Our Adoption Timeline

I know I have been a total delinquent (see previous post) in blogging since 2011.  But as you read, I'm trying to get my groove back and so part of that is limiting my time on the PC after coming home from work.  But I have about an hour tonight, so I'm going to blog and then I'm going to plan out what else I'm going to tell you that's been going on that I have not had time to talk about.  So here we go...

I'm going to be adding this timeline to the sidebar eventually, but for those interested, here's our timeline so far (I added some commentary for those not familiar with adoption but who are really interested in understanding the process):

August 8, 2010: Applied to the China Program with America World Adoption Agency.  I must say, the decision to adopt came fairly quickly once Steve had made his mind up.  Choosing our agency?  Not so easy.  There are HUNDREDS of agencies out there.  And it was so overwhelming to know which one to choose.  I said before, my friend Jamie told me once upon a time, "You just know when you find the right agency".  At the time, that made sense to me, but when it was us trying to decide, it was way harder.  Or so it seemed.  You know, that could be a good idea for another post.  Writing it down... :)
August 13, 2010: Received acceptance into the China Program!  Can you believe between August 8 and the 13th, I knew we were adopting, but couldn't (wasn't going to) share with anyone?  Of course, my friends Katelyn and Rachel knew, because I HAD to talk to someone!  But not one other soul knew.  Again, my wise friend Jamie advised to wait until you were accepted into your program of choice before telling folks.  Because there are too many people with good intentions that would say, "Why are you adopting from there?" and "Are you sure that's a good idea?" if you were to saying you were "thinking about" or "considering" adopting from your chosen country.  That time period is basically the weeks between the time you find out you are pregnant and the time you actually announce the news!

August 25, 2010: 1st home study visit.  I was so giddy!  Steve and I met our social worker at Panera.  And I cried as I told the story of how we got there.  Of course I cried. 

September 1, 2010: Sandra’s home study visit.  We were required to have one individual visit with the social worker.  We met at our home church's cafe and it was very casual.  Just a good time talking about my life growing up and married life etc.  Not at all invasive feeling like you think it will be.  The paperwork that goes along with the homestudy...not THAT'S a different story!

September 8, 2010: Steve’s home study visit.  Same as above.  A week later, Steve and the social worker met in the same spot and I'm sure he answered most of the same questions.

September 17, 2010: Final home study visit!  This one was interesting because it was a home visit.  Of course, even though they tell you not to make a big deal of it, it's still nerve-wracking.  I had this vision of the social worker coming in with her clipboard and checking things off that violated the child-safety-code (??).  But it was nothing like that.  She met Jenna who was instantly her best friend and she toured the house and then asked a few questions.  Jenna was out of school that day, so there was no rush.  Again, totally non-invasive.

November 8, 2010: Beg Steve’s doctor to finalize paperwork so we can complete home study.  Holy cow.  I thought I was going to lose my mind.  Doctor's paperwork was difficult.  I ended up needing another full physical which I got before I went to South Africa (probably a good time to do that), but because I'd had LASIK which my doctor noted on the form, I had to have a letter written by the LASIK surgeon to accompany my doctor's form.  And if I thought THAT was a pain, think of all Steve's issues with diabetes and broken hips etc.  I told Steve to get in for a physical while I was gone to SA and he did.  The form was filled out and notarized and I finally got to pick it up.  Only to discover there was no accompanying letter.  I finally got the letter done (by writing it myself and sending it to them to put on their letterhead) and when I went to pick it up, it wasn't notarized (Adoption 101-everything must be notarized).  Finally, I had to resort to begging.  I basically told them that we could not travel to get our daughter without this letter.  Which is true.  There was just about 2,392 steps after that also!  Anyway, the day we got the paperwork finalized was a sweet day indeed!

November 18, 2010: Home Study COMPLETE!

November 19, 2010: USCIS I-800 application overnighted.  This is the BIG thing that all adoptive families (internationals) must do and most dread.  Mostly because it takes a blue forever to get this part of the process done and you are typically sitting around waiting on the government (immigration) to do their thing.  But it was such a relief to have this part done.  Now a different waiting begins.

November 26, 2010: Received confirmation payment to USCIS cleared.  Basically, my check cleared letting me know they got our application and it was in process.

