One Step Closer...

We got some exciting news today from our social worker. First, our home study has been formally approved! We just have to read through it to check for errors/inaccuracies and then she will make the formal and final approval. We are very excited to be done with this part of the adoption, even though neither of us thought it was as bad as we had anticipated.

The really exciting news, though, is that we have moved up one spot on the list for the list! (See the post from December 5th for an explanation.) A family just received a referral for a child from our orphanage list, which means we get to move up one spot! Hopefully referrals will keep coming and we will move to the Colombia list very soon!

Nature Walk

Shawn and I have a really cool book called 60 Hikes within 60 Miles of Richmond. We decided to put it to good use last weekend. The weather was great...sunny and around 45 degrees and we had a little bit of cabin fever. After narrowing down our choices to a true hike in Charlottesville, a quick walk around Pony Pastures on the James River or a walk around Dutch Gap Conservation Area, we chose Dutch Gap. We didn't really know anything about it except that it was an 8 mile walk (4 miles out and 4 miles back) around a body of water. Being as though I don't really know how long a mile is when you are walking, I thought "8 miles...no big deal!!" Our walk started off really nice. We didn't see hardly any people and about 2.5 miles into the hike we found a great place to have our picnic lunch overlooking the pond. A little while later we got to a section that had tall fences with barbed wire on one side and nothing but trees on the other. We weren't sure if we were actually in the right place but then the real path started again and we could tell we were getting near the end of the first 4 miles. It was also around this time that I noticed I was getting a blister on one of my feet. We turned back to finish the last 4 miles. Since it was all repeated scenery we walked much faster and took fewer side-trails, but I decided around mile 6 that I was done!! My foot was killing me, my body was tired, and I wanted Shawn to carry me to the car. Obviously, that wasn't an option so I started whining and walking very, very slowly. Shawn was often several paces in front of me encouraging me to keep walking. I never claimed to be in shape or to love exercise and I just wanted to sit down and quit! I have never been so glad to see the end of the trail. We finally got to the car, I took off my shoes and I was missing a chunk out of the back of my foot. When Shawn saw how bad my blister was, I think he felt a little bad for the lack of sympathy he gave me on the trail. Overall, though, we had a great day together. It is rare to have 3-4 hours of time uninterrupted by tv, cell phones, or activities that need to be done. We are looking forward to doing another hike from the book. I don't think I will sign up for 8 miles anytime soon...or at least not until I get a new pair of hiking shoes!!

Valentine's Day (and an adoption update)

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope everyone had a great day celebrating their loved ones. Shawn surprised me a day early with a beautiful bouquet of roses delivered to my work and then on the morning of the 14th I got a bag of Jelly Belly's with only my favorite flavors inside! This way I never have to worry about accidentally putting a coffee or cinnamon one in my mouth! YUCK!! I also surprised Shawn with a juggling kit. A little known fact is that Shawn is quite the juggler! It came with balls, rings, pins, scarves, and a spinning plate. We have had a great time putting on little circuses around the house! We ended the evening with a great dinner at the local restaurant Avenue 805. They were having what they called "Cheap Valentine's Date Night" and featured a 3 course meal that ended with Smore's nachos...delicious! All in all, this year's Valentine's celebration was a hit.

On the adoption front, we had our home visit this week. I totally went overboard cleaning and getting the house ready for what turned out to be a really easy visit. Our social worker only spent a few minutes checking the house for the things that were required (smoke alarms, fire extinguisher, medicine and cleaning supplies out of the reach of curious little hands) and we spent the rest of the time (about 2 hours) answering questions about ourselves. Everyone likes to talk about themselves, so it went by really fast and was really easy. Shawn also had his individual interview on Friday so he is done with his part of the home study...lucky guy! My individual interview is scheduled for the first Tuesday in March. Our home study should be complete by the end of March and then we will just wait for the agency to tell us we are close enough to the top of the list to starting working on our dossier...hopefully sometime this fall.

Ski Trip

Shawn and I went with my parents last weekend to Showshoe Mountain, WV for a short ski vacation. The trip had been planned for several months and we were all really looking forward to it...that is until the Friday before we left when I came down with the flu!! I ended up at the doctor's office on Saturday morning with a 103.4 temperature. Fortunately, the doctor sent me home with some good medication and we decided to continue with our weekend plans. We all drove up on Saturday afternoon. Mom cooked us some yummy chili on Saturday night for dinner since I still didn't feel like going out. Sunday morning Shawn, mom and dad decided to venture out to the slopes. I was still quite content being left in the condo since I felt like I'd been run over by a truck and it was really windy with lots of snow coming down! I did give skiing a try on Sunday afternoon, but quickly ended up back at the condo enjoying the hot tub instead. We went into the village on Sunday night to do a little shopping and have some dinner. We stopped by an outdoor fireplace to get a few minutes of warmth, but ultimately decided to just go back to our condo and build our own fire we could enjoy all evening. I woke up feeling a ton better on Monday and the weather was beautiful...sunny and warmer...so we all went out and did some great skiing. When it was time to check out, we still weren't ready to leave, so we loaded up the car with our stuff and went back to the slopes. The last picture is of my mom and dad on the ski lift in front of us. We skiied most of the day and then enjoyed a very scenic ride home...I'm pretty sure my dad took every "short-cut" from West Virginia to Richmond! Even though I was sick the whole weekend, it was a great time for the four of us to get out and enjoy each other and nature.