UPDATES

There's so much to say today.  

It's the end of Spring Break and I'm not done with all of the work I set out to finish this week.  A few more assignments and a project and then I'll be done with one more grad class.  This must be done by Wednesday.  Before I get to those things, I need to get ready for the school week ahead so that will be my focus for my day today.  I'm just so tired but I keep reminding myself that it's a means to an end.  I only have about another month of grad school and I'll be done.  Shortly thereafter, our dossier should be sent off, and then the school year should be ending.  I'm longing for summer right now...especially since I didn't get much of a Spring Break!

When we went to Memphis on Friday, we weren't able to submit our papers in person.  That's what I was afraid of but at least we gave it a try.  We went ahead and shipped everything to Texas (it will get processed and sent back to Memphis...go figure) so it will be on someone's desk in the morning when they get to work.  Hopefully, we will receive a receipt this week saying they got our paperwork.   I asked the lady in Memphis how long the I-600A background check and fingerprinting process should take and she said 8 weeks from beginning to end.  Please pray that it won't take that long!  We have 4 minor things to do to finish our part of the dossier and that won't take us any time at all but waiting another 2 months on something that is out of our control is going to be really disappointing.  So far, we have worked on paperwork, etc. for about 2 1/2 months.  We were initially told it would take 3-6 months to complete so they were exactly right but I was hoping we would be closer to the three than the 6.  I think I will rest a little easier once we ever get on the waiting list.

Good news!  Six or seven families got referrals this past week!  All were boys and one girl.  Most families waited about 10 months and most of the babies ranged in age from 7 weeks to 7 months. I believe there were two older toddlers in the mix as well.  How exciting!

Even more good news!  The adoption tax credit has been extended for another year, through 2011 and they upped the amount to over $13,000 and made it refundable.  I don't fully understand all of this but I'm excited to know that this will significantly help in the finances department!  I guess I should be thankful today for Obama's new healthcare law.

I feel like a lot has been accomplished this week and although even more needs to get done within the next several hours, I'm thankful.  I'm thankful for the time off of work to get homework done, I'm thankful for a husband who works around the house even while working two jobs when all I have time to do is sit with the laptop and work in the evenings, I'm thankful for the generosity of friends and family who have been collecting their change and donating stuff for our garage sale, I'm thankful for the sweetness an innocence of a two year old's heart, and I'm thankful that we have the ability to work hard to accomplish our goals and we will soon be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor.