Under Construction

The nursery is officially under construction! We decided to make the bedroom a bit bigger and extend a portion of it onto our deck. We have a really great deck that goes all the way around our house on the 2nd level.
Clint is a MASTER at this kindof of stuff...I am blessed with a very talented husband!

Over the weekend he started removing wood siding and pulling up deck boards...all very dirty work...in the 102 degree heat! YUCK! I love how he works though. He starts a project and is done with it in a few short weeks! So, here is the area we are expanding. The door goes into the nursery from the deck right now, but we are taking that out and extending the room about 6.5 feet out.

SUPER excited!


While my hubby was outside in the scorching heat, I was in my craft room making this framed jewelry holder. I have wanted to make one for a LONG time, but never got around to it. When my best friend, Kerri spent her entire Saturday from 6am-4pm helping me with our fundraiser garage sale..I knew I had to make her a special thank you gift! So this was it!

I think I am going to start making smaller ones (this one was like 20x24" or something)...and sell them in my Etsy store! I need to kick it up a notch because we still have $6500 to raise for our adoption!!!
So, if you have not checked out my Etsy store.... head over and check it out here.

Oiy! More surgery? Come on Doc!

Over the past year and 3 months I have had two surgeries, multiple doctors appointments and infections caused by surgery. I'm tired!

In April of 2010 I had my appendix removed. God knew what He was doing when he sent me to the hospital in pain. If it wasn't for the appendectomy, they never would have found the endometriosis that had taken over inside of me!
The follow-up trip to the doctor after surgery was one of shock and confusion. I thought I was just going in for him to check out my incisions....but instead left his office with more questions then anything else.

Jump ahead about 3 months, to July 2nd, 2010..... I had to undergo extensive endometriosis surgery. When your doctor discusses the "possible risks" involved with surgery of this kind...you dont think any of them could really happen to you. Well, I should have known better!

My ovaries went into "shock" and pretty much shut down. They called it "premature ovarian failure".
I had an infection right after surgery and before I knew it...I was dealing with hot flashes and night sweats. My 31 year old body was now one of a 50'something. I was experiencing premature menopause. Disbelief, frustration.... I was so sure that my endo surgery was going to fix everything. Boy was I wrong.
God had other plans.

It was just a year before that I hear Him saying that I wasn't going to be able to have children of my own (out of my own body)....I knew all these closed doors were a sign that what I had heard was playing itself out in my life.

I just knew.

Letting go and allowing God to take control has been hard. I have grown so much.....

Fast forward back to today...almost exactly one year after my surgery and wouldn't you know....
i'm going back.

I'm VERY thankful that it's not for another round of endo removal (whew)... just a pesky ol inguinal hernia.

So...it's back to the hospital for me on July 14th.

No...... these aren't my doctors..... if they were, maybe that would explain all these surgeries I keep having. haha.

Just like everything else, I trust God and His plan for my life and everything that happens in it. He's in control.

*A very special shout-out to my amazing HUSBAND that has been by my side through everything. Surgeries, a cancer scare, more surgeries, the ups and downs of menopause....ALL of it!!! He has been my rock. When he vowed to love me, "...in sickness and in health..." he sure meant it. I am SO blessed to have his love and support. I can't wait to live a full, long, healthy life with him and our many children!!!! I love you Clint!*

Big Puffy Heart this song!

Can't think of a title!

This weekend was pretty relaxing! It was just Clint and I (the kids were at their Mom's). We enjoyed a nice evening at home on Friday, shopped for antiques on Saturday, spent the evening with friends Saturday evening...and relaxed in the house on Sunday! Now that's a relaxing weekend!

I did get some sewing done. On top of my regular orders, I had to get some 4th of July stuff out. It's nothing fancy... I wish I had more time to really get crazy creative, but my day job prevents that! boooooo.

Here's this cute USA onesie/shirt I did. You can have the heart placed over any state...this one is on Oklahoma of course. :)


Firecrackers!!! I really like this cute onesie. They can be put on t-shirts as well!

