P is for Pearson

Catching Up! (Part 4) (VERY pic heavy)

2011-08-09T15:49:00.001-04:00

So, we've covered everything up to February so far. I'll see if I can combine a couple of months so that we can start posting more recent stuff. March wasn't too busy for us. We were still trying to figure out our new "normal" with 2 kids and also trying to decide what to do with our housing situation. Our lease was up at the end of March, so we knew we had to decide if we wanted to stay or go. We decided to go but we ended up just paying month to month for a few months until we decided WHERE we were going. (More on that later)

Here are a few cute kid pics from March...(Yes, these are for you grandma and grandpa Pearson!) :)

Cliffy playing in the dirt

Cliffy eating the dirt. Yuck!

Sweet Clementine

Cliffy being silly at lunch. Whatta ham! :)

Grandpa Pearson taught him this!

Cliffy trying to lick Clementine. Clementine looks scared!

Cliffy playing in the leaves

Of course. Everything goes either in the hair or in the mouth!

Picking up tricks from her brother!

Cliffy modeling his cowboy boots

Winking already :)

Love her smile!

I blame Grandpa Pearson. :)

Um...cute!

Sweet Cliffy

Big girl in her Bumbo!

Like father, like daughter!

And on to April...

April was a fun month for us. First of all, we got to celebrate Cliffy's 1st Gotcha Day, which is the anniversary date of the first day we met our son. I had a little photo session with him in our back yard and then later that night we went out to eat at Desta Ethiopian Kitchen in Atlanta with family to celebrate our son. We had a great time!!!

Told ya...everything in the mouth!

So those were the photos from Cliffy's Gotcha Day. We are soooooo blessed to have him in our lives and we honestly try to celebrate that everyday. He is such a gift and we are soooooooooooo lucky to have him. He has changed us for the better!!!

Let's see...also in April, Cliffy and Clementine went to their first concert. We drove to Clemson to see Zac Brown Band (Zac Brown is Chad's boss) play. It was a great show!

Here is a pic of Clementine in her big ol ear phones. She wasn't really a fan, but safety first!!

Taken right before the concert.

I wish we had gotten a picture of Cliffy in his ear phones, but we didn't. Parent FAIL! Oh well.

Anyway, here's a few other random photos from April...

She even smiles in her sleep!

Cliffy and his new big boy cups!

I think Cliffy had just farted on Chad. teehee

So, April was a great month for us. And on the housing front, we finally decided that it was time for us to stop renting and to actually take on the scary but exciting journey of home ownership. After looking and looking and looking at which area of Atlanta we wanted to live in, we FINALLY found an area. Now we just needed to find a house! (To be continued!)

love xoxo,
Candy

Catching Up! (Part 3)

2011-07-10T22:28:00.000-04:00

February was a big month for us because we had plans to fly the whole family out to California for one of our closest friend's wedding. Zak finally got married! Zak is one of Chad's oldest friends. They've been friends since the 3rd grade (in Papua New Guinea where Chad grew up with his missionary parents). The trip was awesome. We got to hang out with some great friends (The Shultzs, Jared, Nikki, Fife, Jose, Faith, Brady, Mark, Ethan, Kalle...just to name a few!) and were able to stay with one of our favorite couples, Ryan and Vanessa who live in Hawaii. They were staying in a condo in Oceanside and let us bunk with them. What sweethearts! As predicted, they instantly fell in love with Cliffy and Clementine, and Cliffy and Clementine instantly fell in love with them as well. We miss them so much! Here are some pictures from our trip...

The view from our room!

Cliffy's first time seeing the Pacific Ocean.

This street was right by where we were staying. Of course we had to take a picture!

I wish we had gotten more pics of the actual wedding but sadly Chad left our camera in the car. He was the best man and had a lot on his plate, so I'll give him a break. :) I was able to snap a few with my phone though.

Here's Cliffy and Chad looking so handsome in their suits!!

So handsome!!

Here are a few that the wedding photographer took. The wedding was amazing by the way. We had a blast!

Zak and Karey! They look like they should be in a magazine!

Chad makes a handsome best man if I do say so myself! :)

Chad doing his best man speech. He made everyone in that room laugh and cry. It was amazing!

Chad and Cliffy!

Last day in California.

What a blessing! Cliffy slept on the plane the whole way home!

Clementine at the airport. What a trooper!

More catching up to come so stay tuned!

love xoxo

Candy

Playing Catch Up! (Part 2)

2011-07-07T17:03:00.013-04:00

Our friend Christi Baker was nice enough to take some awesome pictures of Clementine when she was just 2 weeks old and she also snapped a few of Cliffy and the whole family too. Here are a few (ok, A LOT) of them...These were taken at the end of January.

Up next....FEBRUARY!

Love xoxo

Candy

Playing Catch Up!

2011-07-06T22:06:00.020-04:00

This week I've decided that it's time to stop neglecting this blog. We have given too few updates for too long! In my defense though, I had to blog 3 times a week for my job and since doing that it was hard to think about coming home and working on our personal blog. But now, I'm a stay at home momma and am finally getting into my groove as a mother of 2 under 2 and find myself with more time to do stuff like blog! :) So, I thought I'd redesign the blog and catch everyone up on our 2011 so far. It's been a big BIG year and it's only half way through and it's already been amazing! Here's what happened in January. (More months to follow!)

JANUARY:

Snowmageddon!! We had a crazy ice storm here in Atlanta. Chad, Cliffy and I actually couldn't leave our house for a whole week! I'm glad I didn't go into labor then!!

January 10th: Cliffy's first play time in the snow!

Singing in the snow!

January 17th:

Chad started his new job at Southern Ground Artists as the label manager and what do ya know???? I went into labor!! Here's a picture of me in labor! P.S. I had an amazing water birth. I'll do a separate post on that sometime.

January 18th: Clementine Leona Pearson (We just love the name Clementine and Leona is Chad's mom's name) was born at 12:12am!! She weighed 7lbs 8 oz. This is a picture that Chad took right after she was born. It's the only one he got because the flash ended up being to bright for her brand new sensitive eyes. :)

Look at the shape of her melon! heehee

And here she is all wrapped up!

First picture with momma!

First picture with daddy!!

Time to go home!

Cliffy meeting Clementine for the 1st time!

Those are the highlights from January. I'll post more months soon and then I'll start posting recent happenings, I promise!

Love xoxo

Candy

The Last Few Months...

2010-12-15T13:39:00.009-05:00

Sorry that we haven't posted here in awhile. Life has been fun lately. We had Grandma and Grandpa Pearson here to visit us for 2 months. That was a blast. They left last Wednesday, and we miss them a ton. Not so much the smell of the Tuna Fish sandwiches they made everyday though. Cliffy learned how to walk, had his first birthday, had his first Halloween, we went on a trip to North Carolina to spend Thanksgiving with Chad's sister Kari and her family. We went to the zoo, Cliffy had his first couple of falls, we spent lots of time on the front porch, and more. Here are a few photos. Enjoy!

The Zoo for Cliffy's 1st birthday!

Cliffy "praising Jesus" at his 1st birthday party!
(He has no shirt on because he was about to eat his cake!) :)

Our first Halloween with our Little Stinker!

Random Photos of Cliffy (and Grandma and Grandpa Pearson)

We have a WALKER!!!

2010-09-27T10:28:00.008-04:00

This weekend was a great weekend! Chad and I celebrated 6 years of marriage on Saturday!!! My sister was so nice and came to our house to "have a date with Cliffy" (as she said) so that Chad and I could go out for our anniversary. Of course we talked about Cliffy most of the time, but that's ok. It was still nice to get out just the 2 of us.

Then on Sunday we had a lazy rainy day to just relax and enjoy family time. Once lunch time came around we decided we wanted some pizza so Chad ran out to get some pizza (No one delivers to our neighborhood. Awesome, huh? :) ). Well, while Chad was gone, I was playing with Cliffy and doing our daily ritual of me trying to get him to walk on his own and well...HE DID! He took about 2 steps and then fell over. It was so exciting but I was so sad that Chad wasn't there so I ran and grabbed the video camera and got some more of his walking on film. Here it is!!! Check out our big boy!!!!

(P.S. Don't mind my high pitched screams! I was just so excited! teehee)

September Family Photos!

2010-09-19T13:38:00.007-04:00

Our good friend Brian Manley took some pics of our family a couple of weeks ago. Cliffy is 10 months old in these photos. Enjoy!!

Cliffy in his traditional Ethiopian clothes!

And last, but not least...quite possibly the cutest one of all!

An update...FINALLY!!

2010-08-24T16:28:00.027-04:00

It’s been 143 days since we left for our trip to Ethiopia to pick up our son.

It’s been the best 143 days of our lives.

We haven’t been the best to keep our blog friends up to date, and we apologize.

Let’s try to sum this all up and get you caught up!

The trip to Ethiopia was very, let's say, underwhelming for me (Chad). I had a lot of expectations of what I was going to see in Africa, how it was going to change my life and how effected I was going to be by seeing everything. Well, to me, it looked like Papua New Guinea and the way I grew up, so that’s what I mean by underwhelming. We didn’t even get to see a zebra or anything!

We got to Ethiopia the night before Easter. Churches were broadcasting prayers all into the night. Of course we couldn’t sleep. Tomorrow we would meet our son!

