How do you choose?

I haven't had an update in a while on the adoption process. Sorry about that.

This past Tuesday we had our fourth and final visit with the adoption specialist. That means that she can now work on completing her home study report. We should have that in 3 weeks or so. Once that is complete we can move forward with the Immigration paperwork. It also allows us to apply for grants/loans and some of the financial aid that might be out there for us. Getting the home study complete is also a milestone and passing milestones provides the feeling of progress.

Our next set of tasks are compiling all of the dossier paperwork. This is the paperwork that goes to Haiti and starts the formal process there. This is were it gets fun. We get to go back to the doctor. We get to see a licensed shrink so he/she can report that we are not insane. We get to gather formal birth and marriage certificates. We get to talk to our bank. And we also get to gather a bunch of photos. Sounds like we will be on the grid in both the US and in Haiti now.

The other neat part of all of this is some of the documents need to be notarized, some need to certified by the state of Indiana and other have to be translated into French. Yeah, there is a little sarcasm in those last comments. While I am frustrated by some of the process, I know deep down that this is what God wants for us and something that needs to happen. Keep the eye on the prize right?

To the title of this post. When we meet with the agency on Tuesday, they informed us that they were working with a second creche (orphanage) in Haiti. On the surface this sounds great right? Two orphanages, more options for potential children to be matched with.

Well, we had to pick one of the two orphanages to work with. For some reason, this weighed heavy on my heart. I had the feeling that we would choose incorrectly. We'd pick the wrong orphanage and the child that was supposed to be with us would reside in the other orphanage.

We found out today that we DON'T have to choose after all. The new orphanage let the adoption agency that they are not interested in working with us because of our biological kids. Because we have Katie and Eli, there is an extra step that our application/process needs to go through with the Haitian government.

I am relived that we don't have to pick an orphanage. At the same time, I need to be prepared to have my big boy pants on because I am sure this won't be the last tough decision we will need to make.

June Garden Update

The garden is really coming along nicely. Tons and tons of lettuce. The leaf lettuce has come in and is a nice contrast to the volume of Romaine that we have. I recently added jalapeno peppers to go along with the green bell and cascabel. I also added a roma tomato plant. The trellis is new since the last post and as you can see the snap peas have grown up nicely.

Peas, cucumbers, onions, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower.

Leah (my sister) and I were talking recently and she reminded me of being able to pick peas fresh from Grandpa Manbeck's garden and eat them on the spot. Eli and I sample one of the peas last night and with the help of that conversation, the flavors and experience brought back a rush of memories.

We've been able to have an onion and broccoli as well. There was also one lone grape tomato that Eli said was yummy. All delicious. Can't wait for the carrots to be ready to harvest and the cucumbers to start climbing the trellis.

Beans, peppers, tomatoes and herbs.