Happy Correction!

Last week I posted about our July waitlist number. Talk about being excited with the amount of movement! Usually what we do after we receive our number for the month is we post it on our adoption agency's listserv. Every month an unofficial waitlist is generated from all of our numbers and that's how we all know where we stand, who's close to getting a referral, etc. 

Well it turned out that our family and another family were given the same waitlist number (109), which isn't possible; one number per family. So I sent an e-mail to our Case Manager and as it turned out, she gave us the wrong number. The Mancini Family is NOT 109 on the waitlist. Our waitlist number is actually.....

                      

2 1/2 Years Old!

To our Sweet Eva,

You are now 2 ½ years old. My oh my how fast the time has flown by! It has been so cool watching you grow and learning to do things and try some things that I wish you wouldn't.

Your toddling has turned into a full run with a pretty mean gait. You look good when you run. Daddy can’t wait for the opportunity when you and he can run together for real and not just push you in the jogging stroller! You almost have a full mouth of teeth. We’re still waiting for the last two of your second molars to come in. We've been so blessed that you've never gotten sick or had ear infections with all of your teething. It’s never kept you from sleeping at night and hasn't limited your food intake either.

You absolutely love food. If you see Mom or Dad eating something, you want to try it. Now you love Babybel cheese. You ask for it every day, several times a day...that, tuna fish, peanut butter, and grapes. You still love to take baths but if asked, will always say “Yes” to taking a shower with Daddy.

Your favorite color right now is purple. You still love to color and read your books. And now your favorite shows are Little Bear, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Ni Hao Kai-Lan, and Dora the Explorer. There is a cartoon now called Doc McStuffins that you absolutely LOVE and it is so cute to hear you ask to watch it. You’ve also gotten to the point where you can sit through a whole movie. You like to watch Finding Nemo, Rio, Monsters Inc., and just recently you watched Toy Story 1 & 2.

The amount of vocabulary you have is off the charts! You’re talking in full sentences, carrying on full conversations, and not at all shy about telling Mom and Dad what you want and don’t want; like telling Daddy "Come on, let's dance" or "Wake up, Sleepyhead!" You are always on the go. You can’t stop fidgeting unless I’m holding you. The only time when you’re nice and still is when we’re doing Rockasong at night.

We are so grateful and feel so blessed to be your parents. We love hearing your voice in the morning, watching you dance, and listening to your montage of songs! Sometimes the things you say crack me up 

We love you always. We thank God that He chose us to be your parents. You are our greatest blessing!

Love, Daddy & Mama

Blogging Again!

Well......it has been exactly 3 months since I last posted anything. That's right! For those family and friends who have been waiting on me to put something up here.......the time has come!

This summer turned out to be WAY more busy than I had ever anticipated. Trips got planned at the last minute, day trips got planned while we were on other trips. It has truly been exhausting. But oh-so-much fun! I'm actually still recovering from it all.

And the best way to start the blogging up again would be to do something that I haven't done since we were waiting for Eva.....post our new waitlist number. 

We started out on the list at #139 in mid March. We knew that we would be in the 100s. Not quite sure where though. Of course, we were pleased with where we started. We know the wait will be a long one. That may be the one thing that we've prepared ourselves for the most. But all the more reason to totally spoil and love on our sweet Eva before Baby B comes along.

Each month there has been movement. More movement than we had ever anticipated. And this month was no exception. Last night as I was scrolling through my e-mail, I saw that I had an e-mail from AGCI that said 'Monthly Update'. I couldn't believe it. You see, for the past couple of months we (all the AGCI families) have been receiving our numbers later than scheduled. I thought this would be another one of those months. Well, you can imagine my surprise when I opened the e-mail and saw that our new waitlist number is .....

You read it correctly....1-0-9!! John and I are beside ourselves about this number. I mean, who jumps 30 spots in just 4 short months?!? We may still be in the 100s, but we are SO CLOSE to being under 100 that it makes me a little giddy just thinking about it. God is so good and we are so grateful for these small steps. We are also so very happy for all the families ahead of us because it means that they are getting referred precious little ones that they will get to bring home very soon!

