80's song, weekend in review, adoption process moving along

This past weekend, Spencer's team was running a race in Memphis. They raced at a soccer complex where they finished the race in the stadium. It was called the Memphis Twilight. The high school and college students actually ran and finished at twilight and in the dark under the big lights in the stadium. It was a two mile run for the middle schoolers. It was so fun! I had to include this song on my blog b/c I heard it at the race last weekend. I had to crack up b/c when I was a kid I thought it said, "ain't nothing gonna break my spine." It actually says, "ain't nothing gonna break my stride. It's a great running song. oh the 80's--full of great times and good music. Do any of you remember this song?

Anyway...I digress. We stayed in Germantown which was pretty close to where the race was. There were all these horses decorated differently all over the place. Before we headed out, I had to take some pictures of Natalie with the horses. Check out the one Natalie is sitting on. It is covered in candy wrappers....actual wrappers off candy bars. That was by far her favorite. Spencer wouldn't get out of the car on that b/c he was sure the police were going to come visit us...fortunately they did not and it was such a great photo op. Plus...there was not a sign that said, "please do not ride the horse."

I submitted our referral paperwork package last Wednesday. I sent it express....only it didn't arrive the next day....That had me a little on the nervous side. It did arrive Friday and what do you know? We were supposed to initial every single page of the medical info. DOH!! She was so sweet and told me that would not hold anything up...Just initial every page and return ASAP. ok...got it today and will mail it back out tomorrow. We also are having to have an amendment done for USCIS (USCIS is immigration services--department of homeland security where you get approved to bring a child into our country). We had originally been approved for a child/children 0-3 years, but now we need to be approved 0-4 since "D" is now 4. Our social worker revised our home study and we picked that up tonight. I will mail that package off to USCIS tomorrow morning. Please pray that they will process it expeditiously. The last time it took them over two months to get back to us.....One thing I have learned is that many government people are not in a hurry. ;)

We picked up D's twin bed from a sweet lady that I use to work with. She also had a toy bin/bucket thingy. HOORAY!! I am hopefully going to begin painting his room tomorrow. Still not sure on the color. I had picked up a brown color (it was an "oops" paint-no biggie), but the family thinks it's too dark....so we shall see. 

We have a call with our caseworker on Thursday for our "next steps" and a travel conference call in 2 weeks talking all about what to expect when traveling...etc. etc.  It's getting exciting!! Now, if Spencer's teacher's would calm down on all the tests, benchmarks, and study island assignments, we could relax for a moment. oh well. It's almost fall break. I can't believe I've been home for 9 weeks. My how the time flies!!

Have a great week!

With much love,