Riley#1

WE ARE PARENTS!!!!

We received a referral of a beautiful baby boy on Thursday!!! We wanted to talk to our international doctor before we posted and accepted, but last night our doctor gave our little one a clean bill of health! He is three months old. I can’t believe that we are finally parents!! We are SOOOOO HAPPY!!! It feels very surreal! We are so thankful that God has allowed us to be the parents of this precious baby!

Thank you for sharing in our joy and for all of your support through this process. We know we will need you even more as we wait to bring our little one home! (We now have about a 2-3 month wait to bring our baby home.)

Here are some pictures of our sweet baby Riley Michael!!!! (We will be calling him Riley!!)

Today was a busy day for us--it was our Fingerprinting Appointment Day! We had filed our I-600a form with the Department of Homeland Security (Citizenship and Immigration Services) on February 28th and our appointment wasn't until TODAY! So, after an over three month wait we got up early this morning and drove to Charlotte (the only office in NC where you can be fingerprinted). We had appointments scheduled at 9am and 10am. But, it was similar to the DMV where you go in and they look at your paperwork, give you a number, and tell you to have a seat until your number is flashing. So, after waiting for about an hour and a half we were called up and "fingerprinted." It was pretty uneventful to say the least! I'm still not exactly sure why we had appointment times??? Oh, well, bureaucracy at its finest! :) No other news to report...the wait continues!!!! UGH!!

We are 3+ weeks into our wait for a referral. We could really get a call at any point now. I had my first baby shower last week. It was given by my sweet friends Laura and Jenni for the teachers and staff I work with. It was SO much fun! I couldn't believe the generosity of so many people. As I have been putting the gifts away it has made everything even more real! I am now completely finished with work. There is never anything quite like summer vacation, but it's even more different this year knowing that in August I won't be going back. I will definitely miss my students and the sweet people I work with, but I am SO ready to be a stay-at-home mom! I can't believe that soon it will really happen.