Summer Catch Up

Well, it's been a while. Our adoption is finally moving more quickly so I am going to try and keep the blog up-to-date so you guys can follow our journey and pray for us and our little one across the globe. We are so, so excited to see what God has planned for our family!

Eden is completely healed and doing wonderfully after her cleft surgery back in the spring. We had a good summer with lots of time at the pool, play dates with friends, and gymnastics. Eden is now on the Level 2 competitive team, so she goes 2 days a week for 2 hours each time. Therefore, we have stopped ballet so that we don't overload with activities at the ripe ole age of 5! Since moving up to team, I'm seeing a lot of this around the house:

We finished up our first year of home schooling in June and all in all it was a good year. We definitely learned a lot and I have much more confidence this year! We started our 1st grade year on August 1st. One thing I learned last year is that neither one of us was worth a toot after the weather got pretty outside...so we are hoping to plug through and be done in early May. Technically Eden is K-5 age, but she did so well with our Kindergarten curriculum last year we went ahead and started 1st grade. I will do a separate post soon on our school day...I always love seeing and hearing what other home school moms/kids do!

One sad event we are going through is the loss of this sweet girlie...

We put our sweet Maggie to sleep 2 weeks ago...and life is not the same without her. Even though I know she is "just a dog," to us she was part of our family. Maggie has been with me longer than both Gene and Eden. She was 12 1/2 and her arthritis was beginning to cause her to suffer, and I couldn't stand that. She was truly the best dog in the world...such a companion with the sweetest, most gentle spirit about her. She was the first one that Eden hugged and kissed of her own will. When Eden was scared at night when she was younger she would often say, "Can Maggie sleep in here?" And Maggie would faithfully sleep right beside her bed. We will miss her!

Miss Eden is growing up too fast! This picture pretty much sums up her personality these days:

To say she's a mess is an understatement! She is funny, sweet, smart, loving, and sassy, just to name a few. I know she is going to be a great big sister. We have started a weekly allowance with her for daily chores. She is learning to be diligent in helping and is growing in responsibility. More and more lately I see her chores getting done without having to remind her. She makes her daddy and I so proud!

We are a couple of weeks away from being completely done with our home study for the adoption. Medical exams are done, shot records collected, marriage and birth certificates turned in, educational reading done, etc., etc., etc. We will have one final meeting with our social worker and then will be ready to begin working on the Citizen and Immigration paperwork for our dossier.

Can't wait to see what the upcoming months hold for us. Whatever happens, we know that the Lord is faithful, and He is the Father to the fatherless. Love you all!