Christmas 2007

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the Kennedy house,
All three little ones put on their new pj's for a picture in front of the tree. (I know, it doesn't rhyme. Don't expect much better throughout the rest of the post. Just enjoy the pictures.)

They put out food for the reindeer on the front porch.

And left cookies for Santa...

At last, it was Christmas morning.

It was the thing he was hoping for, a football uniform.

And Catherine got a...

Front pack for her baby...

And Sophie got her favorite thing in the whole world.Chapstick!

Christmas 2007! They loved every second.


Please continue to pray for Seth Joshua. He is still in Children's Hospital in Little Rock, and it has been a roller coaster of emotion for my brother and sister in law. Pray for recovery and for wise plan of action as the doctors move forward.

Question for Adoption Lurkers...

Do we have to send our Home Study into CIS before we will receive the I-171H?

To all of those non-adoption lurkers out there, that sentence makes zero sense. Those are our two last sheets of paper we need to be finished with the paperwork, and I think one is dependent on the other. If you still don't understand, don't worry about it. It doesn't make much sense to me either at this point!

We got our FBI clearance packets in, and except for my two previous assault charges, everything looked good. One down, two more pieces of paper to go!

Waiting list, here we come...

Kids...

It never ceases to amaze me what kids say. Here are a few of our recent favorites.

We explained to the kids about the changing of the leaves in the winter, how they change colors and fall off. Easton came charging out of the bathroom later that day and announced, "Mom! The poop turned green because it is winter!"

Catherine has a boomy, loud voice that she has a hard time keeping down. Erin took them to Old Navy today, and the store was empty except for a few workers. One of those workers bent over to pick something up, which Catherine noticed and said: "Mommy, she has a BIG hiney!"

We were eating out last week, and the restaurant was mostly empty except for a nice couple sitting one table away. Catherine, once again as loud as possible, announced: "I need a bra for christmas!" We were shocked and didn't know what to say. She then said, "I am a big girl, so I need a BIG bra!"

And lastly, Sophie did something pretty funny today. Erin went in during naptime, and Sophie had stripped down totally naked and had fallen asleep with her "hiney" sticking up in the air. What is worse, Erin didn't wake her up to put her diaper back on, so when she got up from nap time she had wet all over everything!

Thought you would enjoy the stories!

Waiting...

We are waiting on:

1. CIS Approval (I-171-H)
2. Home Study written and approved
3. Criminal background checks

Yes! Only three things, and we can't do anything to speed it up. Two of them involve the government, so you can only guess how that will go.

I am putting updates on our new nephew Seth Joshua on my brothers blog. He had a much better day today, but still needs prayer as it is looking like it might take a while for him to pull through this.

Pray for Seth Joshua

My brother and sister in law had a beautiful baby boy on Friday. However, he has had a rough go over the weekend. Below is my brothers blog entry from today. The link to their site is on the right if you would like more information. Thank you for praying.

From Josh:
Just writing to give you an update on Seth Joshua Kennedy. He was born on 12/7/07 at 9:10pm after an 18 hour labor. When he was born, he was not breathing with an initial apgar of 1 at 1 minute. He was intubated an quickly extubated as he coughed and sputtered when they put the tube down. His 5 minute apgar was 9 (praise the Lord!!!). The neonatologist (who only came as a courtesy... good thing she was there!) told me she had not seen that kind of spread in a long time!!! Long story short, we found out yesterday that Seth has a heart defect- an ASD with pulmonary hypertension to be more precise. Please pray for little Seth. He is under an oxygen hood right now. That makes mommy sad because she is not able to hold him or feed him right now. To make matters more difficult, our OB is sending us home today... without our little baby. That is going to be tough for both Marci and myself. Please pray for our strength and courage as we leave the hospital. Pray for the doctors and nursing staff who are taking care of him at UAMS. They have been WONDERFUL so far. Pray specifically for the cardiologist who will be looking at Seth's echocardiogram (ultrasound of his heart). Pray that he will have a specific plan for what to do. Pray that it will make sense and that God will give his mommy and I peace about what to do. Pray for his healing, but most of all, pray that God's will will be done, and that people will see His light through us. Thanks so much in advance for your prayers!! We will post pictures soon! He is the cutest, most handsome little guy in the world!!!! We love you all!

$4 Setback

One of the many papers we are required to fill out is a criminal background check for the state of Arkansas. We have been waiting for ours to return for 4 weeks now. Gladney recieved them in the mail yesterday, but they hadn't been processed. Seems the fee went from $23 a person to $25 a person, so our check was $4 short. Instead of calling and asking for $4, they mailed everything back FOUR WEEKS LATER!

We are beginning to understand how this process can get frustrating at times...
Our papers have been re-sent and we are waiting again.

CIS and the Fiber Optic Eagle

Big news on the adoption front today. We received our FBI Clearance packet via FedEx and traveled to Fort Smith for our CIS fingerprinting. Our appointment was at 3:00, and we didn't have anyone to watch the kids, so we took all three of them. We had read on other blogs that most people got in and out, so we weren't too worried about it.

Leave it to the Kennedy's to get stuck in there for an hour and a half! We were greeted by the Security guard who was very friendly. He had several grandkids so he was right at home entertaining our three. Easton was memorized by his gun and his stick "that he hits the bad people with." He told us of a great catalog that everything is under twenty dollars. In it, you can find a wonderful porcelain Eagle, wings spread wide, feeding its young, with fiber optic lighting to give it a little extra pizzazz. If you have any interest in ordering one for some one on your list, I did manage to find it online. (sarcasm, unless of course fiber optic eagles are your thing)

The kids were great, thanks to the help of the security guard and a few suckers. They got a Chocolate Mess for their good behavior. We now have to wait for CIS to mail back a form, and that and our home study documents should complete our dossier! Then, we wait for a referral which might take a while...

In other news, the house is now decorated for Christmas. Here are some shots of the kids decorating. We will post some pictures of the rest of the house later this week.

Easton's ornament this year is his favorite shoe, the Chuck Taylor.

Catherine is actually telling "Santa" what she wants for Christmas.
Santa then responded, "That is too many. I can't get that many."

This has nothing to do with Christmas, but a mac n cheese on the nose is always funny.