We woke up the next day, and really, didn’t know what to do. We called the agency director and she told us that because it was Easter she had plans, but could come pick us up, take us the the childcare facility and then we could meet and take Gemechu (Clifford's Ethiopian name) back to our guest house with us. Wait, you mean today? Whoa. We (Candy and I) had previously discussed just going to AAI to meet our son, hang out and assess the situation first. We didn’t want to drastically take him away from the environment that he was used to if he wasn’t ready to go. How would we actually have known? I don’t know. But God had different plans.

Gail (the director of the childcare facility-Layla House) came to pick us up and took us to Layla. We walked up to the house where Gemechu was, told to take off our shoes, and walked into his room. BABIES!! Everywhere!! BABIES!!! We walked up to Gemechu's crib and there he was. Our son! We went to go pick him up, but were quickly told that he had a dirty diaper and to hold on. There he was. Right before our own eyes. He was smiling so huge, almost knowing that mommy and daddy were there to take him home. It was a precious moment and something I will remember for the rest of my life. Maybe it’s because he was dressed in pink – ha!

Our first time seeing our son!!!

Gemechu and Mommy!!

Gemechu and Daddy!!

Once we grabbed hold of him, he was part of the family, going to sleep instantly in Candy’s arms. Again, the word for this moment? Precious.

We were then able to take him back to our room where the staff at the Ethiopian Guest House had laid out rose petals, saying Congrats! They even had a little book for Gemechu. We instantly bathed him and took him out of those pink clothes. Never to be seen again. Pink is manly, but you know, we had cuter clothes for him.

We love the Ethiopian Guest House!

His first bath with us!

The next couple of days were just us getting to know each other, Gemechu getting to know us and sleeping...us trying to get him to smile, which wasn’t hard and for me, learning how to change a diaper. It was easier than I thought and I'm totally a champion now, btw.

His shirt says everything! :)

Our first family photo!

We had our embassy appointment a couple days later to get Gemechu's visa. It was the last and final step that we had to get through before being able to take our son home. A bunch of the AAI families met at Layla and we all drove together to the embassy. It was a tough drive through the city. It was really hot and Candy got car sick from breathing in all of the exhaust fumes from the other cars and trucks. Not fun! But we finally made it and proceeded to a waiting room where we waited with the other families and people not in our group to be called. Finally it was our turn! We walked up some stairs to a different room and met with an embassy employee (window 5!) who asked us questions like, where is he from, were we able to visit his home town, meet his biological parents, etc etc. After a few stamps on some paper work, Gemechu Chad Pearson (the name on his birth certificate) was now officially part of our family. Yeah, I cried, sue me.

A few days later we left Ethiopia and the flight was awesome. We flew on Lufthansa and had one flight to Germany, then on to Atlanta. We got the bassinet, which I have never seen before being a father. They sit you in the bulkhead and then they have a little bassinet that hooks up to the wall and then your baby can sleep. And sleep he did. He was awesome on the flights back. We had heard that with all the pressure of the flight, babies can sometimes have some tummy issues that result in some major blowouts. So we packed probably about 20 different outfits and about 30 diapers in our carry on. We ended up not needing all of those outfits though because we actually had the opposite problem. Our little guy didn't poop once during any of our travel!

After 2 super long flights and a 6 hour layover in Germany, we finally arrived home in Atlanta to family and a few friends waiting for us at the airport and again, another cry fest. Cliffy was home! (Gemechu's name will be Clifford Gemechu Pearson, once we change his name – Clifford after Candy’s Grandfather who had passed away weeks before we were able to go bring Clifford home.)

Lets see, what to tell next?

Cliffy's first restaurant experience was at the Flying Biscuit Café up in Sandy Springs, GA. He was literally the star of the show. This is when we started to realize that people would look, be curious and adore our baby. One lady leaned over and asked pretty matter of factly, “Where did you get him?” Like we picked him up on aisle three in Whole Foods or something. We had to remember that we might be these peoples first interaction with an adoptive family and to put on a happy face.

In Ethiopia at the childcare facility, there was an outbreak of the chicken pox. We thought that Cliffy had managed to stear clear of getting them. Boy were we wrong! Cliffy started breaking out in chicken pox pretty badly right after we got home. That was the worst week of our lives. Not being able to do anything for your new son and nothing you can do will make those damn poxes go away. Candy and I had to take turns watching him so he wouldn’t scratch the pox. At night we took 2 hour shifts to watch Cliffy. We were so exausted and at one point we had to call Candy’s sister, asking if she could just come by and watch him for 4 hours. She came over and was our lifesaver, I didn’t even see her, literally falling into a coma for 4 hours. The chicken pox were quite an introduction into parenthood!! Don’t worry though, Cliffy is totally fine, just a few scars remain.

Poor guy had about 500 pox all over his body!

A couple of weeks later we took Cliffy to his first Dr appt. and we found out that he was a little low in percentiles for his age. For example 11% percentile for height. BUT, we just took him in and the little guy has grown and now is around the top for his age, 70% for height! Our little guy is growing and thriving!

Cliffy now! Taken just a few days ago.

Anyways, this is just a little update, and I know there is MUCH MUCH more that has happened, and more that is going on, etc etc. For example…..CLIFFY IS GOING TO BE A BIG BROTHER!! Yep, soon after we got back from Ethiopia, we found out that Candy is pregnant! We are due Jan 26^th and no, we aren’t going to find out what we are having! I find it amazing that last January, we were a family of two, and now this coming January, we will be a family of 4! CRAZY and AWESOME!!!

Thank you for being so patient with us and our lack of updating our blog. We hope to start updating more, but honestly, it's so hard to pull ourselves away from our sweet little guy, but we will try!!!! :)

Chad

THE PEARSONS!!
(August, 2010 -Cliffy-10 months old!)

LEAVING TODAY!!!!!

2010-04-02T10:58:00.004-04:00

So, our last post said we were waiting on our travel dates and what do ya know...the very next day we were told that we could possibly have an embassy date of April 7th. Well, it turns out that that was true!! So, that meant we had a week and a half to prepare for travel!! It has been a whirlwind week and a half, but it will so be worth it when we have little Cliffy in our arms!! We leave tonight at 6:16 pm and we will arrive in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at 6:35pm tomorrow night. Whoo hoo!!! We will then go straight to our guest house and unpack and hopefully try to get some sleep! We will get up early the next morning (Easter Sunday!) and head over to our agency's child care home where Cliffy is and then WE WILL MEET OUR SON!!!!!! I can't even begin to describe how excited we are!!!! We hope to be able to post pictures and blog about everything while we're there. We have our embassy date on Wed. April 7th and we'll get Cliffy's visa to come home! We leave Ethiopia on Saturday, the 10th at 11:40pm. We'll have 1 stop in Frankfurt and then it's home to Atlanta!! Our plane lands at 4:15pm on Sunday night (the 11th). We are telling friends and family that if they want to meet us at the airport and welcome little Cliffy to the US, they can. Just allow us some time to get through customs. And if you have a I heart Cliffy t-shirt, wear it! We won't be letting anyone hold Cliffy yet, but it would be great to feel the support and love of friends and family. And speaking of Cliffy, here is a letter for our friends and family to explain a little bit about what Cliffy might be going through over the next several weeks and/or months...

Dear Family and Friends,

As we prepare for the arrival of our son, we have learned that while decorating the nursery and stocking up on baby essentials is important, even more important is the emotional health of our baby. In his short life, our son will have gone through more changes and life altering experiences than most adults could handle. Imagine how much harder the changes will be for him. While he may not consciously remember the events, he will still experience immense loss, including feelings of grief and trauma. He's already experienced the loss of a birthmother and will soon experience the loss of familiar and comforting caretakers as well as the sights, smells, and language of his birth country. His world will turn upside down. He will struggle with feeling safe and secure and he may lack the ability to trust that we will meet his needs.

We have prepared to meet his emotional needs so that he does learn that we will always take care of him and we will always keep him safe. We need your support. In order to form a strong and healthy attachment we will allow him to regress so that he has the opportunity to go through all of the emotional stages with us despite his chronological age. Although it may appear that we are spoiling him, we have been advised that it is best that we meet every need quickly and consistently. Until he has learned that we are his parents, we will need to be his primary caretakers at all times. It is essential that we always hold him, feed him, and do all of the nurturing. You may wonder how long this will take, but the timeline is different for every child. We will follow his lead and trust our instincts as his parents rather than worry about what society expects.

We have all been waiting anxiously for our son to arrive but he has not been waiting for us. He may show his grief and confusion in many ways and we are prepared to help him through it and prove that we are a forever family and this truly is his last stop. We trust that as our family and friends you will help us to do what is best for our son, and we thank you in advance for your support and understanding.

We can't tell you how thankful we are for all the love and support from friends and family. We can't believe this day has finally come!!! There are so many things whirling around in our brains, but mostly we are just READY! :) Please pray that we have safe flights, that all of our baggage arrives safe and sound and that we all stay healthy while in Ethiopia.
What an amazing journey this has been!!! We couldn't have done this without the people in our lives that love us. So, THANK YOU!!!!

With love and excitement,
Candy (and Chad)

LONG Overdue Update!

2010-03-23T21:45:00.010-04:00

Oh, hi there. We have been neglecting you for a while, and for that, we are sorry. We could offer you excuse after excuse, but would that make it any better for ignoring you for so long?? Well, it will make us feel better, so let's do a little countdown. There are THREE huge things that have happened in our lives recently.

