It's all about Pictures

So when you are making an adoption profile you start to realize how bad you photograph.

And I don't mean oh I blinked in that photo but more like why do I look like death in photo's!

Then you start to realize that the only pictures you have with your loving husband are from your trips to Disney World. Why is this? Well that's easy because I'm the one taking all the pictures. That and the fact that Jeff and I get all awkward when someone tells us to stand together for a picture and I'm normally a hot mess by the time photo's start to get taken. I'm not hair and make up girl so normally after sight seeing all day I look a mess. I wish I was a hair and make up girl but the past few years I have lost interest in trying out what to do with my hair so the pony tail is the way for me!

So what do you do when you have a limited time and a limited budget but need some great pictures to start and end the profile? Simple you call your amazing friend Joe and ask if he could see if his very talented sister Rachel would take photo's of you. We were willing to pay, we had seen some of her amazing work, and we knew she would be just as sweet as her big brother.

So on a hot day in August we meet up with Rachel at one of our favorite locations to snap some pictures. Van Campen Inn was built in the mid 1700's as a residents in the rural farm land along the Delaware River. It was a stop on for stage coaches heading along Old Mine Rd which ran from Philadelphia to Boston. It is now a historical site that sits in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. It is a piece of history and now it is also part of ours.

Since I'm so pale we tried to take some pictures in the shade but odd shadows didn't help. We were surprised that pale Donna does good against white steps. Of course Jeff loved having the pictures on the steps, but he takes great pictures no matter where he is. So after playing around we were very excited to see how great the pictures came out and there was just one more we just had to have....

Our family isn't complete with out our Winnie!

Rachel did a great job and we walked away with the perfect pictures for our profile.

Home Inspection!!!

Monday~ August 8th

So today we had the final step in the home study!! We spent the last two weeks cleaning the condo and finally getting things organized. I ended having to miss my cousins birthday party because I let the stress of the moment get to me. I cleaned, organized, cleaned again, and got rid of papers I have been keeping for no reason. We worked our butts off this weekend making sure the condo was dusted top to bottom and Jeff even cleaned the carpets. The condo looks great, the doggies smell has gone away and then I made one of our favorite meals. And so on Sunday night we realized the condo smelled! Thank God for our wonderful neighbor who let us use their Febreze and the smell of that wonderful meal was gone.

On Monday morning Jeff, Vickie, Winnie, and I woke up finished some last minute details and waited for our social worker to show up. The condo had the sweet smell of melting wax, the dog was basking in the sun and Vickie was on the hunt for bed bath and beyond coupons for work. Bright sun light soaked through the windows giving the condo that extra little glisten that made me love it to start with and she finally arrived. It was time for that final inspection. The confirmation we lived where we said we lived, and the condo was indeed a safe clean home for our future baby.

Of course I was stuck on a work call when she arrived so Jeff showed her around and I joined them shortly there after. Vickie lucked out with some small talk and confirmation that she indeed has a bedroom here and I didn't make her up. Then it was time for us to sit and talk. She had seen our home, saw that we have our guns locked away, and indeed the home was super clean. A normal weekend dusting and vacuuming was probably all I needed but I was calmer knowing the house was extra clean.

We sat and talked and found out that we indeed had finished the home study! We had passed completing everything is just under 3 months. We are ready to matched with an expected mom! Of course this also means we sit and wait. We wait to be picked and only God knows when that will happen. But we will be ready to bring home that baby when God tells us it is the time!