Update 6/23/13

So just to give a general update...

We have our USCIS appointment this Friday at noon! I am SO ready to be one step closer to getting our boys but I don't think I will truly feel a weight lifted till we are on the plane to get them.

So whats the next step?!

Well, we still have a lot of documents to get notarized and checked by the Reeces Rainbow team. But once we get that done (hopefully this week...but I have said that before) then we can mail them off to be apostiled. Once we get them all apostiled and our USCIS approval in then we will be able to send off our dossier!!! And then upon sending off our dossier we can expect 6-8 weeks before travel (if all goes according to plan...which we all know it very well may not).

So are we close?

YES; we are annoyingly close...but slow and steady wins the race right?

Right now I have ceased ALL timeline expectations; every time I feel certain that we will be traveling in the next few months something happens, gets lost in the mail, or delayed for some reason.

But I know God is good.

And I know that we will travel when HE wants us to travel. I just pray that He grants me patience because I am NOT by nature a patient person.

My greatest hope right now is to have the boys home by Christmas.

I am also looking at it as Gods way of giving us more time to fundraise because money is definitely a HUGE concern.  I have not heard from any of the grants that I applied for a few months back...but we are holding out hope and praying.

We are still a staggering $12,000 short of our goal. And we have recently found out that my husband will likely have to take unpaid leave in order to travel (not something we were betting on). So now simply paying our bills while we are gone is a concern. Don't get me wrong...we have savings but not having that reliable cash flow is definitely going to be a burden we didn't foresee.

I know God will see us through. My faith has been tested to the extreme this past year and I feel more confident than ever that the Lord has the reigns...I should truly have no fear.

We got the boys beds set up as well! It took three hours and years off my life but they are up!! I have a new found admiration for anyone who assembles furniture for a living because it is NOT easy!!

We are still lacking the ladder and the safety railing but we were just too tired to put those together too so we are saving those for later. We were originally just going to do two twin beds for the boys but upon closer inspection of the room size we opted for bunkbeds simply to save space. Their room is SMALL. Plus we still have to fit their train table, desk, dresser, and they still need some playing room on the floor.

I will take better pictures once we get there room totally put together. Aside from the beds themselves the room is a disaster. We still need curtains, a rug, sheets, wall decals, the rest of the furniture, and clothes to fill their closet.

As always please keep our boys in your prayers!!!