An Itchy Nose & A Belly Button

Appointment

There isn't a lot to update on except that I am checking my email at least 5 times a day "just in case" there is any news from Beacon House!

We did get our appointment with the Immigration Dept. to get our fingerprinting done though. It's October 7 at 9am. I've had this done before (for my green card - NOT because I'm a criminal or anything!!) & the last time there was a problem & I had to go all the way back again & re-do it, so our prayer is that the appointment would go smoothly & that our petition will move along swiftly! Thanks!

No More Training Wheels!

Here is the proud biker & his Dad.

Crunch Time!

Well, after several failed attempts, (email problems?) we finally got our home study to the agency in Washington. From there, it will go to Ghana & I think they should have it there by now. It is basically a detailed article about our family, so the staff will prayerfully use it to choose a child(ren) for us!

When they have chosen, they will email us pictures & info & we will officially accept. Then they will go to court in Ghana on our behalf & if that goes OK, then our child will legally be a Grotberg. It's still a bit surreal, but I think once we have a photo & a name & a story, we will be feeling the realness & the urgency to get our little one home SOON (even more than we already do now!)

Thanks for your prayers that God will be ALL OVER the "choosing process" & that we'll be able to stay sane as we wait to hear.

We still have plenty of work to do, so I'm sure that will help occupy us. We have passports to get, (just in case we do end up traveling) miscellaneous paper work to fill out, as well as several adoption grants to apply for.

The Beach

We took a few days off at the beach. It was wonderful to relax and play all together. John & I kept saying, "Won't it be neat when we are here next year with our new little one." We are so looking forward to experiencing life & family with our new little son or daughter.

One BIG thing that happened at the beach was that Mark learned how to ride his bike without training wheels! This is BIG stuff! By the way, it only looks like I am choking Mark in this picture! He was a reluctant poser! :)

Patient Hunter

I think this is pure comic relief. I leaned over & put my hair over my patient German Shepherd's ears to see what he'd look like as a Golden Retriever. If you think this is silly, imagine what I'll be posting when we get closer to actually getting our child & are really stir crazy!

How It Feels

I was reading an adoption article recently & the author captured how I am feeling so perfectly when she said that adoption is like a blind date, except it's permanent! This is the excitement & the apprehension we are feeling as we wait to see who our next precious child will be. As I've thought about it though, I've realized it's not that different from having a biological child, in that, you never know what your child's personality & special "bent" will be, but I guess we are more comfortable with that experience just due to familiarity. Does that make sense?

It's Here!

Our Home Study arrived in the mail today! :)
Very exciting to say the least!
Now we can scan it & email it off to Ghana so Beacon House can start thinking about which child will be the next love of our lives.

Hanging out with the Cochins - our favorite breed of chicken. They make great pets.


Mark & his Papa - I love their smiles!

Waiting for mail

OK, our homestudy should arrive any day now & I am on pins & needles & keep checking to see - is it here yet?!! Once it's here (& I finish my "Happy Dance") we'll proof read it to make sure all the info. about us is accurate & then we'll send it back to our home study agency so they can create the official copy (which will be worth it's weight in gold - to us anyway.) We'll also send a copy off to Ghana so they can use it to start thinking about which child(ren) is a good match for our family & vice versa. I'm so excited it makes my head spin!

I love this simple picture of my little boy's fingers.

Moving Forward

There were a few last minute details that had to be attended to last week, but we are finally 100% finished with our part of the home study! The agency we are using (which has been wonderful) will send us a rough copy soon (maybe even this week) & then I'll forward it to Ghana. (They'll need the official copy of course, but they said they'd like to read it asap so the rough copy will do for now.) They'll use it, at least partly, to chose a child(ren) for us!!! I'm not sure how long that will take but they are pretty quick by adoption standards. (Honestly, our experience with Beacon House has been so good! We are very thankful to have found it!) Anyhow, it all still feels surreal, but also exciting & scary too. (Kind of hard to explain) It feels like we're moving into deep, and possibly dark waters WAY over our heads, but with a peace & a confidence anyway. It feels like God.

Family Photos

My Dad got a new camera & took so many great pics of us while he & my Mom were visiting! I LOVE family photos & am looking forward to the time when our new little one(s) will finally be included in ours.

The lighting is kind of wierd in this photo but I thought it was a cute shot of Mark & his Nana. We are taking care of Toby Daucshund right now & they both love him.

New Post for Holly

This new post is for my sister, Holly, who told me to get at it & post something!! :)

Well, we've been busy with my parents visiting us from Canada, so that's why the blogging has slowed down. Mark has been so happy with all the extra attention from them & has been going around singing & just generally feeling more content than usual! So sweet! I love it! We'll miss them when they have to go home.

On the adoption front, I've gotten all the reference letters in that we needed (Yay!) but now there is a slight problem with a medical form where a Dr. forgot to answer one question. So, I have to attend to that pronto. Details! But, as soon as I can get that to our social worker, she can write up our completed home study!!!!!!!! The orphanage's agency actually called us last week asking us how close we were to wrapping up because they want to start the process of matching us with a child(ren)! You cannot imagine how exciting (& scary!) this is for us! We are so looking forward to finding out who the next love of our lives will be. We are in awe of God, Who has so faithfully guided us through this amazing process so far!