1. On 3/15/10 our beloved Clifford Eugene Ball left this earth. We love you Grandpa and we are so proud to name our first son after you. We are so bummed that you won’t be around to actually meet your 10th grandchild, but just know that every time we look at our son, your memory will be there and we will never forget you and your laugh. Have fun hitting up all the garage sales in heaven!

2. We are OFFICIALLY Clifford Gemechu’s parents as of 2/25/10!! We passed court the first try! Actually, we were told that the court date was cancelled and Candy called up and was asking when we were going to be rescheduled, when she was told that we actually passed court that day!! WOWZA!! We are so thrilled to be called the parents of our precious little boy!

Here's a picture of our son taken on 1/7/10 (Ethiopian Christmas). Isn't he beautiful?!?! :)

3. We moved!! We had the great opportunity to move down to the lovely city of Atlanta, specifically the Capital View area. It’s for sure a change from the lovely suburbs of Cumming GA, but we feel that God opened up too many doors, wider then ever, to not move. We are living in an older house with lots of “charm” and exactly what we were looking for in a new place. 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, fenced in yard, HUGE porch. It’s lovely really. We are really excited about what God is doing in our lives and love where God has moved us and love the fact that this will be Cliffy G’s first house!!!

So yeah, emotions have been running high in our lives. We said goodbye to a dear person in our life and at the same time are welcoming a new life into our family. We do need a little more help financially, so we have made a new t-shirt (designed by our friend Brian Manley - see shirt below) and all proceeds of the shirt will go towards our travel costs to go get little Cliffy and bring him back home. You can buy the shirt here. (Also we are asking that you take a photo of yourself in the shirt so we can compile a scrapbook for Cliffy showing him all the people that helped bring him home!)

We also have a registry at Babies R Us and Target if you would like to support us in that way. And we can always use your words of encouragement and prayers. This journey has been amazing and we couldn’t have done one moment of the journey without all of our amazing friends and family. So, thanks!

By the way, we should get our travel dates any day now, so we'll be sure to post when we find out!!

xoxo,

Chad and Candy

WONDERFUL!

2010-02-17T17:13:00.003-05:00

When Candy and I started the adoption process, we never knew where this would take us. But, it's been an amazing ride to say the least. I mean, we are soon to be parents of a precious little boy!! How are we so lucky? We have been supported by so many people, old high school friends have come out of the woodwork, scratch that, just OLD friends have come out. We have seen and heard of so many other couples willing to adopt and wanting to start the process of adoption. All I can say is that it is WONDERFUL. Selfishly, you tend to think how awesome it would be if other people started seeing adoption in a different light, a WONDERFUL light. I admit, I cry a lot more lately. Maybe it's my age, maybe it's the fact that I will - nope, I AM a father! Well, I recently I got this e-mail from a high school friend. We don't converse at all, maybe through facebook here and there, but what she wrote (below) made me cry. This letter is an answer to my prayers. This is just another "icing on the cake moment".

Thank YOU for being part of this WONDERFUL journey we are on. We do feel all of your support and when the days look gloomy, and we think we can't take another day of waiting, we know there are hundreds, if not perhaps thousands of people praying for our family. That is WONDERFUL. Just like adoption. Wonderful!

Hey Candy & Chad :0)

I think that you two have been charged with the awesome task of changing the way people think of adoption. You have the ability to take away the 'negative stigma' and the misconceptions of it all. I have just been reading up on your blog about the adoption and the process that you guys have been going through. Seriously. This is the best approach that I have ever seen, read, heard regarding adoption (i.e. choosing to first adopt). I am reminded that adoption is not what you as the parent are to gain through 'wanting' a child. It is not solely for the 'benefit' of it but for the betterment of the child you are taking on to be loved unconditionally and to be themselves. It's no good adopting if your mindset is solely selfish, which you unfortunately have seen and have had to work at to stop ppl in their tracks and force them to challenge their way of thinking. Better to go into it completely aware of who you are and what your goals are for this lovely young boy.

You two are completely in agreeance with where you're going and what you want to achieve in letting him know about his life, his culture and helping him to become a healthy, whole, cultural diversified and aware individual. I congratulate you both and look forward to hearing and seeing more of this wonderful journey you're both on.

I have never considered adoption as an option for me, although I have thought about it briefly. There is, as you've found out, a negative stigma to it in Western Culture which is very very unfortunate. Where as in New Guinea, adoption is an every day occurrence. I find your blog educational, enlightening, positive, creative and forward thinking. The 'negative stigma' seems to pale when listening and watching the two of you and that's wonderful. I can only see the benefits.

I think the two of you are going to do wonders for many more children, other than just Clifford, through the way you have chosen to live and just be the people that you are. I think you are going to change many people's minds as to why Adoption is a great thing to do and consider in a positive light. And if not for that, change ppls minds so as they can then fully support other family members of their own and ppl in the community who choose to take a step down this road.

Great job guys. You're a testimony in and of yourselves. (Sorry if I waffled on. Hope some of this makes sense).

Marianne E.

THE CALL!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-01-09T14:54:00.008-05:00

THE CALL!!!!!!!!!!!! from Chad and Candy Pearson on Vimeo.

We hope you enjoyed our video!! Here are some answers to the questions we are getting asked the most. Feel free to leave a comment with any other questions you might have!

How long before you actually bring him home?
Not sure. We still have to go through a court process in Ethiopia to make him legally ours. We have a lawyer in Ethiopia that will do that for us.

What's the rest of the process like leading up to bringing him home?
We wait for our court date then hopefully pass court, then we wait for our travel dates and then travel! It could take another 4-8 months...but we're praying for sooner!

Where is he right now?
He's in our agency's child care facility getting really good care.

Do you get to spend time with him in Ethiopia before bringing him home?
When we travel, we'll spend about a week to 10 days in Ethiopia with him.

Do you have to travel?
We could have him escorted, but we really want to go and see our son's country. We have fallen in love with the culture and people and want to go experience it all first hand.

Do you guys get to know the circumstances of his birth and reason for him being put up for adoption?
Yes we know, but to protect his story, we're keeping that private so that one day it will be up to him who knows his story.

Did you pick out his name or was he already named?
He was already named. His name is Gemechu which means "happy"! When he comes home, we'll change his legal name to Clifford Gemechu Pearson. We're naming him after Candy's grandpa. :)

How old is he?
He's about 3 months old and tiny too! He only weighs about 7 pounds right now.

Is he healthy?
For the most part, yes. He's a bit malnourished, but the nannies at our agency's children's home will fatten him up!

Can we see a picture?
We can't post any pictures online until after we pass court and he's legally our son.

**************************

We are so grateful to our friends and family that have surrounded us with joy, happiness, tears, love, hugs, thankfulness and cheering. Little Cliffy G is already so loved!!

Please pray that the next steps in this process are quick and we can bring our boy home fast! Also pray for his well being. He's getting excellent care where he's at, but it's not home!

Thank you!!!

xoxo,
Chad and Candy

7 Month Update!!

2009-11-02T23:34:00.005-05:00

Here is a little video Chad and I did last night. We hope you like it!!!!

Our 7 Month Adoption Update... from Chad and Candy Pearson on Vimeo.

*Ends at 4:50 (Hey, no one's perfect!)

Love x5!!

2009-09-25T10:34:00.009-04:00

So, today Chad and I have been married for 5 years!!! Whoo hoo! I don't mean to get all sappy here, but come on...our anniversary only comes once a year so give me a break! :)

Chad is seriously the best man I've ever met. I just realize more and more every day that we are perfect for each other. And it's the little things like when I want to bake something, he measures everything out for me because he knows I like to bake, but he also knows that I don't like doing all the measurements. Or how he always does all the dishes because he knows it's one of my least favorite things to do. He also knows how to comfort me when I'm down and how to make me laugh. One of my favorite things is we'll be sitting on the couch watching TV and a really sappy commercial comes on and totally makes me tear up (I cry at everything! :)), then I look over at Chad all embarrassed and just know he's gonna giggle at me, but there he is with tears in his eyes too! He's so awesome.

Anyway, the story of how Chad and I came to be together is a really cool story (of course everyone thinks their story is cool! :)). But to make a long story short, about a year before Chad and I started dating, I wrote a list, a list of what I wanted in a husband. I decided I wasn't going to settle for anything less than what was on my list and I prayed that I would not have any feelings for anyone until I found the person who was all the things on my list. My list ended up being 50 things! So, I wrote my list and then I prayed over it. I prayed not only that I would meet the person that was my list, but that I would also become my list because if I was gonna find someone that was all 50 things on my list, he deserved to have someone that was all 50 things too.

