Day 13

On Day 13 of waiting for Little Man...

church, lunch, and play dates with sweet friends!

Cracking up at Halle Caroline's outfit.  She wore this little get up to church.  Nothing shows your Ranger spirit like wearing a claw shirt with a tutu skirt to church!  And because I know she will get on this blog and comment and throw me under the bus.... yes, I suggested the outfit.

** edited:  If you are not so cool and don't really follow the Texas Rangers, then I'm sorry for you.  I've been discussing "antlers and claws" in various posts... And some of you are lost.  Sorry for that.  I thought everyone was a die hard fan of the Rangers like me.  At some point in time this season, oh I don't know maybe in the beginning of the season.  Someone on the team made up these signs. (I think it was a rookie.) So when a batter hits a really good hit.  The players will make the "claw" sign as shown on Halle Caroline's shirt. It means POWER.... A power hit.  The antlers mean "run like a deer"... as in a runner ran really fast.  So for the season, the players have been making these signs to each other.  And of course the fans have just loved it and embraced the claw and antlers.  So everyone in the metroplex and beyond, is wearing claw and antlers shirt.  I wish I could show you a picture of her back... but on the back is a deer with a full rack of antlers.  And word on the street is... none of the claws and antlers are professional drawings or marketing blahblah.... someone in the clubhouse just drew the claw and hung it up and that's the claw that's on all the t-shirts.  In addition, there is a deer head hanging in the clubhouse as well.  Casey, there is your explanation of the claw and antlers.

Day 12

Soooo.... I can't take credit for all this good stuff that I find on blogs.... but I saw this somewhere as I was stalking....wish I could give credit where credit is due.... and I'm not exactly sure what she was doing but I am almost positive that this is what it was.... good gracious get to the point H!  Well, since we are thinking so much about Little Man in our daily lives... it's like he's almost here... we talk about what he'd be doing lots, or what he would think in certain situations, and so on.... and since this is just such a journey to him...and it seems like our life is such in limbo right now. We aren't complete. WE ARE JUST SUPPOSED TO BE THE CHEATHAM 6, not 5.  I even RSVP'd to a party the other day... "not 6, just 5 for tonight". Anyways, I am going to document parts of our lives as this is just our "waiting period".  Actually we've been waiting since January 2010, when we made that decision to adopt, but I'm gonna start the timer on the day that we officially went on the waitlist, October 12, 2010.

So, on Day 12 as we were waiting for Little Man... we went to a neighborhood halloween party....Lot's of people asked about your status Little Man!

And then I left the party to go watch the Ranger whoop up on the Giants!!!! Woohoo!
Not many pics.... priorities people!

Antlers UP!

Last night instead of meeting at the church for our regular small groups.... we met at our friend's house for burgers and a little Rangers action.  Oh, did you hear??? The Texas Rangers are in the World Series!!! And it's super fun right now in our neck of the woods... ummm, except when they lose game 1.

All of these kids have literally been friends since birth.  So fun!  

I was whippin' everyone... making them do "claw" and "antlers" for pictures! :)

GO RANGERS!!!

Random tidbits

Well.... life is crazy as usual around the Cheatham casa.  Just a few things to document in this rollercoaster ride.

1.  So we have been on the "wait list" for a little over a week now.  There is a very UNofficial list that not everyone participates in for Gladney families.  But some people do. I wish I knew the percentage of how many of the adopting families do participate in this list.  Anywhoo.  For what we are requesting .... there is NO ONE ahead of us on that UNofficial list.  NO ONE AHEAD OF US.... Even though Gladney says an average of 8 months wait for referral... In my little head (cup half full), this equals that actually, Miss S (our caseworker) could be calling any second! haha!  I know I will be looking back and laughing at this in like 10 months when we still have no referral! Let me clarify- I actually think there is one family that overlaps our age bracket by like 2 months.  So according to my list in my head- we are at the top of the list for a boy age 18 months - 3years! ha!

2.  We are in the middle of a GREATER THINGS capital campaign at our church.  Our church is building a University in Uganda (how cool is that???), building a West side of town campus, and refurbishing our outdated auditorium.  So we have been talking about this for campaign for months now at church.  The other day, Ellison and her friend Sidney had a lemonade stand...

in this envelope contains her proceeds toward the Greater Things fund.  So sweet.  I think it is 3 dollars and some-odd cents. :)

She has come a long way... about 3 months ago, they gave out milk jugs to all the kids at church so that they could be saving loose change for Greater Things.  When she came out of church, I asked her what the milk jug was for... She said, "well we are supposed to be saving our money for the church... but I'm not doing that.... I'm saving my money to bring Little Man home!" haha!  Clearly, we have talked a lot about the sacrifices of adopting as to how it affects the budget!

