kentucky.

Lisa and I chose to adopt from Vietnam because there are many, many children in that part of the world who need a loving home experience. It was a calling. It was meant to be. If it had been meant for us to choose another country, we would have. Everything happens for a reason. Although we were going to adopt from China at first, we switched to Vietnam because of the new restrictions that China has put into place. Now that we have switched, we know that it was meant for us to adopt from Vietnam in the first place.

We spent several hours today just looking at blogs and YouTube video of adoptions from Vietnam. I love the internet! We added a clock to this blog that shows the time in Vietnam.

Keep checking back to this blog for more updates! Send us an email if you want!