December 24, 2010: Received USCIS Appointment cards!  This is what you wait for!  Appointments to get your fingerprints done. 

January 18, 2011: USCIS fingerprinting appointment!  Now we pray that it doesn't come a flood, tornado or more likely snow and keep us from going.  And that our fingerprints are done correctly and can be read.  With Steve being a diabetic and having to prick his fingers for the last 40+ years, I'm starting to worry about that now.

So...what's next?  Well, we are hoping it will only take a couple weeks (or less) to get the results back from the fingerprint visit (This is called a 797).  When those arrive, we have to get a notarized copy of the original and take that, along with the homestudy to be county certified (basically the county the notary is in testifies that the notary is legit).  Then the 797, the homestudy, both our birth certificates, marriage certificate, Steve's divorce certificate, Steve's doctor form and letter and both our background checks (the latter have all already been county certified) all have to go and be state certified (verifying the county clerk is legit I guess!).  Lucky for me, I work in Nashville, so those can just be run down during lunch.  It's easy...just an extra step.

After that?  I have to make 3,423 copies of everything I have ever done for this adoption and overnight them to AWAA who will help me get them to the Secretary of State AND Chinese Embassy in Washington DC for the final authorizations.  After that...

DTC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  That means "dossier to China"...all that we have worked for goes to China and then the hardest waiting of all begins...waiting to meet our Kylie.

So there you have it.  Now you know more than you ever thought possible about OUR adoption process! 

A Total Delinquent

...is what I've been since the new year started.  But one of my things to change when 2011 started was to try and find my groove again and I've really been working hard at doing only those things that are necessary.

However, I have lots to talk about and have uploaded some new pics, so I will be blogging again soon.  They are calling for lots of snow in the south, so if I'm off work, then I can guarantee that blogging will be one of the things on my to-do list!

Hang in there with me, dear readers.  There's more to come I promise and I sure hope you think the wait is worth it! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Welcome 2011! 

I hope this is the best year yet!!!

Happy New Year's Eve!

Wow...I can't believe that I haven't posted in several days.  I went back to work this week and almost every night, we've had something going on.  Despite our busy-ness, we were busy together as a family which is nice for a change.  Therefore, I opted to take a super quick bloggy break.

Something I also can't believe is that we are bidding 2010 goodbye already.  I looked back at my blogs over the past year and here's a highlight of the year for the Taylor family:

January - Date nights, snow and experiencing God healing deep wounds in my life.

February - A new nephew was born!

March - Jenna becomes a Christian and God told me in no uncertain terms I was to go to South Africa.

April - I took part in a couponing panel for a group of advertisers.

May - Jenna was baptized and of course, the Nashville floods

June - I lost my brother Danny

July - Decided we wanted to adopt and started researching agencies

August - Vacation and officially accepted into the China adoption program at AWAA

September - Left for South Africa, but immediately before that, I lost my brother David.

October - Survived re-entry from South Africa

November - iPad giveaway announced and we sent in our USCIS application

December - Received our USCIS appointment cards, drew and iPad winner and named our new daughter...KYLIE!

As you can see, it was an evenful year.  It was the 2nd year in the last 3 that I lost 2 loved ones.  The whole year Steve looked for a job and by the end of the year, he had started online classes.  But when I look back over the year, I feel like the year was just dripping with God's provision for my family.  I would love to do a post on all the ways He has blessed us over 2010, but there wouldn't be room for it all.  And if I'm being honest with myself, this year, ironically enough, I have probably spent more time being mad at God, doubting Him and just in general, flat out not talking to Him.  And yet He has continued to show up in our lives over and over again.  Isn't that the way with parents though?  Those of you with teenagers especially know...no matter how hateful they are to you and how long it is between times that they do more than grunt at you or ask you for things, you still love them unconditionally and provide for their every need.  Because that's what parents do.  That's what LOVE is.  Thank God, He is One that pursues.

Looking back, I had really only two goals for this year other than taking each day as it came (which by the end of 2009, would have been an accomplishment) and that was to participate in a 5k and blog more.  I fulfilled my 5k duty, no thanks to my laziness, but to my boss who basically pushed me into the car to the race.  As for blogging, well, I felt like I did better with that, but when I look back, I will have published 133 posts in 2010, 158 in 2009 and 161 in 2008.  Even though I felt like I did better, clearly I did NOT.  I tell ya, something happened in 2010 and I just couldn't seem to find my groove at home, work or anything that used to bring me comfort through its routine.

