We have new pictures!!!!

Here is Madison - she is currently 9 lbs and 1 oz.

The adoption is moving along as planned.

We had our final face-to-face visit for our home study this afternoon. Everything seems to be going well, we have two things we have to mail to them this week and our home study will be considered complete on the agency's end. Then they will send it in to immigration for their approval. We went last Friday to the immigration office in Charleston to have our fingerprinting done, that went really smooth. There is nothing like driving for 2 hours to spend 20 minutes in the office with only about 5 actually involving the finger printing. But we can now officially check that off of our list.
Last week at our home study visit we asked about an update on Madison. (Yes we know everyone is waiting for more pictures) They told us that the updates are usually sent every 6 weeks so we have a few more weeks to wait. The pictures we have (of her in the pink outfit) were sent on April17. It is hard to believe that we have only been actively working on the adoption since April 20 and we have already completed the pre-registration, registration, I600-A, fingerprinting, and basically the home study. God has really blessed us through this process so far and all we can do is trust that he will continue to bless us the rest of the way.
It is now time to work on the Dossier. We have heard that it can be really stressful trying to get the dossier completed but we are trusting that just like the other paperwork we will be able to get it completed without any major road blocks.
We are continuing to work on raising the money for the rest of the adoption but again, we trust that God will continue to provide for us just as he already has.

One Step Closer!

After spending all weekend preparing the house to be spotless and as perfect as we could get it, we had our first homestudy visit this morning. Jen, the social worker, was so great. She came in and immediately made Wayne and myself feel calm. We talked about several things in a conversation like format instead of us being drilled with questions which helped a lot. She was able to answer several questions for us and was pleased to hear that we are already working on the necessary paperwork for the homestudy. We have already scheduled our next two visits and she plans to have the homestudy typed up and completed by May 21. That is a lot faster than we ever thought possible. Missy, the international adoption coordinator, already has us working on getting some of the paperwork for the dossier completed so when the homestudy is completed we are in the home stretch as far as paperwork is concerned. I can tell that by the time we are finished we are going to wish we had a notary public in our family that lives close by.

Missy told us that the hardest part of the adoption would be once we got a referral and waiting until we could go get our child. I will tell you that we agree with her. Wayne and I look at Madison's picture and can't wait for more updates. We also know she is growing and learning new things each day that we are missing. I just keep reminding myself that when the time comes for us to bring her home we will not forget it. I joke about how I am lucky to be "expecting" and not having to deal with morning sickness, doctor's appointments, and the pain of childbirth. But then again my "expecting" is hard because I know she is already born and just waiting to meet her mom and dad and to have a home. We keep telling ourselves that when the time is right God will send us to Guatemala to get her. We also remind ourselves that our whole process is already in fast forward so we should just sit back and be patient.