2nd & 3rd Homestudy Visits are DONE!

Our Family Picture

Hello all! If you've been checking in, so sorry it's been a while since I've posted. There's been lots of things to do in August. I think I was trying to get everything in before school started (which is just 2 days from now, wow). One of the things we were busy with was getting family pictures taken, along with individuals of the kids. I don't have them all yet, but here's one. They turned out really great! Thanks, Vanessa, for doing such a great job!

The news with our adoption process is we've completed 3 out of 4 of our homestudy visits! Yeah! That happened this past weekend. Even though they're called "homestudy" visits, they don't all have to be in our home. Our social worker is from Mason City, Iowa, so we went there and had one visit on Friday afternoon and one on Saturday morning at her office. They went very well. They had a kids' room with toys so our kids were pretty well occupied. And Leah just asked us lots of questions. Some were out of the blue questions, like: "If you could change one thing about your spouse what would it be?"...or..."Describe your personality." And some were easy questions like: "How old are each of your kids"...or..."What school district do you live in?"

Leah is coming our way again on August 28, and we'll have our last homestudy visit then. I have some paperwork to come up with by then, like proof that our dogs have all their shots, and I need to fill out their version of a financial statement, and get copies of birth certificates, and some other things. I can't believe the end of August is here.

We took our boat to Mason City because it's by Clear Lake. But...Saturday had a high of 70, breezy and the sun poked in and out so we never went on the lake. We even wore jackets in the morning. But we had a really great day anyway. They had a food carnival going on in the town of Clear Lake (close to Mason City and where our hotel was) and so we had fun there for a while. We also walked around downtown...very cozy downtown with cute shops...and we walked by the lake. Saturday was a really relaxing day. Oh, and of course Friday night we had to go swimming in the hotel pool! What fun would a hotel be if the kids didn't go swimming? Our girls are turning into fish. Shianne swims great, she even has a mermaid swim. I could hardly believe it but Sierra is starting to swim where she can't touch as well. Last year she wouldn't let go of the side even where she could touch.

We didn't have as much of a relaxing evening Saturday night. The drive takes about 4 hours with 3 kids (I have to go potty, mom!) and then we blew a tire out on the boat. We had a spare...but it turned out to be flat as well. Brandy had just checked the spare a week or two ago and it was fine. But it wasn't fine Saturday. Shucks. So after looking for someone to help us find a new tire or fix that one with no luck (8 in the evening) we finally left the boat at a hog farm. Brandy will probably go get it tomorrow. He got a new tire today. We got home later than anticipated, but it was still a good weekend.

Last weekend we received some disappointing news by mail. China is taking longer than they used to with referrals of children. It will probably be around Christmas 2007 before Jaden comes home. I was pretty discouraged, but Brandy reminded me to hand it over to God. Everything works in His time. God has the time frame figured out for a reason.

We continue to ask for your prayers! Especially prayers for Jaden. Email me and let me know how we can pray for you!