Fall around here is almost as busy as summer. Yes, we are summer camp directors, so summer is CRAZY busy, but fall is almost the same. Almost every weekend we have retreat groups using the camp. It's great. I enjoy the flexibility of this time of year. We sure are busy though. Matt, our associate director has been out for about a month for knee surgery, so it's like the old days with just Steve and I running the show.
We also have many birthdays in the fall. Elijah turned 5 on October 19, Steve's birthday is October 23, and mine is Nov. 4. I will be the big 3O! Crazy! I hear your 3Os are good and I'm excited to see what the Lord brings our way in the future.
All our kids are growing up too fast.
Elijah just turned 5! He missed the cutoff for kindergarden by 19 days. For now, we plan to homeschool him. I am doing a kindergarden homeschool curriculum with him 3-4 days a week. He is learning to sound out words, which is very fun to watch.
Yoseph is doing great. He loves to give hugs and kisses and is a bright little guy. For a long time we worried about his speech development. We now cannot seem to get him to be quiet! A big praise!
Lydia is 9 months old now. She's crawling and eating regular food. She's a smiley little sweetie.... Well, at least for me she's a smiley sweetie. She really likes mommy and daddy best and hates to be left with anyone.
Now, onto the adoption related update. Things are progressing as scheduled. Thankfully all of the government offices we need are not affected by the craziness going on (for now. We have a fingerprint appointment next week that is the final step to get USCIS pre-approval. We are working on our dossier. We have about 3/4 of it done. Then it all has to get notarized, state authenticated, and federally sealed. Whew!
Thanks to many of our friends and family and sheets sales we have ALL the money needed to submit our dossier. This is amazing!! We have come a long way!
The next step after our dossier is waiting to be matched with a child. We believe this will happen within the next 6-8 months. Oh, how I long for that day. To see the face and look into the eyes that will be our daughter. To know more concretely what special needs are in our future. Even though my head knows we have several months of waiting still, my heart still hopes every time that phone rings that it will be THE CALL that we've been matched.
Once we are matched we will owe $9,OOO and will have to be ready to travel to Ethiopia twice- about another $1O,OOO. These are big numbers. Oh, how I wish money wasn't an obstacle in adoption. We'd probably adopt many more, but we know our God is bigger and will provide somehow.
We have applied for 2 grants, and working on a third application.
Please continue to support us. One of the grant organizations we've applied to allows donors to give in our names and receive tax-deductions, so pray that this one especially goes through. However, if taxes are not a concern to you, and you'd like to give to our cause, you can do so by check or to our paypal account at the top right of this blog. We have thus far raised about $6,OOO through the sale of sheets. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Please buy sheets, please give them as Christmas gifts, please tell your friends how great they are, and please if you can, bring a flyer to your friends/coworkers to buy some. This has been a great fundraiser for us.
Thank you for supporting our family in the many ways you have.
Love and Blessings,
The Gourleys
We also have many birthdays in the fall. Elijah turned 5 on October 19, Steve's birthday is October 23, and mine is Nov. 4. I will be the big 3O! Crazy! I hear your 3Os are good and I'm excited to see what the Lord brings our way in the future.
All our kids are growing up too fast.
Elijah just turned 5! He missed the cutoff for kindergarden by 19 days. For now, we plan to homeschool him. I am doing a kindergarden homeschool curriculum with him 3-4 days a week. He is learning to sound out words, which is very fun to watch.
Yoseph is doing great. He loves to give hugs and kisses and is a bright little guy. For a long time we worried about his speech development. We now cannot seem to get him to be quiet! A big praise!
Lydia is 9 months old now. She's crawling and eating regular food. She's a smiley little sweetie.... Well, at least for me she's a smiley sweetie. She really likes mommy and daddy best and hates to be left with anyone.
Now, onto the adoption related update. Things are progressing as scheduled. Thankfully all of the government offices we need are not affected by the craziness going on (for now. We have a fingerprint appointment next week that is the final step to get USCIS pre-approval. We are working on our dossier. We have about 3/4 of it done. Then it all has to get notarized, state authenticated, and federally sealed. Whew!
Thanks to many of our friends and family and sheets sales we have ALL the money needed to submit our dossier. This is amazing!! We have come a long way!
The next step after our dossier is waiting to be matched with a child. We believe this will happen within the next 6-8 months. Oh, how I long for that day. To see the face and look into the eyes that will be our daughter. To know more concretely what special needs are in our future. Even though my head knows we have several months of waiting still, my heart still hopes every time that phone rings that it will be THE CALL that we've been matched.
Once we are matched we will owe $9,OOO and will have to be ready to travel to Ethiopia twice- about another $1O,OOO. These are big numbers. Oh, how I wish money wasn't an obstacle in adoption. We'd probably adopt many more, but we know our God is bigger and will provide somehow.
We have applied for 2 grants, and working on a third application.
Please continue to support us. One of the grant organizations we've applied to allows donors to give in our names and receive tax-deductions, so pray that this one especially goes through. However, if taxes are not a concern to you, and you'd like to give to our cause, you can do so by check or to our paypal account at the top right of this blog. We have thus far raised about $6,OOO through the sale of sheets. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Please buy sheets, please give them as Christmas gifts, please tell your friends how great they are, and please if you can, bring a flyer to your friends/coworkers to buy some. This has been a great fundraiser for us.
Thank you for supporting our family in the many ways you have.
Love and Blessings,
The Gourleys