If there is anything you may want made for the 4th, head over to my Etsy store and let me know! I can get them out quick once I get the orders! Or of course you can email me!

Here's the weekend on the couch pic!

Sneak Peek!

Update

While we were gone to the lake this past weekend, our CIS Approval letter came in the mail! It was great to see it because I was thinking it was going to take at least a few months! Thank goodness the online time frames were off by about 6 weeks!!! *It's the little things*

So now that we have the updated 171H (CIS Approval letter) we have to get it notarized and sent in to our agency for them to add it to our dossier, which they already have!
This was the last piece of the dossier that we can submit right now. The rest comes after your referral. So it's nice to have it all done!!!

Also, I contacted our program director to ask how the wait list works for the DRC and she let me know that we are #18 on the infant wait list! We were SO happy to hear that.

So now we just wait.
We have heard from different blogs that there are 20 children waiting to be "paperwork ready" to be sent out as referrals. I have NO idea if our 2 children are in that group, but we pray every day that they are. Being 18 on the list kindof rules that out, but you never know.

Yes, you read that right..I said 2 children.

Clint laughs at me all the time because we didn't realize that our 171H says we are approved for 2 children under 18 months.

OIY!

So we'll see. I'm not sure if we have any wiggle room with those ages...but if we do, we would like the 2nd child to be 3years or younger.

Anyway....that's about all the "news" I have for now.

:)

Father's Day 2011

This Father's Day weekend we spent at my bosses lake house at Lake Eufaula. It was a nice, relaxing time with the kids (and Penny of course). It's about 2 hours away, and Penny was the perfect passenger!

Once we arrived we took the golf cart out in search of the "beachy" area by the house... after off-roading it a bit, we found it.
Laynie and I hung out Saturday at the "beach" while the boys were at Blake's last baseball tournament.

Yip.... in a small lake town you will find old men at the Dollar General with an arm cast made of DUCK TAPE! Not even kidding!
The kids enjoying a ride on the golf cart.
Mmmmmm, some of the best french toast I have ever had!

Spent time just sitting on the dock.
We really enjoyed the weekend and were grateful to my boss for opening up his house to us! It was good to get away from everything and not think about anything!!

I took more pictures with my camera, these were just from my phone....so I'll post those another time.

:)

Dossier : part duex

Ok, so this is the second time around with overnighting a dossier off...but still as exciting as the first time!!!!!

I finished up everything that I can now (other documents that have to be included are more "child specific" so they will come later) for our Congo dossier, so I am sending it via Fed Ex today!!!

It feels so good to have this done and to be able to write this check to accompany it. I am not going to freak out that that's pretty much it for our savings account now. Nope. Not going to FREAK OUT! FREAKKKKK OUUUUTTT!

whoops...i freaked out a little.

Ok, i'm good.

So now we just wait for our updated CIS approval letter to come back. Once that's submitted to One World, we just continue to wait to receive our referral.

I wont lie, I wish there was a chance that my phone could ring at any moment, but that's not going to happen.
Thank goodness we are keeping busy this summer! Keeps my mind off of things! sort of.

This weekend we are headed to my bosses lake house. Blake has another baseball tournament and it's in a city that's close to the lake, so we will be chill'in at the lake between games..yay!!

My Mom and little brother (who is home from Iraq..woot.woot.) will be here on Sunday.

lots to do and so happy about it. Keeps my mind occupied!

Oh and not to outdo myself as a surgery addict...but I have a hernia! One that can't be ignored and needs to be repaired. Not sure exactly when...but I don't blame anyone for thinking I'm addicted to the general anesthesia or something. HA (of course I'm totally kidding).
This will be 3 surgeries in 1 year and 2 months.
*sigh*

Weekend In Pictures

Another full weekend at the Ellis house!

Penny got her hair cut.....
And smuggled some socks (she's CRAZY about socks) into my bed....

Blake had another baseball tournament in Stillwater.... It was SUPER HOT!!