So, here's THE LIST:

1. Loves God with all his heart

2. Has a sense of humor

3. Is thoughtful

4. Is caring

5. Is sensitive

6. Is encouraging

7. Is challenging

8. Is honest

9. Is devoted

10. Is kind to others

11. Is genuine

12. Is sincere

13. Is romantic

14. Is spontaneous

15. Is respectful

16. Is not selfish

17. Has a healthy self esteem

18. Is driven

19. Has a dream

20. Considerate of other people’s feelings

21. Willing to SHOUT my name

22. Will hold my hand in public

23. Sees the good in people

24. Thrives on seeing or making people smile

25. Is a gentleman

26. Will stand by me no matter what

27. Can accept my past

28. Can accept my faults and help me though them

29. Is a good listener

30. Is outgoing

31. Wants a family

32. Can laugh at himself

33. Can fart in front of me (I would totally take this one back if I could!! haha)

34. Is playful

35. Sees beauty in this world

36. Is optimistic

37. Gets along with my family

38. Loves me unconditionally

39. Not afraid of change

40. Emotionally stable

41. Is creative

42. Is passionate

43. Not cocky

44. Not stubborn

45. Can admit when he’s wrong

46. Doesn’t hold grudges

47. Is realistic

48. Not sexist

49. Is forgiving

50. Is trusting/trustworthy

So, needless to say, Chad is everything and more on this list. And luckily for me, Chad pushes me to be a better person every day. I think I'm definitely the lucky one in our relationship and God has blessed me with an amazing husband and I am so grateful. He's going to be an incredible dad too and I can't wait to see him in action. ;)

I love you Chad!!!

xoxo,
Candy

P.S. I posted this list on our Tumblr page last year with a little bit more of our story. Feel free to check it out here!

6 Months!

2009-09-24T15:35:00.008-04:00

I know we haven't been updating our blog a ton, but we just haven't had much to post since we're just in the waiting mode. But, I thought I'd go ahead and write something in honor of today marking our 6 months of being on the waiting list for our referral. Also in honor of today, I wore this beautiful necklace that my friend Katie Brabson gave me. She has an awesome blog so check it out! Anyway, my necklace says "Selam" (pronounced SELL-OM (kind of like the meat)) which in the Ethiopian language of Amharic (pronounced AM-HAR (as in CAR)-IC (as in the ic in RICK)) is a traditional greeting and it means "Peace".

When we first started this process we thought we'd be waiting for around 3 months, and at the most, 5 months for our referral. Well, now we are at 6 months of being on the waiting list and you know what I feel??? PEACE. Yep, peace. I keep hearing things like "You must be so anxious especially since this is your first child!" Anxious? No. Excited? YES!! We are so excited but what makes this process even more exciting and oh so cool is that we truly believe that God is in control! I'm not gonna say we (really, I) haven't had a few moments of weakness, but that's life. We naturally want to control things that are going on in our lives. But then, I just have to step back and remember that most things I try to control end up getting all messed up and when I step aside and let God work out the details, it is good!! I didn't say it was easy, but it is good. So... happy 6 months to us! God knows what He's doing!

Selam!!
Candy

P.S. I called in for our 6 month update and was told we should receive our referral within the next month or 2!! Yay!

Questions you want to know but are afraid to ask...

2009-08-12T16:18:00.002-04:00

People are always asking us questions or making statements about our adoption, so I thought I'd compile a list here just in case you have some of the same questions but are afraid to ask. Some questions we've received have been awful. Some have been funny and some are awesome. I have to say that, no matter what, I really like talking about our adoption, even if people ask awful questions. It gives me a chance to hopefully make them stop and consider a different side to adoption that maybe they've never thought of before. I know I'll probably miss some questions, so if anyone has one, just ask!

One of the #1 things we hear from people is this:

"Isn't it funny how you always hear about people that get pregnant during the adoption or right after. I bet that'll happen to you."

This statement cracks me up and most people that say it just say it because they've heard it around and usually don't mean any harm when they say it. In fact, some of our friends have said it. The problem with this question is that you're assuming I would want to get pregnant during our adoption. That is a false assumption. TMI alert: We are taking precautions against that!

"What? If you can get pregnant, then why are you adopting?" Ok, so no one has actually come out and asked that, but I've seen it in people's eyes. :) Here's the thing...I have NO idea if I can get pregnant. I would love to, MAYBE one day, but Chad and I have chosen adoption 1st and not as a last resort. Here's my take on pregnancy: It sounds amazing and I wouldn't mind experiencing it at some point in my life, IF that's what God has planned for me. The truth is, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT GOD HAS PLANNED for that aspect of my life and I'm 100% ok with that. I would absolutely be happy if all my children were adopted. I would absolutely be happy if in the future I get pregnant. I have found that the key to being happy is to trust that 1. God is good! and 2. God has a plan. I trust in that and am open to any way he brings me my children.

Our social worker actually did prepare us for statements like this. She told us that everyone will automatically assume that we are adopting because we can't have children. And that's ok if people assume that. We just feel that God has led us down a different path.

"Why does it cost so much and why does it take so long when there are so many kids that need homes?"

You would actually be surprised by all the different people involved in an adoption and especially an international adoption. These are people that are doing wonderful work and who I would never ask to do that work for free. There are homestudy fees, dossier fees, agency fees, government (Both US and Ethiopian) fees, legal fees and the list goes on. I am personally thankful for all the "hoops" and "red tape" because it weeds out the people with ill intentions and makes way for the people that have a pure heart towards adoption. And as far as the wait goes, yes, it can be a long process. But it will SO be worth it! We have to remember that we are dealing with government (US and Ethiopian) and these things just take time! I would actually be scared if I could get a child fast. That, to me, would raise a red flag.

"So, how much does it cost?"

It costs about the same as if you had a baby in a hospital without insurance.

"Why aren't you adopting from the States?"

If you know anything about Chad's history, you will know that he grew up with a multicultural community around him. We want that. We have a heart for that and, specifically, we have a heart for Africa. We WANT that culture in our lives forever. This is the path God is taking us down and we happily follow! I don't want to be harsh here and I say this in love, but if you want to ask us this question, please ask yourself first. :) Thanks. :)

"Why Africa?"

The answer above pretty much answers that. In a nutshell: It's where our hearts are.

"How long is the wait?"

We have no idea how long it will end up being. On August 24th we will have been on the waiting list for 5 months. Being on the waiting list means waiting for our referral. A referral is a photo and any available medical information on the child. All children are tested during the process for HIV, Hepatitis B, tuberculosis and venereal diseases. I have no idea how much longer it will be, but the cool thing is that I believe in God's perfect timing and don't want it to happen any faster or any slower than it's supposed to. Plus, the longer the wait means the less children coming into our agency's care. That's a good thing!

"Will you travel to Ethiopia?"

We do have that option. We also have the option to have our child escorted. We are weighing our options and will pick what we think is best for us.

"What gender and age will your child be?"

We did not specify a gender and we asked for a child under 12 months old.

"Do you get to pick out your child?"

No. Our agency has been doing this for a long time. We trust them 100%. They really focus on the child and on finding the perfect family for that child. For them, it's never about finding a child for a family, it's about finding a family for the child. Once we receive our referral, we do have the option to either accept the referral or to decline the referral.

"What agency are you with?"

We are with Adoption Advocates International.

"That child will be so lucky to have you."

Actually we feel it will be the other way around. We are so excited to be in this process and are humbled and in awe that God has called us to start our family through adoption. We really feel like we are the lucky ones.

Ok, that's all I can think of for now though I'm sure I'm missing some. Again, if you have a question I didn't answer, PLEASE feel free to ask!

xoxo,

Candy

Oh and check out our friends, Donovan and Julie's blog. They posted some funny but awful comments that people have made to them about their adoption.

How have you been?

2009-08-05T16:43:00.010-04:00

Hey everyone.

Sorry we haven't posted much on here lately, but as Candy said in her last post, we are in the part of the process where we are just waiting for a referral.

It's a killer wait. I can't wait to see a photo of our new family member. Can't wait to introduce our child to our extended family.
Candy and I have been making ourselves very busy. Candy got a new job, which is AWESOME. She works for a non profit called The 410 Bridge. They help build relationships by connecting communities/people here in the states to communities/people in Kenya and help support those communities in Kenya with tools they need to become self sustainable. She is officially the Marketing and Communications Coordinator for The 410 Bridge. I am so proud of her and we are so excited to be part of this wonderful company and be able to help other people with what tools we have here.

I have been traveling... A LOT. We both flew to our friends Scott and Megan's wedding, which was held on a beautiful farm near Norman, OK somewhere. Such great friends and such a beautiful wedding. I then flew to Seattle to hang out with my parents before they left to go back to Papua New Guinea and also to attend my sister's wedding as well. Again, a great time and a my sister was such a beautiful bride. I love her and miss her family so much.

I then took my parent's car and drove to Portland for a quick cup of coffee with our good friend Lindsay and met her new husband, Nich. Then I continued down near San Fransisco, where I got to hang out with one of my best friends that I haven't seen for 5 years. Ryan and Vanessa are huge supporters of our adoption and it was SO GOOD to see them and hang out with them. Then I travelled down the Pacific Coast Highway to Long Beach, CA. The ride took 14 hours or so. I stopped a lot. It was so pretty.

While I was traveling, Candy had the opportunity to drive down to Daytona Beach, Florida and volunteer (with her whole company) at a youth camp called BigStuf. She had a blast getting to know her co-workers and hanging out with 3000 kids. The 410 Bridge actually set up a booth at the camp and they made a track that kids could walk around while carrying jerry cans full of sand that equal about 45 pounds or about 5 gallons of water. She said it was amazing seeing the look on kid's faces when they realize how heavy those jugs are and how long every day Kenyan women have to carry them to get water. She was definitely in her element. Also, another highlight for her that week was seeing the Daraja Children's Choir perform. What amazing and beautiful kids! She said they put a joy in her heart that she will not soon forget.

