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Patience

Okay... Patience, Patience, Patience

That is what i have learned these past 2 weeks. I am a hurry up kind of person. The person who would had in term papers before the deadline, the person who is always prepared and on top of things. I have learned that relying on other people to be this same way is a losing battle!!

So you are all aware that we got our papers of a approval... then we had to get all of our paperwork in order. We had most of it done. But after I sent the adoption agency all of our paperwork TWO WEEKS AGO, I finally called last wednesday, since i had not heard from her.

Her response was: oh, i will go open that paperwork right now, and see if anything else needs to be done. -- I had overnighted the paperwork 9 days before!!!!! Why did she not open it!

And so now, we had to have our doctor's letter updated because it was longer than 6 months ago that we had that done.

When i called the doctor last week, his nurse said he would be in on monday.... Okay, i can wait to monday I thought. I brought the papers in on Monday for him to sign with all his instructions and a stamped envelope for him to send it directly to the angency. NOW - today i get an e-mail from our adoption agency that she has not recieved the letter and if it is not in soon other paperwork will be over the 6 month mark and have to be redone!!! God grant me patience......

The all could be avoided if i could do everything and not rely on the agency and doctor to do their part of the work. But if life has taught me anything it is I can't do everything, it will give me an ulcer!!! :-)

So, in the last hour i have talked to the doctor's nurse and know that the paperwork has been signed and is in the process of being notarized.... and promised to be mailed out today!! It is just so hard to wait. But in the mean time I can throw myself in to other things like Komen and packing fro our trip to Colombia on Friday!!!!

Keep praying that the paperwork will all be complete and sent to Colombia before we get there (i have already asked if we can take it down ourselves - that was not advised!)

We say they are happy because they did not give up.

You have heard about Job's patience, and you know the

Lord's purpose for him in the end.

You know the Lord is full of mercy and is kind.

James 5:11

Whoopee We're Approved!!

Okay finally, the day has come that we are approved. Homeland Security finally approved us today! We got the letter in the mail and jumped for joy. NOW..... we will finish some last minute paperwork. (things they didn't want us to do until we got the paper) and then we send it of to Colombia. That means we will finally get placed on a waiting list AND start the real waiting process....... we will get really good at waiting.

We just wanted you guys to be the first to hear the good news. We will keep you posted when our Dossier gets sent to Colombia. Keep us in your prayers!

Holiday Season!

Okay, it's been a hectic Holiday to say the least. Always this time of year we find ourselves busy running from here to there and then back again. The good thing is that we were able to see lots of family and friends. I don't know where 2008 went....but 2009 here we are!!!

We did make it back to Ohio for the holidays! We spent a week seeing all the family, visiting everyone, and eating lots of good home cooked food (Thanks Mom!). Above you see a pic of nate and his neice Lauren looking at his I-Phone. (The newness has not worn off of that thing!)

Below is a pic of me and his first nephew Josh.

The puppies handle the trip with ease. Archie was an angel, even my family liked him. We took him up to go see grandma Aggie a couple of times. She even liked to pet him and watch him walk around. She had gotten a cute stuffed puppy for chirstmas from a nursing home resident's daughter, and it looked just like archie. It even had his one brown eye!!

ADORABLE! Can you tell which one is which??

So know we are home, unpacking, and cleaning up after the aftermath of unloading the truck. It will take a few weeks to recover but we will get there! Hope everyone is doing great! See ya soon.

Update!!

Okay - it has been awhile since i've updates this thing. Since then we have been just waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Then on monday we got the call our application for adoption was sent to Homeland security to get approved. Now just another waiting period. I guiess this whole process will teach us patience. So today we are 7 days into waiting for our application to be approved. Our social worker said to expect about a 82 day wait. Until then we are having fun with the new addition to the family -- Introducing ARCHIE!

Full Name: Archie "2 time winnning Heisman" Griffin Schulte (I know it is a mouth full)

He is adorable as a puppy can be. Can't wait for you all to meet him.

Dodger is slowly getting used to having another dog in the house. He is used to being the only dog in the house and that is not the case any more. But, I have caught them playing a couple of times, so it will be soon when they are best buds.

