And, Happy Birthday, Big Boy!

Today is Jacob's 7th birthday. I can't believe how big he is already! Seems like just a few weeks ago that I was struggling with how to be a mom! Now, my little baby is seven years old and in first grade. I love him SO much. He's such a momma's boy. :)

Above is the first glimpse we had of our handsome son, and one from last week.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl

Sigh...seriously, where does the time go? Sara is four years old already.

Birthdays for the kids are so bittersweet for me. On one hand, I absolutely love their happiness and excitement on their birthday, and look forward to all that is to come. But then they are growing up, and that saddens me. But even more so...I think so much of their birthmothers on their birthdays. Today, I know Sara's birthmom is thinking of her, and I feel so close to her, yet I can't comfort her, let her know that Sara is so, so very loved. Today, she is in my prayers.

Pics above are: The first ever picture we saw of Sara, her referral picture. And one from today.

We love you little girl...happy birthday.

I171H and update...

We got our I171H in the mail today, woo hoo! What is it? Basically, it's US immigrations approval for us to bring in an orphan in the country. What does it do for us now? Not much...we don't have a referral yet...but we're ready when it's time to travel, as far as the US government is concerned.

In further news, we heard from our new agency today that there may be a delay in new referrals until they get a chance to process existing families and post placement reports. I think the TWCA (the agency in Taiwan where our referral will come from) wants to make sure that Gladney is ready and some more things are cleared up before they start with fresh referrals. Frustrating, but understandable. What does this mean for us? There's probably a very good chance we won't see Chloe's face before Christmas. :( Such is the world of international adoption though, and we try to roll with the punches.

Shhhhh...it's a secret...

Here's a conversation I had with Jake after school on Thursday:

Jake: Mom, I have a new friend.
Me: Oh yeah, what's her name?
Jake: Megan and we have a secret that I can't tell you! (Coy little smile on his face.)

1 minute later...

Jake: OK I can tell you...Megan asked me to be her boyfriend...and I said YES!!

So sweet...my boy has his first official girlfriend. :)

Good news...

We had a conference call with Gladney last night and they let us know that they are approved to take over our adoptions from Taiwan! Yay! This is excellent news. It will be a couple of weeks before we're assigned a case worker and get detailed information about where we are, but for now, we're happy that our Taiwanese daughter will still become a reality! :)

Back to school!

Jake was so excited to go to school this morning. He's a first grader! I can't believe it. He'll be in school full time for the first time of his life, and I have to say, I'm a bit bummed! I'm definitely going to miss my buddy. Sara starts school tomorrow, she will go to preschool two full days a week.

And, mommy started back to school last week. I'm working on classes towards my degree in social work. I'm very excited!

Nothing from the adoption agency yet, but we should hear whether or not the transfer was successful sometime this week. I'll keep you posted.