After doing some business and seeing some CA friends that I miss and seeing my artist Damion Suomi play some great shows - I took off and drove across the country back to my wife and bed. Overall - 3 weeks in other beds and I was dying to sleep next to my beloved (truth be told I had written "Precious" but Candy said that was too "Lord of the Rings") and sleep in my own bed. I had a great time and that helped another month pass.
So - yeah - that's the basic run down I guess. But trust us, when we have news - you will be the third or fourth to know. :)

This is a shot I grabbed at a look-out point while driving down PCH...

Hurry Up and Wait!!

2009-05-27T12:32:00.002-04:00

So, this past Sunday, May 24th, marked 2 months of being on the waiting list. Everyone keeps asking what our timeline looks like and most importantly, when will we get that sweet baby home! We have been told that the time frame for a referral (picture, medical history, etc.) of a boy is about 3-5 months and for a girl about 6-8 months now (we did not specify gender). After we receive our referral, we wait for our court date. That will likely be 2-3 months after we accept our referral. This court date is handled by an AAI (our agency) appointed attorney so we don't have to be there. Next we wait to pass court. (Some people end up having multiple court dates. Passing is NOT guaranteed on the first round). This could go very fast or it could take 6 months or more. After that we travel! This would be approximately 6 weeks after we pass court in Ethiopia. The courts are closed down usually starting at the beginning of August and ending at the beginning of October due to the rainy season which causes power outages. So, as you can see there are so many factors that make it hard to nail down a timeline. It would be great if we were able to travel before Christmas, but who knows?! I'm honestly trying not to get caught up in the anxiousness and impatience of the wait and of timelines. I just feel so blessed to even have this opportunity and I truly trust that God is in control and that His timing is perfect. That definitely gives me peace! So, for now, we just pray that God's will be done and we pray for our child/children and for their first family. I can only imagine that putting your child up for adoption has got to be the hardest choice you could ever make. It's a choice that takes soooo much love and strength and courage. Again, I am so grateful to be on this journey. It is truly amazing.

xoxo,
Candy

Lights, Camera, Action!!!!!

2009-05-15T20:36:00.016-04:00

Our good friend, Justin is in film school and asked us to be apart of one of his projects, which was to film a PSA (Public Service Announcement). He decided he wanted to do it on adoption and we said we'd love to help! So, last Saturday Justin and his crew showed up at our house and proceeded to set up all their equipment and lights. It was really fun to watch. It was also really fun to talk about the adoption and about our agency, Adoption Advocates International. Anyway, here are a few snapshots from some video Chad and I took...

And here is the finished project!!!!!!!
(You have to fast forward to 1 minute to get to the action.)

We're on the waiting list!!!!

2009-04-21T17:11:00.004-04:00

We just found out yesterday that our dossier was sent to Ethiopia on March 24th which means we've been on the official referral waiting list for almost a month now! We sent in our dossier on Feb. 23rd. I had emailed our agency on March 9th asking for an update. They said our file was complete and that they were just waiting on our power of attorney form and our dossier cover letter to come back from the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington. After that we ended up having to redo our power of attorney form because the original attorney had moved out of Ethiopia so we had to sign and have notarized a new form for the new attorney. That was the middle of March. Also in the middle of march we received our I171H approval which means we have been pre-approved to bring an immigrant child into the country for the purpose of adoption. So, through all this we've been trying to be patient and we didn't want to bug our agency but this weekend I just felt it was time to email our agency to see where we stood. I received a reply back yesterday with the good news that we are on the waiting list. Apparently with all the new power of attorney forms our agency is having to re-do, calling us slipped through the cracks. I can't be upset about it though because we have been on the waiting list for a month and we didn't even know it! I have heard that waiting is the hardest part. Not the mounds and mounds of paperwork, but waiting. And unfortunately, waiting is all we can do now. Our agency told us that families who's dossiers were sent to Ethiopia in September are getting referrals for girls now and families who's dossiers were sent to Ethiopia in December are getting referrals for boys now. So, since we didn't specify a gender, we expect a wait of about 4 more months before we receive a referral for a baby boy. Of course that could change, but it gives us a time frame to look forward to. So, please keep us in your prayers during the wait and we'll be sure to give updates as soon as we get them!

xoxo,
Candy

One Day WITHOUT Shoes

2009-04-15T14:57:00.008-04:00

TOMS shoes is one of my favorite companies. Their movement is simple yet so important. It's called One for One. You buy a pair of TOMS shoes and they give a pair of shoes to a child in need. They are doing something really cool tomorrow. They are encouraging everyone to go a day without shoes. You can check out the details at www.TOMSshoes.com/OneDay. Here are some ways to join the movement and spread awareness:

-On April 16th, go barefoot on the way to the water cooler, walking to the mailbox, in an afternoon meeting or on your lunch break; go barefoot for the entire day or long enough to raise awareness.

-Attend a shoeless event in your area. Check this page (www.TOMSshoes.com/OneDay) for updates on times and specific locations.

-RSVP and pledge your support on Facebook: click HERE.

-Share One Day Without Shoes with all your friends on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Myspace by updating your status, writing a note, or posting a bulletin.

-Blog about One Day Without Shoes on April 16th.

-Buy TOMS Shoes and join our One for One movement! For every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of shoes to a child in need. One for One. Purchase yours today!

-Share the TOMS mission, and how our One for One movement is changing the lives of children in need.

And speaking of those needs, check out these facts and just some of the reasons why what TOMS shoes is doing is so important:

Fact #1: In some developing nations, children must walk for miles to food, clean water and to seek medical help.
Fact #2: Cuts and sores on feet can lead to serious infection.
Fact #3: Often, children cannot attend school barefoot.
Fact #4: In Ethiopia, approximately one million people are suffering from Podoconiosis, a debilitating and disfiguring disease caused by walking barefoot in volcanic soil.
Fact #5: Podoconiosis is 100% preventable by wearing shoes.

Check out this video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUSTOe-fiyI&feature=player_embedded

Heavy metal adoption

2009-03-25T15:57:00.003-04:00

A friend of mine sent me this link the other day. Thought it was great. Not a fan of the band, but pretty cool none the less.

Click here to see the article.

I have to brag on my husband...

2009-02-13T10:55:00.005-05:00

For those of you who don't know, my husband works in the music industry. He owns a record company called P is for Panda, which he started after leaving his old record company in California when we moved to Georgia. He's been in the industry for over 10 years now. Chad has such a passion for music and people and how music can bring people together and I know it rubs off on people. Anyway, Billboard magazine did an article on Chad and it came out in last weeks edition. and I thought I'd post it for people to see. I'm so proud of him!!!!!

(You should be able to click on the article to make it bigger. I scanned the page in, so the quality isn't amazing, but you should still be able to read it.)

You can check his company out at www.pisforpanda.com.

-Candy

Update 1/22/09

2009-01-22T13:05:00.008-05:00

So, a few things have happened recently in regards to our adoption process that I thought I'd share. Last Friday, Chad and I went to the Probate Court office in downtown Cumming, GA to apply for our passports. I know it doesn't sound exciting, but it was!! It's one step closer to our child!! Also, just the thought of having a document that will let me travel all over the world is exciting too! Of course I only have eyes for Africa at this moment, but I will go where ever God wants me to! It was actually really easy to apply for our passport. We had to do our pictures ahead of time. Instead of going to CVS or Walgreens, we thought we'd attempt to do our pictures ourselves and it actually worked out really well! We used a great site (epassportphoto.com). They let you upload your picture and they help you size them out. Then you can either print at home or you can send the file to Walmart or Target or wherever and then pick them up. It only cost us about $2.00 to have them printed at Target. Here's our photos (Disclaimer: Chad said we were NOT allowed to smile! haha)...

We also FINALLY got copies of our Home Study. Yay! It was very interesting to read. There were quite a few typos, but we got it all hashed out. Now we can send off our immigration papers along with almost $1000. That will probably take about 3 or 4 months to complete. AND we are almost done with our Dossier! Whoo hoo! We are just waiting on our 2 reference letters. Once we have those, we can send it all in (with $2000) and then we are officially on the waiting list for a child!! Our agency told us that there is about a 3 month wait for baby boys and about a 6-8 month wait for a baby girl. So, since we didn't specify a gender, we will probably get a boy! Crazy!! I love it! I have been secretly hoping for a boy! By the way...we have some names in mind which will remain a secret until our child arrives, but we're still not set on one for sure. Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas for a name? Feel free to give boy or girl names since we don't know for sure which gender our child will be. We can't promise we'd use any of the names given, but we'd love some inspiration!!

And speaking of inspiration, our adoption agency, AAI, recently sent out their January newsletter and it just filled me with so much emotion. You have to see it for yourself here! There has been a huge influx of babies that have been placed for adoption lately possibly due to the famine experienced earlier this year in Ethiopia. If you're looking for a positive thing to do with your money that will seriously make a difference, these babies and the people taking care of them need your help! There is currently a shortage of formula in Ethiopia and what formula is there, is now really expensive. If you'd like to help, you can do so here. Just make sure to check the "Layla House Baby Fund". After all, that's where our child will be coming from and could already be there! :)

Please keep us in your prayers as we're finishing up all of our paperwork and getting the loot together to take the next steps. People keep asking if we have a time frame as to when we will have our child. We don't have an arrival time yet, but we would love to have our child before Chad's parents go back to Papua New Guinea this summer so I'm telling everyone to "Pray for May!!!"

xoxo,

Candy

Looks like we spoke too soon (Chad)

2009-01-05T21:16:00.001-05:00

Our adoption agency just called to let us know that our Homestudy is approved by them and good to go!! This is so exciting!! Now to complete the Dossier and then we will wait! Baby Pearson, we await you with open arms!!