But enough about what I didn't do and a little about what I'm going to do in 2011.  I don't do resolutions because that seems to be jinxing myself to fail!  I just make a list of things I'd like to change in my life.  Which, I realize are really the same as resolutions, I'm just not calling them that, but this is MY blog and that's how I roll.  :)

For 2011:

1.  Get back to being friends with God.  I say it that way because I have a couple of friends that I talk to about things way more than I do God.  And they are my bestest friends.  Why should the God of the Universe and the One who has blessed me abundantly more than I could ask or imagine be any different?  Any less special to me?  I want to change that.  I'm not going to define what that will look like because it's more of a personal change, but in general, that's what I desire.

2.  Get my groove back.  I thrive on routine, organization, lists etc.  I feel like 2010 found me floundering all over the place.  I want to find the comfort in routine again.

3.  Get caught up on some of my scrapbooking projects.  I want to be more intentional about it.  Scrapbooking 2 long weekends out of the year at a retreat is no longer cutting it.  I have to get back to my once a month scrapbooking if I'm going to keep up.

4.  Read more.  In 2009 I read upwards of 40 books.  That's a stinkin' lot of reading.  But I burned out.  And pretty much ignored my family a lot.  So in 2010, I read a whopping 12 books.  Which obviously is one a month and that's not bad, but still...UGH.  I need to find that happy medium.

5.  Continue to pay it forward where I can.  So many of God's blessings for us this year have been financial and through the generosity of others.  You have never experienced a humbling experience until you have watched 200+ people (many of them complete strangers) buy iPad tickets or t-shirts to help fund your adoption.  Or have received numerous gift cards in the mail sent by anonymous friends when times were hard.  Our lives have been changed this year and it's certainly been a work in progress.  And we'll never be able to repay everyone, so instead, we want to pay it forward.  I hope 2011 brings Steve a job to allow us to do more in this area.

And that's it.  Right now, I'm about to make a list of things I need to do in this last-for-a-long-time long holiday weekend.  Because you know how I love my lists!

Happy New Year's Eve!

A Great Christmas Eve Gift

For those who didn't see on Facebook, on Christmas Eve, I went to the mailbox to find this:

This is the paperwork we've been looking for!  It's our appointments for the USCIS fingerprinting!  We got on January 18.  After that, it might take a couple weeks to get the results.  After that point, it's just a matter of wrapping up the paperwork before our dossier goes to China!  Of course, by my very rough calculations, it's probably going to be end of February before we get to that point.

But for now, we just wait until the 18th.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord." Luke 2:11

I couldn't have said it better myself!  Merry Christmas to each and every one of you!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Today might be my favorite day of the Christmas season.  I love all the baking and bustle and time spent with friends and family.  And then getting to do Christmas Eve service.  Ahhhh.

Last night we went to my sister's house to do Christmas with my family.  It was so much fun and the two kids (cousins) got to play which they don't get to do nearly enough.

Just look what my sister in law, Judy, brought me:

There are a TON more of these, but they are all pictures of my mom and one of my brothers way back in the late 50s.  There are a couple pictures of my mom with my oldest brother while pregnant with my other brother.  I have to get these into an album, but just not sure how I'm going to lay them out yet.  But these are priceless to me.

Check out the gift my stepmom Bertie gave Jenna...

And do you know what this little trunk was filled with?

Hand made American Girl doll clothes!  FILLED!  And not just clothes, but handmade purses, jewelry, shoes and socks.  There was just outfit after outfit.  It is amazing.  It's truly a labor of love.

And Jenna's cousin Garrett had fun opening his presents:

The adults did a gift card exchange. Steve ended up with iTunes and I got Kohls.  I might be able to find something at Kohls.  :)

But I think the most exciting part of the evening was...

This was the finger food table...or the non-sweet table.  And there was some GOOD STUFF to be had on this table.  But the best food was here:

The SWEETS area.  Holy cow.  Can you believe all this food was the result of 4 families.  Probably more like 3, but we do love our foods.  This is my plate...ur...plateS.

