Celebrations and countdowns!

I have no idea where the last week and a half went as we have been very busy. Matt's parents, the BEST and I do mean BEST in-laws God every created, came in town, and we always look forward to seeing them. Originally, they were coming in town for Luke's first communion but we managed to squeeze in Luke's soccer game and a family shower as well. We received some wonderful things, including a locket that my mom was given by her parents and that I wore when I was a little girl. Now, it's Maria's turn. :) Needless to say, tears were shed when opening it as it somehow made me feel the presence of my grandparents who I continue to miss every single day! They would be so proud right now! Anyway, I digress. . . we definitely made good use of the time my in-laws were in town. It was so wonderful to have all of the grandparents around at the same time! There was a lot of imagining what things will be like when two more grand kids are added. The week following, we spent gathering up documents, copying them, sending paperwork to Topeka, painting Andres and Maria's rooms and making lists of all of our "TO DO's." We ended our week by having our phone conference with Julie at CHI to go over all of our travel details. It was great to talk to her and I think we feel much more informed about what to expect. I think she worried a little as our tornado sirens started going off during the conference. We assured her all was ok as the spotted tornado was a few cities away. I think that comment kind of struck her funny. Only those of us who are seasoned tornadoites know it was all ok.

The best news is that we now have all of our official paperwork. We received our FBI clearances today which was a big relief. My fingerprints are not very definitive which sometimes causes the FBI to deny the clearance. So, it looks like in 12 more days we will be on our way and in 14 days we will have our family of five! We are so excited!! Also, this is my last week of work which is a great feeling since I have a number of things to do requiring a LOT of errand running. That's tough to fit in after work when competing with sports and activities. But I will dearly miss my co-workers. They, too, threw me a shower last week which was overwhelming within itself. So much generosity in that building! I am truly blessed to work with them each and every day. Thanks to each and every one of them who have supported us throughout this time. God definitely could not have dropped me into a more caring environment. : )

Finally, I thought I would end this post with some pics highlighting the week.



Just proud at the thought of being a big brother!



Cake from our family shower. There's no way it could have been any cuter.



Love this picture. It's times like this when I see how quickly he's grown.



Luke and his proud grandparents.



Probably our last picture as a family of three.