I went to the eye doctor today to get new contacts to take to Ethiopia. I figured I might as well get Van an eye exam as well while we were already there. He has an astigmatism in both eyes and a little trouble seeing, so he ended up needing glasses. There was a special going on where you get a 2nd pair free, so I figured as rough as he is that this might be a good deal. This is his free pair, no anti-glare on these.

We received new pictures of Josie today and they were so cute, her hair had been braided. We are getting ready for the trip, we had our last shots, yellow fever vaccines this week. We have two suitcases of various donations for the orphanage thanks to friends and family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoying a nice fall day.

 

 

A Saturday afternoon outing to Locust Grove.

Happy Adoption Day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today is the 4th anniversary of Van's adoption. We celebrated tonight by having: Pho, watermelon juice, choco pies, lychee jelly and dragon fruit. Well, the watermelon juice just wasn't the same, sorry Dole, but the juice in Vietnam was the real thing. These are a few things that we had in Vietnam that we were able to find at our local Vietnamese Store and Valumarket.

After supper we watched Van's adoption video. The kids have grown so much in 4 years.

We are excited about our second adoption journey, which hopefully will move to the next step soon.

 

 

Van picked this flower from our garden this morning.

Van and I were getting ready for a walk and as I was headed out the door, I said, "I need to get my phone," then Van says, "I've got mine." He is a funny boy, he cried because he had to nap in Josie's bed. Do you know why he cried? Because he didn't want to sleep in a bed that had a pink bedspread and purple sheets on it.

 

 

It's been a nice week with the cooler weather, we've been enjoying leaving the windows open.

School is going well for both of the boys.

Adoption Update: We found out that our dossier is soon to be on it's way to Ethiopia for translation. We will not be able to get a court date until the courts reopen, I believe they reopen mid October.

 

This was taken at his birthday party.

First Day of School

 

August 25th-Race's first day of school. He really enjoys being back in school with his friends.

Happy Birthday

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our nephew, Payne Dixon and to Keith's grandmother, Katie Ruis!

 

 

 

This was our attempt at a basketball themed cake for Race's 13th birthday. Race and I had fun making it and trying to get the letters to come out recognizable. My finger is sore from pressing the icing tube, those things are not easy to work with. I can't believe my baby will be 13 on the 1st. He starts 8th grade tomorrow. What will Van and I do without him, it will take me a while to adjust to not having him around all day.

 

 

Van cooking up supper.

We have been super busy with school starting and the adoption process. Race starts school tomorrow and Van and I started last week. Van was very gung-ho the first two days and then he realized that school is hard work.

Adoption Update- We received our favorable determination letter from Immigration, which means they approved us. So now our agency will put that letter with our dossier and send it to Ethiopia. Not sure of a timeline right now, but will keep you posted.

 

 

 

 

 

Van learned to ride his bike without training wheels while I was out running errands. Race is dunking, his favorite thing to do.

Adoption Update: We received all of the extra paperwork we need for Immigration, so tomorrow I will mail it all off and hopefully we can move forward. We received a new photo of Josie (I think that's what we're going to call her) and a short video clip of her. We have heard that she is polite, quiet and shy from families that have met her in person.