Moving along...

Things are moving along at a steady pace with our adoption. As of this afternoon, our dossier should be complete and on its way to our agency. That means we will be done with the bulk of our paperwork! Once our home study is done (hopefully by the end of this week) we will be able to file our immigration paperwork, and our agency will be able to send our dossier off through all the government channels.

The coolest part about having our home study complete is that we will then be able to send Benjamin his welcome bag. The welcome bag is SO fun to put together, especially for an older child who will truly understand what it is. The most important (and fun) part of the welcome bag is the photo album. I have been collecting photos of our family, our house, yard, things we like to do, etc. I am trying to make the album a true reflection of what life is like for us, while showing the fun stuff that we do, yet without setting unrealistic expectations. For example, I am including some pictures of us doing water sports in Chelan, since that is a regular part of our summer activities. I have decided not to include any pictures of things like our recent trip to Hawaii, as I don't want Benjamin to assume that is something we do all the time (I wish!).

I need to look over the guidelines for the welcome bag, because I think we can also include a t-shirt and some sort of little trinket. So fun!

On another note, I have been receiving a lot of positive feedback from other adoptive parents about Benjamin. Some of them have met him personally, and others have adopted kids who were friends with him. It is so great to hear how excited people are for us, and what a neat kid they think he is.