Adoption Update

 Our Adoption Assessor visited us this week to update our Home Study.
Our U.S. Immigration approval to adopt internationally is going to expire soon, 
so we will need to file an extension later this month.

Considering the fact that it's been over two years since we began actively pursuing adoption, 
and this summer will mark two years since we were officially signed up with our agency, 
it's understandable that people are starting to wonder what in the world is going on 
with this adoption of ours.

The reason we haven't said much lately is that 
there really hasn't been much to tell.  

We completed all of the necessary steps on our end and our entire dossier 
was delivered to China and logged in to their system about a year ago.  

 At some point our adoption agency will send us a referral (a child's file),
but they can't tell us exactly when that will happen.  

So for the past year we have been waiting.  

And waiting. 

And waiting some more.

 

As time goes on, less and less children are being released for

international adoption from China, which is wonderful.  

It means that less birth parents are in desperate and heartbreaking
situations where they are forced to give up their precious babies.  

It means that more adoptions are occurring within China, 

allowing more children to be raised in their country of origin.  

While these are great changes, they are obviously causing 
our wait to stretch on a bit longer than initially expected.

We've been in contact with our placing agency and the most recent 
indication is that we might receive a referral in the next six months or so.

And honestly, as much as I would love to have our daughter here 
in our arms, I am at peace with the wait.  And Michael is, too.

We both trust that God has a plan for our family.  

We are head over heels in love with our surprise baby, Carter.

We know we'll feel the same way about our daughter 

and that like her brother, she will come to us 

according to God's perfect timing, not ours. 

So for those who have been afraid to ask what's going on or why you 
haven't heard anything in a while, it's just because there hasn't been any news.

And those who ask about our adoption every time we see you, please keep asking!  

We love knowing that others are thinking about our future daughter right along with us. 

And I promise, when we finally get that file telling us about our little girl 

and showing us pictures of her precious face for the first time,

we will tell everyone as soon as we possibly can!

In the meantime, enjoy some pictures of our baby boy and his "baby."

Soon after we started our adoption, 
Michael bought a little doll for our future daughter.
A few months ago Carter "found" her and was completely smitten.
Who could blame him?  She was adorable.

This is how she looked back then:



Since then, Carter's affection for her has only grown stronger.

He loves her a lot, and it shows.

Much to his Michael's dismay, Carter plays with this "baby" more than any other toy.  
She is the first thing he looks for every morning and his face just lights up when he finds her.

 

She gets lots of hugs.  And kisses.

 

She also gets dragged around by her feet.

 

And sometimes by her hair.

 

He is pretty rough on her as he shows his love.



 

 

Here he was not-so-gently "patting" her on the head!

I hope Carter is a little more gentle with his real sister than he is with his "baby," 
but I hope he loves her just as much!

Until then, we'll let him keep "practicing."
 

Big Boy Bath

Bathing Carter at the kitchen sink has been a challenge.

Since he learned how to splash he's kept it pretty interesting.

Now that he's ten months old and constantly climbing out of the tub,

it's darn near impossible.

So we finally made the move upstairs to the "Big Boy" bathtub.

He was so excited he could barely hold still on the changing table. 

 

In the tub, he started out looking pretty innocent.

But once he saw Mommy's camera

it didn't take long for him to start hamming it up.

That's our Carter.

His expressions were cracking me up.

 

Michael noticed about halfway through the bath that my pictures 

were looking like a Johnson's ad, so he moved that bottle.

Carter was LOVING sticking out his tongue.

This kid can make silly faces like no other.

He absolutely kills me, and he knows it.

We were reading our first year baby book this week 

and it talked about how at ten months old we should 

be starting to discipline our baby.  Specifically, it said

that we should never smile or laugh when he misbehaves,

no matter how cute his faces may be. 

Heaven help us!

 

Carter's First Easter

Just wanted to share some images from today.

A little sleepy and off to a slow start.

 Checking out his new jumbo stacker from the Easter Bunny.

  

 

  Looking pretty dapper in his Easter duds.

 All dressed up for church.

I swear he looks older than barely ten months.

The boys all happened to wear these hats  to brunch today,

so of course we had to take some pictures!

 

Carter literally and figuratively looks up to his cousin.

These two are going to be trouble someday! 

Carter's first Easter egg hunt.

Carter was not a fan of the grass.  At. All.

He performed some amazing feats of balance

just to avoid touching it with any part of his exposed skin! 

Luckily Daddy was pretty quick to rescue him!

He was much more comfortable on his feet.

So blessed to be able to spend Easter with this wonderful guy!