Another Milestone!

This morning we had our USCIS biometric fingerprints made! Woo hoo!

Sorry, this picture is not too great! I only had my iPhone camera, and we had to take pictures outside the building. They asked us THREE TIMES inside if we had cell phones and informed us they needed to be turned off.  I was like "They're off. Jeez!"   But I still wanted to "document" this SPECIAL DAY!!

I've been so EXCITED about this day ever since we got our appointment times a few weeks ago! It felt very official to be in the USCIS office! The appointment went very quickly. I guess everyone was too busy scouring Black Friday deals!  Not us!  We slept in today!

It was neat because these fingerprints were done digitally...so none of the messy ink!  Now they will send them in to be processed, and we will just wait on our FDL (Favorable Determination Letter) to come in! This will be the official approval for our family to adopt internationally! Huge milestone!!!

Giving Thanks

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Wishing my Wayman Family Nesters a very happy Thanksgiving.  Hope you're spending the day surrounded by ones you love (oh, and that you're eating lots of good food!).  Take some time to reflect on all that you have to be thankful for.  We are truly blessed.

DIY Wreath Round-Up

With Christmas around the corner and a week off for Thanksgiving, I think it's safe to say that I've been bitten by the craft bug!  So I rounded up some easy, DIY wreaths for you to try out this Christmas season.

How adorable is this felt ball wreath?  This would make a colorful addition to your Christmas decor that the kids would sure to love!

This stunning trio would be sure to wow your guests when they arrive at your home!

And what about this adorable cookie cutter wreath?  It looks simple enough-I think even I could tackle this one!



This adorable wreath would be a fun way to hold all of your Christmas cards!

This beautiful wreath is made from paper doilies and white lights.This one would be sure to make a statement in any part of your home!

This homemade pom pom wreath is  another colorful one that would be sure to please the kiddos!

  

This present wreath would be sure to make a cheery addition to your home!

This cheap and easy peppermint wreath would be sure to brighten your spirits this holiday season.

Yarn=Love. Wreaths=Love.  Put them together=Pure genius!  Try your hand at this yarn ball wreath.

This kid-friendly wreath would be fun to have "hanging around" this holiday season (I'm cracking myself up as we speak I write!)

So there you have it, Wayman Family Nesters!  10 of my favorite wreaths for this holiday season.  I don't know how I'll ever choose which one(s) to do!  But I'll be sure to post pictures of the finished product(s).  Do you plan to try your hand at any wreaths as you begin to decorate?

2 for 1 Airport Homecoming!

On Saturday night the hubby and I went to welcome our friends David and Sara home with their precioius Jude.  Turns out another local family was bringing their sweet little boy home as well on the same flight!  2 for 1!  Awesome!

{I borrowed these pictures from Kelly at Ordinary Hero since apparantly I was way to caught up in the excitement to take any!}

I think the crowds made the aiport security people nervous, but they were very nice about it!

Here come both families walking up together!  Such a special night to be a part of!

Welcome  home Teddy and Jude!  Your families are so so happy to have you home!

Dossier to Ethipia! (Belated Post)

I emailed our agency earlier this week to ask if our dossier had made its way to Ethiopia yet.  They told me that it had on November 10th!!!  Woo hoo!

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So, we're just waiting waiting waiting!  Our agency has no idea how long the wait will be, but we do know we're 2nd in line for our parameters (baby boy 0-12 months).  So I guess we' re #2 on the waitlist! : )

Happy Friday Wayman Family Nesters!

Hannah James' Partnering Family

I'm so excited to tell you that we are one of Hannah James' partnering families for the months of November and December! 

What does this mean? 

It means that you should go shopping.  Go shopping for yourself.  And while you're at go ahead and do a little lot of Christmas shopping. You can purchase from Hannah James {storenvy}.  There are several partnering families for the holiday season so be sure to include something like "Wayman Family Adoption" in your note to the seller.  50% of the profits help us bring our little home.  And 50% help bring her little one home.

So, it's a win-win! Head on over to check out more of her pretty things!

Give Hope Shirt

One of my sweet blogger friends Brooke who is adopting from Taiwan is having an online silent auction to help raise funds to bring her little one home.  When I found out about the auction I was all abou trying to help in any way that I could!  So head on over to her blog Taking the Road Less Traveled to enter to win one of our Give Hope shirts and to check out the other items.  $10 gets you 1 entry, $25 gets you 5 and $50 gets you 20, so head over there now!

Everybody who enters gets one of these "One Less Orphan" writbands!

Here's a sneak peek of some of the other awesome items:

Want to buy one of these?  Then head over to Taking the Road Less Travled now!

Happy Monday Wayman Family Nesters!

Orphan Sunday 2011

What a difference a year makes!  This time last year on Orphan Sunday I was praying for my hubby to hear the call to adopt that I was hearing.  Now we've turned in our dossier and are waiting to be matched with our little boy!

Here are a 2 videos in honor of Orphan Sunday (which was yesterday) from 2 different wonderful organizations.  Great videos and messages for Orphan Sunday.

Ordinary Hero~ The Orphan from Kelly Putty on Vimeo.

Orphan Sunday 2011 from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

Happy Sunday everybody!

Happy Birthday to My Hubby!

I'd like to wish my sweet hubby a happy happy 30th birthday (from his MUCH younger wife-hehe!)

I love you so much and I'm so thankful to have you in my life!

xoxoxo

HAPPY DAY!

I am so excited to say that our dossier is on its way to Washington D.C. to the U.S. Embassy! When it's approved here in the U.S., it will make it's way to Ethiopia!  The hubby got it mailed off yesterday. It was funny to hear his take on things. Yall know I was freaked out if you read yesterday's post. He said, "I was so nervous because we only have 1 official copy of all of this paperwork." We also had to mail 2 copies to our agency, so he mailed those off as well.  We overnighted both the official dossier and the copies so they would get there ASAP.

I did a little happy dance after talking with the hubby and having confirmation that it was sent off. 
Enjoy the famous Carlton dance for a peek at what I looked like!

                              

When I got home from work our biometrics appointment from USCIS had come in the mail! (which is just a fancy word for fingerprints)  November 25th is our appointment.  So, it was a really good day in adoption land!

State Certification: Check!

Yesterday I took our dossier to be state certified (Monday I took it to be county certified.  Another step required by some states and Tennessee is one of them).

So during my planning period at school I headed downtown to the Secretary of State's office to have a state seal put on our dossier.  It was kind of a long, bit of confusing ordeal  (I REALLY don't like going downtown), but the good news is, it's finished now!

Here's our dossier and our Power of Attorney (mailed together, but considered 2 different documents):

Here's a close-up of the glorious seal!

And here's a side view of the stack of docuements that is our dossier.  I've been carrying it around with me the past 2 days while I got it notarized.  I was too scared to leave it in the car.  If my car got stolen, I would be more upset about it being inside!  Take the car; leave the paperwork!

Today the hubby is mailing off the dossier.  I am a huge control freak (after all this has been my baby for about the last 7 months!), but I thought it would be good for him to do it.  I need to learn to relinquish control!  Adoption will definitely teach you that lesson!