May Yard Sale

We are working hard to get ready for our yard sale next weekend (May 7 and 8). Tomorrow Amanda and Chad (Chad's sister and brother-in-law) and Stefanie (Chad's other sister) are coming over to help us price things and clean out the garage. Many people have donated things for our sale and we are hoping to continue to receive more donations in the next week. We had our last official homestudy visit with our social worker this week and by next Monday we will have everything DONE. The next step is to review our homestudy report with our social worker and then forward all of our documents to our case worker at the adoption agency for review. We must get all of the documents notarized and once our agency approves our documents, I will drive to Springfield for them to be apostilled. Apostillization is a process in which the state government certifies that the notarization is valid. So many steps to the process! We hope to submit our dossier (a fancy name for all the paperwork) to Russia ASAP... of course with a large price tag attached! If you are wondering how you can help, here are some ideas. Either donate or BETTER YET shop at our yard sale! Collect aluminum cans and we will come get them from you! Praying for us is great as well (and may well be what we really could use)! The US delegation met with Russia yesterday and determined it was necessary to convene an "expert panel" to determine ways to protect Russian children following adoption. Adoptions are continuing in Russia as you read this, and we are optimistic we will be able to eventually meet our boys and bring them home. My sister Jessica is now engaged to be married to Matt Cargill. They will have a June 2011 wedding in which I will be the matron of honor while Sam and Callie will be junior bridesmaids/flower girls. My niece Christian will also be in the wedding. Jessica is hopeful the boys will be here by then so that they may be in the wedding as well; they will be the first boys of the Lydic family!