We made the paper.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/chandler/articles/2008/08/08/20080808cr-adoption0809.html

Are article showed up in the paper. I hope that it brings us used cell phones and inkjet cartridges. This is exciting for us because we are not only raising money for our adoption but, helping the environment.

Until another day.

Major Scare

On Friday afternoon my husband called me at 3:30 p.m. Our new kindergartner did not get off of the school bus. Oh my gosh. Where is he. I phoned the school and the secretary contacted his teacher. The teacher says yes we put him on the bus. Where is my son. I called the bus dispatch and the lady was very rude. She says I am on the phone with the school and you just need to go to the school. I dropped everything at work and ran to my car. I called my husband and he started walking the streets to see if Draysen had gotten off at another stop. I was about half way to the school and the phone rang it was the school principal. They had located Draysen - he was put on the wrong school bus. What - you have to be kidding me. Do they understand how traumatic this is for us. As soon as I pulled up to the school I saw Draysen. I jumped out of the car and gave him a huge hug. It took me several hours to calm down. The what ifs in life...

This weeks events.

It has been an eventful week. We received our fingerprinting appointment for USCIS. We go on August 13th. Now, if we had our home study in hand we would be all set.

The kids started their new school year on Monday. Our beautiful daughter started 6th grade, Draysen off to kindergarten, and Devin in pre-school. Monday morning was tearful for this mom. I always get choked up on the first day, concerts, and other events. I am so proud of them all. As Danae got on the bus to go to her first day of middle school I had to turn away. My little girl has become such a beautiful young woman. For Draysen, the teacher had us line up outside the school and that is where we said our goodbyes. Draysen was so very excited and such a big boy. Again I teared up. My little boy, he has grown so much in the last three years since his arrival to our home. Devin was the only one with no change in his surroundings.

Our newspaper article is supposed to be published on Saturday. I am anxious to see if our article will prompt people to donate their used phones and such. Just think, if we could collect 20,000 phones at around $1 a piece. There we have it $20,000 for our adoption. Yah right - only in a perfect world. I would at least like to try it for one day - the perfect world anyway.

Other than that, tomorrow is Friday. I love Friday's as this is the last day of my work week. For now anyway, until tax season rolls around and Friday's do not mean anything, except more work.

MAXED out

Can't we get a break? Money keeps going out. A few weeks ago our vehicle gave out and we had to replace the thermostat - $400 later we were up and running. Then shortly after that our air conditioner started leaking - $150 later it was fixed. Then last night we were relaxing and it kept getting hotter and hotter in our house. Keep in mind that at this time of year, where we live, it is 115 degrees outside and it only cools down to 95-100 degrees in the evening. I called the A/C repair man and he arrived at 9:30 p.m. and... $550 later it is working again. Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!! It seems like we are not going to get back on track.

Of course this increases my anxiety about the additional expenses that we are incurring with our adoption. I know deep down in my heart that this is the direction that we are being called. I am stepping out in faith but, am being turned down. I recently had a visit with our church to see if we could, in some way, collaberate to raise additional funds for our upcoming adoption. I am sad to say that I was turned down because they have other priorities. This was very devasting. What am I being told? Are we going down the wrong road?

Any supporting words that anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated. I am on the verge of crying at every turn.

Update and some Excitement

We have completed both of our home study visits. Now we wait for the completion of our home study and for the Judge to put his stamp of approval on it. Early last week I mailed our I600A to our local office. I noticed that they cashed our check so hopefully will be hearing soon about our fingerprinting appointment.

We received a call yesterday afternoon from a reporter from our local newspaper. She is coming tomorrow morning to do a piece on our adoption. This is exciting. I will post the article.

Let see what else... the kids are excited for school to start on Monday. I will have a 6th grader, Kindergartner, and Pre-K. What an exciting time. The kids and I went on Saturday to clothes shop. We were able to find a lot of good deals.

Work is going well for both Mr. NWA and myself. Tomorrow afternoon we are having a bowling afternoon or team building session. This should be a fun time and lots of laughs.

Plea For Your Help

We are asking for your help. If you feel the call to assist please read the details below. We are collecting used Cell Phones, MP3 Players, Hand Held System Consoles, Digital Cameras, and Ink Cartridges to raise funding for our adoption. Here is where your help comes in. We are hoping that if we sent the word out that "just maybe" each of you would consider distributing the attached flyer to your social ministry contact at your church. Each church would have a collection box and the word would be spread to each member. After a couple weeks of collection, we would provide each person with a pre-paid Fed-Ex delivery label for shipping. There is no cost to you or your church. All funds received will go towards the adoption of our little girl in Russia. If you need further information please e-mail us at ddhefty@yahoo.com.

Where we are

Last week we had our first home study visit. This Thursday we will have our second home study visit. We have sent in our I-600A. I had forgotten how everything is driven off of your home study. It will be nice to have this completed document in our hands. It seems that our new state is a little bit slower than our previous state. I hope that the moons align and we will have our home study sooner than later.

I have been attending more training classes this week away from my family. It seems so quiet in the evenings, I do not know how to act. Luckily my good friend from work is with me. We have so much fun together and have so much in common. We remember a lot of the things from the 80's. What a great time period:) We usually have something to laugh about. Thanks Y.

The kids will be starting school on August 4th. It is hard to beleive this time is here already. The summer has went to fast.