You like my Diet Coke?  Drinking diet negates all the calories on those plates.  At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

But my favorite part of the night was just spending time with my family.  We don't get to see them nearly enough.  And I love it.  For the first time in...well...EVER...that I can remember, we did a family picture.

This was just a test shot.  But looking at it just made me smile.  Then we decided to do a goofy picture.

Obviously some of us got into this more than others.  How about another try at a goofy picture...

OK, better.  And now for the actual picture.

Ah yes.  Gosh I love these people.



MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE!

Christmas Traditions:Snow!

Yesterday, we participated in one of our favorite Christmas traditions.  For the last 3 years, we have gone to ICE! with the Millsaps.  This year, we decided to forego ICE! and go to the new attraction called Snow at Gaylord Opryland.

This is a pretty neat little place...they make snow and you just get to play in it.

They also had real reindeer which were pretty neat to see.  I won't tell you all the drama that surrounded Katie and these reindeer, but suffice it to say, in the end, we all got our ticket price refunded.  But the drama kind of ruined the fun for me.

Katie loved the reindeer

After Snow we went to Cock of the Walk restaurant for dinner.  We only do this once a year and we really love it!  The girls have their pictures made in the big chair.

We contemplated, as we do every year, going to the Opryland Hotel to see the lights, but we decided against it.  I had one last stop to make on my way home and we were all ready to get home.  The girls did NOT like our decision and we had quite the attitude to deal with.

All in all, it was a great time and I hope we can keep the tradition going with our expanded families next year.

T-shirts!

Just wanted to remind you all that I still have LOTS of t-shirts to sell!  I bought 150 of them up front and I have to get rid of them (lest all the homeless in Nashville will be wearing them!).  If you haven't bought one already, let me know.  You can purchase over in the right toolbar or you can pay me directly.

They are great t-shirts and would make a great last minute Christmas gift!

Speaking of t-shirts, that's a perfect segueway into something I really want to share with you today.  Yesterday, my friend Katelyn and I had our first annual Christmas lunch and exchanged our gifts.  If you don't remember, Katelyn is not only the designer of these awesome shirts, but also is the beautiful model wearing the shirts.  Anyway, she gave to me Kylie's first Christmas gift...

This picture doesn't do the colors justice, but I'm too lazy to break out the good camera.  They are little colorful elephants strung together.  They are actually made in India, but the bright colors reminded Katelyn of China (she traveled to China this Spring on a trip long before either of us knew that country would become special to me).  I can't wait to get Kylie's room done so I can hang it up!

Then for me she got a red sweater which I will be sporting tomorrow and will try to take a picture of.  I had mentioned to her a while back that I liked red because my mom always said I looked good in it (and my mom also looked good in red).  Katelyn remembered that comment and specifically sought out a red shirt for me.  That's the kind of friend I hope to be one day.  And that shirt will always be special to me because it will always remind me of my mom.

Thank you sweet friend!  I'm so glad we are friends.  Here's to another FUN year!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHEL!

Today is Rachel's birthday!  For those of you who don't know me personally, you'll remember meeting Rachel back when I drew for the iPad!

I have known her since I was about 7 or 8 years old.  There are a few years difference between us and she is younger, so we really have known each other almost our entire lives.  And because God has a sense of humor (and knows just what we need before we do), it has so happened that Rachel is also adopting a daughter, but hers from Ethiopia.  We are very close to each other in terms of process.  And I honestly can't think of ANYONE I'd rather walk this journey with.

And not just the adoption journey, but this journey of life. 

Rachel-I'm so glad you are in my life!  Happy birthday sweet friend!  Here's to another 30+ together!

Jenna the Superstar

Sunday was Jenna's day to shine!  Not only did she sing with the children's choir in our church services, but she also performed with her ballet class. 

I love the song they danced to and what better song to watch your precious daughter and her friends dance to than "How Beautiful"?  The beauty and innocence of these sweet girls really made me cry.

Didn't the gitls do so well!?  Again, there is just nothing like watching children worship in song.

