some thanksgiving pics

nashville to rwanda

Today we had dinner with 2 other families who are adopting from Rwanda, the Smiths and Lavenders! We are excited to begin to establish this kind of community. We had lunch at Pei Wei and discovered that our Dossier's (paperwork) arrived in Rwanda close to the same time - the other 2 familes on Oct. 12 and ours on Nov. 1. We hope this means that we will get to travel together!

Also, Kelly gave me a heads up on our position in line. It sounds like with our agency there are only 6 families ahead of us, and with all the movement we have seen in the last couple weeks, it feels like we may be traveling sooner than I thought. We decided that June would be good for all of us.... now we just need to get Rwanda on board. :)

If you are curious about any of the families that are in Rwanda or leaving soon- check out the blogs in my adoption blog list.... they are probably the blogs with recent activity.

Fedex comes through- kudos for tracking numbers

After about a week of the Fedex folks rapping on the door of the folks in Rwanda, someone finally answered and signed for our documents- they have officially arrived. I don't expect to hear too much more on the adoption front for a while. This is out time to wait.

Several families who have been waiting a while for their Rwandan babies heard news this week and received referrals... we are so excited for them to have court dates and then they can show us pictures of their little ones! I will try and get some of the links on the blogs I follow.

Orphan Sunday

We were able to attend the Cry of the Orphan event this afternoon/evening at Christ Community Church. Speakers/ musicians included Steven Curtis Chapman, Jim Daley (focus on the family) and the Children of the World Choir. It will be broadcast on the Gospel Music Channel in the near future. www.cryoftheorphan.org.

It was wonderful to be part of an environment of people passionate about adoption and believing that we are privileged to be part of eliminating the word orphan!

Halloween

Sadie did not want to wear the dog costume we had, so that went back to Target. She was a fairy/princess/tinkerbell at school and a Buckeye for trick-or-treating.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Our Dossier that is! We got the email this morning from our adoption coordinator. Our Dossier was approved by the Rwandan Embassy and our paperwork is on it's way to Rwanda! The approval letter was attached to the email and it made our little guy feel a little bit more real. I can hardly wait to meet him.

Lots of paperwork, lots of excitement

Just Love Coffee Fundraiser

Just Love Coffee has finally opened it's doors! This company provides a way for families to fundraise while supporting the coffee industry in Africa and other countries with Fair Trade.

We have a store front on the website: http://www.justlovecoffee.com/sharp

You can purchase coffee from our store front to support our adoption. We earn $5 per bag sold. You can purchase the coffee by the bag as you need it or sign up to receive it every month or every other month. Shipping is the same for 1 or 2 bags, so I would recommend going for 2 bags at the same time.

I am excited to try the Rwanda coffee first! I found some Ethiopian coffee earlier this year and thought it was pretty good.

Thanks for your support!