It's the Final Countdown...

     Do you hear the music?! It's the final countdown, people! We're looking at finishing off the last 10 items (or LESS) on our HUGE checklist of 40-some items. AHHH! Eric stayed up until 1:30AM to finish his questionnaire. I assure you that answering the type of questions he had to answer that late at night is NO easy feat. It requires a lot of critical thinking...and after you've already put in a full day of work...the struggle was REAL! Of course, I supported him by staying up too. My job was a little easier as I chose to binge watch Chopped episodes on Hulu. As a result, Eric supported me by letting me stay in bed until 11AM because I didn't get any sleep last night. Don't judge. The struggle was REAL at 4:30AM when I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

     I've been slightly frantic trying to gather our final paperwork so we can send off our LOVELY package (stuffed to the GILLS) to our agency. You can bet your bottom dollar that our lovely package will be mailed priority WITH insurance or whatever other coverage I need to get to make 100% sure it gets to who it needs to get to! Alas, the end seems near. Our case worker even emailed me and said we only have a few more items to check off. Yes, I already knew this, but it was good for my soul to hear that from her since this has been the never-ending story. This comment also piggy-backed off a slew of emails from our case worker informing me (in a very nice way) that some of the items I had already uploaded to our portal were not the correct items. It was a little discouraging since these were items I had already "checked" off our list. Luckily, they were all easily remedied and I got to check them back off our list.

     Our last final BIG items are notarizing a gazillion papers (which should be an easy task thanks to a family friend), getting our physicals (Eric's & Lindsay's) completed by the doctors, setting up our passport appointments with the post office, and getting the kiddos' physicals done. I mustered up the energy to take the kiddos to the doctor's office yesterday so we could drop off the paperwork and apparently, the entire office left at noon. To say I was frustrated is an understatement. UGH. After standing in the office window for a few minutes, a sweet lady behind me informed me that she thought the office was gone for the day. I asked the neighboring office secretary if this was true for every Friday and she said no...but it was true for today. Wonderful. We'll try another day!

     Financially, we've continued to be blessed by our MudLove fundraiser. Just when we go several weeks without selling a bracelet, we have a big rush of people who want to buy one or two or more! In the last two weeks, we've sold close to 20 more bracelets! We've taken a break on starting any more fundraising efforts. I've got one more idea that I'd like to start around Christmas time. Once we complete our home study, we can look into some grants or scholarships as a way to help offset our adoption costs. Our biggest upcoming costs will be our home study ($3,000-$7,000) and our program fee once we match with our son or daughter ($19,500). We're continuing to pray over these amounts and how these financial needs will be met. Thank you for your prayers for our family. We are so appreciative! Have a great weekend, friends!