Wow...it's been so long!

2009-01-05T15:42:00.006-05:00

Dang...over a month and no updates. It has been a crazy month between Chad's parents being in town to my birthday, to Christmas to New Years...yikes!! We have travelled to North Carolina and South Carolina and all over Georgia as far south as Senoia and as far north as Fort Oglethorpe. All this to say that I apologize for the silence!! We have taken a mini break from our adoption journey this month to focus on Chad's parents being here and on the holidays as well. Chad's parents arrived on December 3rd and will be with us until January 14th. We are having a great time with them and love having them here! Most of you probably know this already, but Chad's parents are missionaries in Papua New Guinea so we don't see them too often and we are taking advantage of every moment we have with them!

Now that the holidays are over, we are going forward full steam with everything adoption related. We just found out today that our homestudy is complete (YAY!) and it is being sent to our placement agency for approval. As soon as we receive our copies of the homestudy, we can send off our immigration paperwork which will be about $830. We are not sure how long the immigration process will take, but we are hoping and praying that it will not take long although it could take anywhere from 1 month to 6 months, so who knows! But during that time we will be working on our dossier which is basically our whole lives on paper! Oh and our good friends Danny and Cindy Stephens gave us some baby furniture including a crib, a glider and a dresser!! They (Cindy and Danny and the furniture) are awesome! We are so blessed to have such giving friends! This is really happening!!! I can't believe it! Please keep us in your prayers this year because I know this year is going to be crazy! I'm so excited to see what God is going to do and I am so excited to be a mom!! 2009 will be the best year ever!

Love,

Candy

P.S. In case you missed it...here is the "Christmas Card" we sent out. :) You may not be able to read the 2nd page, but if you like I can email you a copy. Just let me know!

Where are we? (Chad)

2008-12-02T13:58:00.002-05:00

So, we have had a few people asking us where we are in the process of adopting. Well, let me try to clarify where we are at.

We have completed our home study with our social worker. We are waiting on a few things for it to be DONE DONE.
1. Medical - We went and had our physicals last week, and we have to go back tomorrow to get our TB tests done. We will be able to see the results within 48 hours. The doctor just had to make sure we are healthy and took our blood. Which I loved. That was sarcastic. I actually cried when they took my blood.
2. Paperwork - We are waiting on our "California Clearance" and GBI fingerprint info. They have to make sure we aren't criminals and check out if we have made any 911 calls, etc.
3. Then our social worker writes it all up and sends it to our adoption agency and gives us a copy as well.

So, while that is being done, we are starting on what's called a "Dossier" which is sent to the Ethiopian government. We have to get immigration paperwork together and sent off with about $900 to the U.S. Citizen and Immigration office in Atlanta. Once we send in our paperwork, it could take awhile to get processed, so we have to do this asap. We also have to get a bunch of paperwork notarized, sign power of attorney forms, get police clearance, get passports, etc. This could take a long time depending on how fast we get some paperwork back from the US Government. A long time could be six months. It could take less then that.

Once the Dossier is in, our agency sends it to Ethiopia and we get put on the waiting list for a referral.
So that is where we are at right now. I just hope I don't have to give blood again. And so does Candy. Look what present the nurse left her with...

2008-11-30T23:23:00.000-05:00

TOMS shoes is a wonderful company who gives away a pair of shoes to someone in need for every shoe bought by a consumer. I would love to buy some of these one day. They are now trying to give away 30,000 pairs of shoes to Ethiopia for Christmas. Maybe the time is now. Watch the video and be touched.

Queen of Sheba. (Chad)

2008-11-30T20:53:00.003-05:00

So, last night, Candy and I went to an Ethiopian restaurant down in the city with our friends Josh and Lacey. The restaurant was called "Queen of Sheba" and we didn't really know what to expect. Candy and I had spent all day looking for a jacket for me (it's getting cold in ATL and all I have are hoodies..) and we were rather tired and even debated calling it off and going another time. Well, I am sure glad we went because it was one of the best meals I have had!

We walked into a dark and moody room, and the first smell I noticed was the smell of what i decided was curry. (Which now I don't even remember tasting any curry in our dish). Josh and Lacey were already there and looked at the menu to figure out what to order. Josh decided on a lamb dish, Lacey on a vegetarian dish and Candy and I decided on splitting a dish recommended by our lovely waitress called "Queen of Sheba Style Tibs", which was a beef dish.

Speaking of our waitress, our waitress was awesome. At first, we thought she had no personality, but she came out of her shell and eventually we got to see her personality. She was great. Even called the way I said "Injera" cute...

Our food came out pretty quickly - complete with injera bread. For those of you not in the know, injera bread is also your eating utensil, you get NO silverwear. Your food is completely layed out over one piece of injera and you also get a few rolled up on another dish. You break off pieces of the injera and pick up morsels of your food (in our case - the beef dish - mixed with peppers and onions...) and then you have the options with either dipping it in a spicy sauce (which I loved) or just to toss it in your mouth. And wow, what a treat!! I mean, WOW!!! The tender beef was so delicious, spiced just enough with whatever they put on it and the injera was a great partner to wash it down with! I am in love! I could go on, but I feel like that would be boring...................

The restaurant was also full of Ethiopian people and kids, and I must say, what beautiful people! I cannot wait to go spend more time down there and more time getting to know some of these people.

We will be for sure coming back, at least once a month. This was a first for me, a new kind of food, a new experience and the fact that I loved what I ate, well, its actually pretty amazing. (You see, I am a VERY VERY picky eater......)

We would love to invite all you to come join us, as I said, I think we will try to make this a "once a month" thing. Maybe every last Saturday of the month?

To Write Love On Her Arms

2008-11-22T11:36:00.007-05:00

So, this isn't really adoption related, but this is a theme that has come up over and over again lately and I just have to write about it. Last night our friend Josh Moore played a show on the To Write Love On Her Arms tour. I am a huge fan of Josh Moore and a huge fan of TWLOHA so I had been looking forward to last night for quite a while. The show was at this amazing coffee shop called Community Grounds. We had never been there but we knew about it because our friend Bret Miotti did the logo for them. So, we get there for the show at about 8:15 and the place is totally packed. Everyone was sitting in a room in the back. We managed to find a seat just in time for Josh Moore to start playing. Also playing with him was a guy named Zach Williams. He was amazing. Loved his music. He had an incredible story as well. And Josh Moore blew me away. So glad I got to see him play. After they played, Jamie from TWLOHA got up and spoke and then he had a few other people speak. What was amazing though is that near the end they had what they call a "conversation" with the crowd. I have never experienced anything like that in that type of setting before and I cannot begin to explain how that impacted me. For those of you who don't know about TWLOHA, here is what they say on their website:

To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.

During this conversation, people were asking questions about how to help their family or friends who struggle with depression or self injury or thoughts of suicide. People talked about their own struggles with those things as well. I was so moved by all the honesty and was trying desperately not to let the tears in my eyes roll down my face. I just love what TWLOHA is doing. Jamie talked about how depression and addiction and all those things are the issues that no one talks about but that SO many people struggle with. He said that our society puts so much shame around those things and even more shame around asking for help. It saddens me that there are so many people that need help but are embarrassed to ask for it or they don't know who to ask. Last night Jamie said something that really struck me. He told this story about a hard time in his life and how someone reached out to him and told him that they weren't afraid of his pain. I can't help but wonder how many people are longing for someone to tell them that they aren't afraid of their addiction, of their struggle, of their "issues". That is so BIG. I don't want to be afraid. I want to help and I have felt God urging me more and more that this life is not about me, but it's about others. Thursday night our smallish group talked about Practicing the Compassionate Life out of the book we're studying-A Spiritual Formation Workbook. In the book it says how God cares about our needs, our hurts, our brokenness. He also understands our humanness and it does not shock or surprise him. And instead of judging us, God is ready to forgive, to heal, to restore us. We are ALL precious in God's sight, and the Lord longs for US to see OTHERS as he does...priceless, unique people who need love and compassion. We talked about how EVERY human being deserves this, not just people that love God or people at your church or "normal" looking people, but EVERYBODY. But think about it, everybody includes murderers and pedophiles. It also includes addicts and prostitutes. This one is a hard one for me, but it also includes all the angry "Christians" that judge and yell at people. God's love does not discriminate between gay or straight people. And God's love does not just extend to the people that do or will love Him back. His love is for everybody and He encourages us to love EVERYBODY. And everybody has a story, but not everybody has someone who would listen to that story and react without judgement or fear, but to look them in the eye and say "I am not afraid of your pain". Last night, they stressed the importance of love and how love can make such an impact. When asked what the greatest commandments are Jesus even said "LOVE God and LOVE others as yourself". The call to love one another is grounded in God's love for us. I long to see the world through the eyes of Jesus. I want to see people as priceless and unique who need love and compassion. The Jesus that people see in me may be the only glimpse of Jesus they ever see. And what are some of my favorite things about Jesus? His love. His grace. His understanding. His forgiveness. His willingness to pursue me. His acceptance of me just the way I am. I pray that people would see those things in me. That the glimpse of Jesus they see in me is nothing but love and acceptance. I pray that I would see the world through the eyes of God, through a filter of compassion. Thank you to my smallish group and to TWLOHA for encouraging me to want to hear people's stories and to not be afraid. Thank you for encouraging my love of being around people that feel the same way. And most of all, thank you for encouraging me to be around people that I normally would not know how to be around or how to relate to or how to help...priceless, unique people that need love and compassion.

xoxo,
Candy

We got fingerprinted!

