He Is Loved

It's hard not being able to snuggle our little guy, but it brings us peace to know that he is so loved by those who are taking care of him until we can bring him home.

This is another favorite picture of mine; Caysen's "Aunt" Trena is the one snuggling him here. If that isn't love on her face, I don't know what love is...

Nope, no lack of love and attention here :) What makes it even better is knowing that God is holding Caysen and watching over him too! Our sweet boy had a really rough start and I have no doubt that it was God who carried him through and continues to watch over him and take care of him every day!

Comforts

After we got our referral, we sent a little care package to Taiwan for Caysen. We got these pictures a few days ago that show a couple of the things we sent. We also sent some clothes and other things, but they said he just wanted to snuggle and sleep so they didn't make him suffer through a photo shoot ;)

Look at that smile!! I think he likes his new things!!!

This is my new favorite, that face just makes my heart melt :)

He's growing so much!

Hopefully these things will give him comfort while he waits for us, and then he can bring them home so he'll have something familiar to take with him. We are just so thankful he has such amazing care in Taiwan; the ladies at His Hands have wonderful hearts and we have no doubt that he is getting lots and lots of love!

Baby Blog

In case you haven't already noticed; this is going to turn into a baby blog (with a few other post topics sprinkled in between). I know not everyone else is as enamored with Caysen as we are...but the purpose of this blog is for our memories so it will be full of posts about our sweet boy until we get to bring him home, and then it will still be full of posts about our sweet boy :)

It's Getting Pretty Crazy Around Here

Lance took me on an impromptu Hot Date last night. He's kind of awesome. We went to dinner and then did a little browsing at Target; I guess we've already got the parent's version of a Hot Date down. I always thought it was funny when friends (who already have kids) considered going to the grocery store a "romantic" night out; I guess we're just practicing up :)

In all fairness, we don't have a Target where we live, and we drove to a nearby town where there is a Target so how could we not stop? Target IS pretty much the best place on Earth ;)

Happy Seven Months!!

Today, Caysen is seven months old! We received these new pictures last night :)

Yesterday, I was starting to feel pretty sorry for myself wishing something would happen to keep me going. There have been a few little steps forward over the past week or so, but no major progress so I was feeling like it might be forever before we get to bring Caysen home.

I guess God knew I had almost reached my limit because last night we got these pictures and the update we needed to know that this process is moving right along. Our homestudy has been translated and should be on it's way to us by early next week. Once we get it, we will have it certified by the secretary of state and certified by TECO and then we will ship it back to Taiwan so they can apply for a court date! Hopefully we will be getting a letter from immigrations soon inviting us to get our federal finger printing done too. Once all that is done, we pretty much just wait with nothing left to do besides pack our suitcase and pray for a smooth process :)

Nano

This is one of the first (or maybe the first) pictures taken of Caysen on the day His Hands picked him up from the hospital. The sweet lady in the picture is Mona aka Nano. Lance and I will always be thankful that Nano was introduced into our lives because she helped Caysen, and us to find eachother. When Holly & Trena brought "Buttons" to the house of hope, Nano-Trena's mom-began sending out newsletters and prayer requests on our baby's behalf. These newsletters caused us to feel something in our hearts that told us that this little boy was the one God had chosen for us! She will always hold a special place in our hearts, and Button's too :)

It's the Little Things Right Now

To get through the adoption process, I've learned to savor every piece of news, every picture, and every new accomplishment.

I remember when we first started the application process; I thought if we could just get our application submitted, it would feel so good because we would be one step closer to bringing our baby home.

Then we submitted our application and I thought if we could just have our first home visit, it would feel so good because we would be one step closer to bringing our baby home.

Then our homestudy was completed; I thought if we could just get a referral, it would feel so good because we would be one step closer to bringing our baby home.

Well, now we have our referral and we are so in love with our sweet boy and I am still living for the little accomplishments we make each day that bring us one step closer to bringing our baby home.

I will admit, I pretty much eat, sleep, and breathe all things Caysen. I can just stare at his pictures over and over again. I don't think he ever leaves my mind and I'm sure the people around me wish I could think about something else for a change ;)

Today we found out that our Homestudy has been state certified and mailed off to USCIS with our I600A (which means nothing to you if you haven't ever adopted, but it's a big deal to us) and it still feels so good because we are one step closer to bringing our baby home.

It's a roller-coaster ride to say the least. I never imagined my heart could feel so full, yet ache so much all at the same time. I thank God every day for picking such a perfect little boy for us and I just continue to pray for patience knowing that God has the most wonderful plan for our lives :)