The Young Family Farm »

One thing at a time…now that we’re done with our homestudy paperwork, we just have our physicals and our parent education to knock out…and well some educating before we can say Adios to our homestudy. SO…we’re officially being educated—and this should make for lots of interesting time together (have you ever had to sit in a room and be serious with Richard or I?! Or better yet, take an online course with both of us in the room trying to pay attention and listen…I’m worried about failing here!) So…we have to complete these online courses before our home study can be approved…and we need our home study approved so we can get homeland security approval…and we need homeland security approval to complete our dossier…just one of the many things that will make up our dossier. So…off to school we go…here’s a list of our online courses we have to complete—um…asap, be tested on (no cheating Richard!) and receive credits for…

Adoption Education, LLC Training Courses
– Attachment and Bonding
– Behavioral and Mental Disorders
– Culture and Identity
– Effects of Institutionalization
– Effects of Stress in Early Life
– Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
– Malnutrition
– Prenatal Exposure to Drugs and Maternal Smoking
– Sensory Integration Disorder
– Special Regional Considerations
– Travel and Transition
– Waiting Parents and Lifebooks
– Eyes Wide Open Completed Workbook and CD

Got that?! Any one have Cliffnotes I can borrow;). OK–Richard and I didn’t go to college together so this should be fun! My sister reminded me today that I need to see everything as an opportunity rather than another thing to get done or do. This is all for an absolutely BEAUTIFUL end result!!! And important to do too! OK…now finding time to get all the courses in;).

And speaking of end results…if you haven’t heard the ring tone I’ve assigned to AGCI in my cell phone you have to totally check it out in my previous post and boogie with us:). Parker and Laney do a dance that I am sure the African community would love! Actually…if you ever saw Can’t Buy Me Love and remember the African Anteater Ritual Dance…their version of dancing to my cell phone is pretty close…I’ll have to video that one and put it on my blog for sure!

1. 4 photography sessions on Tuesday (EEK! 4?! Yes, 4. But Andrea, I thought you only shot one a day. Why yes, you are right. But with my crazy paper work chase balanced with kids being sick, doctors visits. little sleep and reschedules due to a week and a half of rain…I overbooked myself for Tuesday. It has happened before—once. But that made 2 in a day–not 4. Forgot to write one down and already had 3…and now I have 4 sessions on Tuesday…the *ONLY* day I work of the week…so it should be a busy one. Have a EVER shot 4 full 1 hour sessions in a day? Nope! Do I think I can handle it? Do I have have to answer that question? Ummm–email me on Tuesday night and see if I still have a pulse. EEK!

*UPDATE:) Ahh…my new favorite client and new VBFF just moved to Thursday! YAY! Ok…now only 3 on Tuesday so I can breathe and will do hers on Thursday while the older 2 are in preschool and grab a sitter for a couple of hours for Frankie baby. This at least helps me breath!

2. Adoption Physicals on Wednesday! Lots of tests…and you all *KNOW* how I feel about needles! But this will ALL be worth it in the end! AND Laney has her monthly dermatologist appointment Wednesday afternoon too. Ahhh…a day of doctors!!! Praise the Lord though that she doesn’t have MSRA like they thought before and we’re just going for checkups!!!

3. OCTOBER! My favorite month of the YEAR! I always wanted an October baby just for October birthday parties! Hmmm…who knows–maybe baby #4 will have an October birthday?? Or maybe October will be the month we celebrate a “Gotcha Day” instead?? Regardless, October is my FAVORITE month of the year and it starts THIS Thursday! Yippee! (Now…gotta get my calendar out to start planning our pumpkin patch trip, carving day, and all that Fall fun!)

*Also on Thursday my package w/ our check and notarized material arrives to AGCI (our agency)…and we start on our dossier (final paperwork collection before we get put on the wait list!). How fitting…the first day of my favorite month we get another step closer to our baby! AND on Thursday…my rocking 17 Bible study girls come over at 7:30! LOVE OUR GROUP!!! They are the COOLEST girls and with the most PRECIOUS hearts…I feel SO blessed to have each of them as friends and accountability in my life!!! (YAY…now I really can’t wait for Thursday!)

5.  And FINALLY…FRIDAY—we take off for an adoption conference in Franklin, Tennessee with our entire crew! I’m the photographer for the conference and we’re so excited to be a part of it! http://www.togetherforadoption.org/ It is going to be AMAZING to be among so many other families who have a heart for the orphans of the world and who have taken the plunge to grow their family through adoption. We are attending these breakout sessions at the conference:

-Implementing a Balanced Orphan Care and Adoption Ministry in Your Church
-Transracial Adoption and the Multi-Ethnic Family of God
-A Wholistic Church Campaign for the Fatherless
-Wholistic Care for Orphans

We’ll be staying with Richard’s aunt and uncle in Columbia, TN and scooting back and forth to the conference with Mr.Frank in tow. He’s not on bottles just yet—so he still has to go where I go…can’t believe he’ll be 11 months this Thursday too! Parker and Laney are going to get to stay behind in Columbia and Richard’s aunt and uncle are both so excited to have them for the weekend while Rich and I (& Frank) go to this conference to learn how we can better impact the orphans of the world.

OK…so that’s it for this week;). One day at a time in the Young household! I doubt I’ll be blogging this week…so if you don’t hear from me—you know why! I’m sure I’ll have a funny story after Richard and I get our physicals on Wednesday…and did I already say that this is the LAST thing left to do for our HOME STUDY!!! YAY! One step down…now the dossier to go!

Gotta love paying UPS $30 to overnight a package to Vital Records…$30 to overnight that sucker last week and then guess what I found in my mailbox yesterday? A return from Vital Records saying I forgot to include a copy of Richard’s driver liceanse to prove it was him asking for a certified copy of his birth certificate. Well, I’ll be! I ordered mine from Kentucky ONLINE and it was here in a few days (granted I paid $40 to have it expedited). But did Kentucky ask for anything? Nope. Scarey? Maybe. But I’ve heard GA Vital Records can be a mess to deal with, so I guess I should just be glad they let me know so quickly (a week later). Now…take TWO for our attempt to get certified birth certificates for our home study and dossier…our paper chase continues!

Each hurdle, I feel closer to our baby—and each set back I am reminded that God is PERFECT and His plan for us is true to scripture (Romans 12) good, pleasing and perfect. He is working all things to the good (Romans 8:28) of those who love Him—who have been called according to His purpose. So, while the paper chase and hoop jumping of adoption may some times be aggrevating…it is also joyful as I remember that this is God’s way of carefully and perfectly putting us in line at the PERFECT time to line up perfectly with the child He has chosen to be in our family. Ahhh…just the labor pains of adoption I guess. But part of the beautiful miracle too! Yet, I’ll keep ticking and jumping through the hoops and not giving up for our precious one!

So much for the $30 overnight to Vital Records. Looking back I know God just shakes His head and laughs at me every time I tell my new VBFF at the UPS store to RUSH ship…overnight…graffiti the package so they open it quicker! Yet Hebrews 12:1 tells us to throw off everything that hinders us and RUN THE RACE that God has set before us with PERSERVERANCE! SO…off to make copies of driver’s liceanses, graffiti another envelope and yes—pay for the package to be overnighted AGAIN! I’m comin’ sweet baby! You are worth EVERY hoop we’re jumping through! How the Lord must love you…and how we love you already…to give us the passion and strength to run this race until we hold you in our arms!!!