2008-11-12T15:02:00.006-05:00

Today Chad and I went to the Sheriff's office in Downtown Cumming to get fingerprinted for the State and the FBI. It was pretty painless. We walked in, paid our $20 each, got our licences copied, and then went to the waiting room. We waited for about 5 to 10 minutes and then got called into an office for the officer to "ink" us as she called it. This officer was sooo nice. She was asking all kinds of questions and was really sweet. When we were done she made us promise to bring our child back to the office so she could see him/her. How cool! I love small towns!! Anyway, here's a couple of pictures of Chad and I after...

We're so excited!!! Apparently Chad's glasses were so excited they were about to jump off his face! tee hee

Here I'm excited and Chad is um......creepy? haha...Just kidding! Love ya Chad!

We're one step closer to bringing our little nugget home!!

We Are Not Alone

2008-11-10T09:37:00.007-05:00

Yesterday we had the 2nd and 3rd meetings of our homestudy. Our social worker met with both Chad and I individually. I was first and she asked me all kinds of questions. It wasn't hard though at all. Everything was pretty straight forward. But, she did mention that we are in the extreme minority because we are choosing adoption first before having biological children. She told me to expect people to assume that we are adopting because we can't have kids ourselves. And that's fine. People can think whatever they want. I understand that most people look at adoption as a last resort and probably can't wrap their minds around why we would want to start our family with adoption. For us it's simple. It's the call God has placed on our lives. My new favorite quote is from the movie Martian Child... "You can't argue with the logic of loving a child that is already here." I don't know if our child is already here or maybe he/she is in his first mommy's tummy. I have no idea, but I do know that I already love that child. And speaking of love, we've come in contact with quite a few amazing families that have adopted. Most of them already have children and may not be in the same boat as us, but we have found a couple of families that have decided to start their families with adoption and it's been so cool to read their stories. The Brabson's adopted The Moose (Seriously one the cutest kids I've ever seen!) from Ethiopia and are actually in the process of adopting again. They are super cool. I love The Brabson's blog. Go visit it! They are selling some really awesome baskets from Ghana to help with their 2nd adoption. Check them out here! We should be getting ours any day now! Yay!

We found another couple, Steven and Maris Bush, right at the beginning of our process through our friend Lacey's blog. They have an amazing adoption story that you can read all about here. It's been really encouraging to read about these two couples who have been through the process and that process started with choosing adoption first. There is a really cool article on Maris that our friend Lacey forwarded to me today. As I read it, I teared up, because it's so nice to hear that we are not alone. There are other people in this world that have chosen a similar path. We may still be in the minority, but we definitely are not alone. You can read the article about Maris here.

My letter to Andy Stanley. (Chad)

2008-11-03T16:47:00.004-05:00

I just took down this post. If you would like me to send you the letter that I sent Andy - please leave a comment and we will be more then happy to share the story with you. Thanks for all who read!

Excited...Nervous...Excited...Nervous!!!!

2008-10-30T09:24:00.003-04:00

I just got off the phone with the social worker who has been assigned our homestudy!! WOW...we have our first meeting this Tuesday at 6pm!!!!!! She's emailing us an 11 or 12 page questionnaire that we each have to fill out by Tuesday. We also have to set up appointments to go and get checked out by a doctor and the doctor will have to fill out forms saying that we're physically able to be parents. Our social worker also said that she's going on medical leave on December 5th so she wants to have our homestudy done by Thanksgiving!! Wow!! This is all happening so fast. It's funny because a few weeks ago Chad told me that God told him that this would happen really fast. I hoped it were true, but I didn't know what to expect. But, it's true!! I have a feeling this Thanksgiving we will have A LOT to be thankful for. I already have A LOT to be thankful for!! We're gonna need about $1000 for our homestudy, so please keep us in your thoughts and prayers for that. Ok, I have to go jump up and down now. :)

xoxo,
Candy

2008-10-29T11:27:00.018-04:00

Yesterday we sent off our adoption agency contract fee along with some initial paperwork to AAI and we also sent off our homestudy application and application fee to our homestudy agency AAA Partners in Adoption, Inc.!!! We have butterflies in our stomachs right now, but it's good...really good! Next we will be getting a list of all the paper work we have to get together for our dossier. We will also be starting our homestudy soon. The Homestudy is a family assessment tool describing your family, home, neighborhood, parenting experience or plans, and child desired all done by a social worker. Chad and I will meet with the social worker together and separately about 3 or 4 times.

Some typical homestudy questions:
a. How were you parented? Do you have positive feelings about your parents and their parenting? How will you parent similarly or differently?
b. What are your feelings and the feelings of your extended family and friends about choosing to adopt interracially? Internationally?
c. What age and gender child are you interested in adopting?
d. What are your plans for childcare?

e. How will this adoption change your role in the family?

We will also be required to get together a bunch of documents for our homestudy including, but not limited to:

1. Certified copies of birth certificates for persons over 18 in the household
2. Certified copies of marriage certificate (if applicable).
3. Divorce decree (if applicable)
4. Photocopies of page 1 of your tax return for the most recent 3 years

And we will need to provide:

1. Family photo

2. Proof of insurance

3. Medical forms

4. Personal Data Sheet and/or Autobiography – names and ages of family members, applicant contact information, family history, education and employment background, information about the spouse and relationships, parenting experience, etc.

5. Criminal History Forms

6. References - We will need at least 3 references and only one can be from a family member

So, as you can see we will have a lot of work to do, but it will sooooo be worth it when we have our little nugget in our arms!! Thank you so much to everyone who has helped us get this far. We love you so much and really really appreciate all the support!! And if you're wondering how you can help go here...http://www.adoptingafrica.bigcartel.com/

xoxo,

Candy

Here is a short story for you. (Chad)

2008-10-24T14:11:00.003-04:00

While I was in California, in a conference room, conducting business like things, my wife attempted to call me like 20 times in 2 minutes. (That’s what we call an exaggeration…..) When I finally got a hold of her, she was in tears saying we got a gift in the mail. And the tears weren’t only for the gift.

A letter that was included was what touched her heart. Seems one of our friends was in Africa and took a beautiful photo of a young girl and submitted it for a photo contest. Our friend won the contest and was rewarded 250 bucks.

Our dear friend was torn on what to do with the funds as our friend didn’t feel it was rightfully "theirs" and that if our friend could - they would give it to the child in Africa cause they knew it would mean the world to them. But how would you find this one child again and plus the ticket alone to Africa would be over 250 bucks. Our friend waited. Then our friend got an e-mail from us that we were adopting from Ethiopia and our friend finally knew what to do with their prize money.

What a cool little story. I won’t say I didn’t cry either, cause I already exaggerated once in this story. But, wow! Thanks to our friend for blessing us with your gift. Your actions and thoughtful spirit won’t be forgotten in this household.

The winning photo is the photo you see in this post.

Shout out!!

2008-10-10T11:57:00.006-04:00

One of our friends, Brad Gross posted about us on his blog yesterday and I am so blessed by it. Thank you Brad for your support!! Please check out Brad's post about us and while you're there check out what else Brad has to say. He also suprised us and said that he will be donating all of the proceeds from his website to us from now until the end of the year! How amazing is that! Again, thank you Brad. Thank you for seeing our hearts and wanting to be apart of what God has called us to do! We are forever grateful!

http://www.iheartbrad.com/

xoxo,
Candy

Do Not Worry

2008-10-08T18:02:00.010-04:00

I was talking to my sister, Chrissy yesterday about how hard things are lately with the economy going crazy, and all the gas prices sky rocketing. It seems like just about everybody is having money issues. We were talking about how easy it is to so caught up in the day to day worries and at times they can be really overwhelming. Yesterday I found myself being anxious about our adoption and the money. I had a moment of weakness and impatience I know. But, I was reminded by my friend Danny that their adoption took 2 1/2 years to complete and I was just encouraged. Their family is amazing and I have to remember that it's all about God's timing. God is in control of everything! He is not limited by our economy or by anything on earth. I have to realize that the moment I try to be in control of something, that is me saying I can do a better job than God. And I KNOW that's not true! So, I just need to take a deep breath and trust that God is watching my back. While I was talking to my sister a verse came to mind. I think about this verse when I need to be encouraged and in fact I have two birds tattooed on my back because of this very verse. I hope you are encouraged...

Matthew 6-25-34

25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Another line in the verse really sticks out to me because I was just talking about this with my friend Cindy and our homegroup. It is this: "your heavenly Father knows that you need them". I'm sure a lot of people wonder at times (me included) why, if God knows everything and God knows what we want and need, do we pray and ask for anything? I found the answer in a book I just started reading called The Papa Prayer and on the first page it gives a great quote. I don't have the book with me, so I'll have to paraphrase, but basically it said that even though God knows what we need, He knows that we need a relationship with Him above all other things and prayer is the start of that relationship. That thought just transformed me. I read another book this year called The Shack and it also completely transformed my whole thinking and understanding of who God really is. I HIGHLY recommend this book. My whole family has read it and loved it. This part is so good about our relationship with God...