We were disappointed last Sunday when the inclement weather canceled her dance performance for the assisted living center.  But the girls got an extra practice in and I thought they did great!  Jenna doesn't play any sports (she just plays piano) and so this ballet class (which is free through the church thanks to Ms. Leslie!) helps her tremendously with her coordination and balance.

Enjoy!

Christmas Program

School is out and Jenna is enjoying Christmas break at home.  Last week they had their Christmas Program which they combine with their Grandparents Day celebration.

Here she is before the show started.  I drop her off about 45 minutes before school starts and that comes in handy on days like these where there is a program because not only do I get a kicking parking spot but also an awesome seat!  We decided to do a little pre-show interview:

Jenna was super excited because she got to play bells on one of the songs.  So, of course we had to video her big debut!

It was a great program and I just loved hearing the kids sing!  There's more from where this came from...but you'll have to wait!

iPad Winner!!!!

I can't believe this day is finally here!  I could not wait to draw the lucky winner of our new Apply iPad.  First, let me tell you we sold a grand total of 259 tickets which equated to be about $2,000 towards our adoption! (Which is more than the $1500 I said in the video...clearly math on the fly isn't my forte!)  Every dollar counts and each of YOU made it happen.

Believe me when I say I wanted every single one of you to win this prize! I wish I could have given away 5 of these! I was humbled at the number of folks, many total strangers to me, that donated to help bring Kylie home to us.

(Also, let me apologize for the awkward ending to the video....Steve was delaying cutting it off...sorry to subject you to the awkwardness.)

We are just so blessed! So without further ado...CONGRATULATIONS to:

iPad Winner! from Sandra Taylor on Vimeo.

ELIZABETH YANCEY!!!!!!

Elizabeth-I'll have this for you tomorrow at church!  Congratulations!!!!  Thanks for entering!

As you saw in the video, Rachel is also fundraising for her adoption.  Please visit her blog and watch for her cookbooks to go on sale.  You can help bring her daughter home from Ethiopia!

Congratulations to Elizabeth again and to Steve and our special guest Rachel for helping us draw.   And THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to every single one of you who bought tickets!  May God bless you for your generosity this Christmas season!

iPad Giveaway...THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE!

The iPad giveaway is tomorrow!  I am so excited to draw!  I can't wait to tell one lucky person they won!  So today is the last day to get in on the action!  If you haven't purchased your tickets, you are running out of time.  Click now on the iPad to the right and enter to win!

We are getting closer to our goal of 350 tickets...won't you help us get there?!  Thanks!!

Design

Remember this:

And this:

And then this:

Well, we ended up not using the frog tape but using regular painters tape, sealing it tightly and painting away from the tape with a brush instead of a roller.  This time we were smart and didn't paint the entire stripe, but just a little portion and then checked to see the outcome.   And you know what? 

IT STILL DIDN'T WORK!

I was ultra frustrated so we had our friend who is a professional house painter come in.  He told us we'd have to paint over the stripe with primer, then retape and paint it with the wall color (which was custom mixed and we had no more of) and then after it was sealed, paint the pink stripe.

Sigh.

Now the nice thing is he cut a little piece of the green base coat out of the wall for us so at least we can get the right color to cover the stripe.  But that sure did seem like a lot of work.  And to be honest, the more I looked at that stripe, the more I hated it.  Now it could be because it gave us so much trouble, but when I started looking for ideas and pictures online, you never see just this solitary horizontal stripe.  There's always stripes flanking it or another design.

We thought about fixing the stripe and then painting a light blue stripe (to match the color in the fabric) on top and bottom, but again, seems like a lot of trouble and I wasn't sure I was in love with that idea either.

Because I have NO decorating sense at all (those of you who have seen my home know what I'm talking about...it's just not my gift), I started looking at pictures online.  And you know what?  It seems more people are just painting the room a solid color and either using decals or other decorating accents to color up the room.

Now, THIS is what we are thinking...no pink stripe and...

This would go over her bed.  It was of course say Kylie and be in different colors, but you can customize, so not sure what colors...probably darker pink.

Then this around the entire room:

I can also get this with more pink than brown in the background, but there is brown in the fabric and I ended up getting a little brown trip for the shade and think it would really look good.

And then maybe these scattered about the room:

Again, the sizes might be different and maybe different colors.  I don't want to overdo the brown, but there are so many colors in the fabric that I could probably do several.  However, I don't want to introduce too many colors either. 

