Carrie's engaged!!!

Friday night my litte sister Carrie (26) got engaged! She and Lcas met in Omaha, and are planning to get married in June. This is my first sibling to get married, so I'm really excited!! Of course, we did think my cousin's wedding on New Year's Eve was going to be our last for awhile, but alas, I guess we can handle one more. And, oh yes, Jesse will be ringbearer. From May 08 to June 09, we will have gone to 6 weddings, with one or more of us involved in the wedding for 5 out of the 6. Busy year!

Carrie, I'm so happy for you, and I pray you and Lcas will have not only a beautiful wedding, but a beautiful life together. I love you.

On December 12th, my students had a piano recital with an Animal theme. I think it's the most fun we've ever had at a recital! Each student played pieces with an animal in the title. They chose pictures of their animals, and I made them into a slideshow, which was shown while the students played. A few of them even dressed up like their animal. It was really fun! My plan is to have a different theme each year for the fall recital, so if anyone has any ideas for themes, send them my way!

Adoption Update

Tuesday we went to Baltimore to get our fingerprints done for USCIS. Our "appointment" was at 9:00, and we only had to wait until 10:00 for our turn. They were able to get all 10 of Heath's fingerprints, which he said was the first time for that. His fingers are always worn down from his work. We have everything ready for our dossier, and we just need to wait for USCIS approval before we can send the dossier to China. Meanwhile our agency said we could start looking at referrals (ie choosing a child) in January or February. We were hoping to be travelling to get her this spring, but it's looking like it'll probably be mid- to late summer, at least. (I wonder if the "adoption ticker" on this web page will reset when it gets to a year...it's quickly approaching the end of the chart!)