Fingerprint Appointment - Jackson, MS!

When adopting a child internationally, you deal quite a bit with USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Service). This is who we work with to obtain official citizenship for our child. And it can get complicated. A few weeks ago we filed our initial application with them, the I600-A, or Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition. Once they receive and approve this initial application, they send you fingerprint appointments to be obtained at your nearest Department of Homeland Security. Ours just happens to be in Jackson, MS!  After these fingerprints are cleared, they mail you official I600-A approval. It can take several weeks/months for these fingerprints to clear and receive this approval. It's just a lengthy process, like everything else related to adoption :) Once you receive it, if you have a referral, you can send in your 1600 form, or Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative. See what I mean? Complicated. But we are just taking it one step at a time to ensure we are doing it correctly. And the latest step we took was traveling to Jackson for our fingerprints! Our appointment was scheduled for 8:00 a.m., and our form stated how incredibly important it was for us to be at this appointment and be on time. So, we drove in the night before to ensure we would be there. I definitely enjoyed a night of peaceful sleep!

They don't allow phones are cameras inside the building, so we snapped a picture in the car before going inside.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is located inside this federal building. It really was a neat place!

We were in and out very quickly, and then headed to Highland Village to meet a very special lady for breakfast!

Alison has the blog Lovin' Much and is adopting a baby girl from Ethiopia! She is from Jackson, and she and I have chatted through email some, so when I found out we'd be traveling there for our USCIS appointment, we decided to meet for a visit! She is just a precious person and is such an encourager. When she and her husband began the process, they were given an estimated time frame of 12-18 months from start to finish. They are now going on 3 years, and have officially been on the wait list for over 24 months. But her faith is so strong! She has such an evident love for the Lord, and is waiting patiently for Him to reveal their daughter to them. And they are so close now! They are in the top 5 on their wait list! Please join me in praying that get that coveted phone call very soon and finally get to see their daughter's face!  They also have 3 young biological children, and felt the Lord calling them to expand their family through adoption, so we had lots to talk about!

After we said our goodbye's, we drove on into Vicksburg, did a little shopping, and ate lunch at our ol' standby...Cracker Barrel! We know. We are old souls. We really are. And we are totally fine with that :)

It was a fun relaxing little trip, and it was so nice to get to do something productive for our sweet baby! These fingerprints may have only taken us 10 minutes, but knowing they would be used to help obtain our child's United States citizenship, made us feel a bit more connected with our sweet baby still so far away.

One Month Photo

Our one month waiting picture. Let's hope from now on I can get this posted in a more timely manner :) I'll be posting a new one in a couple weeks!

Labor Day {Lake Chicot}

My Uncle Terry and Aunt Kristi recently bought a house on Lake Chicot, and they so graciously invited the whole family out for Labor Day! It was such a beautiful day!

Uncle John taking Beckett down to the dock...

The kids all had a blast playing together...especially on this super fun slide my cousin Bill created!

Brody taking a turn!



This is such a Beckett look ;)

There's that smile!

Levi enjoying playing in Aunt Kathy's lap!

Me and my Daddy!

Beckett even took a turn on the boogie board! He isn't quite the dare devil that Brody is, so he really had to work up the nerve to try, but I think he enjoyed it!

Beckett and Kingston enjoyed playing together, too!

Baby Dude has got it made.

So thankful Brent was off and could join us as well! Isn't the view from their house just beautiful?!

We also celebrated my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary while we were there. 60 years! I think that is just so amazing. I am so thankful for the example that these two people are in my life. I can only pray that Brent and I will have the same kind of relationship they have when we have been married 60 years. Only 53 to go! Ha!

The grands and great-grands that were there that day :)

My kids love my cousin Bill (they call him Bobby)!

This is Levi with my great Aunt Nelda. She is just the neatest funniest lady! Love her!

After grilling, eating, visiting, sliding, resting, and playing, we ended the day with a little boat fun!

Layla, Kenleigh, and Brody LOVE Big Mable!!!! And they're no wimpy riders either! They want to go fast and the more they are slung around, the better!

Sweet Beckett mostly just observed from the boat ;)

It's days like these I realize how blessed I am to have such a big, fun, loving family!

Beckett's Party at the Park!

This year for Beckett's party, we went easy peasy. A party at the park! He loves to play here, and the party entertainment was provided, so it was a win-win for both of us!

Beckett and his Pawpaw - one of his biggest buddies these days.

Now that Levi is walking, he is such a pleasure to take to the park! He was always a filthy mess when he was scooting everywhere, but not anymore!

Aunt Carrie, Uncle Tony, and Michaele came in from Fayetteville, so they were here for the party!

Layla and Brody

Sweet Lux! I could just kiss those cheeks!

Jaxon, Jon Tyler, and Sammy came to play!

Brooke and Morgan

Ashleigh

Brooke and Lukey

After the kids played for a bit, I noticed the cupcakes were melting, so we sang happy birthday and ate cupcakes!

Then it was time to open gifts!!

I am so glad our big three year old had a fun party!