But who knows.  Because I have not an ounce of creativity in me when it come to this, it might just look awful.  We could likely get rid of the dots all together and do something else.  I really like these name things...

And I know I can make them myself but...yeah.  Not gonna happen.  Any takers out there?  Who want to do this for me?  Come on...know you want to.

So stay tuned...you never know what might happen in this room!

And by the way, if you haven't bought your iPad tickets, you need to do it NOW!  You are running out of time! (in the spirit of the old Chaos ride from Oprland...YOUR TIME IS RUNNING OUT!)

An update on Steve

With the iPad giveaway (enter now if you haven't!) and all the adoption stuff going on, I haven't said too much about Steve's studies for his new career.  A bunch of you have asked how that is going and how he is feeling after his sinus surgery, so this post is all about getting you up to speed on my beloved.  :)

First of all, Steve is, for all intents and purposes, fully recovered from his sinus surgery.  The main questions are, "Can you tell a difference?" and "Would you do it again?"  And the answer to both of those questions is "NO".  Well, he CAN tell a little bit of difference...he can tell he is more open and he rarely if ever gets stopped up (outside an allergy attack).  But in all the surgeries this man has had (major and minor), he maintains this one was by far the worst in terms of pain.  So if sinus surgery is anywhere in your future, talk to Steve...he'll be glad to give you an honest opinion of what to expect!

As to his studies...he finished the first part which was Anatomy.  It was very hard for him and he struggled with it.  He still feels like he doesn't know it well enough.  But if you ever took anatomy (which I did not), you probably know, there's a lot about the body to know.  He moved on to start the coding when he realized he was studying for the 2010 coding and obviously we are almost done with 2010, so his advisor and teacher are discussing whether he should just wait a few months and start the 2011 coding.  We are kind of hoping they do say to wait because then he would have the option to either go to class or do it online LIVE as opposed to the recorded classes he's doing now.

In the meantime, Steve has turned into quite the house husband.  I say that tongue in cheek, but y'all, I have gotten pretty addicted to having him be able to do all those things I can't do during the day because I'm working.  Go to the bank, run have documents certified, fix dinner, pick Jenna up etc.  It is very wonderful and he doesn't seem to mind.  He has also done quite a bit of volunteer work for the church also and he likes doing that and feeling useful.

Thanks for all your questions about him.  He does appreciate it.  He hopes to be finished with his school by about August of 2011.  Let's hope 2011 is our banner year.  We are certainly long overdue for one!

Snow Day!

We had a very busy Sunday planned, but unfortunately, it started snowing and our whole day ended up getting canceled.  The good news is I really needed the day to finish wrapping the Christmas presents.  This time, I watched The Holiday while wrapping.  Watching movies really does make the time go faster.  And our tree now looks less lonely with presents underneath it!

And while I was wrapping, the snow kept falling...and kept falling...the roads were very bad on Sunday night so our offices didn't open until 10am.  I didn't leave the house until probably 11 because the roads in my neighborhood were definitely icy.  Where we are, here's how much we ended up with:

Yep, that's about 3 inches.

And as is our tradition, Mom never missing a snow day!  At 10:00 in the morning with the temperature hovering around 20 degrees, I bundled up with my girl for a few minutes in the snow before getting ready for work.

She *might* have been a little excited.

This is what she was waiting on...to hit me with a snowball.

We bought that red toboggan sled about a month ago at Lowe's.  There were about 4 left and we have learned from experience if you wait for the snow to come before buying you will find every place SOLD OUT.  So this was our first opportunity to get it out and break it in.

And, just to prove I was actually out there in the snow with her AND that our street was solid ice, here we are enjoying a ride down together:

This was the first time I used my new flip camera and I think it turned out pretty good considering.  I enjoyed the few minutes I was outside with Jenna, but it was so brutally cold and I had to get to work so we didn't stay out long.  All in all, it was a good day even though I did have to work.  We are supposed to get ice tomorrow night, so we'll see if we get another snow day.

Welcome FILLED WITH PRAISE Readers!!!

If you linked here from Filled with Praise, THANK YOU! It's so nice to "meet" you. I'm so excited to tell me story again and I can't wait to get to know you!

