Updates and Date 10

We have a lot going on over the next few weeks and am fighting a "man cold". I would imagine most of you know what the man cold is because the funny video has been floating around for a while now but just incase someone has not had the joy of seeing it I will post it soon.

So here's what's going on in our family:

No car debt! I just finished making the last payment on our van so we now have two cars and no payments. Love it! It feels pretty great to be done with it.

Jim and I have been trying so many variations on a trip to Haiti. Should he go since he has not met them yet or should I go again? Is it at all possible for us finally go together? (No) Should we hold off and see if I can go with Ange when she picks up her girls or hold out in hopes that our kids will come out any day now and we can go together to bring them home? We are hesitant to put off the trip thinking that any day now we will get the news we've been waiting for just to be disappointed with a long wait. Then again we are hesitant to go as it really is possible that we could get the news soon. Then you throw in what to do about the childcare of our boys and the crazy schedules we both have and.... whew! The plans have changed again and again and we are still unsure of what we will do.

Stephanie, Jude, and Lovenie are still in MOI (as far as we know). The girls files have been there for over 3 months and Jude's has been there for a little over 2 months. It seems the average recent wait times for this stage is 3-4 months. Some people have been signed out as quickly as 2 months or less and others have been stuck in this step for 6 months or more. So, again... we just have no idea what the wait will be but it does seem we are very close based on the average numbers. Once they are out of MOI we "should" be traveling quickly afterwards because everything else (birthparent interviews and I-600's) are done. We don't really mind having to wait. It's more a wishing we knew how long the wait would be so we could make plans based on actual information. ;)

Yesterday was the official first day of the new church we've been attending. I think we are more excited about this church then any we've attended in the past. We've been involved with them for several months now but the services started out being held once a month building up to the official start date and now we get to go EVERY week again. For the first official service the place was packed, literally! They ran out of chairs and had to start taking any they could find from the children's ministry and then even after that many people stood along the walls crammed in together. What a great start!

Jim has more then usual going on in the near future also. He's been swamped with work but most weeks he continues to still be able to work four long days instead of five. He's got a big audit coming up soon at work so that should keep him busier then usual. Remember a while back when I shared that he had an appointment with our dear government that ended up being an appointment to stand in line to make an appointment? Well that appointment is on the 22nd and we think there is a good chance it will not lead to another line to schedule another appointment.

My Driver's License- If it can be difficult it will.... It's true that DMV closed my file because it took so long for Kaiser to get the paperwork turned in so I had to wait over a month for them to re-open and review it once the paperwork did get turned in. Then I received a letter to appear for a hearing on Feb. 28th (more then another month away from when I got the letter). I have the slightest bit of hope that this will be the end of the driveless road since they did not request any more information from me in this letter, but that could change at my hearing. If that goes smooth I may be able to schedule a behind the wheel test and could be driving again soon. Consider yourselves warned. ;)

Dates- Well... here it is... the last of our 10 dates for 10 years. We have been trying to figure out how to make the last one really special and memorable. I think we have finally come up with just the right plan! We are hoping to be able to have this date tomorrow as the weather is supposed to be just gorgeous! This time I'm going to just say what we are up to... A picnic. A picnic? Is that our idea of going out big? Yes, because it is not your average picnic. There is a twist... Can any of my pro guessers figure out what the twist may be?