Made a birthday gift for our sweet neighbor/friend Grace...

And the rest of the time was filled with laundry, cleaning, sewing...and oh, yea..sleeping.

My Mom and "little" brother are coming up this weekend to see my Grandma, who was just recently transported to a nursing home/care center. They say she will never talk again. Makes my heart sad because she LOVED to talk! ;)
So another busy weekend ahead.

On the adoption front:
We are just waiting for our updated i600a approval letter to come back. I have everything else that I can possibly have ready for our dossier...the rest will come when we receive our referral(s).
So for now, it's more of the waiting game. We were told 6-9 months.

Amazing!

Patience

"...knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." James 1:3

Lord knows I need this today!

WAIT LIST, take two!!!!!

We are filled with joy to announce that as of yesterday, 6-6-11, we are on the Democratic Republic of Congo WAIT LIST!

We know we are still in for a long wait, but we are ok with that. We've always been ok with that (as ok as you can be to wait to unite with your child).
We feel so blessed to be on this new path.

We ask for prayers and support as we work hard to raise the $6500 we need to submit our Dossier to the Congo. We are SO excited to see how God will work in our lives over the next year!

Today I am overnighting the new/updated I600a to the USCIS and we will then wait for their revised approval. I am working on getting things in order for the new Congo dossier.

As for our money raising efforts.... I am still working HARD on my Etsy store. It makes me feel good to be able to raise money and create cute things for people at the same time!!
I have added some new fabrics and I look forward to being able to create new things for my store too!!! So if you get a minute, check out my Etsy store!

Help bring their baby girl home!

This sweet girl is a waiting child in the Congo. Our friends, Brian and Lindsay, know that this is their daughter, but they need to send $7,500 along with their dossier. And right now, they don't have the money to send with their paperwork.

They heard God's call to adopt and they have taken action! We first met Brian and Lindsay when we were in the same Ethiopia program with Gladney. We were two families with the same heart for adoption, for Africa and for the orphan. We were excited to hear about their change to the Congo and they have played a huge roll in our decision to do the very same thing!

They need our help to bring their sweet girl home! Every little bit helps! You can donate here!

The quicker they can send in their paperwork, the quicker they can bring their daughter home!

Memorial Weekend

I think I have started this post about 8million times.... and there isn't a good intro, so i'm just going to start.

For a while Clint and I have been feeling a little uneasy about the way things are going with the Ethiopia program (not Gladney, but the program as a whole)...and it's been more me than Clint. Each month we have a conference call with Gladney and learn the most updated wait times and travel times, etc... and get the low-down on how the ET program is going.
Most months have just been the same. They have left me wondering what's next. If the wait will start to decrease or if the government will start to process cases at a faster rate as they were when we first started this process.... all questions, no answers.

This past Thursday we had another conference call. On this call we learned that the average wait time for a referral of an infant is 13.5 months. It was also told to us that the wait for a court date AFTER you receive your referral is about 4-6 months (4-5 weeks is what it was when we started).

It was the beginning of a lot of praying, talking, weighing out the facts, the "what-if's", etc....
All weekend we did this.

We decided that looking into other programs was the direction we needed to go.

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to talk to a very nice lady with One World Adoption Services out of Georgia.
We learned about their DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) program and what it's all about.

I was shocked after listening to her talk about the poverty level in the Congo and then after doing my own research, it was clear that the NEED for families for these children is great (just as it is in all of Africa).

So.........

Our family has made the decision to switch from Ethiopia to the DRC!

We are really excited, overwhelmed, giddy, nervous...etc...
but we know that God has a plan for everything we do. We are ALL God's children...and when we were called to adopt, God did not put boundaries on that. There were no restrictions.
So this is where we are being led.

We are still "requesting" a baby girl and are open for more than one child. Interesting thing about the DRC is that you can adopt two children and they dont have to be siblings.
So we'll see what God has in store for our family!

We are overjoyed right now.

I sure hope that all my 23 readers stay with us through this journey!!!!

Love,
Kathleen