Here we are.  That's me, my daughter Jenna Grace, husband Steve and his service dog, Katie.

The story of how we began our adoption journey starts here. Actually... it starts way back before this blog even began, but you'll get the general gist!

So, welcome to Just Haven't Met You Yet. Please feel free to browse my blog, enter to win the iPad (the link is just over there to the right), and become a follower (add me to your Google Reader!) I'm what I affectionately call a "blog 'ho". I LOVE reading blogs. So if you have a blog, leave me a comment below and I'll add you to the ever expanding list of blogs I read.

I'll be drawing for the iPad THIS COMING SATURDAY, so don't delay in buying a ticket.  They are only $10!  We are still short of our 350 ticket goal!

Thanks for visiting! I hope you'll keep coming back!

It's ALL done...

Praise be to God that I finally finished all my Christmas shopping Friday night.  All the way down to the stocking stuffers!  I can't tell you what a load this takes off me.  However, I still have wrapping to do.  Yesterday I managed to put a dent in the wrapping while watching Love Actually.  I know it's not the cleanest movie out there, but I sure do enjoy watching it.  It has become my own personal tradition...

I set up the card table in the bedroom with all my wrapping paper and bows and wrap while I watch it.  It makes the time go so much faster and some years I end up watching it multiple times. 

Our tree looks even more beautiful with the presents under it.  I love Christmas. Another tradition that I'm looking super forward to is going to ICE! at Opryland with the Millsaps.  We have done this several years in a row, however, this year we are opting to skip ICE! and just do Snow instead.  After we are done, we visit Cock of the Walk.  This year, I might talk them into going to the Opryland Hotel which has now reopened after completely flooding this past May.  It's just so stinkin expensive to park...it's really ridiculous especially after spending money to see Snow and eat.  But we'll see...

Happy Sunday to you all.  Hope you have a blessed and restful day!

iPad Giveaway!

No, it isn't time quite yet, but it is certainly close!  We are currently a little over halfway to our goal of 350 tickets.  Thanksgiving week was a very slow week for ticket sales but this week and last has certainly picked up.   

Just to remind you, I'm going to be drawing the winner the morning of December 18...that's NEXT SATURDAY!  I am SO excited!  Next Saturday I'm going to be videoing the drawing of the winner and then I'll post that video to my blog by 12 noon central time.  I've lined up a special guest to help me video and draw and it's going to be super exciting!

With all that said, here are a few things you need to know:

*I am cutting off the drawing at midnight on the 17th.  Whatever is in Paypal or my hand (for those who want to enter in person) when I get out of bed on Saturday morning is it. 

*Also, if the winner is someone for whom I have a phone number, you might get a surprise phone call from me, so if you entered, be sure and keep that phone handy! 

*If you have told me you want to be entered but have not yet given me your money, remind me of this no later than next Friday night so I can enter you.  To date, I have only entered people who have given me money or used Paypal.

*My goal is to reach 350 tickets before drawing.  However, I have decided I will draw on Saturday no matter what number we land at.  Every dime over the purchase price of the iPad (no it wasn't donated...I bought it with my money) is a blessing and so we have felt led to draw regardless.

A special thanks to those of you who entered already.  So many of you have purchased and I can't tell you how humbled I am at the number of people...some total strangers...who have entered to show their support.  A bunch of you don't even care about winning the iPad...you just want to support us.  YOU are playing a part in us bringing Kylie home.  You should feel amazing about that.  I totally think you are amazing.  Each and every single one of you.  Seriously.

To those of you who have not purchased yet:  STOP RIGHT NOW and click on the Paypal link to the right and do it now.  If you don't, you will forget and miss out on the opportunity to win.

Whether you have purchased or not, would you consider doing the following: 

*Posting this on your blog to remind your readers to visit for their chance to win.
*Sharing this link on your Facebook status so your friends can enter.
*Tweeting about this so your followers will come and purchase a ticket.
*Email our blog address out to all your email contacts...

Just think, if you have 300 FB friends and only 1/2 of them purchased just ONE ticket, I would surpass my 350 ticket goal.  Please, it only takes a minute to share the news.

Thanks so much!  I can't wait for next Saturday!!!!