In the Meantime...

Before I go any further, here are two blogs of families that are in Ethiopia right now:

The Foote Family
The Cole Family

I think there are others, but these are two that I found are updating their blogs well.

Okay...

I bet you have been wondering what Team Dragovich is up to in the meantime... you know, the MEAN time between our two court dates :)! That is what I think it is anyway. Well, we've stayed pretty busy. My dear friends threw me a beautiful adoption shower, and we were certainly showered with wonderful gifts and lots of PINK!!!!! I do not ever get tired of looking at pink girlie clothes, that's for sure!

We've also took a day trip to the beach-- we live two hours from some very nice, family friendly, quiet beaches along the southern border of NC-- right above South Myrtle Beach. That was tons of fun and other than coming back looking like lobsters, it was a huge success.

Tony dove back into work. He came home to some pretty big things happening for Womack's pain department, and pain medicine in the Army overall. I am so proud of the work he does for soldiers and their famlies. He would be embarrassed that I am bragging about him, but oh well. And I am sorry if it is offensive that I am bragging about my husband's skills. Sometimes I just can't help myself-- God has so gifted him in this area. I think God's gifts are so creative and funny sometimes. Or maybe it is just funny to be married to someone who is so gifted and talented in treating pain in people. Not that I don't think that it is important-- I think it is VERY important!! It is just not what I ever expected-- do I know what I did expect?? No. But, I never even knew there was such a thing as a "pain medicine specialist"... let alone that I would marry one. Of course, he wasn't a pain medicine specialist when I married him. :) Anyway, that was sorta a rabbit-trail. Tony is busy and has a lot of different things going on in the world of pain, and I'm proud of him.

But, really, he went back to work a little early so that he would be more free to take off when we travel to pick up the kids. This week has been hard. I won't lie. Every day I have to fight this battle of being done waiting. Every morning my natural instinct is start worrying about whether we will pass this time. On Saturday we got new pictures of them-- our May update. It was hard. We both cried. I'm so happy that they look so happy and well-adjusted and growing. When we first had pictures of them our little girl wouldn't smile a lick and our boy smiled so politely. Now, our pictures are filled with them playing, laughing and just having a good 'ole time together. I love it and hate it all at once.

So, I guess that is the sum total. Not really. I am in the middle of painting our little girl's room. I think it will be really pretty when it is done... and yes, I will post pictures. It just has taken so long to get both the rooms ready, and I admit, I never think a room is really quite ever "done"-- at least not to my level of done. But, who can meet that standard??? So, once it is painted, bedding on, curtains hung and at least a COUPLE decorations hung on the wall... I will post pictures.

Thanks for stopping by :) Go read the other families' blogs. You will be blessed.

Grace and Peace,
Shari

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

Books, books, books!!!

Well, here they are. THE bookcases. I am so pleased. They look very nice in our new homeschool room; and I actually had to pick them out from a book and NOT in a showroom-- yikes! The new home school room is supposed to be a formal dining room, but we are just not formal dining room people, and I would rather have my school room on the main level of the house, next to the kitchen, rather than off in the far reaches somewhere. When we first moved into the house I could never imagine the room being a school room-- it was just too fancy!! But, low and behold, piece by piece, we are making that "too fancy" room into a sweet place to do school. Next week I will order my desk and a side-board (for baskets, more storage and displaying projects, plants, etc) to complete the room. Never in my adult life have I been able to order more than one piece of furniture at a time-- it feels so indulgent! Last month, Tony gave me a set amount of money to spend on furniture for the rest of the year, and I feel such a responsibility to stretch it as far as I can. It was a complete surprise to me, as he had told me at the beginning of our adoption process, that it would push "probation" back for another year (for those of you who don't know-- "probation" is the code word for NO BUYING FOR THE NEW HOUSE for the first year we lived there. This was the condition we had for when we moved down here). I also have to purchase the rest of our curriculum and books for this next year on that money, so you better believe I'm doin' my research and constantly examining the "needs" v. "wants" and trying to prioritize accordingly.

I have also been looking for material for curtains, for all the rooms, but first for the homeschool room and kitchen-- I think it would be fun to do a nostalgic school-house print of some kind (in the home school room). Did you know you can order material by the yard on-line now??? I'm sure this is old news to any of you who sew, but I had no idea!! This makes the task of getting material SOOO much less daunting! And the prices for great material are great, too!

So, there ya go. Bookcases. Just a funny sidenote... do you know how many rooms had to be re-arranged and re-organized in order to turn the dining room into the homeschool room? Five. Yes, you read that correctly. My husband would say that only I could make a one room project turn into Five... I say it is my God-given talent for creative organization :D!!

Grace and Peace,
Shari