I have nothing to declare!

I am HUGE Charlie Brown/Peanuts fan. I grew up watching the cartoons over and over. One of my favorites was "Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown." He gets to go overseas for a foreign exchange student program, and I always laughed when he went through customs. He got so nervous and said, "I have nothing to declare!" Every time we've traveled overseas, I've felt the urge to proclaim the same statement, as I always get super nervous, too. I'm not sure why, but there's something about it all that makes me question myself. It's the same feeling I have gotten when we've had to get fingerprinted for our adoption process. I know that I have a totally clean slate, but there's that worry that if they look hard enough, maybe they'll come up with something! Lol. Yes, I realize it sounds ridiculous, but I think you all know by now that I tend to be a bit ridiculous in general:) So on Monday, I revisited that scene in the Charlie Brown movie as I marched myself into the sheriff's office with my fingerprinting cards in hands. This time was different though, because I didn't just have my fingerprinting cards in one hand, but I also had a sweet three month old in my hands. The last time we were fingerprinted, we had not even been approved for our adoption, and now here we are preparing to consummate our son's adoption. It's truly an amazing feeling! I won't lie-I still have those moments of fearing the uncertainties of the situation, but God has also filled me with such tremendous peace overall, so rather than live in fear of the unknown, I'm trying to live in the joy of the present, and as I look at my sweet baby boy each day, I am overwhelmed by what a gift he truly is!

After getting fingerprinted on 10/22--
 they do it the old fashioned way here,
so boy was it messy!

Can you tell we are a LOT more exhausted
in this set of fingerprinting pictures
than we were last time?  LOL

So where exactly are we in the process right now? We mailed in our documents (fingerprint cards, something we had to notarize, etc.) and funds to our lawyer on Monday (10/22/12) and now we wait (a familiar word to us in this process) to hear when our court date is set. We are praying that the judge will waive the six month waiting period and that we will be able to consummate Gabriel's adoption in the beginning of December. Please join us in praying that these left steps are smooth ones!

Family of FOUR!  Last time we went in the bank
to notarize something, it was just the three of us!

On a different note...can you believe that Gabriel is 17 WEEKS OLD?! He still hasn't rolled over any more, but he's getting more and more active-he loves playing with the toys hanging above his playmat and just in the last few days he's become very interested in the netting on his pack n play and rubs his hand back and forth on it for long periods at a time. It's pretty loud! There's also this one corner in the house that he finds hilarious. We cannot figure out why, but every time he looks in that direction he just starts smiling and even laughing-so fun! He absolutely hates sitting still in the car, so picking up sissy from school is a pretty miserable experience for him. But other than that, he continues to be a super content baby boy.

What a joy you are precious Gabriel Paul! We are looking forward to your gotcha' day!

sacked out after a long day in GP's favorite corner of the house