Today I bought dresses :)

Today was my re-fingerprinting appointment with US Immigration-- USCIS. Tony and I had to be re-fingerprinted for a couple of reasons. One, being that we accepted a referral outside of our originally approved age range-- in other words, our immigration paperwork said that we would bring home either one or two children under the age of four-- and we're not. We are bringing home a 6 and 3 year old. So, when you do that, you have to re-do part of the paperchasing process-- the homestudy and I-171H. The other reason we had to be re-fingerprinted is that our fingerprints will have expired before we finalize our adoption. Fingerprints are only valid for 15 months and the I-171H (which is the whole REASON for getting fingerprinted-- approval to bring home a child from another country) is only valid for 18 months. Both will expire before we travel. So.... I was in Durham, NC today to be re-fingerprinted.

Okay, but here is the fun part... the USCIS office in Durham is conveniently located only 5 miles from Southpoint Mall-- which happens to be one of the nicest malls in the Triangle (Raleigh and surrounding area). It has all my favorite stores that I love to look in and RARELY buy anything at. And, they must have known that Shari Dragovich would one day live near Southpoint and so they decided to put all my favorite stores in one wing of the mall. Half the shoppes are outside and half inside. My favorites all happen to be in a line. I rarely go to the mall-- who has the time or money or needs the opportunity to lust after all that "chaff in the wind"? But, today I had the time AND a little extra money and I was on a mission. Decide on a color scheme for our little girl's room and buy something pink... with ruffles :) I DID BOTH!!!! HOORAY! I have a pink daisy quilt that is currenly scheduled to be in the first week of May on hold for me, I bought curtains that are pretty pink and white striped and I bought FOUR little dresses-- all on sale-- at Baby Gap. And did you know that all gap's little girl dresses have matching bloomers with them???? I was so excited-- still am. :)

It was a great day. I am so thankful to have had it!! I remember when I was pregnant with my first boy and I LOVED going into baby Gap and buying him little outfits. Each boy got less and less from there-- obviously :). But, everytime I would walk in the store, I always had to stop and touch the dresses. This time, I got to go home with some dresses, too!

I hope I don't come across as only being excited about our little girl. For some reason I feel like I need to clarify. I am overjoyed that God would choose me to mother another son :) And I am most excited to see him grow and bound into action with his 3 brothers. And in his pictures, he is already looking like he is taking care of his little sister at the Transition Home. It makes me cry tears of utter unworthiness every time I see his face, think of his life's journey thus far and imagine that I have been entrusted with the continuation of raising this boy into a godly man who will walk in the ways of the Lord.

And as for our little princess... although I may only talk of ruffles and lace and lovely pastels, in my heart and all my prayers, I ask God to soften her little heart towards me, to grant me the wisdom to be a mother to a daughter and provide me the insight to see into her heart and mind so I can reach her, teach her and grow her into a woman of grace.

May 20th is getting closer! Please join our family in prayer as we petition our Lord of Hosts to grant Joshua B. and Rebekah S. to legally become members of Team Dragovich!

Grace and Peace,
Shari

Hmmmm... Time flies when your...

...being silly with Sam at the park by Grandpa's lake

... Taking in all of Charleston, NC

... Building sandcastles at the beach

... getting shots to travel to Ethiopia

... living at the soccer fields!!

Okay, so that is only MOST of the reason why I haven't posted in such a long time. The other part of the equation is that I don't really know what to say. Who wants to hear about a family in constant motion right now? And, when there is facebook to distract me and not make me think in complete sentences... well... it wins. :)

But, here is a synopsis of where we are at adoption wise: our court date is May 20th. If we pass court on this day, we will travel to Ethiopia on June 6th. Yes... I said WE. Tony is COMING HOME!!!!!!!! So that is good news :) He will actually be home somewhere around the 15th of May, so Team Dragovich will have a few weeks together before we dive into expanded family life-- hooray!!! I feel so spoiled :)

But Shari, you say, you said 'if' you pass court... is it possible that you wouldn't pass court the first time round??? Why yes, it is very possible. In fact, today the Semlow family finally passed court after 7 MONTHS of paperwork, red tape and all sorts of problems keeping them from a positive court turnout. BUT... I am here to PRAISE GOD with them and tons of other families who have been diligently praying these beautiful children into their arms. In two weeks, they will be in Ethiopia to finally unite with their three new kiddos and BRING THEM HOME!!! Go check out their blog. There are some happy people over there :)

So, other than just trying to keep up with daily life, I have been trying to pull bedrooms together for J.B. and R.S. (did you notice I didn't say their full names? That is because they aren't legally my kids yet. It is a secret until then :)). I managed to move furniture around and even take apart a bed and put it back together again in another room. I have one room ready for a set of bunk beds and now our little girl's room is screaming for some attention. Funny, that is the room I am most excited to do and it is the last to be done. Oh well. Maybe part of the problem is I haven't settled on a color for the wall-- what shade of green??? Or pink? Or turquoise?? Probably not turquoise. Or should I pick out a bedding set first and be inspired by that? And, WHY is Pottery Barn calling my name so often??? I mean, have you SEEN the little girl bedding from there? Why can't I find something I like as much for cheaper?? Ugh.

So, you see... R.S.'s room sits and waits. But, in the meantime, I really had to put in the garden-- I tilled it myself. Not pretty. You would have laughed outloud if you saw me do it. But, it is done and the garden is in, and now I have to keep it watered. And, I've been trying to make the yard look more presentable. It is weedy. And dead in spots. I just HATE for my husband to come home to a bad yard. That is the ONE thing he cares about. I could have all the bedrooms completely done, planted the garden and even do some lovely landscaping... but he would have been most happy about a healthy yard. Not that it is really my fault-- it is the way water sits in low spots. And other things that we inherited from the builder's "landscaper"... but I digress.

Okay, so now you know the randomness of my thoughts-- especially right before bed. You should be glad I haven't posted more often during this deployment :D!!

Grace and Peace,
Shari