Happy Summer Everyone,

Well, in Wisconsin is surely hasn't felt like summer yet but the kids are out of school so it must be!  We are busy with swimming lessons and day camps for the kids and we are gearing up for Walking On Water Ski Camp to start in 3 weeks.  This is the 5th year that we will be doing the ski camp with our friends and it's always a fun but tiring part of our summer.

We just wanted to update you and let you know that there is really no news to report on the adoption front.  We received a phonecall about a week and a half ago from our social worker asking if we'd consider increasing our age range to include a 6 1/2 year old.  (the range on our initial application said 0-6 year olds and then we changed it to 0-5 year olds when we changed to the Ghana program since the adoption could happen sooner and we couldn't be certain that Cade would be 6 by the time it would take place)  So, Greg and I discussed it and we felt that we should stick to under 5 years old in order to keep the birth order of our bio kids intact.  What that means is that we will continue to wait for our referral.  Our social worker made it clear that even if we had increased our age range it didn't mean for sure that we'd get the referral of any of the 6 year olds they had ready at that time, it was only a possibility and they just wanted that clarification on our home study paperwork.

In the mean time we will be attending more training seminars this weekend as part of our required adoption training.  Our agency requires us to have 10 hours of training before our dossier was submitted ... check, 10 more hours during this waiting period ... check after Saturday, and 10 more hours once you have your referral so you can take education courses or read books that are more specific to any special needs or concerns you may be dealing with your individual child.  (like a course on doing African hair for me will be necessary if we are getting a girl!)  We have found these classes and books SO good and have learned so much that we never even imagined when we answered the call to adopt.  When we think of adoption we think of happy endings and easier lives for the kids but what I had never thought about is the transition and the hurt that they have endured already in their lives.  This can leave them with emotional scars and behavioral issues that we have not had to deal with yet as parents.  Our agency is doing such a wonderful job of preparing us as best they can for this and nothing is sugar coated ... it's so good.  This weekend's courses will also include panel discussions with families that have already adopted, I love that part - so informative!

Please continue to pray for Ghana as a country and for their government as well as the wonderful workers from Bethany Christian Services who are working there for our sake as well as the sake of other families in this new program.  They are working their tails off night and day over there!

Thanks everyone!
Greg & Robin