A special something in the mail today!

Today a special something came in the mail.....


A video taken of both the girls we are looking at adopting!!  It was amazing!  Each girl (Manasa- 1; Ramya- 4) had a separate video to give us a small 'glimpse' of where they are socially/developmentally. 

When I first put the CD in my computer I could not get it to work and I was SO sad!  Next I tried it in the home computer and it worked... YES!  David heard me watching it and asked what it was.  I told him it was a video of the girls.  I hadn't expected to watch it alone, I was just trying to see if I could get the thing to work, but then I could not get my eyes off it :).  David hollered at me from the other room, "Isn't that something we can do as a family?!?!?"  Oooops, yes, I suppose it is something we could, and should, watch as a family.  He brought the kiddos in and they both sat on my lap.  Madi lost interest quickly, but Conner insisted on watching the videos multiple times.  He asked us many, many questions about the girls, and got very excited when they would do something, like hold a rattle, or put a puzzle piece where it went.  I explained to him that we are only going to be taking one girl home with us.  He informed me it would be Ramya.  He always tells me it will be Ramya.  He even told me it would be Ramya after I told him she already found a family and we were looking to adopt Manasa.  I'd think this kid is just insanely insightful, but his next sentence was, "Well, we'll just bring home Ramya on Friday and Manasa on Sunday."   Maybe not....

We still have no idea if one of these girls will be ours, but it was amazing to get to see them, even if it was only for a few minutes.  It was reassuring and made our hearts melt, that is for sure!  Please continue to keep us, as well as each of the girls, in your prayers.  What a journey this has been so far, and it has barely begun!

A Good Playground Lead

I *may* have found a great playground for us!  It would be coming from Cedarworks.  Though it is made of wood, they guarantee no rot or splinters for 10 years, and say the set should last at least 15 to 20, even in Phoenix, Arizona.  It would be made of Northern White Cedar, which they say is both long lasting and splinter-free without chemical treatments.  I am working with a guy there to see what they think would work best for Madi and our space, and so far, we are thinking something like this:

It's a bit more than I was invisioning, however, it would have ramps already and would not need a shade overhead, so it really wouldn't be more expensive than any other set we had to add a shade to or customize.  You can't see it on this photo, however, it would have a steering wheel and periscope on each level, as well as a little play telephone.  The tallest structure also has a rock climbing wall leading up to it.  I've forwarded the sketch to Madi's physical therapist and I'm anxious to see what she thinks.  I think it would work out really well!!

A adoption funding and garage sale update

Just in case you missed it, this was my update last weekend, after our first weekend of garage sales...

22,000 adoption fees to Wacap/Orphanage
-100.00 donation
- 1,000 garage sale
-8,000 tax return from '10 taxes
= $12,900 to go!

We will also get a tax refund most likely (This year the adoption credit was $13,000, and I know it will be extended to next year.  Here's to hoping it will be extended the year after as well :)) after the adoption is finalized.  That should help us pay the travel fees off of our credit card when the time comes, so that will be awesome and should take care of the travel.  We will also need a private lawyer, but we'll get there eventually!  Ok, so on to my update...

12,900 to go
-480 made at this week's sale
- 300 for an item I sold on e-bay (I have more items to list on craigslist and e-bay as well :))
= $12,120 to go

We are getting there!  We are excited and in awe watching everything fall in to place.  God is good!

Feeling a little better

We have three of our four home studies finished.  At the last visit, she got to see Madi sick and upset in my arms, but hey, that's life!  I suppose the plus side is that she saw my concern for Madi not feeling well and she saw me working hard to comfort her and help her feel better.  We will not be able to have another visit this weekend, due to Easter, nor next, due to her going on vacation, so we will get our final home study the week after and will probably be traveling to Tucson to meet our social worker there, since she lives there and does not have many families to visit down in Phoenix right now.  She said she will work on our paperwork so that she basically just has to finish up loose ends and send it off when we get our final visit completed.  I cannot wait, it seems like such a big step!

I called Dr. Zuniga's office about the medical records for Manasa and Ramya that I had sent him.  Manasa (the younger child) did not have much urology information on file, so there was not much to read over.  Ramya, however, had quite a bit of information as she had a VCUG some time in the past.  He said that based on what he read, he is not overly concerned about, nor all alarmed with, her kidneys or kidney function.   This was a HUGE relief for us.  While we understand that her medical reports are not kept up to date and she is not followed as closely as she should be, we were relieved to hear that he did not think any drastic measures would need to be taken when/if we get her home.  Conner has decided that we will be taking both girls home, however, that is not the case.  Even if we wanted to, India does not allow multiple children to be adopted at once. 

We are still praying that God makes it very clear which child we are meant to adopt, and we would greatly appreciate your prayers for this as well. 

Some pretty cool shoes

I just wanted to share the most amazing pair of shoes we found for over Madi's HKFOs.  They are called Skidders, and Madi gets the Mary Jane style.  They are stretchy like sock material, but have a really awesome non-skid bottom.  They are perfect for walking because they don't weight her down, but also give her plenty of traction so she does not slip. They are very stretchy so they go over her HKFO's easily.  The only draw back is they tend to 'stick' a bit on carpet.  Conner has a pair as well, but his are closed at the top (like a sock), not open.  They would also work well, but would make the feet pretty warm, so they would be better in the winter.  I joined their facebook fan page today and found a 20% off code if anyone can use it.  This is copied from their facebook page:

Shop at www.Skidders.com - use facebook discount code SKID20 and receive 20% off your order!


Hope that helps someone out there :).  Here's a picture of Madi wearing a family of dolls in her HKFO's and using her skidders (which are a tad big.... I always forget how tiny her feet are!!):
 

A garage sale/ money update :)

Here's a little update on our garage sale and overall adoption funds :).  Granted, this price does not include getting 4 of us to and 5 of us home from India or private lawyer fees, or what we paid for our classes or to Oasis for our homestudy, but it's the biggest bulk of it.


First off....

We made another $280 today, so our grand total from our garage sale this weekend was just over $1,000!!  WOW!!!!  I am so in awe!

22,000 adoption fees to Wacap/Orphanage
-100.00 donation
- 1,000 garage sale
-8,000 tax return from '10 taxes
= $12,900 to go!

I know that seems like a lot,  plus we'll probably need about that again for travel and lawyer fees, but, considering our homestudies aren't done yet, we have only had one fundraiser, and we're still quite a way out from being able to bring our daughter home, I think it is AMAZING!  God has really blessed our venture thus far, and I know he will continue to.  Thank you for all of your garage sale donations and, as always, your prayers!!

The results of our first garage sale...

We'll go at it again tomorrow, then again next weekend.  After that everything will get packed away until October.  We're using the money towards our adoption, so I'm very, VERY, excited to say....


Today we earned.....

$800!!!


GOD IS GOOD!