Good news on the adoption front

Yesterday we received in the mail our I-171h. For all those adoption experts out there you know this is a very important document. This is the paper from the US Immigration office that gives us permission to bring a child back into the United States. It was the last paper we were waiting on here. Now we patiently wait for January 1st our court hearing. There hasn't been any successful court hearings the first time around in Ethiopia recently so we are preparing that we may need a 2nd appointment to finalize things. But we are praying that January 1st is the day Kiley becomes a Grandstaff.

I love this time of year

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving day but then shared the stomach virus all weekend long. Thank goodness it was a long weekend. I guess it helped my shopping issues. As I was brave enough to get into Kohl's at the crazy time of 4 am and out by 4:30 and throwing up by 5. A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do and I waited ALL year for day after Thanksgiving shopping. Boy was I bummed I only got to hit 1 store. Oh well... guess I have next year to look forward to.
I just LOVE this time of year. The house is decorated and the ornaments are hung. Although there are fewer ornaments as each day goes by and Kate discovers how glass makes a fun noise when it shatters. Oh the joy of Christmas decorations and a 2 year old. Who ever thought glass ornaments were a good idea anyway.
The next few weeks we are going to focus on just being still and appreciating our family and friends. We hope to see all our special friends over the coming weeks. We wish you and your family a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Fun in the snow

So since we don't have snow in Florida... EVER we thought we would take a family vacation to the snow. So we packed up all the kids last Friday and flew to Denver, CO. We then drove to Vail where we spent 4 days and 3 nights playing and having a blast in the snow. Thanks to my sister working for Marriott.
It was Kate's first trip to the cold. At the rental car place she stood inside as I walked out. I tried to get her to follow me because I was TRYING (key word) to pull too many pieces of luggage all at one time and get a 2 year old to follow along. Not a pretty picture. She stood inside and yelled NO NO NO... COLD! I thought "Oh man, we haven't even gotten to the cold stuff yet." : ) Once I was able to get her into the car she was fine. We weren't at the hotel for 10 minutes when the kids started to get all the snow gear out. I'm telling you getting 3 kids in snow clothes takes about 45 minutes. Not my idea of fun. Because by the time you are on number 3 the first one is sweating up a storm and complaining they are HOT. But off we went and they had a great time.
After our time in Vail we headed into Denver. We spent some time with my cousin David and his wife Danae and precious son Oscar. We also spent the day with the Roupp's. We met them down in Guatemala last year. Their daughter Ashlee is a few months older than Kate. It was a great time. We got home on Wednesday. We are so thankful for the opportunity to take the kids to Colorado.

Kate with her friend Ashlee Roupp we met in Guatemala. Her precious family we met in Guatemala and they will be forever friends.

Heading to the slopes... or I mean the playground.

Lauren

Emily

Katelyn

Court Date for Kiley

We just received some wonderful news. We have been scheduled in Ethiopian courts for January 1st. If we get through court the first time they estimate we will travel about 6 weeks later to pick up our sweet Kiley. We are amazed and so excited today.

On that big celebration of New Year's Eve night as you ring in the New Year will you please say a prayer for our Kiley and her court appointment? They are 8 hours ahead and should be in court while we are celebrating the new year. We will keep you updated. Thanks for your support and love. Praying Kiley will be home in February. We are rejoicing today.

Ethiopia update

Wanted to give you all a quick update so you know the latest Grandstaff family news. Brian left on Thursday to fly to Ethiopia to meet a little girl we were considering for adoption. He arrived last night and got to the orphanage about 5am this morning our time. He called me about 8am from the orphanage on his cell phone (can you believe he had a signal in the middle of NO WHERE Ethiopia) and was in tears. He said he had spent several hours with her and she IS our daughter. Said she is a beautiful girl who lit up a room and is full of joy. She kept talking to him but of course he couldn't understand her due to the language barrier. But the staff at the orphanage said while she was looking at the picture book of our family we sent she was telling people... that is my Mom, that is my Dad and those are my sisters. : ) He had an amazing time with her. Got to put her down for a nap and pray with her before he left. He is physically and emotionally drained but so happy to get to meet her. We are rejoicing with the news. There will be obvious things to overcome. We believe she is about 3.5-4 years old but they don't have birth certificates there so we will never know for certain.

By a miracle our paperwork arrived completed the day before he left. So he hand carried all our documents with him to Ethiopia. They estimate that it will take 2-3 weeks to translate it and then submit to the courts. It usually takes 2-3 months to get a court appointment and if all goes well about 4-6 weeks until we travel to pick her up. We are praying we can be there in March or April. But only the Lord knows. Brian says the orphanage she is in is wonderful. She is in great health and it's a Christian orphanage. She is being well cared for during this wait.

Please continue to pray for his safety, health and stamina as he travels back to the city today and then home late tomorrow night. I feel honored and blessed that the Lord would allow us to be parents again. Thanks for your support and encouragement of our family.

We are loving the journey.

Fun Halloween

Last night we joined the millions of others that went out trick or treating with their children... or as my sister Lis took her nieces. As always the girls scored more than they should ever be allowed to eat in a year let alone about a 2 week span. Which is about as long as it lasts here. It was Kate's first time and she stayed in the wagon most of the evening. For some weird reason knocking on complete strangers doors with freaky things in their yard just didn't appeal to her. She was Tinkerbell, Emily was a snow princess and Lauren was Hannah Montana. Then we went to Aunt Lis and Uncle Tim's for a disco 70's party. It was so much fun and the costumes had us laughing all night long. Unfortunately, Brian wasn't able to join us as he was in Ethiopia. We sure missed him.Can you believe I actually dressed up???? First time EVER!

Lauren as Hannah MontanaKatelyn as Tinkerbell.

Emily as a snow princess. Kinda fitting considering she was born in Siberia. : )The Girls!

Working their candy magic.

Pumpkins... pumpkins everywhere

Just like every other all American family we too have the pumpkin patch pictures. So here they are. The little girl with Kate is our sweet friend Hannah. Hannah is battling a form of kidney cancer and begun her chemo treatments the day after our pumpkin patch adventure. She and Kate at 10 days apart in age. Yep, Kate is my little pumpkin. Contrary to the grumpy face she really did have a great time.

Emily is 5

Oh man! Where did the time go? Miss Emily turned 5 on October 20. She had a Hello Kitty birthday party. She invited 6 of her friends from preschool... and EVERY one of them came to her party. The best part was watching them follow each other around the house... in a straight line. So funny! Here are a few pictures of that fun weekend.

Going to Atlanta

Last weekend Brian had a business trip to Atlanta so we packed the kids in the car and drove up. It was wonderful to see my cousin Bekah and our friend's the Canter's. I took the girls to lunch at the American Girl store and we had their dolls hair done. It was a FUN weekend.

Okay... I'm going to do this.

Well I've been fighting the pressure of EVERYONE I know around me to do this blogging thing for some time now. But I guess it's time for me to finally surrender. It seems like a good idea because life is full and we are getting ready to add more fabulous chaos to it. We currently are proud parents to three beautiful daughters. Brian and I just decided to grow our family again. We are planning to adopt another little girl. This time we believe our final destination will be Ethiopia. Thought it would be best to keep everyone posted on our progress this way. We are all very excited! So glad you will be able to journey with us.