Leslie has begun her Eternal Journey...

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for my friend Leslie. She finally won her battle with cancer and has a brand new body in Heaven and is rejoicing with our King! She went Home to be with Jesus on Saturday night. Please continue to pray for comfort and strength for Tyson, TJ and their families. Click on the following link to read about her journey and Tyson & Leslie's amazing faith in our Father. http://www.forleslie.blogspot.com/

Leslie's journey has really put life in perspective for me. What really matters? What is really important? Our faith in Jesus Christ is what matters most and what will get us through ANYTHING. Then, why don't I put enough time and energy into building this relationship with my Father? Probably selfishness, laziness, etc. By following her journey, it has changed me for the better as a wife, mother, friend, and individual. I will strive to live out these lessons in my life everyday. Thank you, Leslie! You will be missed greatly here on earth, but I rejoice with you as you walk the streets of gold!

Please pray for Leslie and her family...

My friend from college, Leslie, is battling cancer. She is in the hospital and needs your prayers. Click on their picture to the right and you can read their blog. Pray for peace and comfort for their entire family.

Back to the capitol...

Well, Kiara and I took a trip to our state capitol today. We made a stop at the video store and got her set with a few videos for the trip. All went well and we got our I-171H apostilled. My adoption agency has told me that I should not have to get anything else apostilled until after our first trip to Russia. That is so nice to hear! It is so nice to know that our next step will be getting our referral and preparing to travel to Russia.

I can't believe how incredibly fast this summer is going! We have done a lot of fun things. We have had a great week while my sister and Bobby have been home. Unfortunately, they will be going back to Arizona on Sunday. Kiara has really enjoyed having her Aunt Dani around, I know she will be really disappointed when she leaves.

We got our new I-171H!!!

I went to the state capitol today to get the 6 documents apostilled that needed to be redone because of Ryan renewing his passport. We went to dinner with my family last night since my sister and Bobby are in town. So, Kiara went home with them and my parents so I could go to the capitol this morning. This is the third time I have gone to get documents authenticated/apostilled and it was the smoothest. The other 2 times something has come up with my paperwork and we have had to find a way to fix it. Luckily, this time there were no problems.

As soon as I got home I checked my mailbox and guess what was in there? Our new I-171H that approves us for Russia!!! I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. If only I had waited a day to go get the other paperwork apostilled, I could have taken this one, too. Oh, well. I worked it out that Ryan was able to sign and get the document notarized right after work. So, I am ready to go back to the capitol tomorrow. But, when I got home from my parent's house, I had an email from my adoption agency saying that I could take this document with me on my first trip and give it to the coordinators there. I emailed her back for clarification, but it was late in the day. So, the jury is still out to whether Kiara and I will be taking a trip tomorrow.

Small update...

Ryan's new passport came in the mail today!! His was expiring in April of 2009. In some countries they don't let you travel to their country if your passport expires in 6 months or less. I am not sure Russia is one of those countries, but I would rather be on the safe side than having my husband stuck in Russia or unable to travel with me to Russia! We expedited the passport and got it in 12 days door to door with the 4th of July holiday in there. That is without overnighting it either way. Not too bad, I would say.

So, now there are 6 documents that have his passport number on it that I need to redo. Yes, they give you a whole new passport number because it would be too easy to just keep the same one!! I know this won't happen, but I am hoping to get our new 171 next week. Then, I can take my 6 documents and the 171 to the state capital to be authenticated. If not, I will have to take 2 trips, and who knows how many more once we get a referral!!

Of course this all happens when my next 2 weeks are extremely busy! I should have known something with the adoption would happen. But, I will try to get to the state capital sometime next week because the week after it would be impossible to do.

Things seem to be moving with the people in line ahead of me, so I am getting excited!

Happy 4th!!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July!! We have had a nice relaxing weekend, which has been great. We went to my parents house yesterday to relax at the pool and watch fireworks. As you can see from the picture, Kiara is getting a lot braver in the pool!

We have also been doing a lot of other fun things. We went to a local minor league baseball game with my mother-in-law & brother-in-law and his wife and their 4 girls. I also had the 3 oldest girls come over to play for the day on Wednesday. They will be moving in a month, so it will be sad when Kiara will only have one cousin in the area! We will miss them.

Kiara has also been attending a dance class once a week. Each week there is a theme. Last week was 70's week. Below is Kiara's outfit for the class. It is an old tumbling outfit of mine!! She looks more 80's than 70's, but I thought she was awful cute! This Monday is Hollywood week and she wants to dress up as Gabrielle from HS Musical. Not sure yet what we are going to do, any ideas?
We also got to go see the Bee Movie and are going to go see Alvin and the Chipmunks on Monday. Tuesday we are going to the local zoo, so we have a fun week planned. I was also able to meet up with some friends from college in Indianapolis and had a great time. I would show you a picture, but none are very flattering of me! Next weekend, I am going to Chicago to meet up with some more friends from college. Then, on my way home I will be picking up my sister and her fiance from the airport. They will be here for the next week. So, we should be pretty busy through the middle of July, but it will be a lot of fun!