3.  Halle Caroline is in full swing of her dance team and also her competitive cheer team.  I have to say that she has finally found her "thing".  She is a happy girl.  She danced last night at the football game.

She's second from the end.

3rd from the right

4.  Brooks is very busy with tennis.  I have failed to post many pictures of him playing.  Probably because I haven't taken many.  I need to get better about that.

5.  We are just totally loving this ride we are taking with the Texas Rangers.  You know, Derek used to be the bat boy for the Rangers.  (Wish I could find a pic - Nene, do you have a pic?) Derek was George W's #1 gum getter back when W was one of the owners.  He would always yell down to Derek and tell him to get him some gum out of the dugout.  That's Derek's claim to fame.  Anyloo, we love the Rangers!

That's all I got!

HUGE NEWS!

{design by Halle Caroline}

YEP! THAT'S RIGHT!!! WE ARE OFFICIALLY ON THE WAIT LIST!!!!!! As of 10-12-10 we are on the Gladney Wait List for A BOY age 18 months-36 months (at time of referral).  Yay!!! We are so happy and excited that we will some day be the Cheatham Six! HOLLA!

What happens now, you ask?  well... we have an AVERAGE wait of 8 MONTHS for a referral, which is when we are matched with a child and we get all of his information like medical records and PICTURES! :)  Then we wait for a court date which would be an AVERAGE of 4 months from time of referral.  We will travel to Ethiopia for the court date.  After "passing court" we will wait an AVERAGE  of 2-6 weeks for an Embassy Date.  At that point we will get to bring him home!!!!

So in a nutshell.... an AVERAGE of...

8 months + 4 months + 1 month = when we will have Little Man home.  


(That's an average of what Gladney families are waiting at this point in time.)

Who knows though really?  God is in control... and I'm alright with that.

So we are celebrating just being on the wait list! FINALLY!

Typical conversations with girls

My girls are always doing some kind of gymnastics while having a conversation on any given day at any given time.  Especially Ellison.... SHE CANNOT STAND STILL. ever.

For example...

I am such a Martha

and it really gets in the way of things.... You know that Bible story when Jesus comes to Mary and Martha's house and Martha is all cleaning the house for him and so preoccupied with all the preparations and making sure that everything is just perfect for Jesus.  And then Mary is all sitting at His feet and listening to what Jesus has to say... And then Martha comes to Jesus and says, "Lord, don't you care that she is leaving me to do all the work by myself?"... And Jesus tells her... that Mary has chosen what is better.

Well unfortunately.... I am such a Martha..... It keeps me from having people over... because I have to have everything just perfect... EVERYTHING.  House perfectly cleaned, everything perfectly decorated, meal perfectly prepared.... and then I still think that whatever I do.... it's never good enough... Oh how I wish I could just be one of those people that just have people over without freaking out over it.  But this may just break me in....

20-something 6th graders! (There were several kids missing from this pic)

We took this pic so that we have this one from their 1st D-group in 6th grade and then we will take one at their 1st D-group their senior year.

So.... a while back.... my friend Aimee and I decided that when our girls got in 6th grade, we would be D-group leaders.  Our church is pretty large... so they divide the youth group into all the different grade levels into about 3 different groups per grade.  We do this 2 times a month on Sunday nights.  Somehow, I got roped into being the host home.... Well, it was put this way to me.... you can be the host home, or you can lead the whole group? My answer: Ummmm - HOST HOME PLEASE.  Because besides being a loser Martha... I am not a Bible scholar, nor a teacher.

But I did always want to have the "Kool-Aid House".... so I guess my wish came true!

Playing games (don't judge the dead grass... we have a disease, I guess)

One of the other D-group leaders told me to just not think about the Month of February when it is 30 degrees and the kids can't play outside because it's freezing cold.  eeekkk.

It was pure craziness! But fun crazy! Maybe, just maybe this will push me past the Martha syndrome.