Well, we have also done some fun things in the last month as well. We have just started unpacking from our trip back to Ohio. As exhausting as it is, we had a good time seeing everybody back in god's country.

We were able to see almost everyone. Even Brooke came into town early enough to see us before we left. The best thing we got to do was to see Jacob play his last game of football. He looked soooo cute in his uniform. I haven't been to a football game all season, college or high school or junior high -- so it was wonderful to sit in the stands and cheer Jacob on. Even Archie liked the game.

Homestudy.....check!

Okay, one more thing done on our list of many. Our homestudy is complete. It went very smoothly, our social worker came to the house last Thursday and went through the end of the paperwork. We signed alot of papers and can check those off of the list. She also walked around the house and made sure Nate and I had ample space to a child to our house. Anyone who's been to our house knows there is plenty of space - Dodger even has his own room! It seemed that it almost went to quick, but i can't complain she thought everything looked great.

Now the wait starts --- she e-mailed us the homestudy report to spell check and we are waiting on one piece of paper from Ohio (come on already!!) After we recieve that paper it gets sent to Homeland security and there it will wait until they decide we are fit to recieve a child. Let's hope they approve us quickly!!!!

As we wait..... we still go on. This weekend we went camping at Lake Red Rock. It was a blast. I know you probley think we are crazy we just got back from a long camping trip, but I lovec being with nature and lookign up at the stars. You should all try it soon. THe only problem was - we had a very short time to pack and Lynn forgot the air mattress. That means we had to sleep on the ground. But we did okay!!! It wasn't as comfortable but it wasn't horrible either. Dodger did well on his first camping trip as well. He was an angel as long as other dogs weren't around - then he would show them who was boss!

For now I am in Dallas this week for conferences with Susan G. Komen for the Cure training. And Nate is busy back home going to work and handling the household which includes Dodger.
We are busy and can't wait for a three day weekend coming up - Nate is headed to Wisconsin and Lynn is going to chill at home. Hope everyone is doing well and we will keep you posted when we hear the paperwork has been sent!!!

Love ya all!

All About Colombia

Okay Everyone - Nate and I have been doing alot of research since we decided to adopt our child from Colombia, South America. I thought I would add some info about the country of Colombia so you would get familiar on where your - grandchild, niece/nephew, cousin is coming from.

Introduction to Colombia
Colombia is a country of 46 million people named after Christopher Columbus, who arrived in the Americas in the 1400s. The fourth largest country in South America, its boundaries stretch from the Pacific Ocean coast on the west, to the Caribbean Sea on the north, and with Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, and Venezuela as its close neighbors. Colombia's capital, Bogotá, is a bustling urban area of over eight million people. The Caribbean coast supports major port cities of Cartagena, Barranquilla, and Santa Marta. Other parts of the country are quite rural, with a strong agricultural presence.

Colombia's rich culture and history have been formed by the melding of its indigenous populations with the influx of the Spanish and European explorers of the 15th century. Some of those indigenous peoples continue to follow their traditional ways even today. Colombia gained its independence from the Spaniards in the early 1800's after Simon Bolivar led the resistance against Spain. Today, many Colombian towns have a "Plaza de Bolivar" named in his honor.
Located near the equator, Colombia's varied geography encompasses mountain highlands, arid plateaus, lush rain forests, and tropical Caribbean beaches.

The country is home to a wide range of plant and animal species, some unique to Colombia. The beauty and natural diversity of the country is readily apparent to those who travel outside the major metropolitan areas. Colombia is a major exporter of flowers, particularly roses, to the US and European markets, as well as coffee, leather, and other agricultural goods.

Did you read that.... Colombia is a large exporter of flowers! I hope when Nate and I are over there we get to see fields of flowers, wouldn't that be awesome!

We will continually keep you up to date on information about Colombia - and if you see any information on Colombia on the news or read about it, pass it along. We would love to hear as much as possible about Colombia.

I think i successfully changed the comment section of our blog to allow anyone to comment - (you don't have to be signed on!) Try it and see and let me know if it works. We would love to see if you are reading this and if you enjoy it or not!

You all have a great Sunday and we love you all!