November Martini

Is tomorrow really the first of December?! I can't take it!

Here's a bit of what November was like for the Wallace's...

Hanging out at the park.

Possibly the only actual day of homeschool that occurred this month because soon...

We started making ornaments and learning about e-commerce and postage.

That counts as homeschool right?

After being stuck at home sick for four days Mama had to get creative. Yes that is shaving cream.

Driving to Mamaw and Papaw's house for Thanksgiving.

The tree before.

What, you let your three year old play with saws right?

The tree after. Moses was so proud. He declared "Our tree is perfect."

After selling over 100 ornaments on Etsy (in a little over a week) I had to call in the reinforcements.

I am SO thankful for these ladies.

And, the most exciting thing (that I can't even share a picture of) is a sweet little boy in the DRC! Please continue to pray for him. Pray for his safety and protection and that his abandonment cercertificate and birth certificate would be issued miraculously quick.

Referral Day!

Today marks a new chapter in this long book...

We. Have. A. Referral!

There's a 3 1/2 year old little boy in the Congo we are praying is ours! (and yes Moses is almost exactly 3 1/2:-)

I wish I could share his name and picture and what very little we know about him but we cannot until he is legally ours...

What I can share is that he is preciously adorable and we all love to stare at his picture!

Please pray that the investigation into his orphan status and collection of his legal documents (birth certificate, witness statements, etc) goes quickly and smoothly! Once that is complete our case will be filed for court. It could take 6-8 months for that to happen...

Pray, pray, pray!

Progress!

If you've been following along on Facebook then you know we have officially switched to the DRC program. Our 4th homestudy is in and for the first time ever...

We. Are. Waiting!!!

There is an attorney in the Congo looking for a little boy for us! It's very surreal to be here, at the waiting point of our journey. It has seemed elusive for so long!

As I said before the Congo program is very different from Ethiopia SO, while we should be getting a photo of our potential little one soon, we still have a long way to go...

After we accept the "photo" as a little boy we'd like to adopt, the attorney will begin an investigation to ensure that he is actually and legally available for adoption. The little boy will then also have a physical exam. This may seem a little backwards to you, as it does me, but because so few children are adopted from the DRC they cannot put the time and money into investigating and examining every kid that comes into the orphanage when very few of them will acutally be adopted.

It's difficult to say how long things will take because we are part of a pilot program and no kids are home through this program yet. We were told to expect 10-15 months but we were also told that 2 1/2 years ago...

I wanted to do a big post on the differences between the Ethiopia and the DRC adoption programs, the history I have learned about the country, the election coming up later this month... but I cannot find the time for much more than taking care of my family and selling jewelry.