USCIS Approved!

From original call at the end of May to Mid September for USCIS Approval..3.months, numerous trips to Fed Ex, mounds of copies, and 4 vacation days from work to accomplish it all. Not bad, however, in the grand scheme of things I know we all believe this process could benefit from a major reform. In such an electronic world, WHY are we still dealing with so much original paper? I will admit the second time around everything was easier (except for our small homestudy snafu and oh, yeah, when we left our appostilled documents on the porch overnight and it rained LOL) becuase we knew what to do, but….. there is a still a child Waiting for governments to say You are Approved! There are days when I am motivated to "take on the system" and build better efficiencies in this process and then there are days when it's just overwhelming. But above all else, I truly believe the best resources we have are with each other. Together we can "take on the system" by sharing best practices and secrets with each other! It's a joy to read each of our stories, to help celebrate our triumphs and offer support in our defeats. Hang in there everyone in Adoption Blog World! In my opinion we are ALL already approved becuase a child awaits and our hearts and home are wide open.

Traveling with Toddlers

Lee and I plan to bring Adam and Aggie along on the big trip and have been trying to discover as many "best practices" for Traveling with Toddlers. On our last trip we Walked everywhere and I mean Everywhere, so We recently purchased a Toddler Carrier Backpack that we will use for our newest addition:

We purchased a KSUV "Kid SUV" at a neighbors garage sale a couple of years ago and will use this for Adam and Aggie:

I welcome any other ideas to make life a little easier while traveling with toddlers. Ideas to keep them busy? happy? I have been secretly stashing new movies, coloring books and puzzles to pack with us. We will have Lesson plans from Adam's teachers, and I suppose we will again find every playground within a 5 mile raddius of where ever we are. Additional suggestions? On the paperwork front, Our I-800A was re-submitted with little trouble and we have finger print appointments this Wednesday so we are moving right along! Hope everyone has a nice Labor Day Weekend!