Super Evaaaa!

This past weekend, Eva and I went to a birthday party for one of her friends that turned 5. Her friend is a superhero fan, to say the least, so that was the theme. It was so cute. Her mom sewed superhero capes and made masks for all of the kids. I cannot tell you how cute the kids were running around with the capes and masks on. Of course, I had to reveal my own little superhero J

Happy Easter 2012!

This year, our Easter celebration was a bit more exciting than last year.  After eating breakfast, we all got ready for the 10:45 church service.

All this week, I had been talking to Eva about what this week means. We have a book about Jesus that she got for Christmas and she loves reading it. So we talked about Good Friday and how Jesus died on that day because He loves us so much. Then we talked to her about how Jesus fought the Devil and won on Saturday and went to Heaven today.

Last night John and I put Eva’s Easter eggs together for our family egg hunt. Last year we did the egg hunt in the house after her night-time bath. This year, we did the egg hunt once we got home from church and she was still in her pretty Easter dress.

I took her in the house and distracted her for a couple of minutes while John “hid” the eggs outside on the front lawn. As soon as I handed her the basket, she knew exactly what was going to happen and couldn’t get outside fast enough! It was just too cute seeing her gathering all her eggs....again J 

 

 

 

After the egg hunt we all had lunch and Eva got to enjoy a couple of pieces of her yummy candy. So blessed to be able to spend another Easter with my wonderful husband and daughter!

Palm Sunday Egg Hunt

Today was a fun day at our church for all the kiddos in the community. Our church celebrated Easter today (Palm Sunday) with a special service for the children. There was singing, dancing, story telling, puppetry and videos. Eva had so much fun singing and clapping her hands to the music.

Right after that was the Easter Egg Hunt. I was so excited for Eva and her experience. It was such a beautiful day. Perfect for the egg hunt which was held outside. Our church also has a Christian school (K-12) attached to it, so the egg hunt was on the football field.

After the service, everyone went outside to the football field. The field was divided into 3 sections. Eva was in the 'Birth -2 yrs' section. This is what the field looked like when we got out there:

It looked like there were a billion little plastic eggs out there. Truly amazing. Just looking at that put a smile on my face. While we were waiting, we were all given instructions. Eva was chomping at the bit. She knew EXACTLY what was going on, what she needed to do, and didn't want to wait any longer. We counted the 10-second countdown, and then............the air horn sounded and we were off!

 

It was amazing how quickly those eggs got picked up. Before we knew it, we looked around and the field was totally clear of all those little plastic goodies. My camera was about to die ( I couldn't believe I forgot to charge the battery) so I was so glad to get this picture of us as soon as we were finished.

When we finally got home, all Eva wanted to do was play with her eggs....and count them. A grand total of 30 eggs in just a couple of minutes. You go girl!!

Finally, you have to see her outfit. One of her aunts, John's older sister, got her 3 gorgeous dresses at my baby shower (over a year ago) and I've just been waiting until I could put her in one of them. I LOVE the dresses and Eva does too. She loves twirling around in them. The darling sandals are a present from her godparents. She adores them and was so excited to wear her sandals too! Such a girly girl :-)

 

  

Surprise in the Mail!

This past Thursday started out as a bit of a stressful day. As always though, what Satan meant for evil, God managed to turn it around for the good. And by the end of the day when I finally went out to get the mail, this was part of the stack:

We just had our fingerprints taken at U.S. CIS on the 20th. Is this really what I think it is?

It sure is! This is our FDL - Favorable Determination Letter. These results get sent directly to the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia. Basically it says that our Fingerprints came back okay and we are cleared to go through with our international (Ethiopian) adoption.

And these are are the parameters we requested that we have been approved for:

One female child between 0 and 2 years old.

This was the very last piece of documentation that our Agency needs for our file. As soon as I send them a copy of this letter, the next batch of paperwork won't be until we get our referral. I can only imagine what the next 2 years will hold for us!