You went on a vacation while fundraising for adoption?

It's definitely been a very busy couple of months! I can't believe that we're already into November. Wow. In just a few months my family and I will have been official residents of Northwest Arkansas for one year. That's bananas!

Well, let's see. Where should I start? Our dossier was fully finished with translations and on the desk of the adoption authorities in Latin America on October 2nd. That means they have had our life-in-a-folder for over one month. We are hoping hoping hoping that we get word back from them in December. We just made our next to last agency payment of $3,231.25 this week. Only one left to go! As far as adoption goes, we are in the waiting game. We are also still waiting to hear back on two more grants, one of which we should have heard from well before now, so I'm not certain that's going to happen. The other grant organization we should hear back from by the end of December and it has the potential to be pretty large and could potentially wipe out our remaining estimated needed funds.

Several months ago I was given a wonderful opportunity to visit a good friend of mine and her spouse down in South Florida and I was able to do that recently. Robby really wanted me to get away with a couple of friends (my friend Nicole came along with me)- not concentrating on the adoption for a while and taking a break from homeschooling the kids, keeping up the house, etc, and so he made a way for me to go. Being that money is being pretty strictly budgeted right now, the plane ticket had to be planned for well in advance. I was staying with my friend, so I didn't have to pay for transportation in Florida, accommodations, or much else because she and her husband are so gracious. She lives just outside of Miami, less than an hour from the Keys, and we decided to take a mini-trip down there. We ate some yummy food, swam in the ocean, spotted dolphins and sting rays, and stayed up late playing board games and laughing until we hurt. With all of the stress from the adoption process and, well, just life in general, I was and am incredibly grateful to both Robby and my mom for allowing me the opportunity to spend time with my friend after three years of not seeing her. I am also thankful that I have such a giving, thoughtful friend who allowed me to invade her space and be treated so graciously. I know that not everyone is able to do this type of thing while saving money for the adoption process, so I wanted to be open with the fact that if it wasn't for these people that love me and chose to make a way for me to get this break, I couldn't have gone myself at this stage of my life. I don't take it for granted.

Here are a few pictures from that trip:

The Miami skyline

We tried to escape from a room hidden with clues and we totally FAILED

Key West, Florida

I spotted a sting ray!

At the Miami Holocaust Memorial

As of now, we're prepping for the holidays and waiting to hear back on our dossier. I'm sure the next couple of months will be quite busy with Thanksgiving and Christmas, and then I fully expect to launch right into finishing things up with the adoption and traveling to South America to bring our daughter home.