This weekend we went and participated in the whole youth group retreat (6th-12th grade).  It was amazing! I have to admit.... I was dreading it, completely dreading it.  But wow! Those kids are so on fire for the Lord.  I love their passion.  There is nothing I love more than singing and enjoying our praise band at church.  And these kids can just blow the roof off the place.  I'm not sure that I will ever miss another youth retreat.  The worship is incredible.  (I've always been a big fan of the youth retreat anyway! ;) )

For those of you that have iphones.... I know that i always accidentally somehow hit that voice recorder message thingy.... well Derek accidentally hit his while all the kids were singing... and he got some of our favorite song... accidentally! what a treat!  and it includes both of our worship leaders that I totally have crushes on. just saying.  there is something about a guy with a guitar... and there is something about a guy with a guitar singing for Jesus! ha! jk! Y'all know I'm joking!

Check it out!

We FINALLY got IT!!!

That's right! We finally got our I-171H FAVORABLE DETERMINATION LETTER!!! WOOHOO!!!
We are SOOOOOO excited!!

I was expecting it to come by US Mail, so I really thought that it wouldn't be here until Thursday or Friday.  My friend Aimee came over today to help me pick out clothes for our family picture and when I opened the door to let her in.... there it was laying on my doorstep in a Fed Ex envelope!!!! I couldn't believe that there it was.... the letter we have been waiting for.... for months and months. Kinda crazy.  It's weird.... I think yesterday was the day that I really just let God have the situation... I was talking to my bff's after workout and one of my bff's has been on a Let's Start Talking trip to China for the last 2 weeks and so she was asking what was up with Little Man while she had been gone..... and I told her that we were still waiting on this crazy piece of paper.... And I just said (and finally believed it), you know, I can call CIS everyday, multiple times a day, and I can beg and plead, and I can call my Senator/Congressman, etc.... but it's not gonna get done until God has done His business getting us ready and getting Little Man ready.... Maybe Little Man is still in his village.... who knows.... but me, trying to control the government and this letter, well it's just not gonna happen until God has everything in place.  And I just finally believed what I had been saying for so long.  It was relieving really.  After I left workout Derek called me and told me that he had finally just received an email receipt (that the email had been opened) of the documents we had mailed our caseworker last Wednesday. (This was the following Tuesday).  Late Tuesday afternoon was when we found out that it had been sent out.... And now it's Wednesday and we have it!!!

So it will be in the mail to Kate in New York tomorrow along with my updated medical records (they had expired).  This may be way optimistic.... but I am hoping we are on that waitlist sometime next week.

Here's a pic that Aimee took when I got the letter! I was home by myself...

And then at 8:30 we finally got everyone together for a family pic! Brooks and Ellison are really cracking up at something.... I think Dad trying to run to get in the pic!

word on the street is...

OUR I-171H WAS SENT OUT TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!


For those that are just tuning in.... this is the LAST piece of paper we need to complete our dossier so that it can be sent to Ethiopia and we can FINALLY go on our agency's waitlist! Glory Hallelujah!

Although.... I will not believe it until I see it.  Until I have that sweet piece of paper in my hand!

15 weeks.... That's our long we waited for US Immigration to tell us we can bring a child back into the good ole USA!  That does not count the 3 months we waited for a fingerprint appt and to finally be fingerprinted.  The whole US Immigration waiting process took about 6 1/2 months.  Nice. :/

And if I have a label for USCIS.... that means there was entirely too many posts written on this subject.

Just so so precious...

We were so fortunate to be able to meet this couple at a Generous Giving retreat that we attended in August.  They are just neat neat people.... I wanted to share this video and the amazing things they are doing.



For starters they created "His Chase Foundation".  One of the things that they have done with the foundation is built a cottage/house for boys that were rescued off of Lake Volta in Ghana while they were in slavery.  This cottage is called "Chase's Place"  (Side note..... every time Marc and Chelsea mentioned "Chase's Place" during our time together... their eyes just lit up!)  They have partnered with Touch a Life Foundation to do this.  Which brings me to..... if you have not read "Jantsen's Gift".... run, don't walk to your nearest bookstore to get it! You can also order it on Amazon.

The Jacobs family is now in the process of adopting from Rwanda! You can enjoy their blog here and here.

Actually, I can't even do this family justice in my words... I know there is a million things I left out like "Chase Day".... but by watching them, you will be amazed at how they just "live life"!