Most birds were created to fly. Being grounded for them is a limitation within their ability to fly, not the other way around. You, on the other hand, were created to be loved. So for you to live as if you were unloved is a limitation, not the other way around. All love and relationship is possible for you only because it already exists within Me, within God myself. Unless I had an object to love-or, more accurately, a someone to love-if I did not have such a relationship within myself, then I would not be capable of love at all. You would have a god who could not love. Or maybe worse, you would have a god who, when he chose, could only love as a limitation of his nature. [...] The God who is-the I am who I am-cannot act apart from love!

This is just so amazing. It's so hard to fathom the love of God because we as humans always compare everything. We compare relationship against relationship and we compare love against what love we have found here on earth. The problem with that, is that God's love is not earthly and is not limited and conditional like ours is. It's so hard for us to comprehend God's love because we don't have any example with which to compare it to here on earth. So, how do I wrap my head around this? I talk to God...yes...I talk to God! All day...I just tell Him my thoughts. I have a relationship with Him. Only when I am spending time with God can I start to see a glimpse of who God is and how much He loves me. And I have to say it is the best thing in the world.

Going back to worrying and not trusting God, this excerpt from The Shack is really good too. This is God talking...

The real underlying flaw in your life is that you don't think I am good. If you knew I was good and that everything-the means, the ends, and all the processes of individual lives-is all covered by my goodness, then while you might not always understand what I am doing, you would trust me. But you don't.

That is so true. I could write about this for hours and hours and have pages and pages on how I struggle with trusting God. I have to constantly remind myself that He ALWAYS takes care of us. But, He might just push us to our limits, past the edge of where even we thought we could be pushed. And He does all that because He loves us and He wants a relationship with us. If I had all the money in the world I'm not sure I would pray as much as I do right now, if I'm being honest. I would (and have in the past) say "It's cool God, I got it from here.". But, I don't want to be like that. I want to learn to depend on Him for everything. I know it will be something I have to conciously think about for the rest of my life, but it is so worth it. I have to remember that God can take care of me better than my job, my husband, my friends, my church, my family and that His timing is perfect.

xoxo,

Candy

Adoption Party #1!

2008-10-07T14:09:00.003-04:00

We just had our first party celebrating our adoption this past Saturday. It was so much fun! We met tons of new friends and got to see a bunch of old friends as well. Thank you to everyone who came and supported us. We love you from the bottom of our hearts. If you wanna read more about our party go here. We are having our next party this Saturday, October 11th. I am so excited to see how it turns out. Thank you Cindy and Danny for throwing these amazing parties for us. We love you to death and are forever grateful! Oh and I posted a bunch of pictures on my facebook of the party which you can check out here!

If you wanna come to the party this Saturday, email me at pisforpearson@gmail.com for the details. We would love to see ya!!

xoxo,
Candy

P.S. Don't forget to sign up for our newsletter!

Come celebrate our adoption!!

2008-09-30T13:23:00.005-04:00

Our amazing friends Danny and Cindy Stephens are throwing us 2 parties to celebrate our adoption! If you are in the area, we would love for you to come! The parties are on Saturday October 4th and Saturday October 11th and will be in Cumming, GA. We're having a BBQ at 5pm on both Saturdays, but the parties will be going on from 12pm to 12am. If you wanna come, please email me for all the info at pisforpearson@gmail.com. We hope to see you there!

xoxo,
Candy

P.S. Sign up for our mailing list. :)

Subscribe to our newsletter!

2008-09-22T14:23:00.003-04:00

There are lots of things going on right now that we don't nessecarily want everyone on the world wide web knowing about, so I decided to add a way for our friends and family to sign up to a newsletter so all the insider happenings of our adoption and related events can come straight to your email inbox! Sign up now on the right hand side of your screen! :)

xoxo,
Candy

Thank you!

2008-09-16T16:41:00.002-04:00

We have some pretty incredible friends and to those friends I just want to say THANK YOU! You know who you are and for what. We love you with all our hearts.

-Candy

Happy Enkutatash!

2008-09-11T09:02:00.000-04:00

Update 9/10/08

2008-09-10T11:57:00.003-04:00

Chad and I went out of town this weekend and when we got back on Monday night, we had a great suprise waiting for us in our mailbox....our acceptance letter/package from our adoption agency! We are so excited! So, our next step is to fill out more paperwork (some of it's easy like the contract and a statement of commitment and some of it's harder-like trying to decide what we would be willing to consider in a child (everything from webbed fingers and toes to spina bifida to HIV)). We also received our adoption training in the form of a DVD and book that we will need to finish and then take an online test on. And we will be starting our homestudy very soon. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we're filling out paperwork and getting together the funds necessary for this next step.

xoxo,
Candy

I stole this from another adoption blog (Chad)

2008-09-09T10:46:00.000-04:00

Ethiopian New Year (Enkutatash) September 11, 2008/Meskerem 1, 2001

2008-09-04T11:22:00.004-04:00

I heard that the Ethiopian New Year was coming up so I decided to do some research. I am glad I did because I learned something very interesting about Ethiopia. I knew that they use a different calendar that us, but I had no idea that they were on a different year than us, let alone 7-8 years behind us! So cool. Check it out...here's what I found at http://tourismethiopia.org:

Ethiopia still retains the Julian calendar, in which the year is divided into 12 months of 30 days each and a 13th month of 5 days and 6 days in leap year. The Ethiopian calendar is 8 years behind the Gregorian calendar from January to September and 7 years behind between September 11 and January 8.
Enkutatash means the "gift of jewels". When the famous Queen of Sheba returned from her expensive jaunt to visit King Solomon in Jerusalem, her chiefs welcomed her bolts by replenishing her treasury with inku or jewels. The spring festival has been celebrated since this early times and as the rains come to their abrupt end, dancing and singing can be heard at every village in the green countryside.
But Enkutatash is not exclusively a religious holiday. Today's Enkutatash is also the season for exchanging formal new year greetings and cards among the urban sophisticated - in lieu of the traditional bouquet of flowers.

So, today is Thursday, September 04, 2008 / Nahassie 29, 2000

2008-08-26T23:23:00.001-04:00

So this is us. AND our completed application papers! I (Chad) will be sending this off to AAI tomorrow. That makes this real! Get ready to join us on this ride! I won't lie, I am pretty excited.....

Our story (well via Chad....)

2008-08-22T14:06:00.005-04:00

If you'd like to read "Our Story" (via Chad) please email him at chad@pisforpanda.com.

It's My Birthday (Chad)

2008-08-19T11:29:00.009-04:00

So every year that my birthday rolls around, I try to tell everyone not to do anything for me, etc etc. I try to act like its not going to happen. No, its not my fear of turning older, I actually could care less, but more about me hating being on center stage. Well, our buddy Will Sansbury told us about an organization called charity: water and we looked into it and I was sold. Here is a way to combine my birthday with something that is on my heart. Yes, I know, my birthday is actually August 31st, but hey, it’s for a good cause. Here is the “generic” e-mail they send out, which I thought was a great way to explain what they are trying to do…..

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Hey EverybodyI’m using my birthday this year to support charity: water’s September campaign to bring clean and safe drinking water to the people of Ethiopia.I recently learned that more than 1.1 billion people in the world today don’t have the most basic thing: clean water to drink. And 4,500 kids die each day from water-related disease. I’ve been supporting an organization called charity: water that has been working to make a real difference.So I’ve decided to give up birthday gifts this year and ask people for donations instead to help people in need. 100% of the money raised will go directly to building freshwater wells, which will be proved with GPS coordinates and photos on Google Earth.Please make a donation on my page:

http://www.charitywater.org/birthdays/fundraiser/sept/view/226

Thank you!

Chad Pearson

Documents!

2008-08-18T14:11:00.003-04:00

So Chad and I searched and searched (my excuse is that we moved recently) for all of the documents we need to turn in with our application, i.e. birth certificates, marriage license and tax returns. We have found everything but my birth certificate, which I just had recently because I just got a new Georgia drivers license and I had to have it then...(my excuse is that that was before the move!). Think brain think!!

Oh and we can't find Chad's passport either and we think it expires on his birthday which is right around the corner on August 31st. Happy early Birthday baby!!

Update over...
peace out!

In the beginning...

2008-08-15T16:48:00.009-04:00

Hello!! Welcome to our adoption blog!! Thank you so much for wanting to share in this exciting time of our lives! I just want to give a brief overview of what we've been up to since announcing our plans to adopt on 6/10/08 on our regular blog...http://www.pisforpearson.tumblr.com/.

So, we've done lots of research on agencies and have decided to go with AAI (Adopton Advocates International) located in Port Angeles, WA. http://adoptionadvocates.org/ We have heard nothing but good things about them and they have been so nice to answer any questions we've had so far. Our goal is to turn in our application in September. With our application we need to turn in copies of our tax returns for the last 3 years, a copy of our marriage certificate, a copy of each of our birth certificates and we have to get health insurance that will cover our new wee one. Oh and we have to get our passports too. After that, we have to work on getting our homestudy done (Which I have personally set a goal of getting it done by the end of this year). We are still trying to figure out which home study agency here in Atlanta to use. So, we're just taking this step by step. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Thank you!!

Love,
Candy